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Template:Infobox Writing system Template:Contains Deseret text The Deseret alphabet (Deseret: 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻 or 𐐔𐐯𐑆𐐲𐑉𐐯𐐻) is a sound-based alphabet 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, which is often less phonetically consistent than many other languages. Similar experiments were not uncommon during the period, and some of the better-known results include Pitman Shorthand and (much later) 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"[1].

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.

Deseret second book

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 phonetically read "W-u-n ah-v thee w-u-r-s-t")

The Deseret alphabet may have been inspired by or even based upon Michael Hull Barton's phonetic alphabet he published out of Boston and Harvard from 1830-1832. Originally a Quaker, Barton was baptized a Mormon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire about 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[2]. 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 headstone in Cedar City, 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. Interest nonetheless continues among hobbyists who generally produce material for private consumption. With modern computer systems lowering the costs associated with typesetting, new material in the Deseret alphabet occasionally appears.

Table of glyphs[]

File:1860 Utah $10 gold piece.jpeg

A 1860 $5 gold piece, with inscription "Holiness to the Lord" in the Deseret alphabet

The Unicode Standard version 3.1 (effective March 2001) includes the Deseret alphabet in positions 10400 to 1044F; version 4.0 adds the letters Oi and Ew.

Capital
Hex Decimal Glyph Name
10400 66560 𐐀 File:Deseret capital long I.svg Long I
10401 66561 𐐁 File:Deseret capital long E.svg Long E
10402 66562 𐐂 File:Deseret capital long A.svg Long A
10403 66563 𐐃 File:Deseret capital long Ah.svg Long Ah
10404 66564 𐐄 File:Deseret capital long O.svg Long O
10405 66565 𐐅 File:Deseret capital long Oo.svg Long Oo
10406 66566 𐐆 File:Deseret capital short I.svg Short I
10407 66567 𐐇 File:Deseret capital short E.svg Short E
10408 66568 𐐈 File:Deseret capital short A.svg Short A
10409 66569 𐐉 File:Deseret capital short Ah.svg Short Ah
1040A 66570 𐐊 File:Deseret capital short O.svg Short O
1040B 66571 𐐋 File:Deseret capital short Oo.svg Short Oo
1040C 66572 𐐌 File:Deseret capital Ay.svg Ay
1040D 66573 𐐍 File:Deseret capital Ow.svg Ow
1040E 66574 𐐎 File:Deseret capital Wu.svg Wu
1040F 66575 𐐏 File:Deseret capital Yee.svg Yee
10410 66576 𐐐 File:Deseret capital H.svg H
10411 66577 𐐑 File:Deseret capital Pee.svg Pee
10412 66578 𐐒 File:Deseret capital Bee.svg Bee
10413 66579 𐐓 File:Deseret capital Tee.svg Tee
10414 66580 𐐔 File:Deseret capital Dee.svg Dee
10415 66581 𐐕 File:Deseret capital Chee.svg Chee
10416 66582 𐐖 File:Deseret capital Jee.svg Jee
10417 66583 𐐗 File:Deseret capital Kay.svg Kay
10418 66584 𐐘 File:Deseret capital Gay.svg Gay
10419 66585 𐐙 File:Deseret capital Ef.svg Ef
1041A 66586 𐐚 File:Deseret capital Vee.svg Vee
1041B 66587 𐐛 File:Deseret capital Eth.svg Eth
1041C 66588 𐐜 File:Deseret capital Thee.svg Thee
1041D 66589 𐐝 File:Deseret capital Es.svg Es
1041E 66590 𐐞 File:Deseret capital Zee.svg Zee
1041F 66591 𐐟 File:Deseret capital Esh.svg Esh
10420 66592 𐐠 File:Deseret capital Zhee.svg Zhee
10421 66593 𐐡 File:Deseret capital Er.svg Er
10422 66594 𐐢 File:Deseret capital El.svg El
10423 66595 𐐣 File:Deseret capital Em.svg Em
10424 66596 𐐤 File:Deseret capital En.svg En
10425 66597 𐐥 File:Deseret capital Eng.svg Eng
10426 66598 𐐦 File:Deseret capital Oi.svg Oi
10427 66599 𐐧 File:Deseret capital Ew.svg Ew
Lowercase
Hex Decimal Glyph Name
10428 66600 𐐨 File:Deseret small long I.svg Long I
10429 66601 𐐩 File:Deseret small long E.svg Long E
1042A 66602 𐐪 File:Deseret small long A.svg Long A
1042B 66603 𐐫 File:Deseret small long Ah.svg Long Ah
1042C 66604 𐐬 File:Deseret small long O.svg Long O
1042D 66605 𐐭 File:Deseret small long Oo.svg Long Oo
1042E 66606 𐐮 File:Deseret small short I.svg Short I
1042F 66607 𐐯 File:Deseret small short E.svg Short E
10430 66608 𐐰 File:Deseret small short A.svg Short A
10431 66609 𐐱 File:Deseret small short Ah.svg Short Ah
10432 66610 𐐲 File:Deseret small short O.svg Short O
10433 66611 𐐳 File:Deseret small short Oo.svg Short Oo
10434 66612 𐐴 File:Deseret small Ay.svg Ay
10435 66613 𐐵 File:Deseret small Ow.svg Ow
10436 66614 𐐶 File:Deseret small Wu.svg Wu
10437 66615 𐐷 File:Deseret small Yee.svg Yee
10438 66616 𐐸 File:Deseret small H.svg H
10439 66617 𐐹 File:Deseret small Pee.svg Pee
1043A 66618 𐐺 File:Deseret small Bee.svg Bee
1043B 66619 𐐻 File:Deseret small Tee.svg Tee
1043C 66620 𐐼 File:Deseret small Dee.svg Dee
1043D 66621 𐐽 File:Deseret small Chee.svg Chee
1043E 66622 𐐾 File:Deseret small Jee.svg Jee
1043F 66623 𐐿 File:Deseret small Kay.svg Kay
10440 66624 𐑀 File:Deseret small Gay.svg Gay
10441 66625 𐑁 File:Deseret small Ef.svg Ef
10442 66626 𐑂 File:Deseret small Vee.svg Vee
10443 66627 𐑃 File:Deseret small Eth.svg Eth
10444 66628 𐑄 File:Deseret small Thee.svg Thee
10445 66629 𐑅 File:Deseret small Es.svg Es
10446 66630 𐑆 File:Deseret small Zee.svg Zee
10447 66631 𐑇 File:Deseret small Esh.svg Esh
10448 66632 𐑈 File:Deseret small Zhee.svg Zhee
10449 66633 𐑉 File:Deseret small Er.svg Er
1044A 66634 𐑊 File:Deseret small El.svg El
1044B 66635 𐑋 File:Deseret small Em.svg Em
1044C 66636 𐑌 File:Deseret small En.svg En
1044D 66637 𐑍 File:Deseret small Eng.svg Eng
1044E 66638 𐑎 File:Deseret small Oi.svg Oi
1044F 66639 𐑏 File:Deseret small Ew.svg Ew

