Deseret alphabet

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Deseret alphabet
Deseret Alphabet.svg
Type
Alphabet
Languages Mostly English, but intended for others too
Creator Board of regents and church leaders led by Brigham Young
Time period
 The later half of the 19th century
Direction Left-to-right
ISO 15924 Dsrt, 250
Unicode alias
 Deseret
U+10400–U+1044F
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

The Deseret alphabet (Listeni/dɛz.əˈrɛt./[1]) (Deseret: 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻 or 𐐔𐐯𐑆𐐲𐑉𐐯𐐻) is a phonemic English spelling reform developed in the mid-19th century by the board of regents of the University of Deseret (later the University of Utah) under the direction of Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In public statements, Young claimed the alphabet was intended to replace the traditional Latin alphabet with an alternative, more phonetically accurate alphabet for the English language. This would offer immigrants an opportunity to learn to read and write English, he said, the orthography of which is often less phonetically consistent than those of many other languages. Similar experiments were not uncommon during the period, the most well-known of which is the Shavian alphabet.

Young also prescribed the learning of Deseret to the school system, stating "It will be the means of introducing uniformity in our orthography, and the years that are now required to learn to read and spell can be devoted to other studies".[2]

Development and use

The Deseret alphabet was developed primarily by a committee made up of the university's board of regents and church leaders Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball. The two main contributors to the alphabet's character development were Pratt and George D. Watt, a local expert on shorthand systems. In addition, a Frenchman visiting Utah at the time the alphabet was being developed reported that William W. Phelps "worked out the letters."[3] Assistant Church Historian, Andrew Jenson, also reported that the alphabet was produced by a committee composed of Orson Pratt, Parley P. Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George D. Watt, Robert L. Campbell, and others.

Sample from the Deseret Second Book, printed in 1868. The first four words (plus part of the fifth) read "One of the worst habit[s]" (The first four words are read in IPA as "/wʌn ɒv ð(ə) wʌɹst hæbɪt(s)/")

The Deseret alphabet may have been inspired by the phonetic alphabet published by Michael Hull Barton in Boston and the Shaker community at Harvard, Massachusetts from 1830 to 1833. Originally a Quaker, Barton was baptized a Mormon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire around October 1831 (during his phonetic alphabet experiment), but within a few months then converted to Shakerism, although he continued to meet with early Mormon leaders until at least 1844.[4] The alphabet went through at least three major revisions during its first few years.

At least four books were published in the new alphabet: The First Deseret Alphabet Reader, The Second Deseret Alphabet Reader, The Book of Mormon, and a Book of Mormon excerpt called "First Nephi–Omni". Additionally published in the Deseret News were various articles and passages from the New Testament, which were printed on a press obtained by Orson Pratt.

Considerable non-printed material in the Deseret alphabet still exists, including one replica headstone in Cedar City,[5][6] some coinage, letters, diaries, and meeting minutes. Pratt supervised the transcription of the complete Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants. One of the more curious items found in the Deseret alphabet is an English-Hopi dictionary.

Despite heavy promotion, the Deseret alphabet was never widely adopted. This reluctance was partly due to prohibitive costs; Pratt estimated that the cost of printing a regular library would be over one million dollars.[citation needed] With modern computer systems lowering the costs associated with typesetting, new material in the Deseret alphabet occasionally appears. Students in a small UC Berkeley linguistic class learned the alphabet in two months. [7]

Alphabet

An 1860 $5 gold piece, with inscription "Holiness to the Lord" ("𐐐𐐄𐐢𐐆𐐤𐐝 𐐓𐐅 𐐜 𐐢𐐃𐐡𐐔") in the Deseret alphabet

Although Deseret is an alphabet with case, the only difference between the minuscule and majuscule forms is that the majuscule forms are larger. The Unicode values for each glyph can be found below.

