Caine orthography: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Citizen-Kane-Welles-Breakfast (cropped).jpg|thumb|200px|Charlie F. Caine, the creator of the Caine orthography, pictured in 1961. Definitely no relation to [[w:Charles Foster Kane|Charles Foster Kane]]. No siree.]]
[[File:Citizen-Kane-Welles-Breakfast (cropped).jpg|thumb|200px|Charlie F. Caine, the creator of the Caine orthography, pictured in 1961. Definitely no relation to [[w:Charles Foster Kane|Charles Foster Kane]]. No siree.]]


The '''Caine orthography''' ([[Bemé]]: ''Keyn romanisesh'') is a phonemic orthography for writing [[Bemé]] originally described in Charlie F. Caine's ''Standard and Regular Romanisation of Poccasin Creole'' (1962). It is desginated as the official orthography for Bemé in the Poccasin Federation, and is also widely used in other Bemé-speaking regions, such as in [[Columbé|Saint Columban]]. It is based on the [[w:Latin alphabet|Latin alphabet]] and in its official form uses no [[w:Diacritic|diacritics]].
The '''Caine orthography''' ([[Bemé]]: ''Keyn romanisesh'') or '''Caine romanisation''' is a phonemic orthography for writing [[Bemé]] originally described in Charlie F. Caine's ''Standard and Regular Romanization of Poccasin Creole'' (1962). It is desginated as the official orthography for Bemé in the Poccasin Federation, and is also widely used in other Bemé-speaking regions, such as in [[Columbé|Saint Columban]]. It is based on the [[w:Latin alphabet|Latin alphabet]] and in its official form uses no [[w:Diacritic|diacritics]].


==Background==
==Background==
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He joined the [[w:United States Foreign Service|United States Foreign Service]] straight after graduating in 1947, initially working as a junior officer in the Pacific, before being promoted to Political Officer in 1952, and later promoted to Senior Political Officer in 1957, eventually leading to his appointment as ambassador to the [[Poccasin Federation]] in 1961 by US President and fellow Catholic [[w:John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]].
He joined the [[w:United States Foreign Service|United States Foreign Service]] straight after graduating in 1947, initially working as a junior officer in the Pacific, before being promoted to Political Officer in 1952, and later promoted to Senior Political Officer in 1957, eventually leading to his appointment as ambassador to the [[Poccasin Federation]] in 1961 by US President and fellow Catholic [[w:John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]].
 
==Development==
===Independence===
With the establishment of the newly politically independent [[Poccasin Federation]] in 1961, prime minister (and later president) Jonathan "Big Jon" Shimondeh wanted to set about with the modernisation and unity of the Federation, a big challenge brought on by the lasting effects of British colonialism. To facilitate this, the Big Jon government began promoting the use of [[Bemé]], then known widely as Poccasin Creole or Cassim Po Creole, a language which had already been used as a ''lingua franca'' in most of the archipelago for centuries. This initially culminated in the Creole Language Declaration on May 6th of that year, (coincidentally also Caine's birthday) a government declaration to expand the use of the Bemé language to facilitate intranational communication.
With the establishment of the newly politically independent [[Poccasin Federation]] in 1961, prime minister (and later president) Jonathan "Big Jon" Shimondeh wanted to set about with the modernisation and unity of the Federation, a big challenge brought on by the lasting effects of British colonialism. To facilitate this, the Big Jon government began promoting the use of [[Bemé]], then known widely as Poccasin Creole or Cassim Po Creole, a language which had already been used as a ''lingua franca'' in most of the archipelago for centuries. This initially culminated in the Creole Language Declaration on May 6th of that year, (coincidentally also Caine's birthday) a government declaration to expand the use of the Bemé language to facilitate intranational communication.


However, even by December of the same year the aforementioned problems of the lack of a standard orthography began to rear its head, as spelling was not consistent among government documentation. Thus, Big Jon eventually began looking for somebody to make a standardised orthography; he voiced these concerns to Charlie F. Caine, the then-US ambassador to the Federation.
However, even by December of the same year the aforementioned problems of the lack of a standard orthography began to rear its head, as spelling was not consistent among government documentation. Thus, Big Jon eventually began looking for somebody to make a standardised orthography; he voiced these concerns to Charlie F. Caine, the then-US ambassador to the Federation.


==Development==
To attempt to rectify this problem, Caine read [[w:James Curtis Hepburn|James Curtis Hepburn]]'s ''A Japanese-English and English-Japanese Dictionary'' (1886, third edition) while on a plane back from Washington D.C.; this detail of whether Caine was on a plane has descended into realms of legend, primarily compounded by the fact that Caine rarely consistently told the story the same way.
==Orthography==
==Orthography==
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