Interesting take, but as a sibling commented: όχι.
> αι = ε
> αι already sounds identical to ε in Modern Greek, so the digraph is dropped.
sounds the same, but the distinction actually helps semantically (helps identify passive voice vs active notably).
> ει, οι, υι, η, υ = ι
> all these spellings produce the same /i/ sound. This does however remove spelling distinctions that currently encode grammatical information like gender, number, and verb conjugation.
why would you drop something that communicates information ?
the distinctions encode meaning (what you already mentioned + etymology)
> ου = Ȣ ȣ
> the common digraph gets its own single character. The historic ligature ou.
I read the sample text and automatically parsed this as θ because the surrounding text, otherwise it's an 8 in my eyes.
(although to be honest, you'll see a similar symbol in some byzantine iconography)
> ντ = D d
> the digraph that produces /d/ becomes a single letter.
ντ and D d do not produce the same sound. ντ is meant to be pronounced 'n' followed by 't'. Notice where your tongue goes when pronouncing n / t / d => these are not the same sound.
> μπ = Б b
> the digraph that produces /b/ becomes a single letter. The uppercase uses cyrillic Б to avoid confusion with Β (Vita).
same as above. 'μπ' is the 'm' sound followed closely by 'p'. This one is harder to hear in isolation, but for example when saying 'αμπέλι' (grape vine) you actually hear the 'm'.
> γκ = γγ = G g
> the digraphs that produce /ɡ/ become a single letter.
again, the sound is different, i.e: άγγελος. it is not pronounced agelos (hard g), but rather ang-gelos (notice how in english the word becomes 'angel' with an extra 'n' ?)
> σ, ς = ϲ
> all lowercase sigmas are unified into the lunate sigma ϲ, eliminating positional variants.
ς is used only when it's the last letter of the word. That's all the complexity there is.
if this is meant to help foreign speakers learn the language, then I weep for the moment they encounter the sea: Ȣάλαϲϲα. is it a soft c (as in 'copper') or a hard c (as in 'face') ? is it somehow changed by the fact there are two of them ?
> ω = ο
> lowercase omega merges with omicron. They already share the same /o/ sound in Modern Greek, so the distinction is dropped.
phonetically, ω is supposedly longer ο, though it's quite hard to hear (I have rarely heard people where you consistently hear the difference). OTOH, orthographic distinction remains for etymological reasons.
οστικός => related to bones
ωστικός => related to pushing
change the omega to an omicron, and you just created an homograph (+ homophone) out of nowhere. queue future learners wondering why those crazy Greeks decided it would be appropriate to use the same spelling and pronunciation for two entirely different meanings.
the changes look arbitrary in order to simplify the rules for _some_ learners, but end up making it more complicated. What you saved in spelling, you definitely lost in semantics.
> αι = ε > αι already sounds identical to ε in Modern Greek, so the digraph is dropped.
sounds the same, but the distinction actually helps semantically (helps identify passive voice vs active notably).
> ει, οι, υι, η, υ = ι > all these spellings produce the same /i/ sound. This does however remove spelling distinctions that currently encode grammatical information like gender, number, and verb conjugation.
why would you drop something that communicates information ? the distinctions encode meaning (what you already mentioned + etymology)
> ου = Ȣ ȣ > the common digraph gets its own single character. The historic ligature ou.
I read the sample text and automatically parsed this as θ because the surrounding text, otherwise it's an 8 in my eyes. (although to be honest, you'll see a similar symbol in some byzantine iconography)
> ντ = D d > the digraph that produces /d/ becomes a single letter.
ντ and D d do not produce the same sound. ντ is meant to be pronounced 'n' followed by 't'. Notice where your tongue goes when pronouncing n / t / d => these are not the same sound.
> μπ = Б b > the digraph that produces /b/ becomes a single letter. The uppercase uses cyrillic Б to avoid confusion with Β (Vita).
same as above. 'μπ' is the 'm' sound followed closely by 'p'. This one is harder to hear in isolation, but for example when saying 'αμπέλι' (grape vine) you actually hear the 'm'.
> γκ = γγ = G g > the digraphs that produce /ɡ/ become a single letter.
again, the sound is different, i.e: άγγελος. it is not pronounced agelos (hard g), but rather ang-gelos (notice how in english the word becomes 'angel' with an extra 'n' ?)
> σ, ς = ϲ > all lowercase sigmas are unified into the lunate sigma ϲ, eliminating positional variants.
ς is used only when it's the last letter of the word. That's all the complexity there is.
if this is meant to help foreign speakers learn the language, then I weep for the moment they encounter the sea: Ȣάλαϲϲα. is it a soft c (as in 'copper') or a hard c (as in 'face') ? is it somehow changed by the fact there are two of them ?
> ω = ο > lowercase omega merges with omicron. They already share the same /o/ sound in Modern Greek, so the distinction is dropped.
phonetically, ω is supposedly longer ο, though it's quite hard to hear (I have rarely heard people where you consistently hear the difference). OTOH, orthographic distinction remains for etymological reasons. οστικός => related to bones ωστικός => related to pushing
change the omega to an omicron, and you just created an homograph (+ homophone) out of nowhere. queue future learners wondering why those crazy Greeks decided it would be appropriate to use the same spelling and pronunciation for two entirely different meanings.
the changes look arbitrary in order to simplify the rules for _some_ learners, but end up making it more complicated. What you saved in spelling, you definitely lost in semantics.