SEI: Unicode Scripts Research
• 001:Ahom • 002:Alpine Scripts • 003:Anatolian Hieroglyphs • 004:Aramaic • 005:Avestan • 006:Aztec pictograms • 007:Bagam • 008:Balinese • 009:Balti • 010:Bamum • 011:Bassa • 012:Batak • 013:Blissymbolics • 014:Box Headed • 015:Brahmi • 016:Buginese • 017:Buthakukye • 018:Byblos • 019:Carian • 020:Chakma • 021:Chalukya • 022:Cham • 023:Chinook • 024:Chola • 025:Cirth • 026:Cypro-Minoan • 027:Dai Bopomofo • 028:Egyptian hieroglyphs • 029:Egyptian Transliteration Chars. (Latin script) • 030:Elbasan • 031:Elymaic • 032:Ersu Shaba • 033:Fraser • 034:Grantha • 035:HamNoSys • 036:Hatran • 037:Hungarian Runic • 038:Iberian • 039:Indus Valley Script • 040:Javanese • 041:Jurchin • 042:Kaithi • 043:Kayah Li • 044:Kawi • 045:Khamti • 046:Kharosthi • 047:Khotanese • 048:Kitan Large Script • 049:Kitan Small Script • 050:Kpelle • 051:Lahnda • 052:Lanna • 053:Lepcha • 054:Linear A • 055:Loma • 056:Lycian • 057:Lydian • 058:Mandaic • 059:Manichaean • 060:Mayan Hieroglyphs • 061:Mende • 062:Meroitic • 063:Methei • 064:Modi • 065:Moon script • 066:Myanmar extensions • 067:Nabataean • 068:Naxi Geba • 069:Naxi Tomba • 070:New Tai Lue • 071:Newari • 072:N’Ko • 073:North Arabic • 074:Numidian • 075:Nushu (Nu Shu) • 076:Ol Chiki • 077:Old Permic • 078:Orkhon • 079:Pahawh Hmong • 080:Palmyrene • 081:Phoenician • 082:Pollard Phonetic • 083:Proto-Elamite • 084:Pyu • 085:Rejang • 086:Rongo Rongo • 087:Samaritan • 088:Satavahana • 089:Saurashtra • 090:Sharada • 091:Siddham • 092:Sorang Sompeng • 093:South Arabian • 094:Soyombo • 095:Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform • 096:Sundanese • 097:Sutton SignWriting • 098:Takri • 099:Tangut • 100:Tengwar • 101:Tifinagh • 102:Tirhuta • 103:Tulu • 104:Turkestani • 105:(Old) Uighur • 106:Vai • 107:Varang Kshiti • 108:Vedic accents • 109:Viet Thai • 110:Visible Speech • 111:Woleai script • 112:Yezidi • 113:Yi extensions
ID: 001
NAME: Ahom
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Tai Ahom
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: historical (possibly a living minority script)
USED FOR (language/family): Ahom, Tai-KCEai, Kam-Tai, Be-Tai, Tai-Sek
USED WHERE: India (A Thai tribe in Assam)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C13th-C19th
ORIGIN: Probably derived from the Brahmi script and akin to the Shan script.
COMMENTS: The Ahom people ruled the Brahmaputra valley in Assam between the C13th to C18th. Ahom was replaced with Assamese in the early C19th.
Efforts are being made to revive the language. http://thaistudies.rsu.ac.th/hum113/project2/ahom_belief.htm
Ahom is still a contemporary liturgical language, used only by Mawsams. Mawhungs and the Mawplangs, the three priestly Ahom classes.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=AHO
http://www.rosettaproject.org/live/search/detailedlanguagerecord?ethnocode=AHO
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ahom.htm
http://www.iitg.ernet.in/rcilts/siamese_as.html
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: http://www.southasiabibliography.de/Bibliography/Tai/tai.html
http://www.uni-hamburg.de/Wiss/FB/10/ChinaS/SOAF/Mitarbeiter/Terwiel/Publikationen.html
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.evertype.com
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ahom.htm
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. P.69. (untranslated text sample only)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 002
NAME: Alpine Scripts
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Lepontic, Rhaetic, Gallic and Venetic, North Italic, Sub-Alpine, North Etruscan
TYPE: Alphabet
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR: Venetic, Rhaeitic, Lepontic, Noric.
USED WHERE: Italy
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C3rd-C1st BC.
ORIGIN: Old Italic, Etruscan
COMMENTS: Influential in devising the Runic script.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.evertype.com/standards/wynnyogh/thorn.html
www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode4.0.0/ch13.pdf
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.veneti.info/english/htme/venetie.htm
http://www.runewebvitki.com/Rune%20Lore.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Bonfante, Larissa. 1996. “The Scripts of Italy”, in Peter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds) The world’s writing systems. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS: In progress
ID: 003
NAME: Anatolian Hieroglyphs
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Luvian, Luwian, Luwiyan, (formerly given incorrectly in this list as "Hittite Hieroglyphs")
TYPE: Logosyllabary
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Luvian, Anatolian, Indo-European
USED WHERE: (Ancient Hittite Empire) Southern Anatolia and Northern Syria.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C10th BC to C7th BC
ORIGIN: Luwian symbols might be independent, though some similarity can be found with the Elamite hieroglyphic script in shape of symbols, and with Babylonian cuneiform in the structure of the script.
COMMENTS: Woodard mentions a cuneiform syllabary (written by professional scribes on clay tablets) and a hieroglyphic syllabary (monumental carved rock inscriptions in Luvian. Alsofor names and titles on seals) (pp.552-555).
Woodard states that this script makes use of logograms from Sumerian and Akkadian.
The corpus of texts are categorized into Old, Middle and New (Neo-Hittite) Scripts.
500 symbols.
Currently being deciphered (Nakanishi)
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/luwian.html
Woodward, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: https://sourceforge.net/projects/hittitefont
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/script/luwia2.html
http://www.ancientscripts.com/luwian.html
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 40.
http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/luvian.pdf
PROPOSAL STATUS: http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3144.pdf
ID: 004
NAME: Aramaic
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Proto-Hebrew
TYPE: Abjad
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Aramaic, Hebrew, Ammonite, Proto-Sinaitic
USED WHERE: Northern Syria and Mesopotamia (Aram was a state in ancient Syria).
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C9th BC to C6th-7th BC.
ORIGIN: Derived from Phoenician.
COMMENTS: This writing was the basis of Eastern alphabets. Aramaic is the parent-script of Early Sogdian, Edessan script, Elymaic script, Hatran script, Hebrew, Kharoshthi, Mandaic script, Nabatean script, Palmyran script, Parthian and the Psalter script.
Contemporary with the Roman Empire, several peoples used varieties of Aramaic script that had become cursive (no comprehensive survey of these “Late Aramaic” scripts has yet been published). These include the Palmyrans, the Nabateans. The Manichean script, as well, belongs in this group (Daniels and Bright, p.499).
Woodard names two scripts from this period, the Aramaic square script and the Syriac Estrangelo script (p. 393).
The other main writing system used for Aramaic was developed by Christian communities: a cursive form known as the Syriac alphabet.
It is still used as a liturgical language by Christian communities in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, and is still spoken by small numbers of people in Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Lebanon and Syria.
Prior to the C7th, the script represents consonantal phonemes only, although four of the letters were also sometimes used to represent certain vowel phonemes. The Aramaic inventory of consonantal phonemes did not exactly match the Phoenician inventory, so some of the letters originally represented two or more phonemes. Diacritic systems were also used to indicate vowels.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodard, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://lexicorient.com/e.o/aramaic.htm
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/aramaic.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.historian.net/files.htm
http://www.peshitta.org/initial/software.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/aramaic.htm
http://www.ancientscripts.com/aramaic.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_alphabet
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. P.42 (untranslated text sample only).
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.499-514.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 005
NAME: Avestan
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Avesta, Pazend, Pazand
TYPE: Alphabet
STATUS: Living Minority Script
USED FOR (language/family): Avestan, Indo-European (Indo-Iranian)
USED WHERE: Iran (Sassanian Persia)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C3rd to C7th
ORIGIN: Modelled on the Pahlavi alphabet of Persia (although greatly enlarged in inventory), which itself was derived from a simplified cursive version of Aramaic.
COMMENTS: Avestan is the language of the Zoroastrian scriptures, from 600 B.C. Zoroastrian.
Living minority script, used in ritual and other hieratic contexts in Zoroastrian communities (numbering approximately 140 000 members in India, Iran and North America).
