I want to start today's dive with a little poll. I want to ask, how do you write the letter 'z'? Observing how people write this letter, I cannot help but to dig into why three such forms predominantly exist in our handwriting. Personally, I write my z's like 𝔷, while many others I know … Continue reading How do you write this letter?
alphabet
Writing in Africa — The Tifinagh Alphabets
In the very first introduction to the writing systems used in the African continent, I mentioned two indigenous systems. The first was the Ge'ez script, used to write languages such as Amharic and Tigrinya, and the second was Tifinagh, used to write the Berber languages. There was only a couple of paragraphs dedicated to each … Continue reading Writing in Africa — The Tifinagh Alphabets
That time when a new English alphabet was taught
Little boy blue nursery rhyme printed in ITA (The Guardian, 2025) English is by no means an easy language to spell in, especially for people who are picking the language up in early education. After all, with memes going about saying mastering it is possible through thorough thought though, it is pretty evident that with … Continue reading That time when a new English alphabet was taught
Vanuatu’s other writing system
When it comes to hotspots of linguistic diversity, we tend to gravitate towards regions like New Guinea, Nigeria, and the Caucuses. But in the region of Melanesia, there are a group of 82 islands forming the nation of Vanuatu, which boasts the highest linguistic diversity per capita in the world. With a population of around … Continue reading Vanuatu’s other writing system
Trying to make sense of Irish vowels (Pt 2)
Previously, I shared the various difficulties I faced when learning the orthography of Irish consonants, and how they are pronounced. But this time, I am faced with a bigger challenge -- figuring out how the vowels are pronounced. After all, the Irish language is no stranger to vowel sequences like "aoi" and "uai", building up … Continue reading Trying to make sense of Irish vowels (Pt 2)
India’s only true indigenous alphabet (recognised as an official script)
With over 1.4 billion people, and being the most populous country in the world, India is an incredibly diverse place. With its diversity, also comes many languages, and writing systems used to write them. However, most of these writing systems have a similar pattern. Each consonant letter carries its own inherent vowel, and its vowel … Continue reading India’s only true indigenous alphabet (recognised as an official script)
How might a Japanese version of Wheel of Fortune work?
Today, I want to do a little thought experiment, one that is based on a televised gameshow. Wheel of Fortune is perhaps one of the most iconic televised gameshows in America, and perhaps, the world, with over 7000 episodes aired in its ~40 years of history. Currently hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White, Wheel … Continue reading How might a Japanese version of Wheel of Fortune work?
Diaresis, tréma, Umlaut. Which is it?
Sometimes you would see two dots above some vowels, like Joyeux Noël (French for Merry Christmas), or naïve in, curiously, English. This diacritic can be found in alphabets from Albanian to Swedish. Normally represented by two dots above the letter where the sound is modified, or some other things, we also find a similar-looking sort … Continue reading Diaresis, tréma, Umlaut. Which is it?
Why did we learn cursive?
If you grew up in the 20th century, or heck, even into the early 2000s, and you are a speaker of English, you might have gone through the ordeal of learning penmanship, and most particularly, the cursive script, at some point in either preschool, primary school, or elementary school depending on your education system. For … Continue reading Why did we learn cursive?
Writing in Africa — The Somalian Alphabets (Pt 2)
Previously, we covered the Osmanya alphabet created in the early 20th century meant to write and represent the Somali language. Its spread was unfortunately put to an end by the Italians, who suspected its proliferation to be part of a pro-independence movement. But this was not the only writing system to arise in that era, … Continue reading Writing in Africa — The Somalian Alphabets (Pt 2)
Writing in Africa — The Somalian Alphabets (Pt 1)
In the Horn of Africa, several languages are widely spoken. From Amharic and Tigrinya in Ethiopia to Afar in Djibouti, many languages of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family are spoken here. In Somalia, Somaliland and Djibouti, Somali has official language status in the former two, and national language status in the latter. … Continue reading Writing in Africa — The Somalian Alphabets (Pt 1)
When capitalisation actually makes a difference
There is a curious poem in the book titled The Word Circus, written by Richard Lederer, and published in 1998. Called "Job's Job", it goes something like: In August, an august patriarchWas reading an ad in Reading, Mass.Long-suffering Job secured a jobTo polish piles of Polish brass.Richard Lederer, in The Word Circus, 1998 While seeming like … Continue reading When capitalisation actually makes a difference
Swiss High German has one fewer letter than Standard High German. But why?
When prowling through various orthographies, and their changes throughout modernity, I came across a particularly interesting case study on the use of the letter "eszett" (or scharfes es) in relation to the surrounding vowels, the letter s, and the digraph ss. These changes somehow disproportionately applied to Standard German, particularly those used in Germany and … Continue reading Swiss High German has one fewer letter than Standard High German. But why?
