Social:Osage script
Osage | |
---|---|
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Type | |
Languages | Osage |
Time period | 2006โpresent |
Parent systems | (Proto-writing)
|
Direction | Left-to-right |
ISO 15924 | Osge, 219 |
Unicode alias | Osage |
U+104B0–U+104FF |
The Osage script is a new script promulgated in 2006 and revised 2012โ2014 for the Osage language. Because Latin orthographies were subject to interference from English conventions among Osage students who were more familiar with English than with Osage, in 2006 the director of the Osage Language Program, Herman Mongrain Lookout, decided to create a distinct script by modifying or fusing Latin letters. This Osage script has been in regular use on the Osage Nation ever since.[1]
In 2012, while in the process of submitting the script to Unicode, a more precise representation of the sounds of Osage was formulated, and by the following year had been adequately tested. In February 2014, a conference on standardizing the reforms was held by Lookout and the staff at the Osage Nation Language Department along with UCS expert Michael Everson. The result included the introduction of case, the abolition of two letters, and the creation of several more.[2]
The Osage script was included in Unicode version 9.0 in June 2016 in the Osage block.[3]
Letters
Vowels
The 2014 vowel letters are as follows:
Oral | Nasal | ||
---|---|---|---|
Osage | Latin | Osage | Latin |
๐ฐ ๐ | A a | ๐ฐอ ๐อ | ฤ ฤ |
๐ฑ ๐ | Ai ai | ๐ฒ ๐ | Aฤฏ aฤฏ |
๐ณ ๐ | ฦ ษ | ๐ณอ ๐อ | ฦฬจ ษฬจ |
๐ท ๐ | E e | ๐ธ ๐ | Eฤฏ eฤฏ |
๐ป ๐ฃ | I i | ๐ปอ ๐ฃอ | ฤฎ ฤฏ |
๐ ๐ช | O o | ๐อ ๐ชอ | วช วซ |
๐ ๐ถ | U u | ๐ ๐ซ | Oฤฏ oฤฏ |
Long vowels are indicated with a macron, high tone by an acute accent, and a long vowel with high tone by a double acute accent: e.g. oral ⟨๐ฐ̄ ๐̄⟩ ฤ ฤ, ⟨๐ฐ́ ๐́⟩ ร รก, ⟨๐ฐ̋ ๐̋⟩ ฤ́ ฤ́, nasal ⟨๐ฐ̄͘ ๐̄͘⟩ ฤ̄ ฤ ̄, ⟨๐ฐ́͘ ๐́͘⟩ ฤ́ ฤ ́, ⟨๐ฐ̋͘ ๐̋͘⟩ ฤ̄́ ฤ ̄́.
ฦ and ฦฬจ are not phonemic, but unstressed allophones of A and ฤ.
The a comes from Latin ⟨A⟩ (without the crossbar, as in the NASA insignia "worm" logo), e from Latin cursive ⟨โฑญ⟩ (the 'long' sound of the English letter a is rather like Osage e). The source for i is obscure, though Latin ⟨I⟩ does appear inside ⟨ฮ⟩ for the diphthong ai.
Consonants
The 2014 consonant letters and digraphs are as follows. As in Latin orthography, the ejective consonants are written with a diacritic, and the strongly aspirated stops with digraphs. The pre-aspirated stops were originally written as digraphs with h, but since they vary by dialect with geminates, the 2014 revision included new letters for them derived by adding a cross-bar.