There are 14 vowels and 33 consonants in the alphabet. Avestan writing is read from right to left. Vowels are not written. *Elaboration of Pahlavi
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
http://www.ancientscripts.com/avestan.html
http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=AVS
Woodard, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.rosettaproject.org/live/search/detailedlanguagerecord?ethnocode=AVS
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Hoffman, K. and B. Forssman. 1996. Avestiche Laut-und Flexionslehre. Innsbruck: Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.iranianlanguages.com/dctr.htm
http://cnes.cla.umn.edu/resources/IranianPages/avesta_fonts.htm
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/avestan.html
http://www.iranchamber.com/scripts/avestan_alphabet.php
http://cnes.cla.umn.edu/resources/IranianPages/avesta_fonts.htm
http://www.iranianlanguages.com/avestan/avestan_abc.htm
http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/idg/iran/avest/avestbs.htm (text samples only)
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. P.44. (untranslated text sample only – regular and cursive Pahlavi)
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 527.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 006
NAME: Aztec pictograms
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Ideographic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Nahuatl, Uto-Aztecan
USED WHERE: by Mexica in Southern Mesoamerica
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C15th to C17th
ORIGIN: Derived from the Mixtec writing system.
COMMENTS: From the Aztec Empire in Mexico that flourished before the Spanish invasion. The Aztecs adopted a writing system that had been used in Central Mexico for at least a thousand years before. This was written on media such as deer-skin and paper codices.
However, when the Aztecs conquered all neighboring states in the early 15th century CE, they burned all their books. And, in turn, after the Conquest, Spanish priests burned innumerable volumes of Aztec codices. Therefore, no pre-Columbian book from Central Mexico has survived. All surviving documents about Aztec writing were composed after the Conquest and contained a mixture of Aztec glyphs and Spanish notes. There are a few codices made before the Conquest from the Puebla region in a somewhat different style known as the ‘international’ Mixteca-Puebla, style. Interestingly, this same style might have been the source of Aztec writing. Ultimately, the Mixteca-Puebla style most likely came from Mixtec writing. (From http://www.ancientscripts.com )
The writing system of the Aztecs is very rudimentary. Its core consists of a set of calendrical signs and a vigesimal number system. Aztec numbers are represented by long sequences of dots. In general, the Aztecs almost exclusively used dots on manuscripts as well as on stone monuments, but the more ancient bar-and-dot system does make rare appearances on carved monuments as well, primarily due to artistic consideration. The dot system, while feasible for calendrical use (since no number will ever exceed 20), was impossible when dealing with accounting, especially since the Aztecs had to record large amounts of tribute frequently demanded from its provinces. The Codex Mendoza, another post-Conquest manuscript, depicted life in Central Mexico around the time of conquest and also contained a section on the tribute exacted by the Aztec Empire. To count items in excess of 20 efficiently, the Aztecs used glyphs for the numbers 20 (a flag), 400 (a feather), and 8000 (a bag of incense). In addition to calendrical and numeric signs, a number of highly pictorial logograms were used to write down personal names, names of places, and historical events. For example, there are many records of the Aztec army conquering other cities documented in the Codex Mendoza. (http://www.ancientscripts.com )
Nahuatl glosses often accompany the glyphs.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html
SECONDARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: http://www.albany.edu/~cr8474/pathfinder.html#aztec
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html
http://history.smsu.edu/jchuchiak/HST%20397---Theme%207--Aztec_writing_system.htm (charts)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 007
NAME: Bagam
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Eghap
TYPE: syllabary
STATUS: Living minority script.
USED FOR (language/family): Mengaka (alternate names: Bagam, Gham, Megaka: Begam), Niger-Congo
USED WHERE: Cameroon. Nigeria.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C19th to current.
ORIGIN: Possibly Bamum. Bagam is an indigenous script.
COMMENTS: 100+ characters. 20 000 speakers of Mengaka. Possible connection of the Bagam numerals to the Bamum numerals. Noted at: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/AMU/amu_chma_26.html
The only known example of the Bagam script is held in the Haddon Library of Cambridge University, deposited by a British military officer who served in Cameroon in the First World War. (http://www.bl.uk/about/policies/endangeredarch/tuchscherer.html )
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=xmg
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://cgm.cs.mcgill.ca/~luc/africa.html
http://www.ziva.org.zw/afrikan.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Tuchscherer, Konrad: The lost script of the Bagam, African Affairs, The Journal of the Royal African Society, London, 1999, 98 (390), 55-77.
Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. Mark Batty Publisher. ISBN: 0972424067.
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 008
NAME: Balinese
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script – liturgical
USED FOR (language/family): Balinese (3+ million speakers), Austronesian
USED WHERE: Indonesia - Bali, Nusapenida, Lombok, Java and Sulawesi.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C11th AD to contemporary (predominately liturgical)
ORIGIN: Descendent of the Brahmic script and close to the Javanese script.
COMMENTS: Also used for writing Kawi (Old Javanese). Some Balinese words are also borrowed from Sanskrit, thus Balinese script is also used to write words from Sanskrit. The Latin-related Tulisan Bali script is also used to write Balinese.
The Balinese script is still in use today, although very few people are familiar with it and its purposes are primarily liturgical. Generally, the Latin alphabet is used instead.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.babadbali.com/aksarabali/alphabet.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balinese_language
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/balinese.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.babadbali.com/aksarabali/balisimbar.htm
http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/asian.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/balinese.htm
http://www.babadbali.com/aksarabali/alphabet.htm (charts)
http://www.babadbali.com/aksarabali/baliunicode-acl1.htm (US Congress library)
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. P.80.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 009
NAME: Balti
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Tibetan Balti script.
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script.
USED FOR (language/family): Baltistan. Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Himalayish, Tibeto-Kanauri, Tibetic, Tibetan, Western
USED WHERE: Baltistan (Baltiyul). Contemporary India (67 000 speakers of Balti language - Jammu and Kashmir) and Pakistan (270 000 speakers of Balti in Pakistan. Primarily northeastern Pakistan: Baltistan District, Skardu, Rondu, Shigar, Khapalu, Kharmang, and Gultari valleys.)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C8th-C16th
ORIGIN: Tibetan script. Hybrid of Arabic and Indian scripts (Nakanishi).
COMMENTS: Related to the Arabic script. Balti is written from right to left horizontally, in the Arabic manner. Contemporary Balti is written with the Persi-Urdu script.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.unicode.org/Public/TEXT/UTR-3.TXT
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bft
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://koshur.org/Linguistic/7.html
http://www.rosettaproject.org/live/search/detailedlanguagerecord?ethnocode=BFT
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: M. Hasnain Sengge Thsering ‘Key Issues in Contemporary Balti Language and Script’.
Backstrom, Peter C. 1992. ‘Balti’. In Peter C. Backstrom and Carla F. Radloff (eds.), Languages of northern areas, 3-27.
Sindi, Ghulam Hyder. 2003. Baltistan: society and language
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue37/anderson/
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. P. 69.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 010
NAME: Bamum
ALTERNATE NAME(S): A-ka-u-ku script
TYPE: Syllabary
STATUS: Living minority script (Nakanishi claims the Bamum script is extinct. However, Konrad Tuchscherer notes claim the script is – “still being taught; many extant texts; community interest high”).
USED FOR (language/family): Bamum (Bamun Bamoun, Bamoum). Niger-Congo.
USED WHERE: Cameroon
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C19th to current.
ORIGIN: Devised by Bamum King Ibrahim Njoya.
COMMENTS: Also referred to as Shü-mon writing (especially by Mafundikwa). A correction from Tuchscherer claims that “Shu-mon is a misnomer; it more correctly refers to an invented language, which can be written using the Bamum script”.
King Njoya created the Bamum script at the age of 25 in 1896. Three versions of six were developed over 30 years. The initial style was logographic, containing 465 signs. There was also a rebus writing version. The final script was syllabic with 83 signs, 10 numbers and 73 syllables.
466 characters.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa. New Jersey: Mark Batty Publisher.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=BAX
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-bamoun.html
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Konrad Tuchscherer heads a “Bamum Script and Archives Project”.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.members.aon.at/africanfonts.at/bamum.htm
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.proel.org/alfabetos/bamun.html (Spanish)
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-bamoun.html (letter sample)
Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa. pp.86-93.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 105.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 011
NAME: Bassa
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Bassa Vah
TYPE: Alphabet
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Bassa (353 000 speakers – at 1991). Niger-Congo.
USED WHERE: Liberia, Sierra Leone.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: ? – currently undergoing revival attempts.
ORIGIN: Indigenous. “Vah was initially the throwing or marking of signs in the natural environment by chewing leaves or carving tree bark” (Mafundikwa, p.123).
COMMENTS: Vah directly translates as “to throw a sign”.
Use of the Vah script allowed Basa people to avoid slave traders. Colonial forces halted use of the script, and the written form of the Bassa language declined almost to extinction (Mafundikwa).
The script was restored to Liberia in 1900 by Dr Thomas Gbianvoodeh Lewis (also known as Dr Flo Darvin Lewis). (Mafundikwa).
