Linear 'C'hinese

["John Grove" <4groves@xxxxxxxxx>]

Not that I'm trying to support the Chinese cause any, but what if the
strokes that make up Chinese Hanzi weren't piled on top of each other to
create a pretty square image...

In Chinese Hanzi and thus probably Japanese Kanji stroke order is quite
important to the writer when creating a character. Applying a set of stroke
order rules to VMS character creation can come up with some interesting
results (IMHO):

All Characters begin with a 'c' stroke except:

1. Gallows (q and the single line '|' weirdo types are included as mini-g's
in this argument)

2. Word initial 'a' characters (or those that follow 'o')

3. Weirdo characters

The basic two stroke characters are 'o,y,d,s,ch, and the seldom used b'

The basic three stroke characters are often weirdos that combine two ending
strokes to one c-stroke, although the most common three stroke character
would be 'sh' - consisting of c with s and ch finals.

The basic four stroke characters are 'al, ar, an, aj, aih'

The inclusion of extra 'c' or 'i' strokes increases the number of strokes in
a given character and thus carries a different meaning than one that looks
similar but has lest strokes.

If one totals all the strokes in a 'word' daiin = 8 strokes - the word is
differentiate from others that looks similar but may be completely
unrelated: dain = 7 strokes. My Chinese knowledge is quite limited but I do
know their are (or were) some extremely complex Hanzi with more than a dozen
strokes.

I had said that all characters begin with a 'c-stroke' which leaves out the
frequent use of standalone characters like 'l or 'r' that are definitely of
the 'i-stroke' family. However, I give them the rule that if they are word
initial or follow an 'o', they can drop the normal 'c + i = a' pattern.
(Maybe that's too lenient... I'll have to look closer at the word and letter
usage again).

This doesn't help explain how Gallows or any of their many weirdo forms
would be applied, but I think if you look at a fair number of the weirdo
signs without gallows parts like the @ sign or 'ch' characters that end with
a 'y or o final' it helps account for their formation if not an accurate
explanation of how they are used.

Some Weirdos:

There are a few weirdo characters that look (to me) to be simply combined
ending strokes:

&143: add the ending ligatures of 's' and 'h' without a preceding 'c'

&140: just the ending ligature of 's'

&135/&208: ending of 's' + ending of 'o'

&189: i + ending of 'y'

O with 's' ligature above it appear twice on page f49r - could even be o +
sh + 'o' final

Well, enough of that! I don't want to convince myself to swim back to the
Chinese side yet...

John