Editing Constructed writing system

{{Short description|Writing system specifically created by an individual or group}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2020}}
A '''constructed writing system''' or a '''neography''' is a [[writing system]] specifically created by an individual or group, rather than having evolved as part of a language or culture like a natural script. Some are designed for use with [[constructed language]]s, although several of them are used in [[Linguistics|linguistic]] experimentation or for other more practical ends in existing languages. Prominent examples of constructed scripts include Korean [[Hangul]] and [[Tengwar]].

==Constructed scripts and traditional "natural" writing systems==
All scripts, including traditional scripts ranging from [[Chinese script|Chinese]] to [[Arabic script]], are human creations. However, scripts usually evolve out of other scripts rather than being designed by an individual. In most cases, alphabets are ''adopted'', i.e. a language is written in another language's script at first, and gradually develops peculiarities specific to its new environment over the centuries (such as the letters [[w]] and [[j]] added to the [[Latin alphabet]] over time, not being formally considered full members of the English (as opposed to Latin) alphabet until the mid-1800s). In the vast majority of cases, inventors of writing systems have been either literate themselves or familiar with the concept of writing (see [[History of writing]]). As such, constructed scripts tend to be informed by at least one older writing system, making it difficult in some cases to decide whether a new script is simply an adoption or a new creation (for example the [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]]<ref name="Lunt">{{Cite book|last=Lunt|first=Horace Gray|title=Old Church Slavonic Grammar|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|year=2001|isbn=3-11-016284-9|location=Berlin}}</ref> and the [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]] alphabets, which are heavily influenced by the Greek alphabet but were nevertheless designed by individual authors).

In the rare cases where a script evolved not out of a previous script, but out of proto-writing (the only known cases being the [[Cuneiform script]], [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], the [[Chinese script]] and the [[Mayan script]], with ongoing debate as to whether the hitherto-undeciphered [[Indus script]] and [[Rongorongo]] are true writing or proto-writing), the process was nevertheless a gradual evolution of a system of symbols, not a creation by design.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Trigger|first=Bruce G.|date=January 1998|title=Writing systems: A case study in cultural evolution|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00293652.1998.9965618|journal=Norwegian Archaeological Review|volume=31|issue=1|pages=39–62|doi=10.1080/00293652.1998.9965618|issn=0029-3652|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Overview of constructed writing systems==

===For previously unwritten languages===
Some scripts were invented for spoken languages that did not have adequate writing systems, including the [[Hangul]], [[Cherokee syllabary|Cherokee]], [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]], [[N'Ko alphabet|N'Ko]], [[Fraser alphabet|Fraser]], [[Goulsse alphabet]], [[Tangut script|Tangut]] and [[Pollard script|Pollard]] scripts. [[Armenian alphabet|Armenian]], [[Georgian alphabet|Georgian]], and [[Glagolitic script|Glagolitic]] may fit in this category, though their origin is not known.

===For religious and mystical purposes===

Many scripts are created for religious or mystical purposes. Missionaries and religious scholars may be motivated to devise new scripts for previously-unwritten languages to facilitate the translation of religious writings, as was the case for several of the scripts mentioned in the previous section. Religious leaders may promulgate new writing systems among their followers for liturgical use and/or the promotion of cultural identity and unity, as with [[Sorang Sompeng script|Sorang Sompeng]],<ref name= "Sorang">{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Everson |author-link=Michael Everson |url=http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3647.pdf |title=Proposal for encoding the Sora Sompeng script in the UCS |date=2009-06-08|publisher=International Organization for Standardization |work=Working Group Document}}
</ref> [[Medefaidrin]]<ref name= "Medefaidrin">{{cite web | url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16101r-medefaidrin.pdf | title=L2/16-101R: Proposal for encoding the Medefaidrin (Oberi Okaime) script in the SMP of the UCS | first1=Andrij | last1=Rovenchak | first2=Dafydd | last2=Gibbon | first3=Moses | last3=Ekpenyong | first4=Eno-Abasi | last4=Urua | publisher=ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 | date=2016-04-18 }}</ref> and the [[Pau Cin Hau script|script]] invented by the Zomi religious leader [[Pau Cin Hau]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11104r-paucinhau-alphabet.pdf | title=N4017: Proposal to Encode the Pau Cin Hau Alphabet in ISO/IEC 10646 | first1=Anshuman | last1=Pandey | publisher=Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 | date=2011-04-27 }}</ref> among many others.
Relatedly, [[Magical alphabet|some scripts]] are created for [[mysticism|mystical]] or [[Magic (supernatural)|magical]] uses, such as communication with purported spiritual entities. Such is the case with [[John Dee]] and [[Edward Kelley]]'s [[Enochian]] language and alphabet, the various scripts (including [[Celestial Alphabet|Celestial]], [[Malachim]], [[Theban alphabet|Theban]], and [[Transitus Fluvii]]) documented by [[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]] and his teacher [[Johannes Trithemius]], and possibly the ''litterae ignotae'' devised by [[Hildegard of Bingen]] to write her [[lingua ignota]].