The story of Eszett (ß)
You only see this letter being used in German today, but not just any German, more rather, the German typically spoken in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and parts of Belgium. You might see this on street signs, or basically everywhere. For learners, you might have first encountered it in the very first lesson of a beginner's … Continue reading The story of Eszett (ß)
Putting a ring on it — The å’s diacritic
The letter 'å' (typed using Alt+0229) is perhaps one of the most recognisable letters in the languages of Scandinavia, as you may have recalled the last time you went strolling about in an Ikea store. It is even the entire name of certain places in Norway and Sweden. So too does it represent a unit … Continue reading Putting a ring on it — The å’s diacritic
Why does “ph” make an “f” sound?
Phone. Phase. Phoenix. These words start with a "ph", yet this digraph is pronounced with an "f". In some other languages, we see such a pattern as well. Take French, for example. The word for "the seal", le phoque, also has its "ph" pronounced as an "f". We also see such a pattern in Vietnamese, … Continue reading Why does “ph” make an “f” sound?
The story of the cedilla
This diacritic we will cover today will bother a lot of font developers who want to make a sans-serif font, basically a typeface that lacks any sort of protruding bits at the end of a stroke. These projecting features are called "serifs", and here, the one bothersome bit is called the cedilla, a diacritic mark … Continue reading The story of the cedilla
Why does French have circumflex letters?
French is probably one of the more well-known languages with diacritics, although it does not get as elaborate as languages like Vietnamese today. This language has five different types of diacritics, also known as accents -- the accent aigu (é), accent grave (Eg. è), accent circonflexe (Eg. û), accent tréma (Eg. ë), and cédille (ç). … Continue reading Why does French have circumflex letters?
Trying to understand a Mongolian phonology rule
When I first set out to learn Mongolian, I expected the sound system and alphabets to be more straightforward than some other languages like say, Tibetan. With this, came this expectation of sort of a one-to-one relationship between letter and sound. However, in reality, I realised some letters were not quite pronounced the way I … Continue reading Trying to understand a Mongolian phonology rule
The mystery of our alphabetical order
I am pretty sure you know how the alphabet song goes, from any language that uses some form of the Latin alphabet. Something that always intrigues me is why the alphabet, the English one at least, is ordered this way, and not any other sequence. Was it because the ABC song only sounds appropriate when … Continue reading The mystery of our alphabetical order
Writing in Africa — Neo-Nsibidi’s “kana”
Disclaimer: This post describes an ongoing project to modernise the Nsibidi script, which as of writing, is not the finalised form. The accuracy of information is true as of 29 July 2020, so several things would have changed in the project by the time of this post. We will update this post when more information … Continue reading Writing in Africa — Neo-Nsibidi’s “kana”
Lingua Ignota — The Earliest Known Constructed Language?
23 letters. 1011-word glossary. Some short manuscripts. This is among what remains of the legacy of St. Hildegard of Bingen OSB, one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, and the creation of this language she called Lingua Ignota. If confirmed, it could mean that Lingua Ignota is the oldest constructed language in human history, … Continue reading Lingua Ignota — The Earliest Known Constructed Language?
Writing in North America — Great Lakes Algonquian Syllabics (GLAS)
In the 1880s, syllabic blocks of text recorded the languages of Ho-Chunk, Fox and several more languages. Derived from the Latin alphabet, this writing system strongly resembled Latin texts. But yet, no digitisation of this writing system was ever made, and what is revealed online is only an approximation, usually using a cursive Latin script. … Continue reading Writing in North America — Great Lakes Algonquian Syllabics (GLAS)
Writing in North America — Osage Script
This writing system is unlike those discussed previously. It did not arise in the 19th century, under the legacy of Sequoyah on the writing systems of North America. In fact, its writing system arose after the language was officially declared extinct in 2005, following the passing of Lucille Roubedeaux, the last native speaker of the … Continue reading Writing in North America — Osage Script
Writing in Africa – I say N’ko (ߒߞߏ)
Solomana Kante, a Guinean writer and an inventor of a writing system, but most importantly, a man who was determined to change the beliefs that Africans were a cultureless people. The Manding languages lacked an indigenous writing system at that time. And so, after a night of deep meditation, Kante went on to create an … Continue reading Writing in Africa – I say N’ko (ߒߞߏ)
Writing in Africa – The Adlam Alphabet
In the late 1980s, two Guinean teenage brothers, Ibrahima and Abdoulaye Barry, devised a new alphabet to represent their Fulani language, spoken by about 24 million people in the Sahel Region in Western Africa. Using the first four letters of this new alphabet, they named it Adlam. Producing handwritten copies of books using the Adlam … Continue reading Writing in Africa – The Adlam Alphabet
5 of the Most Interesting Writing Systems
Writing has existed for millennia, recording human history, heritage and knowledge over time. Many scripts have been invented, some stayed, some continued to be used, and some have yet to be deciphered. Now let's see some of the most fascinating scripts humans have come up with! 1. Ersu Shaba Ersu Shaba is a script used … Continue reading 5 of the Most Interesting Writing Systems
The Language Closet 