Grapheme clusters, a.k.a.real characters

[Steve D'Aprano]

On Tue, 18 Jul 2017 08:01 am, Mikhail V wrote:

> And just in case still its not clear: this is not
> solved by adding dirt around the letter: if there is
> enough significance of the phoneme distinction then
> one should add a distinct letter for a syntax in question.

It isn't "dirt", any more than difference between Ш (SHA) and Щ (SHCHA)
is "dirt", or between F and E is "dirt".

In Swedish, Å, Ä, and Ö are distinct letters of the alphabet. In Danish and
Norwegian, Æ Ø and Å are distinct letters of the alphabet. Just as in English W
is a distinct letter of the alphabet, different from either VV or UU.

(I don't think any native English words use a double-V or double-U, but the
possibility exists.)

That's neither better nor worse than the system used by English and French,
where letters with dicritics are not distinct letters, but guides to
pronunciation.  Neither system is right or wrong, or better than the other.



-- 
Steve
“Cheer up,” they said, “things could be worse.” So I cheered up, and sure
enough, things got worse.