Difference between revisions of "Women's script"

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{{culture
|image=OB Endnote.jpg
|related= [[Vorinism]]
|world= Roshar
|books= [[The Stormlight Archive]]
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
}}{{attention}}
|books= [[The Stormlight Archive]]
'''Women's script''', sometimes called Alethi script, is a writing system used in [[Vorin]] nations, such as [[Alethkar]], [[Jah Keved]], and [[Kharbranth]], on [[Roshar]]. The script is a phonetic alphabet. Each letter is determined by both shape and size. As is indicated by the name, it is a system only used by women, as writing is considered a feminine pursuit. Women's script is distinctly different from [[glyphs]], which are a combination of pictograms and phonetics, and are what men read.
}}
The '''Womenwomen's script''', sometimesis calledan Alethi script, is aalphabetic writing system used in [[Vorin]] nations, such as [[Alethkar]], [[Jah Keved]], and [[Kharbranth]], on [[Roshar]]. The script is a phonetic alphabet, meaning each symbol, or "grapheme", denotes a particular sound, or "phoneme", and is written left to right starting in the top left hand corner of a page.{{book ref|sa1|28}} Each letter is determined by both shape and size, and can be modified by the presence of one or two small lines after it. As is indicated by the name, it is a systemalmost onlyexclusively used by women, as writing is considered a feminine pursuit. WomenThe women's script is distinctly different from [[glyphs]], which are a combinationmore oflogographic pictogramswriting andsystem (albeit with a phonetic phoneticscomponent), andwhich men are whatalso menallowed readto learn.
 
== DesignHistory ==
Women's script is known to date back to at least 1800 years before the True Desolation, as the protoscript. The protoscript was an old form of Women's script which eventually took on the modern form.{{book ref|sa2|77}} This script took shape before various sound changes, and thus preserved historical place of articulation.{{wob ref|11464}}
Brandon Sanderson's main stipulation for the design of women's script was that it look like sound waves.{{qa ref|987|29|Can you read Alethi script?|date=Nov 6th, 2012}}
 
=== Translation ===
It should be noted that all current examples of women's script exist in illustrations in the books, as pages from [[Navani's notebook]] or [[Shallan's sketchbook]]. A few dedicated fans translated them into a close approximation of English. {{http://twg.17thshard.com/forum/index.php?topic=7882.0 ref}}
 
Since there are only twenty-five letters in women's script, not every letter in English has a counterpart. The letter C is written as either K or S, depending on the sound it makes. X is made with a K and S, W is made with a U and sometimes another vowel, and Q is written with a K and U.
 
== Organization ==
=== Phenomes ===
There are twenty-five letters, organized in five phenomes: E, T, S, P, and K. Each phenome has a distinctive shape, with five letters that follow a specific pattern.
 
The E phenome is a straight line, the T is triangle pointing left, the S is a triangle pointing right, the P is a diamond, and the K looks like a triangle whose sides are curved inwards.
 
== Structure ==
=== Characters ===
The twenty-five known letters in the women's script can be arranged into five sets of five letters each. Each set is defined by the basic shape of the characters within it: the "vowel set" is a vertical line, the "T set" is a curved triangle pointing to the left, the "S set" is a curved triangle pointing to the right, the "P set" is a curved diamond, and the "K set" is a jagged triangle pointing to the left.
The first letter in a phenome is full height, the second is of medium height, and the third is the smallest. The fourth is full height again, but with two lines of the smallest height, and the fifth is small with one line after it.
 
Within each set the characters are defined by height and the addition of shorter lines. The first character is the maximum height, the second is two-thirds the height of the first, and the third is one-third the height of the first. The fourth is the same height as the second with the addition of two short lines to the right, and the fifth is the same height as the third with the addition of one short line to the right.
The E phenome contains all the vowels: E, A, O, U, and I, the T phenome consists of T, D, R, Th, and L, the S phenome is made up of S, Z, N, SH, and H, the P phenome has P, B, M, F, and V, and the K phenome has K, G, Y, CH, and J.
 
