Sinnathurai Srivas (by way of Michael Everson) <avarangal at hotmail dot com> wrote:
> We are not planning to change the script to fit the computers. > We are planning change the script to > > 1/ Increase the literary rate by manyfolds yes by many folds. (making > it easier for Tamils, who does not have the means to spent extra > resourses/hours during theire infant/junior ages to learn the > Language. Most other Indic scripts, and some non-Indic scripts as well, use inherent and reordrant vowels. Is there any evidence that this feature of Tamil is the cause of illiteracy in a way that is not true for other Indic scripts? Is there any authoritative evidence (not just personal perception) that doing away with inherent and reordrant vowels will significantly improve literacy among Tamils? Think about the sweeping changes Michael mentioned. If the new writing system is to *replace* the existing one, then Tamils will no longer be taught the old system. That means all street signs, shop signs, books, newspapers, magazines, etc. will need to be changed over time. And as for the great historic books that are no longer in print, it will not be feasible to reprint every one, so they will become unreadable to all but scholars of the "old" writing. Script reforms sometimes are successful, but often are not. The benefits must be seen to outweigh the costs by a *significant* margin, and in most cases the proponents of reform do not adequately consider the costs. It would be wise not to assume your proposal will be adopted unless and until the governments of India and Sri Lanka and Singapore do so. -Doug Ewell Fullerton, California
