Eslabónico
Eslabónico is an alternative alphabet for Spanish invented by
Ernesto Borio from Argentina. The idea of this alphabet is to get rid of
ambiguity and redundancy be having a 1 to 1 relationship between graphemes
and phonemes, and to do so with a little style.
Notable features
- Type of writing system: alphabet
- Direction of writing: can be written ‘alphabetically’ – left to right in
horizontal lines; or ‘syllabically’ – each word is written vertically but
the text runs from left to right. - Designed to write: Spanish. Could also be adapted to write English.
Eslabónico alphabet
The last four letters were added for English sounds.
Most of the consonants were inspired by Hangul:
Examples of how the letters go together
Notes
- Vowels are written vertically (1), and consonants are written across
its descending line. - The form of the vowels is CCCVVCCC with a minimum of 1 vowel
and 0 consonants after and before the vowel(s) - The consonants go in two rows, the first row holds the consonants
that come before the vowel, and the second row, the consonants that
come after (4) - If no consonant comes after the vowel, the first row is occupied
by a horizontal line (3) - Up to three consonants can be arranged in a row (5)
- When writing diphthongs, the second vowel goes at the bottom (6)
- Stress is marked with a horizontal line over the first vowel or
under the second vowel (7)
Sample text in Eslabónico
Alphabetic
Syllabic
Transliteration
Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos.
Están dotados de razón y conciencia y deben interactuar con
un espíritu de hermandad.
Translation
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.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)