Glyph Name IPA   Glyph Name IPA   Glyph Name IPA   Glyph Name IPA
𐐀 𐐨 Deseret capital long I.svgDeseret small long I.svg Long I /iː/ 𐐁 𐐩 Deseret capital long E.svgDeseret small long E.svg Long E /eɪ/ 𐐂 𐐪 Deseret capital long A.svgDeseret small long A.svg Long A /ɑː/ 𐐃 𐐫 Deseret capital long Ah.svgDeseret small long Ah.svg Long Ah /ɔː/
𐐄 𐐬 Deseret capital long O.svgDeseret small long O.svg Long O /oʊ/ 𐐅 𐐭 Deseret capital long Oo.svgDeseret small long Oo.svg Long Oo /uː/ 𐐆 𐐮 Deseret capital short I.svgDeseret small short I.svg Short I /ɪ/ 𐐇 𐐯 Deseret capital short E.svgDeseret small short E.svg Short E /ɛ/
𐐈 𐐰 Deseret capital short A.svgDeseret small short A.svg Short A /æ/ 𐐉 𐐱 Deseret capital short Ah.svgDeseret small short Ah.svg Short Ah /ɒ/ 𐐊 𐐲 Deseret capital short O.svgDeseret small short O.svg Short O /ʌ/ 𐐋 𐐳 Deseret capital short Oo.svgDeseret small short Oo.svg Short Oo /ʊ/
𐐌 𐐴 Deseret capital Ay.svgDeseret small Ay.svg Ay /aɪ/ 𐐍 𐐵 Deseret capital Ow.svgDeseret small Ow.svg Ow /aʊ/ 𐐎 𐐶 Deseret capital Wu.svgDeseret small Wu.svg Wu /w/ 𐐏 𐐷 Deseret capital Yee.svgDeseret small Yee.svg Yee /j/
𐐐 𐐸 Deseret capital H.svgDeseret small H.svg H /h/ 𐐑 𐐹 Deseret capital Pee.svgDeseret small Pee.svg Pee /p/ 𐐒 𐐺 Deseret capital Bee.svgDeseret small Bee.svg Bee /b/ 𐐓 𐐻 Deseret capital Tee.svgDeseret small Tee.svg Tee /t/
𐐔 𐐼 Deseret capital Dee.svgDeseret small Dee.svg Dee /d/ 𐐕 𐐽 Deseret capital Chee.svgDeseret small Chee.svg Chee /tʃ/ 𐐖 𐐾 Deseret capital Jee.svgDeseret small Jee.svg Jee /dʒ/ 𐐗 𐐿 Deseret capital Kay.svgDeseret small Kay.svg Kay /k/
𐐘 𐑀 Deseret capital Gay.svgDeseret small Gay.svg Gay /ɡ/ 𐐙 𐑁 Deseret capital Ef.svgDeseret small Ef.svg Ef /f/ 𐐚 𐑂 Deseret capital Vee.svgDeseret small Vee.svg Vee /v/ 𐐛 𐑃 Deseret capital Eth.svgDeseret small Eth.svg Eth /θ/
𐐜 𐑄 Deseret capital Thee.svgDeseret small Thee.svg Thee /ð/ 𐐝 𐑅 Deseret capital Es.svgDeseret small Es.svg Es /s/ 𐐞 𐑆 Deseret capital Zee.svgDeseret small Zee.svg Zee /z/ 𐐟 𐑇 Deseret capital Esh.svgDeseret small Esh.svg Esh /ʃ/
𐐠 𐑈 Deseret capital Zhee.svgDeseret small Zhee.svg Zhee /ʒ/ 𐐡 𐑉 Deseret capital Er.svgDeseret small Er.svg Er /r/ 𐐢 𐑊 Deseret capital El.svgDeseret small El.svg El /l/ 𐐣 𐑋 Deseret capital Em.svgDeseret small Em.svg Em /m/
𐐤 𐑌 Deseret capital En.svgDeseret small En.svg En /n/ 𐐥 𐑍 Deseret capital Eng.svgDeseret small Eng.svg Eng /ŋ/ 𐐦 𐑎 Deseret capital Oi.svgDeseret small Oi.svg Oi /ɔɪ/ 𐐧 𐑏 Deseret capital Ew.svgDeseret small Ew.svg Ew /juː/

A degree of free spelling is allowed to accommodate dialectal differences in English.