=== Punctuation ===
Women's script has only one known character for punctuation. It is a linesingle ofvertical fullline height,with much like the character E, but it has atwo small, horizontal linelines at the top and bottom. It is written at the beginning of eacha sentence toand denoteit defines the maximum character height. ItQuestions are marked by adding “ha” at the end of the last word in the sentence. There is assumedalso thata question mark present in Navani's sketch in ''Oathbringer'' on page 447, but judging by the languagehandwriting thatthis was added later by [[Nazh]] and is not part of the women's script. wouldThere beis usedalso toa writediacritic mark denoting if a letter in doesan nototherwise usesymmetrical orword needis pronounced “h,” but it is currently unknown what this looks like,{{book ref|WoR|47}} only that it is present both above and below the letter. It is unknown what other punctuation. exists, if any, as no other examples have been observed.
 
=== Women's Script Characters===
<gallery>
{| class="infobox" width=100%
Below is a picture I'm not sure how to put in.
|-
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.17thshard.com%2Fforum%2Fgallery%2Fimage%2F348-alethi-bookmark-02-02-02%2F&ei=K-x1VcjwBYTvtQXW_4KoBA&bvm=bv.95039771,d.aWw&psig=AFQjCNEDxeiKBhRHWzKJkFAoNfxC1AzWRg&ust=1433876453419413
! Set !! Starting Punctuation !! First !! Second !! Third !! Fourth !! Fifth
|-
| rowspan=2 | Vowel set || [[File:Women's script ruler.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script E.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script A.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script O.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script U.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script I.svg|center]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Height Marker || '''E''' || '''A''' || '''O''' || '''U or W''' || '''I'''
|-
| rowspan=2 | T set || [[File:Women's script ruler.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script T.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script D.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script R.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script TH.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script L.svg|center]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Height Marker || '''T''' || '''D''' || '''R''' || '''Th''' || '''L'''
|-
| rowspan=2 | S set || [[File:Women's script ruler.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script S.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script Z.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script N.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script SH.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script H-letter.svg|center]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Height Marker || '''S''' || '''Z''' || '''N''' || '''Sh''' || '''H'''
|-
| rowspan=2 | P set || [[File:Women's script ruler.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script P.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script B.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script M.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script F.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script V.svg|center]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Height Marker || '''P''' || '''B''' || '''M''' || '''Ph''' || '''V'''
|-
| rowspan=2 | K set || [[File:Women's script ruler.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script K.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script G.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script Y.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script CH.svg|center]] || [[File:Women's script J.svg|center]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Height Marker || '''K''' || '''G''' || '''Y''' || '''Ch''' || '''J'''
|}
 
== Examples of women's script ==
Women's script ruler.svg| Symbol used to denote maximum character height
<gallery mode="packed" heights=300px>
Navani1.jpg | [[Navani's notebook]] - pain knife
Navani2.jpg | [[Navani's notebook]] - mood bracelet
Navani's Notebook p. 406.png | [[Navani's notebook]] - elevator
Ship Designs.jpg | [[Navani's notebook]] - airship designs
Vambrace.jpg | [[Navani's notebook]] - [[Stormclock]] and [[fabrial]] watch vambrace
Navani's Notebook - The Fourth Bridge.jpg | [[Navani's notebook]] - The ''[[Fourth Bridge]]''
Navani's Notebook - The Arnist Method.jpg | [[Navani's notebook]] - The Arnist Method for capturing [[spren]]
Navani's Notebook - The Crystal Pillar Room.jpg | [[Navani's notebook]] - The [[Sibling]]'s heart
Navani's Notebook - Experiments.jpg | ''[[Rhythm of War (in-world)|Rhythm of War]]'' - Experiments on [[Lights]]
Navani's Notebook - Dagger.jpg | ''[[Rhythm of War (in-world)|Rhythm of War]]'' - The [[Herald]]-killing dagger
Lait.jpeg | [[Shallan's sketchbook]] - [[lait]]
OB Endnote.jpg | [[Jasnah]]'s [[ketek]], written for [[Shallan]]'s wedding
</gallery>
 
== Trivia ==
* The only samples of the women's script currently available are eight excerpts from [[Navani's notebook]], two excerpts from ''[[Rhythm of War (in-world)|Rhythm of War]]'', some faded text on a sketch depicting a lait in [[Shallan's sketchbook]], and a [[ketek]] by Jasnah.
* It was designed by [[Isaac Stewart]], to look like waveforms.{{wob ref|9902}}
* Neither [[Brandon]] nor Isaac can read the women's script without reference.{{wob ref|9902}}
* The mapping between the women's script and the Latin script was first discovered by Harakeke on the [[Timewasters Guide]] forum.{{twg ref|7882|0|Navani's Notebook Translation|date=Sep 20th, 2010}}
 
== Notes ==
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