What is a non-Roman script?

The guidelines for developing non-Roman script are not significantly different from the guidelines for developing Roman script orthographies.

A non-Roman script is any graphic form of the symbols of an orthography which are not derived from Latin, such as Arabic and Chinese.

Aspects of non-Roman scripts make learning to read and write the language more difficult.

The orthography for the Northern Khmer language of eastern Thailand is based on the orthography of Standard Thai.

Here are some examples of adjustments made to facilitate reading and writing Northern Khmer:

• Standard Thai does not use word breaks but Northern Khmer uses word breaks because of a more complex syllable structure.
• Complexities with vowel placement in Standard Thai cause ambiguities but vowel placement is more predictable in Northern Khmer.
• Standard Thai uses many symbols for the same consonant phoneme (overrepresentation) but Northern Khmer uses just one symbol for each phoneme.

• Orthography development

• Concept module: non-Roman script
• In overview module: Glossary (Literacy): N
• In modular book: Glossary of literacy terms
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 May 1999

© 1999 SIL International