Several of these scripts are described by their creators as having been revealed during or developed in response to [[Vision (spirituality)|visionary experiences]].<ref name="Sorang" /><ref name="Medefaidrin" /><ref name = "Leitch">{{cite book | last = Leitch | first = Aaron | title = The Angelical Language, Volume I: The Complete History and Mythos of the Tongue of Angels | publisher = Llewellyn Publications | location = Woodbury, MN | year = 2010a | isbn = 978-0738714905 }}</ref>

===In fictional works===
[[Image:Tengwar alphabet1.svg|thumb|The Tengwar script constructed for Tolkien's languages. He also created a mode for English.]]
[[Image:Kli piqad.GIF|thumb|The KLI pIqaD is a constructed script for [[Klingon language|Klingon]]]]
The best-known constructed scripts dedicated to [[fictional language]]s are [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s elaborate [[Tengwar]] and [[Cirth]], but many others exist, such as the [[Klingon scripts|pIqaD]] script for ''[[Star Trek]]'''s [[Klingon language]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kli.org/about-klingon/writing-klingon|title=Writing Klingon – Klingon Language Institute}}</ref> and [[D'ni language|D'ni]] from the ''[[Myst]]'' series of video games.<ref name="Pearce">{{cite journal | last = Pearce | first = Celia | title = Productive Play: Game Culture From the Bottom Up | journal = [[Games and Culture]] | year = 2006 | volume = 1 | issue = 17 | doi = 10.1177/1555412005281418 | page = 17| s2cid = 16084255 }}</ref>

Other works stop short of creating entire languages, and instead use constructed scripts as [[substitution cipher]]s or alternate orthographies for existing languages- English-language examples include the script of the Orokin language (referred to by members of the community as "Tennobet", a portmanteau of "[[Warframe#Setting|Tenno]]" and "alphabet") from the video game ''[[Warframe]]'', the unnamed New World script from ''[[Kirby and the Forgotten Land]]'', [[Aurebesh]] from ''[[Star Wars]]'',<ref name="TechTimes">{{cite web|url=http://www.techtimes.com/articles/111268/20151127/google-translate-s-star-wars-easter-egg-adds-support-aurebesh.htm|title=Google Translate's 'Star Wars' Easter Egg Adds Support For Aurebesh|date=November 27, 2015|publisher=Tech Times|last1=McKalin|first1=Vamien|access-date=July 26, 2016}}</ref> and the [[Futurama#Languages|alien writing]] appearing in the television series ''[[Futurama]]''.

===For technical purposes===
Several writing systems have been devised for technical purposes by specialists in various fields. One of the most prominent of these is the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA), used by linguists to describe the sounds of human language in exhaustive detail. While based on the [[Latin alphabet]], IPA also contains invented letters, Greek letters, and numerous diacritics. Other scripts, such as John Malone's [[Unifon]],<ref name = "Unifon">{{cite web|first=Michael |last=Everson |url= http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n4195.pdf |title=Preliminary proposal to encode "Unifon" characters in the UCS }}</ref> Sir [[James Pitman]]'s [[Initial Teaching Alphabet]],<ref name="ITA">{{cite web |title=What is ITA? |url=http://itafoundation.org/about-us/what-is-i-t-a/ |website=Initial Teaching Alphabet Foundation |publisher=ITA Foundation |access-date=17 July 2022}}</ref> and [[Alexander Melville Bell]]'s [[Visible Speech]]<ref name="Winzer">{{cite book |last1=Winzer |first1=Margret A |title=The History Of Special Education: From Isolation To Integration |date=1993 |publisher=Gallaudet University Press |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-1-56368-018-2}}</ref> were invented for [[pedagogy|pedagogical]] purposes. [[Yerkish]], a communication system created for use by non-human primates, involves a system of lexigrams- visual symbols corresponding to various objects and ideas.<ref name=interactive>{{cite web |title=Interactive Lexigram, History of Ape Language |url=http://www.greatapetrust.org/science/history-of-ape-language/interactive-lexigram/ |website=[[Great Ape Trust]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100520131446/http://www.greatapetrust.org/science/history-of-ape-language/interactive-lexigram/ |archive-date=May 20, 2010 |date=2010}}</ref> [[Shorthand]] systems may be considered constructed scripts intended to facilitate speed and ease of writing.

