Tauro-Piscean writing system
| tacZroZpiSkeSm |
|---|
| Tauro-Piscean | |
|---|---|
| Type: | Alternative - uses ideographic (Grammatikos), alphabetic (Sonitos) and logographic (Tŝinĝi) characters |
| Spoken languages: | Tauro-Piscean |
| Creator: | S.C. Anderson |
| Time period: | May 2008 to present |
| Parent systems: | Latin alphabet Hangul |
The modern Tauro-Piscean writing system uses three scripts:
- Sonitos, an alphabet,
- Grammatikos, an ideographic system and
- Tŝinĝi, characters of Chinese origin
Here is an example of text that uses both primary scripts (Sonitos red and Grammatikos green):
'I build a house for you'
Usage of Scripts
Most Tauro-Piscean sentences will contain both Sonitos and Grammatikos. Sonitos are used for stems of articles, nouns, verbs and adjectives, while Grammatikos are used for inflectional endings or variants of said parts of speech.
The writing format is horizontal and read left to right.
Sonitos
Sonitos is a phonemic alphabet organised into syllabic blocks, which are called 'units'. Each unit consists of three letters or 'constituents' that are written vertically top to bottom, the initial and final of which are consonants, zero-consonants or consonant clusters and the medial of which is a vowel.
There are two types of constituent: occupational and supplementary. Occupational constituents represent either one or one of two possible consonants (the latter of which is often the voiced counterpart and marked with a 'dakútên') and these are the same regardless of being in the initial or final position. Here is a table of occupational constituents:
The transliterations match IPA where possible. Sz stands for ʃ, gz stands for dʒ and r stands for ɹ generally, but can be an uvular sound.
Supplementary constituents are harder to learn because each one stands for one or one of two consonant clusters, but represent usually entirely different consonant clusters when in initial and final position.
The medial constituent in a unit is always a vowel (Tauro-Piscean syllables always contain a vowel).
Where there is no consonant in a syllable, the zero-consonant constituent is used. 
Diacritics
Several diacritics are used in conjunction with Sonitos.
| Example | Name | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
 |
Dakútên | Alternates value of consonant or consonant cluster |
 |
Stress marker | Marks a stressed syllable where stress is irregular |
 |
Prosodic stress marker | Marks a syllable with prosodic stress |
 |
Umlaut | Alternates value of vowel |
 |
Circumflex | Alternates value of vowel |
Grammatikos
While Sonitos is used to write what is known as the lexical stem of a Tauro-Piscean word, Grammatikos can be affixed to indicate an inflection. Though considered phonetic, Sonitos do not give a true pronunciation guide when combined with Grammatikos; also, Grammatikos only indicate an alteration to meaning such as tense or mood, so the pronunciation of the inflection can vary and rules must be memorised. Here is an example:
This is the neuter definite article 'tet' as a lexical stem. It is spelled with the constituents t, e and t and is thus spelled phonetically.
This is the neuter definite article 'ten'. It is spelled with the lexical stem and the Grammatiko that indicates inflection for the accusative case. It is not spelled phonetically.
This is the neuter definite article 'tem'. It is spelled with the lexical stem and the Grammatiko that indicates inflection for the dative case. It is not spelled phonetically.
There are twenty-three Grammatikos in total, shown in categories below:
