#constructed script

I've been learning to harvest clay and I used my very first batch to write something in Proto-Seraphic! It was a writing system originally meant to be written in clay so I'm very glad it came out so clear. On the left is the unfired tablet and the write is the fired tablet. It ended up cracking and breaking (first time firing greenware whoops) but I don't mind because it gives it an archaeological feel to it!

Ndeytğĺ pr-afwék ju-Tawawí, qe pr-vim ju-Kirawí, qe pr-jahwúvim ju-Tlad.

[ˌn̩.dɛjtˈɣl̩ pr̩ ɑˈfwɛk ʒu ˌtɑ.wɑˈwɪ qɛ pr̩ vim ʒu ˌki.rɑˈwi qɛ pr̩ ʒɑˈhwuv.im ʒu ˈtlɑd]

PFV.FUT.RES=that.[DIST] by (o).HEAT.[SG] of tëwėlwī and by (t).light.[SG] of cīralwī and by (m).crop-PL of tlāod

Tepatic glyphs originated in pre-Tepatic Milim times as images, such as those found in Milim rock paintings. Presumably, all of the glyphs used in Yuk Tepat originated as pictures - either depictions of things, or iconic representations of concepts. Although many glyphs have been stylized to the point that their appearance does not immediately suggest their meaning, they still continue the image of something, and in that sense are “representational.”

Some cases are metonymic - a picture of a part stands in for the whole. For example, the glyph for nap ‘man’ was originally just a stylized penis, the most important part of a man.

Sometimes the image is less clear because of cultural ideas of representation. For example, “sun” was typically imagined as having curved rays radiating from it, in a swastika-like pattern, hence producing a “sun” glyph very different from an English-speakers idea of what “sun” should look like, perhaps with spiky “rays.” Stars were little crosses (or asterisks).

Some glyphs are more abstract - not really representational, but iconic - but still in a sense show what they mean. For example. thôy ‘be located.’ It shows a circle (object) on a horizontal line (some surface), with a pointer under the line, marking the location of the object.

Then there are some glyphs that as yet have no “etymology.” They are used phonetically or for spelling abstract words. Although it is presumed they were originally representations of some object or other, the connection has been obscured by the millennia, and we still don’t know what they might have represented. Possibly, they represented words in the Milim language which no longer exist in Yuk Tepat.

Rauzooxaxxu puuxetaavum ata duožox tšohaa’a. Xiyipkeip nooqaavum ataas sooyoongaasot tšı’iida.

The chain of silver to bind him tight.

Today’s Valya word is nuna, meaning “circle” or “loop.”

In Proto-Valya the concept of the year was, like in many other languages, closely associated with cycles. One term for “year” was *ki nuuna, “the loop,” which in Modern Valya is tnuna. Although it comes from a definite noun phrase, to say “the year” in Valya you have to mark it as definite again: kitnuna. Another, more poetic term for “year” in Valya is kihnüli krimwa, literally “the wheel of seasons.”

The more literal definite form of nuna in Modern Valya is kinuna, “the circle” or “the loop,” though some speakers do use tnuna for both. There’s also nunarwa “loop-make,” meaning “repeat” or “return,” though tsivünga “again” is also used, as in dli tsivünga “come back.”

Dru tuhlu lba kngiva kitnuna nyi sununarwa tu laga ri. We should come back here before the end of the year.

Trying to work out all the stylistic elements of Tepatic glyphs.

These are distinct from glyph radicals, which are the smallest distinctive meaningful elements of the writing system, which are combined to spell words.

also shout out to this funky lil guy