Prûltu

Writing System
The system used in Prûltu is mostly alphabetic. In addition, logograms are used for certain affixes. In verbs, diacritics are placed above the verbal simulfix - the first vowel - and the verb is written as the noun or adjective it is derived from rather than the actual phonetical spelling. The letters are runic in appearance and typically written in a condensed, intertwining style somewhat similar to the Cyrillic vyaz'. The direction of reading/writing is right to left, similar to Arabic. Words are separated by lines, which may be vertical | or diagonal / or \ based purely on the writer's choice. Complete phrases are bound by the symbol ⁪‮ ⁪‮ .⁬◊⁪‮⁬ 1 esarhp ◊ 2 esarhp ◊ :os ekil sedis htob no ◊

Individual consonants are represented by fourteen letters organised in seven pairs, with one consonant in each pair being trilled and the other not. Exceptions are the epinthetic consonant w [ʋ], which is not reflected in writing, and the consonant j [j], which does not occur in roots. J is therefore only written logographically as part of several affixes, or is indicated as part of the infinitive verbal simulfix. Below is a simplified transliteration, followed by IPA and the Prûltu symbol in a slightly distorted keyboard form.

t [t̪~ʔ] 𐰩             —                   tr [ʢ] ƺ

s [s̪~s̺] <          —                  sr [r̥] ⁪«

þ [θ] +               —                  þr [θr] ×

p [ɸ] T                —                pr [ʙ] ʅ

n [n̪~n̥] =           —                nr [r̃] ʍ

l [ɺ~ɾ] ∟             —                r [r] ᎘

h [χ] ⁬ﻌ                  —             hr [ʜ] Ϫ

The base vowels are represented by five letters (the first allophone in each case corresponds to the unstressed vowel, and the second to the stressed vowel). The vowels of the dative-absolutive case ending -ô and accusative case ending -ê are not recorded in writing, but rather inferred by word order. The base vowels can be seen below with transcription, IPA and symbol for each.

u [ʊ~u] Δ

û [ʉ:~ɯ:] ٢

o [ɔ~o̞] ѵ

ô [ɒw~ɒu] ]•

ê [ə~e] •

The descriptor suffix (aka genitive ending) -tu is indicated by a small horizontal dash on the descriptor side of the word boundary, so that:

word|word

BUT

descriptor˧described

and

describedⱵdescriptor.

The tense infix symbols ∴-e, ∵ -o,ᆢ -je and  : -jo are placed above the second vowel (after which the infix is pronounced in speech).

For explanation of verbal simulfixes and use of corresponding diacritics, see Grammar:Verbs section below.

All other affixes are either written phonetically, or logographically prior to the first letter to the word (this depends on the specific affix, so the logographic affixes have to be memorised; the number of common logograms is relatively low). If there is more than one word-initial logogram in a word, these are ordered in the order that they occur in the word. Note that these logograms are ALWAYS written before alphabetic letters, regardless of where they occur in the word. For example (remember, right to left reading direction):

⁪‮⁬◊ⱡ𐰩ѵ᎘◊

Spells out /tor-eþ/ (meaning cleanliness, purity or innocence) with the -eth suffix (a "nounifying" suffix similar to English -ness), despite occuring at the end of the word, being represented by the word-initial logogram ⱡ, followed by three alphabetic letters representing -tor- (clean, pure, innocent), with both being enclosed by the punctuation mark ⁪‮⁬. ◊

The most common word-initial logograms, in addition to ⱡ, are the suffixes -os ∇, -oj ᛎ, and -s ⠶, as well as the honorific prefix s- ꗺ.