The Shavian alphabet (also known as Shaw alphabet) is an alphabet conceived as a way to provide simple, phonetic orthography for the English language to replace the difficulties of the conventional spelling. It was posthumously funded by and named after Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Shaw set three main criteria for the new alphabet: it should be (1) at least 40 letters; (2) as "phonetic" as possible (that is, letters should have a 1:1 correspondence to phonemes); and (3) distinct from the Latin alphabet to avoid the impression that the new spellings were simply "misspellings".
-SOURCE: HTTP://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/SHAVIAN
-SOURCE: HTTP://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/SHAVIAN
-Source: http://luc.devroye.org/shavian.html
Notable features
The example below is from the 'Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.'
- There are three types of letters - tall, deep and short. Tall letters are the equivalent of ascenders in the Latin alphabet (e.g. b, d, f, h), deep letters are the equivalent of descenders (e.g. p, g, j, y) and short letters are all the same height, like the letters a, c, e and i.
- Consonant letters come in pairs, with the tall one representing an unvoiced consonant and the deep one representing a voiced consonant. The letters for l, r, m and n are the exceptions to this pattern.
- Vowel letter are all, with only one exception, short. Some come in pairs, others don't
- There are no capital letters, although a 'namer dot' is used to mark proper names.
The example below is from the 'Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.'
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𐑖𐑱𐑝𐑾𐑯:
𐑷𐑤 𐑣𐑿𐑥𐑩𐑯 𐑚𐑰𐑦𐑙𐑕 𐑸 𐑚𐑹𐑯 𐑓𐑮𐑰 𐑯 𐑰𐑒𐑢𐑩𐑤 𐑦𐑯 𐑛𐑦𐑜𐑯𐑦𐑑𐑰 𐑯 𐑮𐑲𐑑𐑕. 𐑞𐑱 𐑸 𐑧𐑯𐑛𐑬𐑛 𐑢𐑦𐑞 𐑮𐑰𐑟𐑪𐑯 𐑯 𐑒𐑪𐑯𐑖𐑩𐑯𐑕 𐑯 𐑖𐑫𐑛 𐑨𐑒𐑑 𐑑𐑩𐑢𐑹𐑛𐑟 𐑢𐑳𐑯 𐑩𐑯𐑳𐑞𐑼 𐑦𐑯 𐑩 𐑕𐑐𐑦𐑮𐑦𐑑 𐑝 𐑚𐑩𐑞𐑼𐑣𐑫𐑛. |
Latin:
(All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.) |
The Shaw Alphabet Edition of Androcles and the Lion
George Bernard Shaw's interest in spelling and alphabet reform was made clear in his will of June 1950, in which provision was made for Isaac Pitman, with a grant of aid from the Public Trustee, to establish a Shaw Alphabet. After his death in November 1950, and after some legal dispute, the Trustee announced a worldwide competition to design such an alphabet, with the aim of producing a system which would be an economical way of writing and of printing the English language.
A contest for the design of the new alphabet was won by a Mr. Ronald Kingsley Read. Read was then appointed the sole designer of the new alphabet.
Due to contestation of Shaw's will, the trust charged with developing the new alphabet could only afford to publish one book: a version of Shaw's play Androcles and the Lion, in bi-alphabetic edition with both conventional and Shavian spellings.
-Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavian
A contest for the design of the new alphabet was won by a Mr. Ronald Kingsley Read. Read was then appointed the sole designer of the new alphabet.
Due to contestation of Shaw's will, the trust charged with developing the new alphabet could only afford to publish one book: a version of Shaw's play Androcles and the Lion, in bi-alphabetic edition with both conventional and Shavian spellings.
-Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavian
