View Full Version: Masau

scriptorium >>Neographies, Cryptographies and Ciphers >>Masau


<< Prev | Next >>

Hakaku- 02-01-2008
Masau
Alright, so in a forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=243>previous thread I had asked about what each supposed script looks like, so I thought I'd answer that at the same time. They were all variations based upon natural script fonts, not the script themselves. #3 was basically a mutilated Khmer font, which was heavily edited and flipped/rotated to become symetrical blocks. I didn't like it myself because it would be highly improbable and difficult to write. So I simplified it by chopping it in half, and adding a line under/over the half-characters (script #1). #2 really was based off Ahom, without any heavy modifications, as some had guessed. #4 was done in the same process as all the others, it was based off of a Mongolian font, edited, flipped, cut, etc. And obtained that result. Although none besides the second ressemble much of their original scripts; I never gave any of them a phonetic representation, but it was interesting to read people's thoughts and responses. Which is why I just called them patterns, rather than actual scripts. But the way they were designed (using nothing more than paint) is a nice way to derive a script for your conlang, without ressembling the original script too much, and maintaining a certain quality. The fifth script (Masau, hence the title) was something I had actually made a long long time ago, with no influence as I didn't know anything at the time. I don't remember for what; but it was undoubtably influenced by English (although I failed to figure out a way to incorporate 2 more vowels at the time). It's not necessarily the most efficient writing system, but it works. Anyhow, here's a chart of the script, which I edited to add proper IPA correspondance (all others read as lowercase IPA), and a description of how it works. Feel free to comment, or even use/edit it for your own purposes. Edit: The way the vowels are incorporated and the basic design is fairly similar to the blox script by Jon McV. Edit 2: the 'ch' in the example "fuchai" reads as /fu/+/t/+/Sai/ (t' has a bar on the right side corresponding to a lone consonant) Edit 3: It shouldn't say "post vowels are read top-down", but all vowels are. In case you don't understand how vowels work, in VC order, the vowel is attached on the left. In CV order, the vowel is attached in-between the character (except the first set of consonants). The vowel is attached after the character in the first consonant set (CV). Elsewhere, it's placed only if the following vowel does not correspond to the a-i-u order. (so in Cua, 'a' is placed to the right, whereas 'u' is in the center. Compared to Cau, both 'a' and 'u' are placed in the center. This also means something like /mua/ is not possible (I never designed a way around this, but you could place a vowel alone to the right of that character)


Forumer™ is Voted #1 Free Forum Hosting provider
Build your own community today with the largest message board hosting company.