===Language reform===
Some constructed scripts are intended to replace existing writing systems. In the mid-1800s, [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] promoted the [[Deseret alphabet]] as an alternative writing system [[Phonemic orthography|better suited]] to English phonology;<ref name="Moore2006">{{Cite web|url=http://web.chem.ucla.edu/~jericks/Historical%20or%20Technical/History%20Looking%20Backwards/Magazine%20articles/The%20Religious%20Educator/Deseret%20Alphabet%20Experiment2.pdf|title=The Deseret Alphabet Experiment|last=Moore|first=Richard G.|year=2006|website=Religious Studies Center|publisher=Brigham Young University|access-date=2017-01-06|archive-date=31 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131191507/http://web.chem.ucla.edu/~jericks/Historical%20or%20Technical/History%20Looking%20Backwards/Magazine%20articles/The%20Religious%20Educator/Deseret%20Alphabet%20Experiment2.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|65–66}} roughly a century later, the estate of Irish playwright [[George Bernard Shaw]] commissioned the [[Shavian alphabet]] (later developed into [[Quikscript]]) to serve similar aims.<ref name= "Weintraub">{{cite ODNB |last1=Weintraub |first1=Stanley |title=Shaw, George Bernard |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-36047 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36047 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |access-date=17 July 2022}}</ref><ref name = "Androcles">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/AndroclesAndTheLion_ShawAlphabetEdition|title=The Shaw Alphabet Edition of Androcles and the Lion|last=Shaw|first=Bernard|publisher=Penguin Books Ltd.|year=1962|isbn=|location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England|pages=9–11}}</ref>{{rp|9–11}} Graphic Designer [[Bradbury Thompson]]'s [[Bradbury Thompson#Alphabet 26|Alphabet 26]] represents a similar project. (see also: [[English-language spelling reform]]). Taking language reform further, various proposed [[Philosophical language|philosophical]] or [[International auxiliary language|auxiliary languages]]- such as [[aUI (constructed language)|aUI]], [[Solresol]], and the language outlined in [[John Wilkins]]' 1668 ''[[An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language]]'' have associated writing systems. [[Charles K. Bliss]]'s [[Blissymbols]] represent a proposed international auxiliary language whose primary mode is written rather than spoken.<ref name="Bliss">Bliss, C. K. (1965). [''Semantography'' (''Blissymbolics''). 2d enlarged edition. ''A simple system of 100 logical pictorial symbols, which can be operated and read like 1+2=3 in all languages'' (...)] {{Cite web |url=http://www.symbols.net/semantography/ |title=Semantography - A Logical Writing for an illogical World, by CK BLISS |access-date=July 18, 2022 |archive-date=October 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004230959/http://www.symbols.net/semantography/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}. Sydney: Semantography (Blissymbolics) Publications. OCoLC: 1014476.</ref>{{rp|89–90}}

===Other===
Several constructed scripts serve unique purposes not outlined above. [[Ong Kommandam]]'s [[Khom script (Ong Kommadam)|Khom Script]], in addition to serving a religious role, was used to conceal military communications during the [[Holy Man's Rebellion]].<ref>Sidwell, Paul. 2008.  The Khom script of the Kommodam Rebellion.  ''[[International Journal of the Sociology of Language]]'' 192.</ref> Around the turn of the 18th century, Frenchman [[George Psalmanazar]] invented a purported 'Formosan' alphabet to further his fraudulent claims of being the first Taiwanese visitor to Europe; the [[Coelbren y Beirdd]] alphabet invented by [[Iolo Morganwg]] is another such example of linguistic forgery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Coelbren y Beirdd - The Bardic Alphabet |url=http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/888/ |website=Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Wales |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117215438/http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/888/ |archive-date= Nov 17, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Braille]]<ref name= "Olmstrom">{{Cite book |last=Olstrom |first=Clifford E. |title=Undaunted By Blindness |publisher=[[Perkins School for the Blind]] |location=Watertown, MA |isbn=978-0-9822721-9-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k9K77s1IRgoC |access-date=4 December 2011 |date=2012-07-10 }}</ref>{{rp|161–162}} and most other [[tactile alphabet]]s were invented to serve the needs of the visually impaired, or, in the case of [[Lewis Carroll]]'s [[Nyctography]], of sighted people without access to light.<ref name="life">[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11483/11483-h/11483-h.htm “The Life And Letters Of Lewis Carroll (Rev. C. L. Dodgson)” by Stuart Dodgson Collingwood B.A. Christ Church, Oxford]</ref>

==Encoding==
Some neographies have been encoded in [[Unicode]], in particular the [[Shavian alphabet]] and the [[Deseret alphabet]]. A proposal for [[Klingon writing systems#KLI pIqaD|Klingon pIqaD]] was turned down because most users of the Klingon language wrote it using the [[Latin alphabet]], but both [[Tengwar]] and [[Cirth]] were under consideration in 2010. An unofficial project exists to coordinate the encoding of many constructed scripts in specific places in the Unicode [[Private Use Area]]s ({{U+|E000}} to U+F8FF and U+000F0000 to U+0010FFFF), known as the [[ConScript Unicode Registry]].

Some of the scripts have identifying codes assigned among the [[ISO 15924]] codes and [[IETF language tag]]s.

==See also==
*{{annotated link|Asemic writing}}
*{{annotated link|Conlang}}
*{{annotated link|Fictional alphabet}}
*{{annotated link|List of constructed scripts}}
*{{annotated link|Pasigraphy}}
*{{annotated link|Voynich Manuscript}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/alternative.htm Omniglot Neographies]
* [http://www.evertype.com/standards/csur/ ConScript Unicode Registry]
* [http://copper.chem.ucla.edu/~jericks Deseret Alphabet]

{{Constructed languages}}

[[Category:Constructed languages]]
[[Category:Writing]]
[[Category:Constructed scripts| ]]