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Constructed writing system
A constructed writing system, or 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 languages, although several of them are used in linguistic experimentation or for other more practical ends in existing languages. Prominent examples of constructed scripts include Korean Hangul and Tengwar.
All scripts, including traditional scripts ranging from 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 and the 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.
Some scripts were invented for spoken languages that did not have adequate writing systems, including the Hangul, Cherokee, Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, N'Ko, Fraser, Goulsse alphabet, Tangut and Pollard scripts. The Armenian alphabet, the Georgian alphabet, and the Glagolitic alphabet may fit in this category, and while their origins and creators are known, it is also evident that they are modeled on some level on the Greek alphabet.
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, Medefaidrin and the script invented by the Zomi religious leader Pau Cin Hau, among many others. Relatedly, some scripts are created for mystical or 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, Malachim, 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 visionary experiences.
The best-known constructed scripts dedicated to fictional languages are J. R. R. Tolkien's elaborate Tengwar and Cirth, but many others exist, such as the pIqaD script for Star Trek's Klingon language, and D'ni from the Myst series of video games.
Other works stop short of creating entire languages, and instead use constructed scripts as substitution ciphers 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 "Tenno" and "alphabet") from the video game Warframe, the unnamed New World script from Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Aurebesh from Star Wars, and the alien writing appearing in the television series Futurama.
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Constructed writing system AI simulator
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Constructed writing system
A constructed writing system, or 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 languages, although several of them are used in linguistic experimentation or for other more practical ends in existing languages. Prominent examples of constructed scripts include Korean Hangul and Tengwar.
All scripts, including traditional scripts ranging from 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 and the 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.
Some scripts were invented for spoken languages that did not have adequate writing systems, including the Hangul, Cherokee, Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, N'Ko, Fraser, Goulsse alphabet, Tangut and Pollard scripts. The Armenian alphabet, the Georgian alphabet, and the Glagolitic alphabet may fit in this category, and while their origins and creators are known, it is also evident that they are modeled on some level on the Greek alphabet.
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, Medefaidrin and the script invented by the Zomi religious leader Pau Cin Hau, among many others. Relatedly, some scripts are created for mystical or 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, Malachim, 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 visionary experiences.
The best-known constructed scripts dedicated to fictional languages are J. R. R. Tolkien's elaborate Tengwar and Cirth, but many others exist, such as the pIqaD script for Star Trek's Klingon language, and D'ni from the Myst series of video games.
Other works stop short of creating entire languages, and instead use constructed scripts as substitution ciphers 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 "Tenno" and "alphabet") from the video game Warframe, the unnamed New World script from Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Aurebesh from Star Wars, and the alien writing appearing in the television series Futurama.