Andersonic alphabet
The Andersonic alphabet (Piscean: Alefbef andersonum) is conventionally used to write the Piscean language. It was devised in June 2007 by S.C. Anderson, editor of the Piscean Lexicon. Though designed to match the Phoenician alphabet - via which many modern-day alphabets arrived - as closely as possible, the Andersonic letters are, visually, heavily influenced by those from Latin, Greek and Cyrillic.
In a recent conference, Anderson 'called out' to all peoples of the world in a bid to promote his alphabet. He stated, 'I believe that the Andersonic system is the most accurate alphabet in implementation today. So many corruptions of glyphs have occurred in the transition from Phoenician to the majority of our modern-day alphabets. Created through scrutiny of that Phoenician alphabet, the Andersonic alphabet is true to the pure letter-forms. It can be easily adapted to by users of Latin, Cyrillic and Greek alphabets; therefore, I encourage you all to "Andersonise" your languages today. Creators of conlangs, unite and use the Andersonic alphabet!'
Letter-forms
The letters of the Andersonic alphabet are shown below alongside their Latin equivalents, name and IPA pronunciation.
To install the font file, click on the following link, download the TTF and drag it into the Windows Fonts folder. It is provided with the intention of being used for other people's conlangs: File:Font1.ttf
Evolution
Most Andersonic letters are based on those of Phoenician, but produced by altering 'models' from other alphabets.
| Phoenician letter on which Andersonic letter is based | Andersonic letter | Latin, Greek or Cyrillic letter used as model | Corresponding Latin letter |
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A | A |
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Б | B |
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K | C, K |
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D | D |
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E | E |
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Γ | G |
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H | H |
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F | J |
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L | L |
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M | M |
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И | N |
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O | O |
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J | P |
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P | R |
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W | S |
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X | T |
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Y | U |
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I | Z |
The remaining five letters of the Andersonic alphabet are not influenced by Phoenician directly and have been imported directly from Latin, Greek or Cyrillic:
| Original letter | Source | Andersonic letter | Corresponding Latin letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Θ | Greek | 
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F |
| η | Greek | 
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I |
| Q | Latin | 
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Q |
| В | Cyrillic | 
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V |
| V | Latin | 
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W |
| Ξ | Greek | 
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X |
Special characters
Comma, apostrophe and pilcrow
The Andersonic comma is based on a prime (Unicode U+2032) that is rotated 180º from a central point and lowered to the usual position of a letter's base (unlike the comma of the Latin alphabet, no part of the Andersonic comma protrudes below this baseline).
In correct usage, the comma is followed by a single space - unless in quotations - but followed by an en-width space before text continues.
In addition to using the comma to separate clauses (e.g. I went to Germany (independent clause),(comma) but (conjunction) Bill went to Japan (independent clause)), as in English, S.C. Anderson encourages people to use them also before noun clauses that begin with 'that', 'what', 'where', 'when', etc (e.g. Let me know what you plan to do//when you get to London.).
The Andersonic comma plays an important numerical role as a decimal separator, where apostrophes (an exact replication of the prime) are used as thousands separators.
Used together, the comma and apostrophe are the main constituents of quotation marks. Quotations are introduced with a colon and en-space (if introduction is required), opened with a comma (no space) and closed with an apostrophe. If the quotation includes a full sentence, it is customary in Piscean to place the punctuation, such as commas and full stops, within the quote marks.
If speech is interrupted, the first section of speech ends on a comma or semicolon, the quote marks are closed by an apostrophe, the interruption is added (after en-space) and the second section of speech is reintroduced using a colon:
Should there be a quote within a quote, the same rules apply except for substituting pilcrow (Unicode U+00B6) for both the opening comma and the closing apostrophe.
Periods
When talking about the Andersonic alphabet, the word 'period' is not equivalent to 'full stop'. It can refer to any of six types of punctuation with which to end a sentence: full stop, ellipsis, question mark, exclamation mark, interrobang or abstract mark.
| Andersonic period | Name of character | Purpose | Example sentence |
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Full stop | Ends sentence | They were making cake. |
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Ellipsis | Implies incomplete idea or aposiopesis; ends sentence | They were making cake, when a creature interrupted them ... |
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Question mark | Indicates interrogative sentence; ends sentence | What type of cake are you making? |
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Exclamation mark | Indicates strong feeling or high volume; ends sentence | Don't eat the cake! |
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Interrobang | Indicates interrogative sentence; indicates strong feeling or high volume; ends sentence | What on Earth is that cake supposed to be?! |
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Abstract mark | Indicates sentence should be understood at a second level (i.e. for irony, sarcasm or a rhetorical question: something that is not meant to be taken literally); ends sentence | You can't have your cake and eat it. |
Embarkments
When writing in the Andersonic alphabet, S.C. Anderson encourages the use of 'embarkments' before sentences that end with emphatic periods, namely question marks, exclamation marks, interrobangs and abstract marks. The embarkments are inverts of their period equivalents, excluding the 'lower stop'.
| Embarkment | Period with which it is used |
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Colons and semicolons
Colons and semicolons are written the same way in the Andersonic alphabet as in the Latin alphabet. Generally, colons are used only to introduce speech, while semicolons are the single way to connect two sentences without conjunction.
Colons and semicolons are not preceded by a space, but followed by an en-space.
Note that the encouraged (Piscean) format instructs the writer to always follow colons with a capital letter, but always to follow semicolons with a lower-case letter.
Umlaut-A
The only letter in the Andersonic alphabet designated an umlaut - or any kind of accent - is A. It is pronounced like the word 'air' and replaces the dipthong 'ea' in words of Old English origin and the letters 'ah' in words of German origin. For example, Old English 'dēad' ('dead') becomes Piscean 'däd' and German 'Bahn' ('rail') becomes Piscean 'Bän'.
For more information about transliterating umlauts in loanwords, see below.
Transliteration
The Andersonic alphabet uses transliteration to render the words of a language that normally uses another writing system for the comprehension of names of people, places and companies in Andersonic texts.