Expansion programme underway to adapt Bassa for broadcasting, literature, academic and liturgical domains (Bassa Vah Association). http://www.ie-inc.com/vkarmo/bassa.htm
Found to be actively used among Brazilians and Carribeans of Bassa origin.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa. http://www.rosettaproject.org/live/search/detailedlanguagerecord?ethnocode=BAS
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ie-inc.com/vkarmo/bhist1.htm
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/bassa.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Dalby, David. 1967. A survey of the indigenous scripts of Liberia and Sierra Leone: Vai, Mende, Loma, Kpelle and Bassa. African Language Studies 8: 1-51.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.ie-inc.com/vkarmo/bfont.htm
http://www.xenotypetech.com/osxBassa.html ($19 Bassa ‘language kit’)
http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/african.html (Jason Glavy)
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/bassa.htm
http://www.ie-inc.com/vkarmo/bcont.htm (chart)
http://www.ie-inc.com/vkarmo/orgbassa.htm (script sample)
Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa. pp.124-125.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 012
NAME: Batak
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script. (Nakanishi claims Batak is “seldom used today”).
USED FOR (language/family): Batak Dairi, Batak Karo, Batak Alas-Kluet, Batak Simalungun, Batak Angkola, Batak Toba, Batta, Batak Mandailing. 5 830 000 speakers of modern Batak. Austronesian.
USED WHERE: by the Batak tribe in the northern part of Sumatra, Indonesia
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: Mid C19th to current
ORIGIN: Indigenous - Descended from the Brahmi script by way of the Pallava and Old Kawi scripts.
COMMENTS: Batak is read from left to right but sometimes printed vertically on bamboo.
In most Batak communities, only the datu (priests) are able to read and write the script where it is mainly used for producing calendars and magical texts.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.unicode.org/Public/TEXT/UTR-3.TXT
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/batak.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Uli Kozok, Warisan Leluhur: Sastra lama dan aksara Batak (isbn 979-9023-33-5)
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.hawaii.edu/indolang/surat (created by Dr Uli Kozok - University of Hawaii).
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/batak.htm
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 81.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 013
NAME: Blissymbolics
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Semantography (1965)
TYPE: Ideographic
STATUS: Living minority script – artificial script.
USED FOR (language/family): International auxiliary language.
USED WHERE: International. Used in 33+ countries.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 1949 to current.
ORIGIN: Devised by Charles K. Bliss (1897-1985). It was first applied to the communication of children with physical disabilities by an interdisciplinary team at the Ontario Crippled Children’s Centre (now the Bloorview MacMillan Centre) in 1971. Inspired by Chinese ideograms.
COMMENTS: Mainly used as a form of communication for communication, language and learning difficulties.
Blissymbolics has over 2000 symbols.
The script uses symbol combination for complex concepts. It has a sentence-like structure of usage and English word order.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.blissymbolics.org/
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/blissymbolics.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_symbols
http://home.istar.ca/~bci/intro.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search/102-2324496-6175308?tag=symbolsdotnet&keyword=blissymbolics&mode=blended
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.symbols.net/blissre.htm
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/blissymbolics.htm
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 014
NAME: Box Headed
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Box-Headed Southern script, Vengi Chalukya
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: historical
USED FOR (language/family): Vengi Chalukya, Indo-Aryan
USED WHERE: Central India, examples found in or around Madhya Pradesh, Telugu Nadu and Hyderabad. This script is used in some inscriptions of the Kadambas and Pallavas in the southern region also.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C6th-C11th
ORIGIN: Brahmi script (‘late’ Brahmi)
COMMENTS: The heads of the letters have small squares which resemble small boxes, hence the script used in them is called ‘box-headed’. *see Chalukya
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/iie/four.htm
http://www.indiaprofile.com/religion-culture/buddhisminandhra.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue37/anderson/
http://www.engr.mun.ca/~adluri/telugu/language/script/script1d.html (Figures S7 and S8)
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 68.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 015
NAME: Brahmi
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Indic languages (various Middle Indo-Aryan dialects)
USED WHERE: India (all parts of India except for the northwestern regions, where Kharosthi prevailed).
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: early, middle and late from circa. C3rd BC to C4th AD (created during the Mauryan dynasty, possibly under emperor Aśoka himself).
ORIGIN: Controversial. Theories posit that Brahmi is a derivative of a Semitic prototype, perhaps Phoenician, Aramaic or South Semitic, another theory claiming it is an indigenous Indian invention, often associated with the Indus Valley script. The Semitic theory is more strongly, although not conclusively supported by the available data. Comparisons of the forms of early Brahmi letters with presumed Phoenician or Aramaic prototypes are suggestive of a historical connection, but only about half the characters can be more or less clearly associated with corresponding Semitic letters (Daniels and Bright, p. 378).
COMMENTS: The Brahmi script is a “parent script”, the ancestor of all Indian and many Asian writing systems. The oldest datable records in this script are the rock and pillar inscriptions of the Mauryan emperor Aśoka, from the middle of the C3rd BC.
Written from left to right (although several specimens running from right to left have been found).
Info: http://students.washington.edu/baums/tmp/brahmi-proposal.pdf
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
http://www.ancientscripts.com/brahmi.html
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/brahmi.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.jwajalapa.com/download.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/brahmi.html (charts)
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 68.
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.374-376.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 016
NAME: Buginese
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Bugis, Makassar, Makasarese, Lontara.
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script (at one time the script was extended for use in contracts, trade laws, treaties and maps to cover extensive commercial and maritime activities. Daniels and Bright).
USED FOR (language/family): Buginese, Austronesian
USED WHERE: Southern Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Sumatra - Indonesia.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C14th to contemporary.
ORIGIN: Descendent of Brahmi (eastern-most extension of the Indian scripts). Related to Javanese and bears a resemblance to Tagalog.
COMMENTS: 4 million speakers of Buginese. Also spoken in Sabah, Malaysia. The Buginese was also previously used to write Macassar, Bimanese and Madurese.
The alternate script title of Lontara is named after the palm leaves on which it is often inscribed.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bug
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-bugis.html
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://alibataatpandesal.com/outbox.html
http://www.valdyas.org/conlang.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-bugis.html (charts)
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, p.480.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 81.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 017
NAME: Buthakukye
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Beitha Kukju, Albanian
TYPE: Alphabetic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Albanian, Indo-European
USED WHERE: Formally used in Albania
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: Invented circa1840.
ORIGIN: Indigenous. Possibly derived from Greek cursive.
COMMENTS: Beitha Kukju was named after its inventor.
One of the three Albanian scripts developed during the period of Turkish control.
The Beitha Kukju has 32 characters in the alphabet.
Written from left to right.
Albanian has been written with various scripts since the C15th, including Greek, Cyrillic and a Turkish version of the Arabic script. The modern Albanian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/albanian.htm#beitha
http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=3843
http://66.94.231.168/language/translatedPage?tt=url&text=http%3a//www.proel.org/alfabetos/albanes.html&lp=es_en&.intl=au
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 28.
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-alb-gheg.html
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/albanian.htm#beitha
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 018
NAME: Byblos
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Probably syllabary (‘plethoric’ syllabary – multiple symbols with the same syllabic value but also dubbed “pseudo-hieroglyphic” – Daniels and Bright).
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Semitic language. Unknown. Phoenician. (theory of Dhorme 1946 – this theory is debated)
USED WHERE: Former Phoenician city of Byblos (Gebel), modern Jubayl, Lebanon.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C24th-C15th BC
ORIGIN: Inspired by the Egyptian hieroglyphic system.
COMMENTS: Undeciphered. There have been four significant attempts at decipherment.
80 symbols. ‘pseudo-hieroglyphic’. 20 signs borrowed from Egyptian hieroglyphic script.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/byblos.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Coulmas, Florian. 1989. The Writing Systems of the World. Oxford: Basil Blackman.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://text.farmsresearch.com/display.php?table=transcripts&id=36
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Brian E. Colless, 'The syllabic inscriptions of Byblos: miscellaneous texts', ABR-NAHRAIN 34 (1996-1997) 42-57
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/byblos.html (tablet image)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 019
NAME: Carian
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Alphabetic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Carian, Indo-European, Anatolian
USED WHERE: Formally in Caria, West Anatolia, modern Southwest Asia and historically by Carians in Egypt, serving as mercenaries under Psammetichus I or II (Daniels and Bright, p.285).
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 650 BC
ORIGIN: Common features with Hittite and Luwian. Possibly West Semitic.
Daniels and Bright claim: the inscriptions “include characters which formally recall signs of the proto-Greek alphabet and also of the Cretan alphabet and the Cypriote syllabary but they also contain several signs unparalleled among later ancient Greek writing systems” p. 285.
