Re: Blocky Writing Rob Zook Sun, 20 Sep 1998 14:36:18 -0500 At 12:41 AM 9/20/98 -0500, Steven Boozer wrote: ><-hali> "vessel, vehicle, ship" which he lists as a suffixal form -- like >Japanese *maru* I imagine. So, in OHV. Hmmm..,I'm not sure we could fit Surak and hali onto those block letters. I'll keep looking at it though. Might be some other word, or if OHV attempts fail, we can construct some Modern Vulcan words up for it. >There is no word in the ZC for "ship", but I do have a listing in my >eclectic notes for a "The Ship of Children" (a lost pre- >Reformation cryogenic colonization ship) I found online in some fan- >fiction a few years ago. This would correspond to in >OHV, if I understand it correctly. I must say, I rather like the sound >of and would like to propose this for inclusion as one of the >Modern Vulcan words for "ship". It sounds good to me as well, if Marketa does not objects maybe she can add it to the new word list she was(is?) constructing. >I also downloaded Rob's graphic "possible syllabic interpretation of the >Vulcan block lettering". There are six large symbols, of which numbers >2, 3 and 5 have smaller marks above and below. Diacritic marks or vowel >pointing (a la Arabic and Hebrew *nekudot*) perhaps? Were you able to >scan or hand copy the smaller character string which I assume is the >Vulcan for "United Federation of Planets", which appears on the shuttle >in English? The smaller marks were fairly easy to make out, if we adopt your numbering of the letters in my graphic from left to right, then the patterns were all the same six letters: The small letters on the passenger module: 1 2 3 4 5 Large Letters on Drive module: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Little letters on Drive module: 1 2 3 4 5 6 {6 5 4 3 2 1} The last six letters, {6 5 4 3 2 1} on the line of little letters on the drive module were the same as the first six symbols in order, but rotated clockwise 180 degrees. >Why are we assuming the script is read left to right, anyway? No particular reason, probably habit. It could just as easily read right to left. As it's the same six letters repeated, it's not likely to make any sense at all intepreted vertically. >Aside from the shuttle, what little Vulcan we've seen has always been >written vertically. At least it is on robes and ceremonial clothing. Not necessarily a clue to the normal writing orientation, English and other lettering styles appear in various locations in a vertical manner. >The old Vulcan book the Romulan boy showed Amb. Spock on Romulus in >"Reunification II" was also printed vertically, IIRC. How do we know >which direction to read it when printed horizontally? We don't, all I was trying to do was work from what we know, the name of the shuttle was Surak. So some of the six letters must spell that. The rest likely designate the ship as a space vessal, or perhaps since that seems kind of obvious, as coming from/owned by Vulcan, or a specific Vuclan clan? Maybe a private shuttle owned by some company run by Spock's clan? >Does anyone have a copy of STIV: The Voyage Home? At the beginning of >the movie, the re-fused Spock is being quizzed by a Vulcan computer to >test his memory. We see him standing at a terminal listening to >questions and looking at images. Was there any writing on the screen? There was, and oddly enough it was normal English writing. >And have we seen any Vulcan writing in Tuvok's quarters? I remember a >large tapestry or plaque on the wall that had some symbols on it. Hmmm.,that does sound familar, but since I detest Voyager, I haven't been taping it :) Rob Z.