Dispatch # 3: Glyphs and Language
A Treatise On The Known World Alphabet and the Common Tongue
"Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom." - Roger Bacon
Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going. - Rita Mae Brown
A Note To The Reader
Please note that virtually everything pertaining to this story and book - The Other Side Of The Sun - is subject to change or revision over time, to improve the story and/or to conform to some newly discovered fact-based reality. Because I am as human as you are, rest assured that I will be unsurprised to discover that errors might exist in my dispatches.
Should you, the Informed Reader, identify something that you believe or know is in some way inconsistent or reality-impaired, you may write to me directly at me@beturpin.com to share it. I seek constructive criticism, not destructive criticism… Grace for Grace, please.
Today’s Topic: The Known World Alphabet and the Common Tongue
Today’s treatise is intended to provide you, my Most Treasured Reader, with an introduction to the Known World Alphabet that is used to write most of the languages found in the Known World, including its lingua franca, La Komunalingvo - the Common Tongue.
The Known World Alphabet contains a set of 48 glyphs (letters)… but before you panic about having to learn a 48 character alphabet and a foreign language… relax.
First, you should know that all 48 characters are going to be rather familiar to you, since they are all visually based on the same 26 letters of the Latin Alphabet you already use in English. The extended characters past the 26 basic characters simply have one of 3 easy to spot diacritical marks.
Second, you, the Esteemed Reader, can choose to pronounce these glyphs and the words they are a part of in whatever manner you wish! If you are comfortable pronouncing a word a certain way, you are certainly feel free to do so. Who am I to stop you?
Third, you will not need to go search Rosetta Stone or Duolingo to learn how to speak the Common Tongue. Rest assured, when a Common word or phrase is used, I will translate that word or phrase for you into English.
Having said all that, if you do wish to learn how to pronounce certain character’s names, certain place names, and/or certain terms or concepts one might encounter while reading the book, then I invite you to read on.
Languages
Before we get to the alphabet itself, let’s have a brief overview of a few of the key languages spoken around the planet Vadu.
Let’s start with that lingua franca I mentioned - the Common Tongue.
La Komunalingvo - The Common Tongue
In my book, The Other Side Of The Sun, there is a language known as La Komunalingvo - the Common Tongue, often simply referred to as Common or Kolingvo. It is the bridge language of the Known World, systematically used to make communication possible between individuals or groups of people who do not happen to share a native language or dialect. It is used extensively when speaking or writing about matters of business, finance, scholarship, trade and diplomacy.
The Common Tongue was introduced to the Known World by the Avalonians in the years before the Great Cataclysm. At the time it was known as La Universalalingvo. That language was quickly forked into another language that became known as High Duryan (Altaduryano), which was spoken and written by the learned folk of old Imperial Durya, the dominant empire that once ruled most of the continent of Glosa. From there, the language evolved even further to become what is now called La Komunalingvo, or Kolingvo, a.ka. the Common Tongue.
This specific language is used far and wide across the Known World in the current age. About 70-75% of the Known World's population can understand and speak at least a few phrases of Common, while roughly 1 in 3 people are readily fluent in the language. Some realms like the Seven Open Port city-states of Ariga, Delat, Hanabyr, Jorna, Nargoxa, Perna, and Xigori all use Common as their sole language. Even in realms that have their own local vernacular language, Common will still see widespread use among its merchants, scholars, diplomats, and courtiers.
A Brief Side Note About The Common Tongue…
The more cunning linguists amongst us will no doubt ascertain that the Common Tongue was actually based on the Earth language known as Esperanto.
Unfortunately, Esperanto purists will be very perturbed with me, because in my story Esperanto has become quite mangled. This would be because over time, any living language will be adapted to accommodate new uses and phrases, until its ancestral tongue becomes quite arcane if not unintelligible. It will be quite different from “Classic Esperanto” as the differences between 21st century American English and Middle English… or Old English.
If you want to learn Esperanto, you can start here. If you have the Duolingo app, you can use Duolingo to learn Esperanto.
A Brief Side Note About Linguas Francas
Linguas francas are not a particularly new concept, of course. Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hausa, Hindustani, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili are all modern day linguas francas in various and sundry parts of the world.
Historically, Sabir was the lingua franca used around the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th century until the 19th century. Hand Talk, a sign language used historically by the many precolonial indigenous peoples living in what is now central Canada, the central and western United States, and northern Mexico, performed the same function. Sanskrit and Latin were other historical linguas francas as well.
The Brynish Language
Brynish is an example of a local vernacular language. It is the vernacular language of the Kingdom of Bryn. Brynish is rooted in Middle Duryan, a more crude version of the aforementioned High Duryan language. It is widely spoken by residents of Bryn
Brynish can be generally understood by anyone speaking the Common Tongue, but there are some differences in its use of word order (syntax) and vocabulary. These differences can and do occasionally cause mild confusion and embarrassment during translation, so the uninformed speaker should always use caution when performing translations between Common and Brynish. This is why at Bryn’s Royal Court, courtiers tend to speak almost entirely in Common, preferring to leave Brynish to the peasantry.
The Language Of The Avalon Islands
You may be wondering at this juncture, what about the highly advanced people of Avalonia - the Avalon Islands - which I mentioned in our previous dispatch? What language(s) are they speaking?
Dear Reader, the Avalonians speak a plethora of legacy languages once found on Earth.
A variant of English known as Avalish, also called Broken English or Giblish (pronounced Jib-lish, with a soft G sound) is widely spoken and used in government. Meanwhile “Classic English” - a.k.a. British English - is still commonly used in academia.
Along with the hundreds of legacy languages carried over from Earth that are still spoken, there are many and various Interlanguages that have forked into or out of English seeing use around Avalonia, similar to Arablish, Chinglish, Hinglish, Konglish, Manglish, Poglish, Russlish, Singlish, Spanglish, Swenglish, Turklish, Vietglish - you get the idea. Which particular language or interlanguage is spoken where depends on which microstate within Avalonia or what district within Avalon City you happen to be standing in.
To the Known Worlder, the linguistic stew heard in the Avalon Islands will sound like gibberish. But to all but the most monolingual Avalonian, it will sound pretty normal.
This might be how Avalish probably sounds to most Known Worlders - as well as to non-Avalish speaking Avalon Islanders.
How an Avalish pop song might sound to a Known Worlder
(… Plus here is a pretty good live version of the same song… Adriano Celentano remembered the lyrics to the whole song decades later.)
Indigenous Languages
The various humaniform species living in the Known World - including the Barakins, Dwurin, Manikins, Dandiprats, Xeradi and others - all have their own native languages.
Not only that, the various Dwurin ethnic groups each have their own dialects, including the Montodwurin, Lagodwurin, and Marodwurin. There are also a few dialects among the Montodwurin in turn, depending on which realm one happens to be in. A hardy group of Marodwurin who live in the dense swamps of southernmost Bryn, known as the Marĉodwurin or “Swamp Dwurin”, speak their own particular patois that mixes Lagodwurin, Common, and Manikin.
These humaniform species each have their own distinct, rune-like writing systems. In recent centuries, all have come to adapt the Known World Alphabet to take advantage of its flexibility and portability.
The Known World Alphabet
As mentioned, there are 48 glyphs in the Known World Alphabet, all based on the 26 glyphs used in the Latin Alphabet. So fundamentally, all of the glyphs will look familiar to anyone who knows the Latin Alphabet. All that is different about the other 22 glyphs is that they feature one of 3 special diacritics used to signify a slightly different pronunciation. Many of these letters will sound familiar to the reader, while perhaps a few might not.
About the Diacritics
The 3 diacritics in active use including the following:
The Circumflex - ^ - a chevron shaped accent appearing above some letters. They are also referred to sometimes as a caret, a hat, or a roof. It’s usually sitting above the number 6 on your keyboard. The Circumflex shows up in the alphabets of Faroese, French, Frisian, Romanian, Sami, Turkish, Vietnamese, Walloon, and Welsh.
The Caron - ̌ - an inverted chevron shaped accent appearing above some letters. They are also referred to sometimes as a wedge, check, hachek, inverted hat, inverted circumflex, or a flying bird. The Caron shows up in several Baltic, Slavic, Samic, and Berber alphabets. It is also used to represent the third tone (falling-rising or low tone) in the Pinyin romanization system associated with Mandarin Chinese.
the Stroke or Bar - / or ― - appearing either horizontally or laterally through some letters. They are also referred to sometimes as a slash or crossbar. The Stroke shows up in many languages, including Comanche, Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Moro, Navaho, Norwegian, Polish, and Vietnamese alphabets, as well the African Reference Alphabet, the Unified Northern Alphabet, and the Mongolian Latin Alphabet.
Sorry, there are no umlauts, tildes or cedillas in the Known World Alphabet! I hope such omissions will not offend you.
The Official Known World Glyph Set
Following is a list of the glyphs used in the Known World Alphabet.
Unfortunately, Substack does not support the use of tables.
If you prefer, you can also read the list in an organized table.
Or you can read a bulleted list of the glyphs below, listed in their official alphabetical order.
Each letter in the list is displayed in the following format, from left to right:
First, its uppercase (or Capital Letter) form;
Second, its lowercase (or Small Letter) form;
Third, its phoneme or unit of sound; and
Last, its sound description using certain English words that feature that sound.
Here is the list…
A - a - /ah/ sound as used in the A in Aruba or fAther
 - â - /a/ (short A) sound, as used in the A in Atlanta or Active
Ǎ - ǎ - /aw/ sound, as used in the AU in AUstralia or AUstin; or the AW in AWesome or AWful
B - b - /b/ sound, as used in the B in Boston or Bad
C - c - /ts/ sound, as used in the TS in TSunami or guTSy
Ĉ - ĉ - /ch/ sound, as used in the CH in CHina or CHocolate
D - d - /d/ sound, as used in the D in Denmark or Dog
D̂ - d̂ - /dw/ sound, as used in the DW in DWelling or DWeeb
Ď - ď - /dh/ sound, as used in in the DH in DHaka or DHow; or similar to the soft TH sound in FaTHer
E - e - /e/ (short E) sound, as used in the E in Edmonton or Elephant
Ê - ê - /ā/ (long A) sound, as used in the A in April or Apron or dAy
Ě - ě - /ew/ sound, as used in the EW in EWe or fEW; or the UE in ValUE or VenUE
F - f - /f/ sound, as used in the F in Frankfurt or Face or Fall
G - g - /g/ (hard G) sound, as used in the G in Giza or Gold
Ĝ - ĝ - /zh/ sound, as used in the G in Genre or Z in aZure or the SU in pleaSUre
(Note: in some regions this sound is signed as Ẑ / ẑ instead)Ǧ - ǧ - /gw/ sound, as used in the GU in GUam or GUacamole; or the GW in GWendolyn
H - h - /h/ sound, as used in the H in Houston or Hammer
Ĥ - ĥ /kh/ sound, as used in the KH in KHartoum, or the CH in LoCH
I - i - /i/ (short I) sound, as used in the I in Italy or India or Impact
Î - î - /I/ (long I) sound, as used in the I in Ireland or Idea
J - j - /y/ sound, as used in the Y in York or Yellow
Ĵ - ĵ - /j/ (soft G) sound, as used in the G in Germany or Gerbil; or as used in the J in Japan or Jamaica or Jacket
K - k - /k/ sound, as used in the K in Korea or Kenya or Kettle
L - l - /l/ sound, as used in the L in London or Lebanon or Lamp
M - m /m/ sound, as used in the M in Moscow or Mexico or Map
N - n - /n/ sound, as used in the N in New York or Nigeria or Nap
N̂ - n̂ /nj/ sound, as used in the NY in CaNYon or the NI in piNIon
