VMs: RE: Re: RE: RE: Evita, EVA, and transcriptions.

John,

In which character set/transcription method are you working? I generally use EVA - but regardless of that, the point I was trying to draw attention to was the apparent 'feature' halfway down many of the gallows characters. Numbers 6 and 7 (below) look like they used to have an 'e' or 'i' character as the right-hand leg, which was then overwritten. All the examples below look (to me) as though the feet were drawn in a different operation from the top half.

My question was whether this might simply have been the easiest way to draw these characters when using a quill, or whether we ought to consider reading more into the way these characters are formed.

Jon.

-----Original Message-----
From: john stojko [mailto:oko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 12 February 2004 18:17
To: vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: VMs: Re: RE: RE: Evita, EVA, and transcriptions.
Importance: Low

Gallows are defined.

   1         2              3          4             5           6            7

       8            9             10          11          12

I numbered the alphabets (gallows) from 1-12.

The letters (gallows) have the following meanings;

No. 1, 4, 6, 7, 10, and 12 are letter " T "

No. 2, 3, 8, 9 are two letters combined, " ST " or " SH T "

No. 11 is 3-letters combined, " PST " or " PSHT "

In VMs alphabet there are two letters for S or SH

The VMs letter that look like number 4 is always used at the

beginning of word or sentence. Observe the combination

of ST or SHT in N0. 2, 3, 8 and 9.

Also observe difference in hand writings.

John

----- Original Message -----

From: Jon Grove

To: 'vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx'

Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 12:33 PM

Subject: VMs: RE: RE: Evita, EVA, and transcriptions.

I've put the image at:

http://www.geocities.com/jgroveuk/Gallows.jpg

Jon.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Grove [mailto:JGrove@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 12 February 2004 17:14
To: vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: VMs: RE: Evita, EVA, and transcriptions.
Importance: Low

Hi Barbara,

In your detailed examination of the script, have you noticed that frequently the 'legs' of the gallows characters appear to have been drawn in halves? It's as though one or two short strokes were drawn for the foot/feet, and then the top half added in a separate movement. Sometimes there is a small gap in the middle of a leg, sometimes a kink, sometimes a slight overlap. In some cases the second 'foot' of a /t/ or /k/ looks like it started out as an /e/. Of course I don't know what it means, but it struck me as a strange way to have written these characters. Maybe using a quill forces one to use a writing style which seems illogical to someone who's never tried it - what do you think?

I have a jpg of various examples, if anyone's interested.

Jon.