This script (an abugida) follows on from other easily written, phonetically constructed scripts in my Phonological Cypher series. It was derived in good measure from Mattias Persson’s Zantobi, and inspired by the discovery of Francis Lodwick’s 17th century universal script.
1 Consonants
1.1 Main series
The top part of each consonant glyph signifies the place of production of its phoneme. The bottom part signifies the manner of production. Here is the full range of unmodified glyphs at the dental location. The glyphs on the second line are used in word- or syllable-final position.
Here are the other location series. The “glottal approximant” glyph is for weak onset, and is used in forming semivowels. The last glyph is a prefix to apply ingressive airflow. There is a special method for forming affricates and other co-articulations – see below.
1.2 Modifiers and other marks
Most consonants have a gap at their bottom-left which can be used to hold modifiers signifying palatization, rounding and the semi-plosive tap effect. Note how /w/ is either rounded velar approximant or weak-onset /u/ vowel. After a consonant (upon which a vowel may sit) can come a carrier for an extra one or two vowels.
2 Vowels
Vowels are small glyphs which sit upon a consonant in its upper-right or upper-far-right space. Here are the vowels shown with a grey velar plosive. For diphthongs and triphthongs an extra carrier is needed. Note that for the semivowels, there is the option of writing them either as vowels or as consonantal approximants. To show high tone (low is default), a bar is put upon each relevant vowel; a rise, fall, etcetera may be shown as a combination of accented and unaccented vowels.
3 Laying Out & Combining Consonants
If there is no vowel after a consonant, the next consonant is kerned back to fill the upper-(far-)right space. For closer, co-articulated consonants, a topless manner subglyph or bottomless location subglyph may be affixed to show that the location or manner (respectively) is being shared. Notice that specialized plosive glyphs are needed for some affricates, for example /dz/.
4 Example
This is the beginning of Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 again (transliteration only), for comparison with versions of SIGIL etc.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?