[B-Greek] DVORAK Polytonic Greek Keyboard Layout
John Schwandt
jschwandt at nsa.edu
Tue Apr 19 14:21:29 EDT 2011
Markos!
heh, heh, I like the inquiry. I'm not sure about a corporate sense of
offense, but I'm sure the Phoenician graphemes had an effect. Actions that
express or exert dominance (even unintentional) reinforce social and
political opinions and positions. I'm sure it changed their language and
culture. I don't think we differ about how language impacts others, we
probably simply are finding a difference of degree.
I don't think it is a stretch to concede that the non-historical and
non-ethnic Erasmian pronunciation is a conventional device that creates a
degree of separation from Greek linguistic culture (present and historic)
AND that the institutionalized dominance of this convention of pronunciation
creates its fair share of collateral damage. (e.g. a number of beginning
Grammars say that the system is historical; when choosing a pronunciation
system one feels pressure to join or stay in the Erasmian club simply to
reduce obstacles on the academic institutional side of things, even knowing
that is isn't way the language originally sounded. It also creates an
obstacle -some say lesser, some say greater- for scholars, especially Greeks
not in the Erasiman club, to participate in the academy. Who could argue
that this barrier doesn't point to some form of separation?)
I think there is a legitimate parallel between translation issues and the
issues that Randall and I are raising about pronunciation and typing
conventions. In translation one will either tend to bring the reader to the
source (demand work and change from the reader), or tend to change the
source and bring it to the reader. This is typically termed domesticating
vs. foreignizing. So for the sake of making things easier for Americans we
have the American Erasmian pronunciation (changed the source,
domesticating). The same can be said for English style keyboard layouts.
Maybe I'm strange, but when I set my mind to learning a foreign language, I
want to experience and learn the foreign (even through my fingertips). To
the extent that I domesticate what is the foreign object of my study, I end
up changing it more than myself and I end up merely learning about the
foreign from the safety of my domesticated conventions. One way power
issues show up is when the domesticated conventions are presented as the
foreign per se. (e.g., Erasmian is ancient Greek pronunciation; This is an
equivalent Greek keyboard; This is the Greek deponent verb; etc.,)
It is completely possible to frame these academic issues in such a way that
domesticates and institutionalizes them that both Modern Greeks feel us
co-opting elements of their language culture so as to experience some degree
of distance from them AND to create artificial anglo-distance between
ourselves and ancient Greek language culture. We can actually recast the
language in a distorted and more difficult fashion for the sake of
accommodating immediate anglo-conveniences. If we are going to down this
road, we should just transliterate everything. I hope you would agree that
if transliteration became the preferred and institutionalized method of
printing Greek in all cultures with Roman alphabets, that it would have an
effect on Modern Greek academics as well as our understanding and relation
to ancient Greek.
I'm sorry this is so long. I really do enjoy the short to the point posts.
I suppose this shows that I'm still trying to put my finger on core issues.
(terrible pun intended.)
Blessings,
John
On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 5:00 AM, Mark Lightman <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>wrote:
> Steve wrote
>
> < I further confess the idea that using Dvorak
> on Greek has negative cultural implications to Greek makes me scratch my
> head.>
>
> George wrote
>
> <You surely must be joking. A keyboard separates one from the culture !
> Absurd.>
>
> Hi, Steve and George (and John and Randall)
>
> When the Greeks decided to write the language with Phoenician letters
> instead of
> with the Linear B syllabary, I wonder if the Mycenaeans were offended.
>
> Mark L
> Φωσφορος
>
>
> FWSFOROS MARKOS
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Steve Miller <steve_miller at sil.org>
> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Mon, April 18, 2011 9:21:01 AM
> Subject: [B-Greek] DVORAK Polytonic Greek Keyboard Layout
>
> Hi John,
>
> If the idea of the Dvorak layout is more efficiency in typing English,
> you are right; Dvorak Greek may not offer any advantage over Dvorak
> Qwerty. The Dvorak layout is intended to place the most-used letters of
> the English language in the home row. But that's not why the font has
> appeal to me. The vast majority of my typing is with the Dvorak layout
> in English, and having a Dvorak Greek keyboard means I don't have to
> make the mental switch for my fingers at the same time I make the mental
> switch in languages. It is a practical consideration for a native
> English speaker who doesn't type a whole lot of Greek, and doesn't ever
> expect to.
>
> Anyone who types in Dvorak can tell you that the layout doesn't have
> much chance of becoming institutionalized among even English speakers. I
> had my son learn it when he was younger, but he continues to type 100+
> words/minute with Qwerty. I further confess the idea that using Dvorak
> on Greek has negative cultural implications to Greek makes me scratch my
> head. If someone types a great deal in Greek, and has need for a more
> efficient keyboard layout, I would cheer the building of such a layout
> to support that. Especially if any ancient Greeks still lived. But if
> ever such keyboard is built, I wonder how many people would use it.
> Learning a new layout takes a great deal of time and practice.
>
> Steve
> --
> *Steve Miller*, Software Developer
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> <http://www.facebook.com/SteveDebbieMiller>
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