Amazon gives a pretty extensive preview of the book's text.
It looks _so_ bulky and inefficient.

On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 3:44 PM, Jesse Bangs <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The description sounds a *lot* like crackpottery, which makes me
> pretty unexcited about the prospect of reviewing it...
>
> On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 2:41 PM, And Rosta <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > It would be nice if somebody were to review this book for Conlang-L (and
> > maybe also then in Fiat Lingua). Maybe Branden Books would give you a
> free
> > copy if you undertook to review it (try emailing Adolph Caso
> > <[log in to unmask]>).
> >
> > I can't find any info online about Navlipi.
> >
> > --And.
> >
> >
> >> Title: Navlipi, Volume 1
> >> Subtitle: A New, Universal, Script
> >> Series Title: Navlipi
> >>
> >> Publication Year: 2012
> >> Publisher: Branden Books
> >>           http://www.brandenbooks.com
> >>
> >> Author: Prasanna Chandraseckhar
> >> Editor: Adolph Caso
> >> Author: Nicholas Ostler
> >> Author: Christopher Moseley
> >>
> >> Electronic: ISBN:  9780828324212 Pages: 576 Price: U.S. $ 29.95
> >> Paperback: ISBN:  9780828322157 Pages: 576 Price: U.S. $ 49.95
> >>
> >>
> >> Abstract:
> >>
> >> Presenting a new, universal script applicable to all the world's
> languages
> >> which addresses the serious deficiencies of the International Phonetic
> >> alphabet and also addresses the concept of "phonemic idiosyncrasy" for
> the
> >> first time ever in any world script.
> >>
> >> This book presents a new, universal script, denoted NAVLIPI, capable of
> >> expressing all the world's languages, from English and Arabic, to tonal
> >> languages such as Mandarin, to click languages such as !Xo Bushman.
> >> Based on the Roman script, NAVLIPI uses just five new or transformed
> >> letters (glyphs) in addition to the 26 Roman letters; it uses no
> >> diacritics,
> >> rather making heavy use of "post-ops", post-positional operators. Its
> >> expression is very intuitive and highly amenable to cursive writing,
> >> keyboarding and voice transcription. The book incorporates more than 620
> >> detailed references in linguistics and related fields.
> >>
> >> It addresses the concept of "phonemic idiosyncrasy" for the first time
> >> ever in
> >> any world script.
> >>
> >> NAVLIPI incorporates essential features of a universal script, thus far
> >> present
> >> in no world script to date, such as universality, completeness,
> >> distinctiveness, and practical phonemic application. Most importantly,
> >> NAVLIPI addresses phonemic idiosyncrasy, for the first time ever in any
> >> world script; among other things, phonemic idiosyncrasy makes
> >> transcription,
> >> in the same script, of, e.g. Mandarin and English, or Hindi/Urdu and
> >> Tamil,
> >> extremely difficult. NAVLIPI also addresses the serious deficiencies of
> >> the
> >> alphabet of the International Phonetic Association and may assist in the
> >> preservation of endangered languages.
> >>
> >>
> >> Nicholas Ostler observes: "NAVLIPI is a systematic extension of Roman
> >> script with a number of aims in view: To be a practical (legible and
> >> writable)
> >> script for all the world's languages, but at the same time to represent
> >> the
> >> languages' sounds exactly and consistently, making no compromises on the
> >> phonemic principle. It goes beyond existing scripts: Beyond ordinary
> Roman
> >> scripts, because it requires that its symbols are interpreted the same
> way
> >> everywhere; beyond phonetic scripts such as that of the IPA,  by
> >> representing phonemes singly, rather than as a set of phones; and beyond
> >> all
> >> the other scripts, by attempting to replace every single one of them
> >> without
> >> loss of significant phonetic detail.
> >>
> >> This is a stupendous aim for a single system created by a single
> scholar.
> >>
> >> "The main obstacle to Chandrasekhar's achievement is the phenomenon of
> >> "phonemic idiosyncrasy", whereby the actual speech sounds are organized
> >> into different, and cross-cutting, significant sets in various
> languages:
> >> For
> >> example, p, whether aspirated or un-aspirated, is the same phoneme in
> >> English, but the two versions belong to contrasting phonemes in Hindi,
> >> where
> >> (however) f is heard as the same sound as aspirated-p. By juxtaposing
> >> letters, Chandrasekhar conjures up new symbols that represent directly
> the
> >> complex phonemic reality. The attempt to have all the possible virtues
> of
> >> a
> >> phonetic writing system at once - on the basis of a single man's ideal -
> >> is
> >> what makes this a heroic endeavour."
>
>
>
> --
> JS Bangs
> [log in to unmask]
> http://jsbangs.wordpress.com
>
> "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle" -Philo of
> Alexandria
>



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