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Writing system - the 'Mountain Script'
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 18 Jun 2018, 23:40.
[comments] writingsystemmss
3. Slang
5. Swearing
The script of 
Mayessa is called 'The Mountain Script' (that's originally what CWS people called it but shh), which translates in Mayessa as laeohvaqos (&ïqos| - /ˈlɛo̯jʋaços/, literally 'mountain writing'). It's a very interesting mix of an alphabet, a syllabary and a logographic system. The image below summarizes the differences between those graphic categories.▼ Mayessan graphic categories
[top]Inner writing
As you can see in the image above, Mayessa considers that both letters and syllables are part of the inner writing, which the alphabetical order shows entirely. But it's also important to know that it considers letters, syllables and logograms as ilvaoon (letters) altogether because they basically all look the same (let's call them 'glyphs' to differentiate them from what we actually call letters since we're all Earthlings, except if Marris reads this).
For now, let's take a closer look to the 'inner writing' (actual letters + syllables) through the alphabetical order. There's exactly 50 characters in the inner writing.
All glyphs are based upon one basic shape, okqitsul ('the basis'), &i|. It corresponds to the letter 'I' and it's the first glyph in the alphabetical order. It it often reversed, as in &h| (the letter 'H').
The alphabetical order begins with the 8 vowels : &iaeou201| (I A E O U Ü Ë Ö). They are followed by the consonants and the prosodic consonants : &fcq3dt9hxgk4lrm5n6s7v8zy| (F C Q CL D T T̨ H X G K K̨ L R M M̨ N N̨ S S̨ V V̨ Z Ɀ). I'm pretty sure you can see the logic behind that order already. Note: 'cl' is the only digraph in the romanized version of the lang that is a single letter in Mayessa.
Then come the syllables. One important thing about them: they all have a grammatical origin, as they're not innocent clusters. None of them has never been a morpheme, and most of them still are. But in modern Mayessa, syllabic glyphs always replace the equivalent with two or more actual letters, even if the syllable has no grammatical role there (MI has a syllabic glyph and it's used for the third person at the future tense, but it will also be used in midvhev, 'germanium', although it's not grammatical there).
The syllables are the following: &ç| &è| &ù| &é| &à| &ä| &ô| &ö| &â| &û| &w| &î| &ë| &ü| &ê| (along with their meaning as long as they are grammatical: LVA ADJZAdjectiviser (syntax)
turns word into adjective HÜK ITERIterative (aspect)
repeated actions within an event HN OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object.NMNoun (POS).PLPlural (number)
more than one/few GÜR NEGNegative (polarity)
not SËZ PURPurposive
in order to, for the purpose of MI FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee RA VBZVerbaliser
converts N, ADJ etc into verb SA PREPresent.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I SI PREPresent.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee SIE PREPresent.PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee VOA PROLProlative (case)
by way of, through=REFReferential (case)
about, regarding, on the topic of ZI CONDConditional (mood)
would=IMPImperative (mood)
command.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee ÜR * OZË GENGenitive (case)
possessive UI *).
But we're not done yet with the inner writing! It still has three other characters. First, &j| (W). This is the k̨eiilo, which is not used in Mayessan romanization. It's the character used for lengthened vowels, which romanized Mayessa shows by two times that vowel, öö becoming &1j|. Then, there's &bp| (B P), only used for loans.
[top]Outer writing
Now about the interesting part! The following image summarizes it all.
▼ Mayessan logograms
[top]Written form
You probably noticed that the Mountain Script was not just made of mountainous glyphs. That there were those little curls: &|. They are ühsgëluion, 'the links'. It is mandatory to wrap a word or a single glyph with these.
Here's Mayessan punctuation: , . ; : ! ? ( )
Equivalents: , . ; : ! ? ( )
Comments
This is an amazing conscript. You managed to make a script where all letters look cool and similar without any ambiguity. And on top of all that, it looks beautiful. The outer script and graphic etymology especially, but the inner script still looks amazing. To the point where I saw it on the title screen of the website and I thought, "Wow! I have to see what this is!" This is truly an amazing script and I am glad you took the time to flush it out into the beauty we see today.
