A phonetic complement is a phonetic symbol used to disambiguate word characters (logograms) that have multiple readings, in mixed logographic-phonetic scripts such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Akkadian cuneiform, Japanese, and Mayan. Often they reenforce the communication of the ideogram by repeating the first or last syllable in the term. Written English has few logograms, primarily numerals, and therefore few phonetic complements. An example is the nd of 2nd'second', which avoids ambiguity with 2 standing for the word 'two'. In addition to numerals, other examples include Xmas, Xianity, and Xing for Christmas, Christianity, and Crossing – note the separate readings Christ and Cross. In cuneiform In Sumerian, the single word kur had two meanings: 'hill' and 'country'. Akkadian, however, had separate words for these two meanings: šadú 'hill' and mātu 'country'. When Sumerian cuneiform was adapted for writing Ak
Un complemento fonético es un símbolo fonético usado para desambiguar los caracteres de palabra (logogramas) que tienen múltiples lecturas, en escritos logográficos-fonéticos mixtos como hieróglifos egipcios, cuneiformes acadianos, japoneses y mayas. A menudo refuerzan la comunicación del ideograma repitiendo la primera o última sílaba en el término. El inglés escrito tiene pocos logogramas, principalmente números, y por lo tanto pocos complementos fonéticos. Un ejemplo es el nd de 2nd'second', que evita la ambigüedad con 2 que representan la palabra 'dos'. Además de los números, otros ejemplos incluyen Xmas, Xianity, y Xing para Navidad, Cristianismo, y Crossing - note las lecturas separadas de Cristo y Cruz. In cuneiform Sumerian, la palabra única tenía dos significados: 'hill' y 'countryuntry'.