Social:Osage script

From HandWiki
Short description: Alphabet invented for writing the Osage language
Osage
Wazhazhe ie.png
Type
LanguagesOsage
Time period
2006โ€“present
Parent systems
(Proto-writing)
DirectionLeft-to-right
ISO 15924Osge, 219
Unicode alias
Osage
U+104B0–U+104FF

The Osage script is a new script promulgated in 2006 and revised 2012โ€“2014 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:

Osage vowels
Oral Nasal
Osage Latin Osage Latin
๐’ฐ ๐“˜ A a ๐’ฐอ˜ ๐“˜อ˜ ฤ„ ฤ…
๐’ฑ ๐“™ Ai ai ๐’ฒ ๐“š Aฤฏ aฤฏ
๐’ณ ๐“› ฦ ษ™ ๐’ณอ˜ ๐“›อ˜ ฦฬจ ษ™ฬจ
๐’ท ๐“Ÿ E e ๐’ธ ๐“  Eฤฏ eฤฏ
๐’ป ๐“ฃ I i ๐’ปอ˜ ๐“ฃอ˜ ฤฎ ฤฏ
๐“‚ ๐“ช O o ๐“‚อ˜ ๐“ชอ˜ วช วซ
๐“Ž ๐“ถ U u ๐“ƒ ๐“ซ 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 ⟨๐’ฐ̄ ๐“˜̄⟩ ฤ€ ฤ, ⟨๐’ฐ́ ๐“˜́⟩ ร รก, ⟨๐’ฐ̋ ๐“˜̋⟩ ฤ€́ ฤ́, nasal ⟨๐’ฐ̄͘ ๐“˜̄͘⟩ ฤ„̄ ฤ…̄, ⟨๐’ฐ́͘ ๐“˜́͘⟩ ฤ„́ ฤ…́, ⟨๐’ฐ̋͘ ๐“˜̋͘⟩ ฤ„̄́ ฤ…̄́.

ฦ and ฦฬจ 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.

Osage consonants
Tenuis Ejective Aspirated Pre-aspirated
/geminate
Osage Latin Osage Latin Osage Latin Osage Latin
๐’ด ๐“œ Br br
๐’ต ๐“ ฤŒ ฤ ๐’ถ ๐“ž Hฤ hฤ
๐’น ๐“ก H h
๐’บ ๐“ข Hy hy
๐’ผ ๐“ค K k ๐’ผสผ ๐“คสผ Kสผ kสผ ๐’ผ๐“ธ ๐“ค๐“ธ
๐’ผ๐“ฏ ๐“ค๐“ฏ
Kx kx
Kลก kลก
๐’ฝ ๐“ฅ Hk hk
๐’พ ๐“ฆ Ky ky
๐’ฟ ๐“ง L l
๐“€ ๐“จ M m
๐“ ๐“ฉ N n
๐“„ ๐“ฌ P p ๐“„สผ ๐“ฌสผ Pสผ pสผ ๐“„๐“ธ ๐“ฌ๐“ธ
๐“„๐“ฏ ๐“ฌ๐“ฏ
Px px
Pลก pลก
๐“… ๐“ญ Hp hp
๐“† ๐“ฎ S s
๐“‡ ๐“ฏ ล  ลก
๐“ˆ ๐“ฐ T t ๐“ˆ๐“ธ ๐“ฐ๐“ธ
๐“Œ ๐“ด
Tx tx
Ch ch
๐“‰ ๐“ฑ Ht ht
๐“Š ๐“ฒ C c (ts) ๐“Šสผ ๐“ฒสผ Cสผ cสผ ๐“‹ ๐“ณ Hc hc
๐“ ๐“ต ร รฐ
๐“ ๐“ท W w
๐“ ๐“ธ X x
๐“‘ ๐“น ฦ” ษฃ (gh)
๐“’ ๐“บ Z z
๐““ ๐“ป 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, ๊ž’.
  • 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

Main page: Osage (Unicode block)

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

External links