Ň - ň - /ng/ sound, as used in the NG in SiNG or HaNG or ThiNG or HoNG KoNG
O - o - /O/ (long O) sound, as used in the O in Osaka or Oval
Ô - ô - /o/ (short O) sound, as used in the O in Ontario or Ostrich; also the /ow/ sound, as in the OU in OUtside or mOUse, or the OW in cOW or tOWel
Ǒ - ǒ OI/OY sound, as used in bOY or OYster
Ø - ø - /œ/ or /ur/ sound, as used in the IR in thIRd or bIRd, or the OE in GOEthe, or the UR in URn or fURther
P - p - /p/ sound, as used in the P in Paris or Pakistan or Pet
Q - q - /kw/ sound, as used in the QU in QUest or QUeen
R - r - /r/ sound, as used in the R in Rome or Russia or River
S - s - /s/ sound, as used in the S in Sydney or Singapore or Sock
Ŝ - ŝ - /sh/ sound, as used in the SH in SHanghai or SHadow
T - t - /t/ sound, as used in the T in Turkey or Toronto or Top
U - u - /OO/ sound, as used in the OO in bOOt or lagOOn or mOOn
Û - û - /U/ (short U) sound, as used in the U in cUt or shUt or bUtter or Under or Udder
Ǔ - ǔ - /ju/ (long U) (YU) sound, as used in the U in Utah or Unicycle
Ʉ - ʉ - /ui/ sound, as used in the UOY in bUOY; or the OOEY in gOOEY
V - v - /v/ sound, as used in the V in Vancouver or Violin
W - w - /w/ sound, as used in the W in Wellington or Wichita or Water
Ŵ - ŵ - /hw/ sound, as used in the WH in WHat or WHeat or WHisker
X - x - /th/ sound, as used in the TH in THing or THunder
Ӿ / ӿ - /ks/ sound, as used in the X in boX or foX or siX; or the KS in socKS or rocKS
Y - y - /ee/ (long E) sound, as used in EE in frEE or wEEk or bEEf, or the EA in EAst or pEAk, or the Y sound commonly found at the end of English words such as fancY or tastY
Z - z /z/ sound, as used in the Z in Zimbabwe or Zoo or Zipper
There, that wasn’t so bad was it?
Some Pronunciation Examples
Now that we have listed the Known World Alphabet, here are a few words and names that will appear in my book, The Other Side Of The Sun, and how to properly pronounce them. (Again, you are free to pronounce them in your mind or aloud however you like…)
Personal Names
Rêvin - Ray-vin - similar to the English word Raven - is the first name of the male protagonist character who is a Knight.
Lysela - Lee-sell-ah - is the first name of the female protagonist character who is a Ranger.
Kryd - Kreed - similar to the English word Creed - is the mononym of an important male supporting character who is an Archmage (Arkmêĵ in Common).
Vêla - Vay-lah - the first name of Vêla Not-A-Lady, a female supporting character who is a Knight Protector.
Ydela - Ee-del-lah - the first name of Queen Ydela, the current Queen Regnant of the Kingdom of Bryn in our story. Ydela is protected by the aforementioned Vêla Not-A-Lady.
Place Names
Meldûn - Mel-duhn - also known as the Isle of Meldûn - is the town (and the river island it sits upon) where Rêvin and Lysela live, and part of where The Other Side Of The Sun will be based.
Bryn - Breen - the realm, officially known as the Kingdom of Bryn, where Meldûn is located.
Bôlada - Bow-lah-dah - sometimes incorrectly pronounced as Bah-lah-dah by non-Brynish folk - is the capital city of the Kingdom of Bryn.
Lorê - Low-ray - is a large river port city in southern Bryn, and also the kingdom’s largest city.
Nargoxa - Nar-goh-thah - is a powerful independent city-state that is a major trading port and the most populous city in the Known World.
Conclusion
That concludes today’s dispatch!
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Thanks for reading!
— B.E. Turpin