Unicode[]

Template:Unicode chart Deseret

References[]

  1. Journal of Discourses, Vol. 12, p. 298, Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 8th, 1868.
  2. See Barton's Something New: comprising a new and perfect alphabet containing forty distinct characters, etc. as a PDF.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Template:Citation.

External links[]

Template:Commonscat


Template:List of writing systems

de:Deseret-Alphabet ko:데세렛 문자 it:alfabeto Deseret

Deseret second book

Won of the wurst rabbit to smoke or choo tube empty to use tube co, is sometimes cold, we

The letters are: Aa = 𐐈𐐰, Áá = 𐐂𐐪, Bb = 𐐒𐐺, Čč = 𐐕𐐽, Dd = 𐐔𐐼, Ðð = 𐐜𐑄, Ee = 𐐇𐐯, Éé = 𐐁𐐩, Ff = 𐐙𐑁, Gg = 𐐘𐑀, Hh = 𐐐𐐸, Ii = 𐐆𐐮, Íí = 𐐌𐐴, Îî = 𐐀𐐨, Jj = 𐐖𐐾, Kk = 𐐗𐐿, Ll = 𐐢𐑊, Mm = 𐐣𐑋, Nn = 𐐤𐑌, Ŋŋ = 𐐥𐑍, Oo = 𐐉𐐱, Òò = 𐐍𐐵, Óó = 𐐄𐐬, Ôô = 𐐃𐐫, Öö = 𐐋𐐳, Œœ = , Pp = 𐐑𐐹, Rr = 𐐡𐑉, Ss = 𐐝𐑅, Šš = 𐐟𐑇, Tt = 𐐓𐐻, Þþ = 𐐛𐑃, Uu = 𐐊𐐲, Úú = 𐐅𐐭, Ůů = , Vv = 𐐚𐑂, Ww = 𐐎𐐶, Yy = 𐐏𐐷, Zz = 𐐞𐑆, Žž = 𐐠𐑈.

See also[]

Shavian

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