Tenuis | Ejective | Aspirated | Pre-aspirated /geminate | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Osage | Latin | Osage | Latin | Osage | Latin | Osage | Latin |
๐ด ๐ | Br br | ||||||
๐ต ๐ | ฤ ฤ | ๐ถ ๐ | Hฤ hฤ | ||||
๐น ๐ก | H h | ||||||
๐บ ๐ข | Hy hy | ||||||
๐ผ ๐ค | K k | ๐ผสผ ๐คสผ | Kสผ kสผ | ๐ผ๐ธ ๐ค๐ธ ๐ผ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฏ |
Kx kx Kลก kลก |
๐ฝ ๐ฅ | Hk hk |
๐พ ๐ฆ | Ky ky | ||||||
๐ฟ ๐ง | L l | ||||||
๐ ๐จ | M m | ||||||
๐ ๐ฉ | N n | ||||||
๐ ๐ฌ | P p | ๐สผ ๐ฌสผ | Pสผ pสผ | ๐๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ธ ๐๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฏ |
Px px Pลก pลก |
๐ ๐ญ | Hp hp |
๐ ๐ฎ | S s | ||||||
๐ ๐ฏ | ล ลก | ||||||
๐ ๐ฐ | T t | ๐๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ด |
Tx tx Ch ch |
๐ ๐ฑ | Ht ht | ||
๐ ๐ฒ | C c (ts) | ๐สผ ๐ฒสผ | Cสผ cสผ | ๐ ๐ณ | Hc hc | ||
๐ ๐ต | ร รฐ | ||||||
๐ ๐ท | W w | ||||||
๐ ๐ธ | X x | ||||||
๐ ๐น | ฦ ษฃ (gh) | ||||||
๐ ๐บ | Z z | ||||||
๐ ๐ป | ลฝ ลพ |
Px and pลก are allophones, as are kx ~ kลก and tx ~ ch (tsh). Hy and ky are sequences rather than single consonants.
The source of p is Latin ⟨P⟩, that of t is Latin ⟨D⟩ (an alternative transcription of Osage t), ฤ is from ⟨Ch⟩, k from ⟨K⟩. C is from ⟨T⟩ with the Osage s. S and z are the top halves of ⟨S⟩ and ⟨Z⟩; ลก and ลพ are derived from adding a tail to the full letters, much like Latin ⟨ส⟩. Br is a ligatures of the letters br. M, n and l appear to be from their cursive Latin forms, and รฐ is a ligature of ⟨Th⟩, which is how it is often transcribed. W is a partial ⟨w⟩. X is from cursive ⟨x⟩; it was originally at a 45-degree (x-like) angle before it was split into x and inverted gh. H is obscure, but hy may be from the ⟨s⟩ of ⟨sh⟩, and h from hy. Ligatures for sc (sts) and sk were retired when the alphabet was reformed for Unicode encoding.
Punctuation
Words are separated by a space. Syllables were originally separated by a full stop, but that practice has ceased with increasing literacy.
2014 reforms
A meeting to reform the script in 2014 in preparation for Unicode encoding agreed on five changes:
- Casing pairs were introduced.
- Digraphs hC (or superscript สฐC) for the pre-aspirate consonants were replaced with dedicated letters, ๊.
- Ligatures for sc (sts) and sk were retired.
- The nasal marks (ห following the letter for monophthongs, an underscore for diphthongs) were replaced by a dot (above-right for monophthongs, internally for diphthongs)
- The letter x, originally set at a 45-degree angle, was made two letters, upright x and inverted gh.
Unicode
The Osage alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2016 with the release of version 9.0.
The Unicode block for Osage is U+104B0–U+104FF:
References
- โ "Osage Nation Language Department". http://www.osagetribe.com/language/about_us.aspx.
- โ Everson, Michael; Lookout, Herman Mongrain; Pratt, Cameron (2014-09-21). "Final proposal to encode the Osage script in the UCS: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2, Document N4619" (in en) (PDF). The Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2014/14214-n4619-osage.pdf.
- โ "Unicode version 9.0.0". 2016-06-21. http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode9.0.0/.
External links
- 2014 Language Presentation at Osage Nation, includes non-native sound files for some letters
- Presentation at Native-languages.org, along with various romanizations
- "Saving a language, a people". College of Design, University of Minnesota. October 30, 2013. http://discover.umn.edu/news/design-architecture/typeface-adapts-osage-language-unicode.
- Interview with Herman Mongrain Lookout on invention of the script on Invisible Nations, KOSU
![]() | Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage script.
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