Representation of /ə/

The Deseret alphabet does not have a distinct symbol for the mid-central vowel. This sound is written as what it would be if the syllable that contains it were stressed. For example, the word enough is commonly pronounced [əˈnɐf], but when it is stressed (as in a declaration of irritation) it is pronounced [iˈnɐf]. The Deseret spelling of the word, 𐐨𐑌𐐲𐑁, reflects that stressed pronunciation.

If /ə/ does not have an inherent stressed value in a word, as is often the case before /r/, then it is written as 𐐲.

Syllabic values

Each letter in the Deseret alphabet has a name, and when a letter is written on its own it has the value of that name. This allows some short words to be written with a single letter, and is called a letter's "syllabic value". The most common word in English, the, is written simply 𐑄, as the letter's name is /ðiː/ and that is the stressed pronunciation of the word. The consonants with syllabic values are 𐐶 (woo), 𐐷 (ye/Yi), 𐐸 (ha, or haw in dialects with the cot-caught merger), 𐐹 (pee), 𐐺 (be/bee), 𐐻 (tee/tea), 𐐽 (qi), 𐐾 (gee), 𐑀 (gay), and 𐑄 (the/thee). Syllabic values do not apply within words (though this was formerly the case; the coin on the right actually reads "holin(e)ss to the Lord", using the syllabic value of the letter 𐑅). Though "bee" is written 𐐺, "bees" is written 𐐺𐐨𐑆.

Unicode

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

See also: Deseret (Unicode block)

The Deseret alphabet (U+10400–U+1044F) was added to the Unicode Standard in March 2001 with the release of version 3.1. The letters Oi and Ew were added to the Unicode Standard in April 2003 with the release of version 4.0.

Deseret[1]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1040x 𐐀 𐐁 𐐂 𐐃 𐐄 𐐅 𐐆 𐐇 𐐈 𐐉 𐐊 𐐋 𐐌 𐐍 𐐎 𐐏
U+1041x 𐐐 𐐑 𐐒 𐐓 𐐔 𐐕 𐐖 𐐗 𐐘 𐐙 𐐚 𐐛 𐐜 𐐝 𐐞 𐐟
U+1042x 𐐠 𐐡 𐐢 𐐣 𐐤 𐐥 𐐦 𐐧 𐐨 𐐩 𐐪 𐐫 𐐬 𐐭 𐐮 𐐯
U+1043x 𐐰 𐐱 𐐲 𐐳 𐐴 𐐵 𐐶 𐐷 𐐸 𐐹 𐐺 𐐻 𐐼 𐐽 𐐾 𐐿
U+1044x 𐑀 𐑁 𐑂 𐑃 𐑄 𐑅 𐑆 𐑇 𐑈 𐑉 𐑊 𐑋 𐑌 𐑍 𐑎 𐑏
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 8.0

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ LDS.org: "Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide" (retrieved 2012-02-25), IPA-ified from «dĕz-a-rĕt´»
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Jules Remy, A Journey to Salt Lake City (London, 1861) 185.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Headstone of John Thomas Morris, 1828–1855.
  7. ↑ http://copper.chem.ucla.edu/~jericks/Historical%20or%20Technical/Linguistics/Deseret_Guide.pdf

General references

  • Bigler, David. 1998. Forgotten kingdom: the Mormon theocracy in the American West, 1847-1896. Spokane: Arthur Clark
  • Ivins, Stanley S. 1947. The Deseret Alphabet. Utah Humanities Review 1:223-39.
  • Lynott, Patricia A. 1999. "Communicationg Insularity: The Deseret Alphabet of Nineteenth-Century Mormon Education." American Educational History Journal 26 (1):20-26.
  • Moore, Richard G. 2006. "The Deseret Alphabet Experiment." Religious Educator 7 (3):63-76.
  • Spendlove, Loren. 2015. [1]. Say Now Shibboleth, or Maybe Cumorah. Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 15 (2015): 33-63.
  • Thompson, Roger. 1982. Language planning in frontier America: The case of the Deseret Alphabet. Language Problems and Language Planning 6:45-62.
  • Wintersteen, Larry Ray. 1970. A History of the Deseret Alphabet. MA thesis, Brigham Young University.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Deseret_alphabet&oldid=5087"