Sigil

SIGIL   
SIGIL

The SIGIL alphabet was invented for SIGIL, an a priori language being developed
by Ian James since 2006. The acronym stands for Scenic Intuitive Glomerate Ideal
Language, and the system for writing it presented here is the 24th version from October 2009,
stable enough to be used for transliteration of other languages (such as English)
until final release of SIGIL itself in the near future.

Notable features

  • shapes based on phonological concepts and metaphors
  • phonetically consistent alphabet
  • large inventory of phonemes
  • easy to write
  • the philosophy of SIGIL is to represent things in as intuitive a way
    as possible, reflecting the world in direct metaphors of speech and writing.

Consonants

The shapes of the consonants derive from perceived features of phonemic production.
But there are six primary base shapes, relating to locations in the mouth, to which
modifier strokes and tails are added. Here is the complete P series, produced at the
lips; the base shape is soft, bulging and puffy.

SIGIL consonants

SIGIL does not use the unvoiced unaspirated plosive (found in Thai etc) or the
voiced aspirated plosive (found in Hindi etc), but they are available for transliteration.
Here are the six primary base shapes, shown in their unvoiced aspirated plosive form:

SIGIL primary bases

The T base represents a small tapper; the R base (retroflex) represents a soft springy beater;
the K base represents a sharp cut high on the palate; the Q base is similar, but deeper; the H base
represents a deep swirl (the words “spirant” and “spiral” are related).
Some other important phonemes fall outside these sets. The S, SS and L series do not have
plosives, for example. The S (alveolar) and SS (alveolopalatal) bases are derived from the T base,
the L base comes from the vowel shape (see below). In addition, the H series runs a little different
to the others; the phoneme marked as ejective is actually just a stop+plosive combination.
There is also a glyph for the alveolar or retroflex tap, derived from the retroflex base.

SIGIL other consonants

As can be seen in the transliteration of “sigil” above, affricates are written as a stop
followed by a fricative.

Vowels

The base shape for all vowels (and semivowels) is a resonating bowl. The most open phoneme has no
additional marking, but the others have a modifier above. Rounded vowels add a rounding closure to
the bowl. If two or more vowels are produced in sequence, the bowls are joined to form one base
glyph, upon which the modifiers float.

SIGIL vowels

The E modifier represents a free outward effect; the I modifier represents a small tight effect;
the U modifier represents a channel; the R modifier represents a soft rolling effect,
and the L modifier represents a raised forking effect. For unvoiced (whispered) vowels, the bowl
is only half formed.

Initial vowels are usually preceded by a glottal plosive, unless a gradual onset is desired.
Gradual onset is the case especially for initial /j/ and /w/, which are otherwise considered to be
the same as /i/ and /u/.

Tones

Tones are used in SIGIL mainly for syntactic purposes. Each affected vowel is marked
with either a high tone (a line representing a raised level of liquid in the bowl and consequent
higher pitch), or a low tone (a vertical line below). In combination, falling and rising tones may
be formed. Here is an example of transliterating a passage of Thai which shows use of tones, as well
as unvoiced unaspirated plosives:

SIGIL tones

In addition, this passage shows tightening of two vowels into a quick diphthong /ai/, by use of a
small v-bracket below the pair.

Numerals & Punctuation

The numerals (except for the figure zero) are simply formed by joining the relevant numbers of
imaginary dots with the least number of strokes. There are glyphs up to 15, to allow consistent
counts in hexadecimal; the extra shapes also bear some resemblance to the standard ABCDEF letter
forms.

SIGIL numerals

Punctuation and other markings are fairly straightforward. In and out breaths are written explicitly
and translate roughly into standard comma etc. The proper noun prefix is derived from the Egyptian
ankh symbol of life. The transliteration brackets represent lips with teeth, and the mere sound
which emerges from between them.

SIGIL punctuation

Sample texts

This is really just a transliteration, but it shows how the SIGIL script runs:

Sample text in the SIGIL script

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)

Sample text in italics

These are famous lines from Shakespeare. Can anyone identify them?

Feedback about SIGIL may be sent to [ianrjames at hotmail dotcom]

  • Categoria dell'articolo:Lingue
  • Tempo di lettura:6 minuti di lettura