COMMENTS: Carian is a largely undeciphered script (despite bilingual inscriptions with Egyptian hieroglyphic equivalents for Carian signs). The current description is only provisional.
45 signs with variants.
Written both from right to left and left to right.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/saqqara/late/carian.html
Woodard, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.leidenuniv.nl/nino/aeb93/aeb93_4.html
http://www.rosettaproject.org/live/search/detailedlanguagerecord?ethnocode=XCAR
http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/chron/chron3.html#650
http://www.crystalinks.com/asiaminor.html
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Michael Meier-Brügger. 1982. Carian inscriptions
Kammerzell, Frank, Studien zu Sprache und Geschichte der Karer in Ägypten, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 1993 = Göttinger Orientforschungen. IV. Reihe: Ägypten, 27. (17 x 24 cm; XV, 251 p., fig., ill.). ISBN 3-447-03411-4.
Gosline, Sheldon Lee, Quarry, Setting and Team Marks: The Carian Connection, Journal of Ancient Civilizations, Changchun 13 (1998), 59-82.
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 286.
http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/carian.pdf
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/saqqara/late/carian.html (tablet images)
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~artsfx/notes3.html (tablet image - very poor quality)
PROPOSAL STATUS: Approved. http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3020.pdf
ID: 020
NAME: Chakma
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Ojhopath (according to the wikipedia)
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script.
USED FOR (language/family): Chakma, Indo-European (560 000 speakers)
USED WHERE: India and Eastern Bangladesh (the Chittagong hills)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME:
ORIGIN: The Chakma script has similarities with Sanskrit and Burmese.
COMMENTS: Chakma language has close links with Pali, Assamese and Bengali. 260 000 speakers. Script used for liturgical purposes, preserved in palm leaves. Although many elderly Chakma still sign their names in the Chakma script, most Chakma youths no longer use the script. Agar Tara is their old scripture which appears to be a version of Buddhist scripture, Tripitak in broken Pali. The Tara is used extensively on ceremonial occasions like marriages, funerals, etc. The Chakmas also recount their history in ballads called Genkhuli. Chakma is now usually written in Bengali letters.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.pbm-cht.org/indigenous_people.html
http://www.webindia123.com/Mizoram/People/people2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakma
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 69. http://www.evertype.com/standards/tai/chakma.pdf#search='chakma' (Michael Everson)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 021
NAME: Chalukya
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Box-Headed script, Vengi-Chalukya
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family):
USED WHERE: South Asia
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME:
ORIGIN:
COMMENTS:
PRIMARY REFERENCES:
SECONDARY REFERENCES:
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 022
NAME: Cham
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Akhar Thrah
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script.
USED FOR (language/family): (especially Eastern) Cham, Austonesian (230 000 speakers)
USED WHERE: (central and southern) Vietnam and Cambodia. (perhaps in some overseas communites – Australia, US).
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 1000 AD to current
ORIGIN: Brahmi-derived script.
COMMENTS: 75 characters.
There are two main varieties of Cham - Western Cham, spoken in Cambodia (150 000 speakers), and Eastern Cham, spoken in Vietnam (86 000 speakers). Speakers of the former tend to use the Arabic alphabet, while some speakers of the latter still use the Cham alphabet. During the French colonial period, both Cham communities had to use the Latin alphabet.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/cham.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Blood, Doris E. 1987. Cham script in a revival movement. In Bloome, David (editor). 1987. Literacy and schooling. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/asian.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 80.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 023
NAME: Chinook
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Chinook shorthand, Wawa writing, Duployan shorthand
TYPE: Alphabet
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Chinook pidgin (in 1875 spoken by an estimated 100,000 people along the west coast from Oregon to Alaska).
USED WHERE: Interior BC
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 1890-1920s (very few modern speakers)
ORIGIN: duploye
COMMENTS: Fr. Jean-Marie Raphael LeJeune and Bishop Paul Durieu are credited with the adaptation of Duployan shorthand to Chinook jargon.
As a means of bringing literacy to Aboriginal people, Catholic missionaries in the late 1800s developed a phonetic shorthand that could accurately represent the jargon.
19th-century newsletter called the Kamloops Wawa mostly written in the Chinook shorthand. The Wawa (Chinook for chat) was published in Kamloops, BC, between 1891 and 1923. It was a multi-lingual publication written in English, French and Chinook. At one stage, Wawa had a circulation of 3000 at one stage, with an audience as far as Quebec and France.
The Wawa featured both the longhand and the Duployan shorthand version of Chinook Jargon, with English and sometimes French translations, and also translations into other Aboriginal languages.
Original copies were mimeographed, then typewritten.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://library.usask.ca/spcoll/wawa/wawa.html
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/omnigator/docs/i18n.ltm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/chinook-and-shorthand.pdf
http://www.michaelkluckner.com/bciw2spahomin.html
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://library.usask.ca/spcoll/wawa/wawa.html
(With assistance from Dave Robertson, U. of Victoria, Canada. ddr11@columbia.edu)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 024
NAME: Chola
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Tamil, Dravidian
USED WHERE: (medieval) Southern India (Chola dynasty)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C9th to C12th
ORIGIN: Dravidian
COMMENTS: One of the Grantha scripts (Nakanishi)
(website claiming computer recognition of the Chola script) http://www.cmi.ac.in/gift/Tamil/tami_cholaperiod.htm
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.chennaimuseum.org/draft/gallery/01/04/inscrip2.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.chennaimuseum.org/draft/gallery/01/04/inscrip2.htm (photo of slab inscription)
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 68.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 025
NAME: Cirth
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Runes, Angertha
TYPE: Alphabet
STATUS: Artificial script
USED FOR (language/family): Khuzdul, Sindarin, English, and other languages.
USED WHERE: Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and other novels.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: to contemporary (scholars and enthusiasts)
ORIGIN: According to the novels, Cirth is based on Futhark. Cirth is a Rune-type alphabet.
COMMENTS: Invented by author and linguist J.R.R. Tolkein.
The Cirth were written from left to right.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n1642/n1642.htm
www.evertype.com/standards/csur/cirth.html
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirth
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/cirth/
http://www.acondia.com/fonts/cirth/
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.evertype.com/standards/csur/cirth.html
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 026
NAME: Cypro-Minoan
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Logosyllabary
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Eteo-Cretan
USED WHERE: Cyprus
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa 1500-1200 BC
ORIGIN: “Cypro-Minoan” reflects the possibilities that this script is both derivative from a Minoan script and ancestral to the Cypriote script (Daniels and Bright, p.125).
Possibly developed from the Linear A or Linear B scripts (Cypro-Minoan contains some symbols from the latter script).
COMMENTS: Normally written from right to left in horizontal lines. Word breaks not indicated.
Cypro-Minoan has not yet been translated. Example found on the Phaistos disk. Sample corpus meagre : 8 clay tablets, 83 small clay balls, 6 clay cylinders and numerous inscribed artefacts bearing just one or a few signs, on seals, gold rings, potteries, etc. Variation in sign design.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodard, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/cypriot.htm
http://www.ancientscripts.com/print.cgi?f=cypriot.html
http://www.anistor.co.hol.gr/english/enback/p042.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/cypriot.htm
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 027
NAME: Dai Bopomofo
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Bopomofo, Chu Yin, Zhuyin, Zhuyin-Zimu (“phonetic alphabet”) and Zhuyin-Fuhao (“phonetic symbols”)
TYPE: syllabary
STATUS: Living minority script.
USED FOR (language/family): Chinese, primarily Mandarin, although it is an ancillary system. Bopomofo is the primary writing system for Aboriginal languages in Taiwan.
USED WHERE: Formally it was mainly used in China. Contemporarily, it is taught in China, Taiwan and the US. It is mainly used in Taiwan.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 1913 to present.
ORIGIN: based on Chinese characters (Hanzi)
COMMENTS: The Bopomofo were developed as part of a populist literacy campaign following the 1911 revolution; thus they are acceptable to all
branches of modern Chinese culture, although in the People’s Republic of China their
function has been largely taken over by the Pinyin romanization system.
Bopomofo is rendered left to right in horizontal text, but also commonly appears in vertical text.
The system uses 37 special symbols to represent the Mandarin sounds: 21 consonants and 16 vowels.
Hanyu Pinyin is becoming a global standard for phonetic Chinese.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.asiafinest.com/
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=2667
anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2213.pdf
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.taigu-mac.com/
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 028
NAME: Egyptian hieroglyphs
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Logosyllabary
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family):
USED WHERE: Egypt
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: Middle Kingdom, 2000 BC
ORIGIN:
COMMENTS: http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3237.pdf
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Gardiner, http://unicode.org/~rscook/egypt/20051024/05311-EgyptianHieroglyph.pdf
SECONDARY REFERENCES:
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: yes.
