37 / 70
17
After reviewing this whole matter, tbe Society is of the opinion tbat the
decision of the Conference for
11
ph
11 ,
11
th" etc. wss tbe soundest wsy out of tbe
difficulties.
A
solution by underscore is very impractical because (1) it is
open to the tendency to drcp diacritics in handwriting, (2) no printer can
insertan underscore under single letters easily, for no such character
is~
provided in standard fonts and would bave to be cut piece by piece from lengths
of
11
rule
11 ;
the apace talmn
by
an insertad underacore would heve to be com–
pensated for under lettars where
1t
did not occur, by inserting tbin "leads
11
sgain cut to varying lengths; (3) slmost no fonts in sny language carry letters
cast with incorporsted underscores.
Italicis is possible but difficult:
(l) msny fonts do not havo itslic lettars: many printers carry italics only for
a very few fonto; (2) the educational system would bave to provide a distinc–
tive method of wri ting the lettar or itslicis would tend to disappear in
handwritten text. As toe raised letter es "h", this egain requires wide–
spread introduction of a letter entirely new in metallic construction to sll
but one printer in e thouesnd; while the small cap letter (a) ie lscking in
msny fonts, (b) re9.uires special determination of how it is to be successfully
handwritten and (e) introduces e deleterious typographical inconsistency (how
for example will the symbol be rendered in a line all capa or all small capa?).
The indifference of
many
ecientifi c lir.•uists to tbe optical effect in reading
of the symbols tbey choose, to the typographic quality of tbe symbol, and to
the semantic significance of the uses of cape, small cape, roman end italic
type in the social organism is unfortunate.
sh -
alveolar palatal sibilant
The introduction of a single letter for this phoneme would re–
quire a new symbol and thorefore general governiiJ3nt propagation which
is not in sight. Dr. Pike writes:
"There wos a further advantage to
"eh",
namely that this phoneme appears to be a very recent develop–
ment in Cuzco and Bolivia, starting from a conditioned variant of /s/
before certain sounds such as / k/, but the two dialects have not
adoptad it into the esme words uniformly.
Even now it is extremely
difficul t
to find any minimal pairs for easy proof of the phonemic
differentiation of
f
s/ and /
sh/.
The decision has to be reached by
the inversa use of Premisa One, that is, the elimination of conditions
which would changa /s/ t o
fabf.
Even tbis is difficult, inasmuch as
remnants of the old conditioning still remstn.
In the faca of this
inconsistent picture, the "h" being silent in Spanish causes less
interference with other dialects in which tbe sound actually should be
a simple "s" tban would a new separata symbol.
11
The possibility of using fx/ was aleo considerad on the basis of ita
successful use in soma placea in the Americes, but
it
had no support
among the missionaries because it did not have a tradition of such
valus in the Andes, and aleo beoause of tbe confused picture, just
describsd, which indiooted that a symbol too separata from
11
s
11
was not
altogether desirable.
"The dialecte of .Ancash and of Ecuador have gane further tban the
Cuzco-Bolivia pattern, eo tbet now they bBve a clear-cut,
compl~te!y
independent /ah/, used without heavy restrictions as to permitted
posit ione.
11
J - J - J
(versus h -
J -
j) initial, medial, and final velar fricativos
or their approximations.