how to write Vanuatu or muon?

Listening to the radio while driving home this morning I heard there has been a disaster in Vanuatu. How would you suggest writing Vanuatu or, for example, muon? Would you use a joining of the oo hook followed by o, similar to the one in water?

This brought to mind another question: Over the years various diacritical marks have come and gone to indicate the exact value of the vowel circles and to distinguish z from s when necessary. Has there ever been a mark to indicate that a particular syllable is stressed?


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  1. Partially answering my own question… In Greghand one could write v-a-n-u, then the disjoined connecting mark shown on page 39 of the Greghand manual, followed by a-t-u or o-t-u. Is this an option in other versions of Gregg Shorthand?

    1. A small underscore sign under the circle vowels or the o-hook indicates that each vowel is preceded by a u sound, so Vanuatu is simply v-a-n-a underscored-t-u, and muon is m-o hook underscored-m.

    2. That is, not in English Gregg. In Spanish Gregg, if two words are spelled exactly the same, but the stress is different, it may be indicated by a change in the outline or a diacritical mark.

    3. I agree with Carlos about Vanuatu, but not about muon. We don't say "mwon" in English, but "myoo-on". So I'd be inclined to write it m-e-u-o-n. I think the spelling m-w-o-n might be unintelligible. Now here are a few similar questions: How would you write Iowan, Quaoar, or yowee?

    4. Pronunciation is not always followed when writing words with the myoo- sound. There are only three words in Anniversary that start with that sound that are written m-e-oo hook and all of them are monosyllables: mule, muse, and mute. All others (longer than one syllable) with the myoo sound are written m-oo (like "music") to make it easier to write, as stated in paragraph 121. "Muon" has two syllables, and writing it with two hooks together is extremely awkward because of the joinings; that's why it's better (and easier) to write it as m-o hook underscored-n. (Besides, a person that takes dictation with that word would know what the heck a muon is, and if not, they will spell it out.) Of course, you can always write it anyway you want.

      With respect to your question:

      1. Iowan: just add an n to the outline of IA (long I – n).
      2. Quaoar: k – a underscored – oo hook – o hook (the beginning is "kwa" and the ending is "war"). In this case, the two hooks are easy to write because they end the word.
      3. Yowee: I have no idea what this means or how it's pronounced (is it ee-ou-ee or ee-au-ee?).

    5. I also checked the Simplified, DJS, and S90 dictionaries, and none of the words that start with myoo- sound are spelled m-e-oo hook, not even the monosyllables: they are all spelled with the m-oo hook combination.

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