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS: Submitted
ID: 029
NAME: Egyptian Transliteration Chars. (Latin script)
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Alphabetic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family):
USED WHERE:
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME:
ORIGIN:
COMMENTS:
PRIMARY REFERENCES:
SECONDARY REFERENCES:
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS: Approved. http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2241.pdf
ID: 030
NAME: Elbasan
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Elbassan, Albanian
TYPE: Alphabetic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Albanian, Indo-European
USED WHERE: Central and Southern Albania, the cities of Elbasan and Berat.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C18th (not widely used)
ORIGIN: Indigenous. Possibly based on the Greek script. The Elbasan script is said to have been created by an Albanian teacher named Theodor in the second half of the 18th century.
COMMENTS: 53 characters in the Elbasan script.
Elbasan was named after the central Albanian city of Elbasan, where the script was used (also used in the south of Albania, in Berat).
This script was only briefly used, in conjunction with another minority indigenous script, Beitha Kukju.
Albanian has most commonly been written using a Greek, Latin or Arabic script.
PRIMARY REFERENCES:
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://66.94.231.168/language/translatedPage?tt=url&text=http%3a//www.proel.org/alfabetos/albanes.html&lp=es_en&.intl=au
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-alb-gheg.html
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/albanian.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/albanian.htm
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 031
NAME: Elymaic
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abjad
STATUS: Historical.
USED FOR (language/family): Elymaic
USED WHERE: the Iranian province of Elymais, ancient Elam
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 250BC to C5th AD
ORIGIN: Derived from Aramaic.
COMMENTS: Similar to the Mandean script.
Daniels and Bright – “The Elymaic script, though poorly attested, is the chief predecessor of the adaptations of the Aramaic script used to write a range of Iranian dialects in the ensuing Sassanid period and later”, p. 98.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=elymaic-s
http://www.ontopia.net/omnigator/models/topic_complete.jsp?tm=i18n.ltm&id=elymaic-s
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://developer.apple.com/fonts/LastResortFont/LastResortTable.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 032
NAME: Ersu Shaba
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Shaba
TYPE: Ideographic
STATUS: Living minority script (liturgical)
USED FOR (language/family): Ersu (also known as Duoxu, Erhsu although these may be dialects), Qiangic Branch of Tiberto-Burman
USED WHERE: China, Tibet
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: living minority script
ORIGIN: Li Jingsheng states that Ersu Shaba could be related to Naxi Dongba, in which the color seems to play an outstanding function.
COMMENTS: A picture writing system, in which the color used is reported to play a role in expressing meaning, used in religious ceremonies. Shaba is also the name of the religion.
A Shaba is a professional religious practitioner who recites their scriptures at weddings, funerals, when treating the sick, in divination and fortune-telling, oral literature, songs.
About 10 people can read the Shaba script. (ethnologue)
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ers
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.chinaviva.com/eng/Ersu/ersuintro.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Sun Hongkai. 1982. Ersu Shaba Pictorial Writing. Minzu Yuwen 1982.6.
Li Jingsheng. - Naxi Dongba wen de chuangzhi ji qita () In Dongba wenhua yanjiu suo lunwen xuanji (Chosen Articles of the Department of Researches of the Dongba Culture). Yunnan Nationalities Press. Kunming. 2003
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 033
NAME: Fraser
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Fraser Alphabet, Lisu Alphabet
TYPE: (artificial) alphabet
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Lisu, Tibeto-Burman (spoken by about 657,000 people in Myanmar, India, Thailand and in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan)
USED WHERE: China, Myanmar, India and Thailand
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 1915 to present
ORIGIN: Derived from the Latin alphabet. Devised by James Ostram Fraser.
COMMENTS: In 1992 the Chinese government recognised the Fraser alphabet as the official script for the Lisu language and has encouraged its use since then.
James Ostram Fraser was a Scottish missionary who lived and worked with the Lisu people in China from 1910 to 1949. During his time in China, Fraser learnt to speak Chinese and Lisu and produced a Lisu translation of the New Testament using his alphabet. He also devised a system of muscial notation for the Lisu to use.
The Fraser alphabet consists of uppercase Latin letters, some of which are rotated or inverted.
There is also a “New Lisu script”, devised by Chinese linguists, and based on Pinyin.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisu
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/fraser.htm
http://faculty.washington.edu/zhandel/Handel_Lisu.pdf
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Fraser, J. O. 1922. Handbook of the Lisu (Yawyin) Language. Rangoon: Government Printing House.
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.proel.org/mundo/lisu.htm
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 034
NAME: Grantha
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Alphabetic.
STATUS: Living minority script.
USED FOR (language/family): Sanskrit, (also used historically for Tamil-Sanskrit Manipravalam), Indo-European.
USED WHERE: South India
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C6th-C12th (Wikipedia claims Grantha was used until the C19th and widespread use of Devangari).
ORIGIN: Descended from the Brahmi script.
COMMENTS: The Grantha script is one of the earliest Southern script to emerge from the Brahmi script. It further evolved to the Tamil and the Malayalam scripts. It also greatly influenced the Sinhala script of Sri Lanka.
In modern times, the Grantha script is mainly used in certain religious contexts by orthodox Tamil-speaking Hindus. Most notably, they use the script to write a child's name for the first time during the nāmikarṇa naming ceremony, and to write the Sanskrit portion of wedding invitations and announcements of a person's last rites. It is also used in many religious almanacs to print traditional formulaic summaries of the coming year. (wikipedia).
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/grantha.html
SECONDARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: James Nye * check out
FONTS AVAILABLE: (Contact IIT Madras: http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/ind_fonts.html )
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/grantha.html (basic Grantha script)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 035
NAME: HamNoSys
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Hamburg Sign Language Notation System
TYPE: Ideographic
STATUS: Living minority script - artificial
USED FOR (language/family): It was designed to fit a research setting and should be applicable to every sign language in the world.
USED WHERE: The system is used, for example, in research institutions in Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Germany.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: publicly available since 1989
ORIGIN: developed by the Centre for German Sign Language
COMMENTS: It consists of about 200 symbols covering the parameters of handshape, hand configuration, location and movement.
The symbols are as iconic as possible and are easily recognizable. Hamnosys describes the handshapes, orientations, body locations and movements of signs.
HamNoSys is still being improved and extended all the time as the need arises.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/Projects/HamNoSys.html
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.signwriting.org/forums/linguistics/ling007.html
http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/comp/graduates/archives/honours/2003/scott-shuyi/shuyi-scott-final-report.pdf.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Prillwitz, Siegmund et al: HamNoSys. Version 2.0; Hamburg Notation System for Sign Languages. An introductory guide. (International Studies on Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf; 5) Hamburg : Signum 1989 - 46 p.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/Projects/HamNoSys.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/Projekte/HamNoSys/HamNoSysErklaerungen/englisch/04Handshapes.html
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 036
NAME: Hatran
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Armazi, North Mesopotamian Aramaic
TYPE: Abjad.
STATUS: Historical.
USED FOR (language/family): Hatran (dialect of ‘Middle’ Aramaic), and related North Mesopotamian Aramaic dialects, Proto-Sinaitic.
USED WHERE: Ancient Hatra (Former Parthian Iranian province, Modern Iraq), North Mesopotamia, Armenia and Georgia.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 50 BC to 250 AD
ORIGIN: Descended from Aramaic.
COMMENTS: Attested mainly in inscriptions. Armenia and Geirgia (Armazi) reflect the Hatran script.
Corpora of about 600 texts.
The longest of the engraved inscriptions does not have more than 14 lines.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Aggoula, Basile. 1991. Inventaire des inscriptions hatréennes. Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.
Beyer, Klaus. 1998. Die aramäischen Inschriften aus Assur, Hatra und dem übrigen Ostmesopotamien: (datiert 44 v. Chr. bis 238 n. Chr.). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Woodward, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/omnigator/models/topic_complete.jsp?tm=i18n.ltm&id=hatran-s
http://anubis.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2311.pdf
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/ANE/ANE-DIGEST/1999/v1999.n136
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://developer.apple.com/fonts/LastResortFont/LastResortTable.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/cgi-bin/showsubtexts.cgi?keyword=43201
(with assistance from David Taylor, U. Oxford david.taylor@orinst.ox.ac.uk)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 037
NAME: Hungarian Runic
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Székely rovásírás, Rovás, Old Hungarian
TYPE: Alphabetic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Hungarian (Magyar), Finno-Ugric
USED WHERE: by the Magyars,
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C10th to circa C19th (rare)
ORIGIN: Derive from the Orkhon or Turkic Runic script, Kök Turki script in Europe.
