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.
Letter-forms
The letters of the Andersonic alphabet are shown below alongside their Latin equivalents, name and IPA pronunciation.
Evolution
Most Andersonic letters are based on those of Phoenician, but produced by altering 'models' from other alphabets.
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 | F | |
η | Greek | I | |
Q | Latin | Q | |
В | Cyrillic | V | |
V | Latin | W | |
Ξ | Greek | X |
Special characters
Comma and Apostrophe
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: