Hey guys. I don't have that much time for the next couple of weeks or so, as I am getting myself set up in my new employment, and understandably need to be more serious about that.
But regarding Zhodani orthography: It occurs to me that there are elements of Zhodani communication that are absolutely not encoded by any language spoken on Terra today. Is it that far-fetched to consider that since a significant portion of the Zhodani population (particularly the most literate classes) might incorporate psionic elements into their ordinary communication, that perhaps those elements ("psi-nemes?") could be encoded into the writing system in some way?
If the Zhodani have their understanding of human psychology and perception whittled down to the most granular of levels, then it seems only natural that this sophistication would extend out to linguistics. Elementary psionic projection might be so simple to an upper class Zhodani (remember the psionic switches?) that most words might not be regarded as complete without a "psineme" or two to indicate some necessary internal/external psychological descriptor.
A Zhodani word, then, wouldn't be just what comes out of the mouth; it would be what comes out of the mouth and the mind. And it all needs to be written down.
I dunno. It's just an idea. But it would be pretty far-reaching if that were the case. From the perspective of a outsider, spoken Zhodani might sound like an absurd and unworkable collection of homonyms, while the Zhodani, in turn, would be equally exasperated with what appears to them to be the cudgel-like ambivalence of "atavistic" languages like Anglic and Vilani.
And this, of course, would dramatically affect each side's ability to relate to one another ...