COMMENTS: This script remained in use in remote regions of Transylvania until the late 1850s. A very similar script was used by the Huns. This script has significant cultural importance to Hungarian people (especially Hungarians of Transylvania).
Hungarian Runes were usually written on sticks in boustrophedon style (alternating direction right to left then left to right). (omniglot)
The runes include separate letters for all the phonemes of Hungarian and are in this respect better suited to written Hungarian than the Latin alphabet. (omniglot)
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Hungarian_script
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hungarian_runes.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: (Runic font maker) http://www.dsuper.net/~elehoczk/rfonts.htm
http://fang.fa.gau.hu/~heves/runic.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hungarian_runes.htm
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 28.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 038
NAME: Iberian
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Paleo-Hispanic
TYPE: Alphabetic (partly syllabic)
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Iberian and Lusitanian, non-Indo-European. Proto-Canaanite (Ancient Scripts). Also Celtiberian, Indo-European (Daniels and Bright).
USED WHERE: Discovered on the Iberian peninsula and Southern France. Used on the Iberian peninsula before it became a territory of the Roman Empire. Used by the Iberi people.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C4th BC to C3rd BC
ORIGIN: Possibly derived from the Punic and Greek alphabets.
COMMENTS: There were two version of the Iberian script - one used in southern France, Catalonia and Castile, the other used in Andalusia and Mursia. The main difference between these versions is the shapes of the glyphs and direction in which they were written. The northern version was written from right to left, while the southern version was written from left to right. (omniglot)
A modified version of the Northern Iberian script was used to write Celtiberian, a Celtic language. (omniglot)
Currently being deciphered (Nakanishi).
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/iberian.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/iberian.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/alley/1557/fonts1.htm
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.crystalinks.com/iberian.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 109.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 27.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 039
NAME: Indus Valley Script
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Logosyllabic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Unknown (writing of the Indus culture)
USED WHERE: Indus Valley (now Pakistan)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: Circa C25th BC (Nakanishi).
The Indus Valley civilization ended circa C17th BC.
ORIGIN: Linked with the Sumerian script, Hittite script and the Rongo-Rongo script. May share similarities with these scripts.
COMMENTS: Undeciphered. The main corpus of writing dated from the Indus Civilization is in the form of some two thousand inscribed seals in good, legible conditions. * don’t spend too much time on this one
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://zoetoft.members.beeb.net/Scripts/Specificscripts/Indusvalley.htm
http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/script/indus.html
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/script/indus.jpg (image of inscriptions)
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 40.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 040
NAME: Javanese
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Tjarakan, Carakan
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Javanese (75 800 000 speakers of modern Javanese), Malaysia (300 000 speakers), Singapore (800 speakers), Austronesian. Also used for Tengger.
USED WHERE: Java, Bali and Suriname. Possibly used in New Caledonia.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C17th to contemporary minority usage.
Used in Java after the Majapahit dynasty.
ORIGIN: Descended from the Brahmi script.
COMMENTS: Javanese has also used in the past to write Balinese and Sudanese. Javanese has also been written with the Pallava alphabet, the Kawi alphabet, in pégon or gundil (versions of Arabic). Javanese has been supplanted by use of the Latin alphabet although Javanese is still is use in ceremonial domains.
Ethnologue mentions that people who speak the Osing language (Java and Bali) “have their own script, which is a modified Javanese script”.
20 consonants and an inherent vowel.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
www.ethnologue.com
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/javanese.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/asian.html (Jason Glavy)
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 478.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 80.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 041
NAME: Jurchin
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Jurchi, Jurchen, Southern Tungusic
TYPE: Ideographic system
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Jurchin, Sinitic
USED WHERE: Northern China, East Asia
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C12th-C16th (arose during the Golden Empire, Jin 1115-1234)
ORIGIN: Siniform script, the form of Jurchin characters are based on those in the Kitan Large script, both borrowing from the Chinese writing system.
COMMENTS: Jurchin was created by Wanyan Xiyin in 1120 (Jurchin “large script”) and officially introduced in 1145.
According to the Ming Sino-Jurchen glossary, the Jurchen script contains 720 characters.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/jurchen.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/omnigator/models/topic_complete.jsp?tm=i18n.ltm&id=jurchin-s
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/asian.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/jurchen.html
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/jurchen.htm
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, p.235-237.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 042
NAME: Kaithi
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Mithilakshar
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Near Modern
USED FOR (language/family): Maithili (Maitli, Maitili, Methli, Tirahuta, Bihari, Tirhuti, Tirhutia, Apabhramsa), Indo-European
USED WHERE: (by the Kayasthas) North India (possibly Nepal)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C19th
ORIGIN: Similar script to Syloti Nagri. Resembles the Gujarati script (Nakanishi).
COMMENTS: The original writing for the Bihari language in central India. *see Tirahuta.
Magahi, Maithili and Bhojpuri scripts of Bihar are variations of the Kaithi script.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ethnologue.com/
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/WG2/docs/n2592
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Grierson, G.A. 1899. A Handbook to the Kaithi Character, 2nd. edition. Calcutta.
FONTS AVAILABLE: developer.apple.com/fonts/LastResortFont/LastResortTable.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/WG2/docs/n2592 (single characters)
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 68.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 043
NAME: Kayah Li
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Karen branch of Sino-Tibetan Western (language and people also known as Kayah, Karenni, Karennyi, Red Karen, Yang Daeng or Karieng Daeng. 210 000 modern speakers of these languages).
USED WHERE: Kayah and Karen states of Myanmar
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: ? to current
ORIGIN:
COMMENTS:
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kayahli.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: David B Solnit, 1997. Eastern Kayah Li : grammar, texts, glossary. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kayahli.htm
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.evertype.com/standards/tai/kayah-li.pdf
PROPOSAL STATUS: http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3038.pdf
ID: 044
NAME: Kawi
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Old Javanese
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Historical (possibly living minority – used by scholars and in in literary domains)
USED FOR (language/family): Javanese, Austronesian
USED WHERE: Java, Bali and Sumatra in Indonesia
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C8th to C17th
ORIGIN: Based on the Pallava script, descended from Brahmi.
COMMENTS: Writing direction is left to right. Kawi was written on palm leaves, ‘lontar’.
The Kawi alphabet became the basis of the current Javanese orthography.
The transition from Kawi into Javanese during the 13th century BCE was more stylistic than structural. Only the visual composition of the script changed. The way the script worked remained unchanged.
‘Kawi’ means ‘language of the poets’.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/javanese.html
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=kawi
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.gamelanhuis.nl/Links/body_links.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.georgenash.freeserve.co.uk/indon.html (inscription, Stone III)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 045
NAME: Khamti
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Khamti, Sino-Tibetan
USED WHERE: Myanmar
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME:
ORIGIN:
COMMENTS: Lik Tai- current script?
PRIMARY REFERENCES:
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=KHT
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.evertype.com/standards/tai/khamti.pdf
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 046
NAME: Kharosthi
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Middle Indo-Aryan “Prakrit” dialects, specifically linked to the Prakrit dialect of Gandhari, Indo-European
USED WHERE: Modern-day northern Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan with some examples found in India.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C5th-C3rd BC to C4th AD
ORIGIN: Contemporarily with Brahmi. Kharosthi slightly older than Brahmi, according to Daniels and Bright.
Probably derived from Aramaic, the large majority of the characters can be readily connected with the corresponding Aramaic letters. Furthermore, Kharosthi arose in the western reaches of India which from the late C16th BC were under the control of the Achaemenian Empire, where Aramaic was widely used.
COMMENTS: Structurally, the Kharosthi and the Brahmi are nearly identical.
Kharosthi was essentially a regional script only, and died out in ancient times, leaving no modern descendants.
Written from right to left. Had a decidedly cursive look (Daniels and Bright, p. 375).
Daniels and Bright, p. 376 – “Certain documents, as yet poorly understood, from the northern Silk Route oases appear to be in local derivatives of Kharosthi, possibly as late as the C17th; but other than this, Kharosthi died out without any survivals, and unlike Brahmi did not undergo any radical changes in form during the five centuries or so in which it was in wide use”.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/kharosthi.html
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kharosthi.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/software.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/kharosthi.html
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 42.
Encoded: http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2732.pdf
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., 1996. The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 374-376.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 047
NAME: Khotanese
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Turkmenistan Brahmic
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Khotanese (also known as Saka)
USED WHERE: Ancient Khotan in central Asia.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME:
ORIGIN: variant of Brahmi. Within the Geneology of the Gupta scripts (Nakanishi).
COMMENTS:
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.athenapub.com/9khotan1.htm http://www.unicode.org/unicode/standard/unsupported.html
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 96.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 048
NAME: Kitan Large Script
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Khitan, Liao
TYPE: Ideographic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Kitan, an Altaic language
USED WHERE: Manchuria, Northern China. The writing of the Liao Empire.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 920-1191
ORIGIN: Chinese script, Sinitic. Some logograms are taken directly from Chinese while others cannot be identified with any Chinese sign (Daniels and Bright, p. 230).
