Andersonic alphabet

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S.C. Anderson, Editor of the Piscean Lexicon, Representative of the New Piscean Workers' Nation

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.

Alefbef 1.jpg Alefbef 2.jpg Alefbef 3.jpg

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
35px-Phoenician aleph.png Alef.png A A
35px-Phoenician beth.png Bef.png Б B
35px-Phoenician kaph.png Kaf.png K C, K
35px-Phoenician daleth.png Dalef.png D D
35px-Phoenician he.png He1.png E E
35px-Phoenician gimel.png Gimmel.png Γ G
35px-Phoenician heth.png Hef.png H H
35px-Phoenician yodh.png Yod.png F J
35px-Phoenician lamedh.png Lamed.png L L
35px-Phoenician mem.png Mem.png M M
35px-Phoenician nun.png Nun.png И N
35px-Phoenician ayin.png Oyin.png O O
35px-Phoenician pe.png Pe1.png J P
35px-Phoenician res.png Resh.png P R
35px-Phoenician sin.png Sin.png W S
35px-Phoenician taw.png Taw.png X T
35px-Phoenician waw.png Uwaw.png Y U
35px-Phoenician zayin.png Zayin.png 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 Fetef.png F
η Greek Heeta.png I
Q Latin Coof.png Q
В Cyrillic Ve1.png V
V Latin We1.png W
Ξ Greek Samex.png 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).

Andersoncomma.png

Placement of an Andersonic comma

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.).

Decimalseparator.png Numberexample.png

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.

Andersonicspeech.png

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:

Andersonicspeech2.png

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.

Andersonicspeech3.png

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
Full stop
Ellipsis
Question mark
Exclamation mark
Interrobang
Abstract mark