While it's true that some international abbreviations (metric
units/prefixes, e.g.) use both upper and lower case, these distinctions are
lost when the text is written in all caps. So a road sign might have "100
KM" for a speed limit or a distance, rather than the correct "100 km". The
same may be true of atomic symbols.

stevo

On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 12:02 PM, R A Brown <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> On 30/08/2011 12:40, Philip Newton wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 12:00, R A
>> Brown<[log in to unmask]**>  wrote:
>>
>>> the 26 lower case and 26 upper case symbols of the
>>> modern Roman alphabet
>>>
>>
>> Ah, homonymy! I thought you were going to lose cases
>> (nominative, accusative, ...) rather than cases (upper,
>> lower).
>>
>
> To the best of knowledge, I haven't produced, outlined or
> sketched any conlangs with case distinctions since my mid
> teens - so I've abandoned the grammatical cases some five
> decades or so ago!
>
> But i still use upper and lower case letters   ;)
>
> Apparently, both words are ultimately from Latin, but
>> one from "cadere", the other from "capere".
>>
>
> Yep - grammatical _case_ <-- casus (gen. casūs) "a falling"
> <-- supine of: cadō, cadere, cecidī, cāsum "to fall."
>
> But the _case_ holding printer's fonts is the same word as a
> case I pack things in to take on holiday and is from Old
> French _casse_ (Mod.Fr. _châsse_, _caisse_) <-- Latin
> _capsa_ "box, bookcase, satchel" from the root cap- found
> also in the verb: capiō, capere, cēpī, captum "to take,
> seize, capture."
>
>  It occurs to me that if the symbols of the Roman
>>> script are being used as a syllabary, then maintaining
>>> an upper~lower distinction is not, perhaps,
>>> appropriate. What syllabaries, or even abugidas, do
>>> this?
>>>
>>
>> For that matter, what alphabets that are not influenced
>> by the Graeco-Latin model do?
>>
>
> Armenian? Tho I suspect the development of upper & lower
> case was influenced by Greek practice.
> ==============================**============================
>
> On 30/08/2011 14:07, neo gu wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:00:02 +0100, R A Brown
>> <[log in to unmask]>  wrote:
>>
> [snip]
>
>> It occurs to me that I could have, for example:
>>>
>>> p=/pi/ b=/pe/  B=/ba/ P=/po/ t=/ti/ d=/te/  D=/da/
>>> T=/to/ k=/ki/ g=/ke/  G=/ka/ K=/ko/ etc.
>>>
>>> It's neat: - letters that traditionally denote
>>> voiceless obstruents signify that the following vowel
>>> is a high vowel; - letters that traditionally denote
>>> voiced obstruents signify that the following vowel is a
>>> low vowel; - letters that are traditionally lower case
>>> signify that the following vowel is a front vowel; -
>>> letters that are traditionally upper case signify that
>>> the following vowel is a back vowel.
>>>
>>
>> 'Yemls, which everyone seems to forget, uses
>>
>
> Well, thereš not much information on:
>
> http://www.frathwiki.com/'**Yemls <http://www.frathwiki.com/'Yemls>     :)
>
>
>> p=*bi  P=*be  B=*ba  b=*bu c=*ti  C=*te  T=*ta  t=*tu
>> j=*di  J=*de  D=*da  d=*du etc.
>>
>> 'upper case' for lower vowels, 'lower case' for higher
>> vowels
>>
>>
>>> BUT my gut reaction is that a mix of upper&  lower
>>> case would ugly, even tho in the script itself there is
>>> no mix;
>>>
>>
>> "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" ...
>>
>
> True.
>
> Typing it is something else though.
>>
>
> Also true.  This is probably a stronger argument against
> mixing upper & lower case symbols than the aesthetic one.  I
> notice that upper case letters do not seem to figure in
> Textese; I'm sure that's significant.
>
> However, I notice numeric symbols freely mix with lower case
> Roman letters in Textese.  So I could eke out the syllabary
> with numeric symbols.
>
> But the darn upper case symbols will occur in
> internationally recognized abbreviations!
>
>
> --
> Ray
> ==============================**====
> http://www.carolandray.plus.**com <http://www.carolandray.plus.com/>
> ==============================**====
> Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
> There's none too old to learn.
> [WELSH PROVERB]
>