The Kitan Small script was inspired by the Uighur alphabet (omniglot).
COMMENTS: written in vertical lines from right to left.
Large script and small script styles, used concurrently.
Some logograms were later borrowed into the Jurchin scripts.
It is possible that the large script also had ideograms for grammatical functions, perhaps syllabograms.
The script evolved during the Liao Empire (916-1125) and survived the fall of this Empire.
The Jurchins wrote in this script until 1191, when it was suppressed by an imperial order.
Nakanishi claims the Kitan script is undeciphered (Nakanishi, p. 96).
Daniels and Bright state: “more monuments would be necessary for the fuller decipherment of this system”, p. 230.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/khitan.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/khitan.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: developer.apple.com/fonts/LastResortFont/LastResortTable.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/khitan.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.231-2.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 96.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 049
NAME: Kitan Small Script
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Khitan
TYPE: Ideographic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR: Kitan, an Altaic language.
USED WHERE: once used in East Asia, Manchuria.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 916 to 1191 during the Kitan dynasty
ORIGIN: Reputedly created by the Khitan scholar Diela, who was inspired by the Uighur alphabet.
COMMENTS: This script consists of 370 characters.
Used in parallel with the Kitan Large Script.
The two systems did not seem to share any signs in common at all, and ways in which signs were combined and assembled were quite different as well.
Parts of the Kitan scripts were eventually adopted into the Jurchen script.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/khitan.html
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=kitan-s
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/khitan.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Fengzhu, Liu. 1999. Seventy years of Khitan Small Script studies. In Writing in the Altaic World (eds) Juha Janhunen and Volker Rybatzki. pp.159-170.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://developer.apple.com/textfonts/LastResortFont/LastResortTable.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/khitan.html
PROPOSAL STATUS: NO
ID: 050
NAME: Kpelle
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Syllabary
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Kpelle, a member of Mande group of Niger-Congo
USED WHERE: Liberia (today 490 000 speakers) and Guinea (today 300 000 speakers)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: During the 1930s-40s.
ORIGIN: The Kpelle syllabary was invented during the 1930s by Chief Gbili of Sanoyea, Liberia.
COMMENTS: 88 graphemes in Kpelle. Today, Kpelle is written using the Latin alphabet.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kpelle.htm BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Dalby, David. 1967. A survey of the indigenous scripts of Liberia and Sierra Leone: Vai, Mende, Loma, Kpelle and Bassa. African Language Studies 8:1-51.
Stone, Ruth M. 1990. Ingenious invention: the indigenous Kpelle script in the late twentieth century. Liberian Studies Journal 15(2): 135-144.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/african.html (Jason Glavy)
http://www.worldlanguage.com/Indonesian/Languages/Kpelle.htm
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa. pp.80-81.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 051
NAME: Lahnda
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Lahanda, Jatki script
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Near Modern
USED FOR (language/family): Lahnda (also called Jatki, or Western Punjabi), Indo-Aryan
USED WHERE: Pakistan and (northwestern) India.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C16th (estimate based on Nakanishi notes)
ORIGIN: The original writing for Punjabi and Sindhi.
COMMENTS: Used by Hindu people, Muslim people generally write Lahnda using Urdu script.
Nakanishi quotes: “It is convenient, with only one fault, it is seldom legible to anyone except the original writer” (p.50). The Gurmukhi script was an improvement to the Lahnda script, with reference to the Sanskrit system in order to give exact renderings of the Sikh scriptures.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.travelphrases.info/gallery/Fonts_Urdu.html
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 44.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 052
NAME: Lanna
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Old Xishuangbanna Dai, Dham, Yuan
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Tai Lue, Khün and Kam Mueang (Gam Muang) (also Old Lao).
USED WHERE: Thailand
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C13th to current
ORIGIN: Descendant of Brahmi. From the Mon script.
COMMENTS: 100 000 speaks of Khün for which Lanna is the sole script in use.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=PCUnicodeDocs&highlight=#d972dd55 (Unicode proposal)
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=lanna
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=PCUnicodeDocs&highlight=#d972dd55
Being encoded now.
SCRIPT SAMPLE:
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 053
NAME: Lepcha
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Róng
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Lepcha (Róng-Ríng) 65 000 speakers, Tibeto-Burman.
USED WHERE: Sikkim (lies between India and China) Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal and Kalimpong, and also in Nepal and Bhutan.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C17th to current
ORIGIN: Invented by the Lepcha scholar Thikúng Men Salóng in 1720, possibly inspired by Buddhist missionaries (omniglot). Daniels and Bright attribute authorship to Raja Phyag-rdor-rnam-rgyal of the Tibetan dynasty in Sikkim, p. 436.
Based on Tibetan writing with some influence from Burmese script. Exhibits some Chinese influence in that it was formally written in columns from right to left.
COMMENTS: Today the Lepcha script is used in newspapers, magazines, textbooks, collections of poetry, prose and plays.
Lepcha is written from left to right with spaces between words.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/lepcha.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: http://www.lepcha.info
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/asian.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 437.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 69.
PROPOSAL STATUS: Approved. http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/n2947r-lepcha.pdf
ID: 054
NAME: Linear A
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Cretan script
TYPE: Logosyllabary
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Eteo-Cretan/Minoan (still to be identified)
USED WHERE: by the Minoans of Crete
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C18th-C12th BC
ORIGIN: Indigenous. Linear B and Cypriot bear some similarities.
COMMENTS: Undeciphered. The media where the hieroglyphic inscriptions appeared are mostly clay sealstones. About 90 symbols.
Linear A was written in horizontal lines running from left to right, and words are sometimes separated by word dividers.
Corpus of small clay tablets which were probably used for keeping records of transactions.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/lineara.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/lineara.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/fonts/
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/lineara.htm
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 055
NAME: Loma
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Syllabary
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Loma (141 800 speakers), Niger-Congo
USED WHERE: Loffa County, northwest of Liberia
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 1930s-40s.
ORIGIN: The Loma syllabary was invented during the 1930s by Wido Zobo of Boneketa, Liberia (Mafundikwa and Omniglot). Similar to other syllabaries in the Mende family of writing systems.
COMMENTS: 185 symbols.
Written from left to right in horizontal lines.
Mostly replaced by the Latin alphabet.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/loma.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/african.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/loma.htm
Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa. pp. 77-79.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 056
NAME: Lycian
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Alphabet
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Lycian, Indo-European
USED WHERE: Western Anatolia
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C6th BC to C2th BC
ORIGIN: borrowed from a Doric variant of the archaic Greek script. More than 80% of the letters can be traced to their Greek prototype. The remaining symbols are either original creations or, less probably, from other writing systems. Resemblance to Luvian (Daniels and Bright, p. 281).
COMMENTS: 29 signs – 6 voewls and 23 consonants and semivowels.
Written left to right.
Use of word dividers is frequent, but by no means consistent.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/n2939-lycian.pdf
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodward, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_language.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.rdg.ac.uk/Classics/download/ (for Macintosh)
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_language.htm
http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/n2939-lycian.pdf
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 283-4.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 42.
PROPOSAL STATUS: Approved. http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3019.pdf
ID: 057
NAME: Lydian
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Alphabet
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Lydian, Indo-European
USED WHERE: Western Anatolia
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C5th BC to C3rd BC
ORIGIN: Related to the Greek alphabet.
COMMENTS: Most examples of Lydian have been found in and around Sardis, the capital of ancient Lydia.
Lydian has 26 symbols, 16 can be traced to a Greek model and the others are local additions. Daniels and Bright note the symbol for “f” shares a remarkable resemblance with the Etruscan alphabet.
Written from right to left with a few inscriptions of left to right. Later texts show exclusively right to left. Use of word dividers is variable.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/n2940-lydian.pdf
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodward, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=lydian-s
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.myfonts.com:8080/fonts/agfa/lydian-mt
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 283-285.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 42.
PROPOSAL STATUS: Approved. http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3019.pdf
ID: 058
NAME: Mandaic
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abjad
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Mandaic ‘Late Aramaic’, Semitic (Classical Mandaic is a direct ancestor of Modern Mandaic. Also the liturgical language used by followers of the Mandaean religion.)
USED WHERE: Iran (approximately 1000 speakers of modern Mandaic)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 250BC to current minority liturgical.
ORIGIN: Derived from Aramaic.
COMMENTS: Mandaic is still used by a Gnostic group in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere (Daniels and Bright, p. 499).
22 letters in Mandaic. Written from right to left.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodward, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=MYZ
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=mandaic-s
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mandaic.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: http://www.mandaeanworld.com/alphabet.html
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.mandaeanworld.com/alphabet.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mandaic.htm
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.511-12.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 059
NAME: Manichaean
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Alphabet
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Iranian languages Middle Persian, Parthian, and Sogdian, Bactrian as well as in the Turkic language Uigur.
USED WHERE: Iran, Turkey.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: possibly invented by Mani (AD 216-277), the founder of Manichaeism (Nakanishi). Daniels and Bright claim it is probably older, p. 530.
ORIGIN: Derived from Aramaic, evolved from Syriac Estrangelo.
COMMENTS: “Late Aramaic” script.
Liturgical use for the Manichaean religion as well as Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, Bactrian, Turkish, and Tokharian.
Script is written from right to left.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/manichaean.pdf
http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2544.pdf
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2544.pdf
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 531-33 (Manichean Middle Persian, Manichean Parthian and Manichean Sogdian) and p. 542 (Manichaean of the Uyghurs).
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 44.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 060
NAME: Mayan Hieroglyphs
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Ideographic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Yucatec, Mesoamerican
USED WHERE: Southern Mesoamerica (Mexico and Guatemala)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C4th BC to C16th AD
ORIGIN: Indigenous, possibly borrowed from earlier scripts in the region that lies to the west of their highland homeland. Early forms of Zapotecan and Zoquean were contemporaneous with Mayan writing during some portion of their existence.
COMMENTS: The script was usually written in paired vertical columns reading from left to right and top to bottom in a zigzag pattern.
650-700 characters, with no more than 400 used at any one time.
“Not completely deciphered” (Daniels and Bright, p. 175).
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/maya.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
Woodward, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mayan.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://babel.uoregon.edu/yamada/fonts/egyptian.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/maya.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 175-179.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 109.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 061
NAME: Mende
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Ki-Ka-Ku
TYPE: Syllabary
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Mende, Niger-Congo
USED WHERE: Sierra Leone
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 1920s-40s
ORIGIN: Indigenous. Originated with the teacher of Kisimi Kamala (ca. 1890-1962). Kamala fully developed the script. Some symbols look like Vai characters.
COMMENTS: 195 symbols. Written from right to left in horizontal lines.
Still in use by 100 people.
Mende is used for correspondence and record keeping, especially accounting.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa.
http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=MFY
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mende.htm
http://www.ontopia.net/i18n/script.jsp?id=mende-kikakui
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/african.html (Jason Glavy)
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan Alphabets. The Story of Writing in Africa. pp. 70-73.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 062
NAME: Meroitic
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Alphabetic
STATUS: Historical
USED FOR (language/family): Meroitic, Egyptian (possibly used to write the Nubian languages although no texts have survived – Daniels and Bright, p. 85).
USED WHERE: Nile Valley the ancient Nubian city of Meroë (Modern northern Sudan)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C3nd BC to circa C4th AD (Nakanishi asserts it was used circa C8th BC).
ORIGIN: Derived from Egyptian.
COMMENTS: The language itself remains in the main undeciphered.
There are two major script variants, a cursive or linear version for general use, based on Egyptian Demotic; and a pictorial “hieroglyphic” lapidary style for monumental purposes on temple walls and other royal monuments. This latter style was based on Egyptian hieroglyphs. Meroitic writing is written from right to left and occasionally, the hieroglyphic signs were written in columns from top to bottom.
15 consonant symbols, three vowel symbols and a symbol to indicate the presence of the initial vowel.
Displaced with the adoption of the Coptic alphabet in C6th.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/meroitic.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodward, Roger. 2004. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/meroitic.htm
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Griffith, F. 1911. Karanog: The Meroitic Inscriptions of Shablul and Karanog. Philadelphia: University Museum.
______. 1912. Meroitic Inscriptions II. London: Egypt Exploration Fund.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://finanz.math.tu-graz.ac.at/~kainhofer/rk_fonts
http://www.valdyas.org/conlang.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 85-6.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 104. (only shows one form, unnamed)
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 063
NAME: Methei
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Manipuri, Meetei
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script (some newspapers in modern Assam are in Manipuri script – Nakanishi, p.47).
USED FOR (language/family): Manipuri (Meiteilon), Tibeto-Burman
USED WHERE: Manipur State, India (the Manipuri language is also spoken in Bangladesh and Myanmar)
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: circa C14th-C18th
ORIGIN: Similar to Devanagari (the original writing for the Manipuri language)
COMMENTS: The letters in Meetei Mayek are named after parts of human body.
The Manipur Government has decided to introduce Manipuri script, Meitei Mayek, in standard one and two of educational institutions from the next academic session.
Manipuri is written from left to right.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.unicode.org/Public/TEXT/UTR-3.TXT
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/004200505170311.htm
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/manipuri.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Grierson, G. A. Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. 3, pt. 3., Bombay, 1898
http://www.e-pao.net - Online newspaper in English and Manipuri.
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://www.pouri.org/fonthelp.html
SCRIPT SAMPLE: Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 69.
http://www.arbornet.org/~prava/eeyek/script/
PROPOSAL STATUS: http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3158.pdf
ID: 064
NAME: Modi
ALTERNATE NAME(S):
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Near Modern or living minority script. Daniels and Bright claim that Modi is “still used for private letter writing by some”, p. 774.
USED FOR (language/family): Marathi, Indo-Aryan
USED WHERE: central Indian state of Maharashtra
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C17th to C20th
ORIGIN: Derived from Brahmi. Modi is the original script for the Marathi language.
COMMENTS: It originated as a cursive variant of the Devanagari script during the 17th century CE. Modi was used until the 1950’s when Devanagari replaced it as the written medium of the Marathi language.
The script is bound by one line above the figures (Nakanishi).
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.ancientscripts.com/modi.html
Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World.
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/modi.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES:
FONTS AVAILABLE: http://marathimodi.tripod.com/
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.ancientscripts.com/modi.html
Nakanishi, Akira. 1980. Writing Systems of the World. p. 68.
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 065
NAME: Moon script
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Moon Type, Moon Code, Moon System, Moon Alphabet, Moon
TYPE: alphabet
STATUS: artificial script
USED FOR (language/family): Adapted to 400+ languages.
USED WHERE: International.
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: 1847 to current
ORIGIN: Derived from the Latin alphabet.
COMMENTS: Devised by Dr William Moon (1818-1894)
An ‘embossed reading’ raised line system, a sign system designed to be perceived tactually, made up of linear elements.
It is particularly suited to introducing the newly-blind adult to the art of reading by touch: many adult readers, having acquired confidence and a sense of achievement by learning Moon, gradually move to the more comprehensive braille system.
The script is made up of 14 characters and 12 other types used for contractions and punctuation. The type is set by hand. There are about 900 letters and space in a Moon page measuring 12 inches by 10 inches, and these can be set by an experienced typesetter in half an hour. The paper is moistened before printing to take the embossing without splitting, and after printing the pages pass through a mechanical gas-heated drier.
From 1923, Moon has been printed direct from type.
Since the 1990s there has been a revival of interest in the Moon script. There are currently about 400 people in the United Kingdom who are still reading Moon books and magazines (“Moon users”).
The Moon Script may be known as “Raised Lines” by users.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: http://www.deafblind.com/moon.html
SECONDARY REFERENCES: http://www.visugate.org/bjvi/1989/spring1989.html
http://www.euroblind.org/fichiersGBbis/R.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_type
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/moon.htm
http://www.scip.org.uk/moon/homepage.htm
BIBLIOGRAPHIES: Tobin, M.J. and Hill, Eileen W. (1984), A Moon-Writer, The New Beacon, LXVllI, 801, 173-176.
FONTS AVAILABLE:
SCRIPT SAMPLE: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/moon.htm
http://www.deafblind.com/moon.html
PROPOSAL STATUS:
ID: 066
NAME: Myanmar extensions
ALTERNATE NAME(S): Burmese
TYPE: Abugida
STATUS: Living minority script
USED FOR (language/family): Myanmar/Burmese (21 million speakers), Sino-Tibetan, Karen languages (4 million speakers) and Mon (200 000 speakers), Austonesian
USED WHERE: Myanmar and Thailand
HISTORICAL TIMEFRAME: C11th to contemporary
ORIGIN: Adapted from the Mon script and descended from Brahmi.
Daniels and Bright claim: “Several other scripts closely resemble the Burmese, including the Tai Yai script, which is the most widely used for the Shan language. […] Some Karen scripts devised in more recent times are explicitly modelled on Burmese”, p. 450.
COMMENTS: Runs horizontally from left to right with no space between the words, only phrases. Two short perpendicular lines mark the end of a sentence, borrowed from Indic scripts.
PRIMARY REFERENCES: Daniels, P., and Bright, W., The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nakanishi, A