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This is another area where local" /> <meta name="generator" content="Drupal 7 (https://www.drupal.org)" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.sil.org/orthography/script-issues" /> <link rel="shortlink" href="https://www.sil.org/node/122846" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="SIL Global" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.sil.org/orthography/script-issues" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Script issues" /> <meta property="og:description" content="Before deciding on individual symbols for an orthography, in many areas of the world a prior decision must be made as to which script to use. Choosing between a Latin-based, Arabic-based, Devanagari-based, or some other script is often a matter of identity and politics, and has enormous implications for acceptability of an orthography. This is another area where local speakers' input is essential. Ahmed, Asmaa Mhd. Ibrahim. 2004. Suggestions for Writing Modern Nubian Languages. In: Leoma C. Gilley (ed.), Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages. 9." /> <meta property="og:updated_time" content="2024-03-11T14:39:33-05:00" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary" /> <meta name="twitter:url" content="https://www.sil.org/orthography/script-issues" /> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Script issues" /> <meta name="twitter:description" content="Before deciding on individual symbols for an orthography, in many areas of the world a prior decision must be made as to which script to use. Choosing between a Latin-based, Arabic-based," /> <meta property="article:published_time" content="2017-01-31T15:14:33-06:00" /> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-03-11T14:39:33-05:00" /> <title>Script issues | SIL Global</title> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_lQaZfjVpwP_oGNqdtWCSpJT1EMqXdMiU84ekLLxQnc4.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_EM9PzeHZt2AxxQ3R05nXINg9akBOG66G3hxOgWtlp2E.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_br5moiSfXe70Pay534_aftmsbDHvxZ7a50L-Zq1uvrs.css" media="all" /> <style>.panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region { padding: 0; } .panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region-inside { padding-right: 0.5em; padding-left: 0.5em; } .panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region-inside-first { padding-left: 0; } .panels-flexible-new 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class="main-container container"> <div class="row"> <section class="col-md-8 main-content-column"> <div id="page-title"> <h1 class="page-title">Script issues</h1> </div> <a id="main-content"></a> <div class="region region-content"> <section id="block-system-main" class="block block-system clearfix"> <div class="ds-1col node node-expertise-page view-mode-full clearfix"> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Before deciding on individual symbols for an orthography, in many areas of the world a prior decision must be made as to which <em>script </em>to use. Choosing between a Latin-based, Arabic-based, Devanagari-based, or some other script is often a matter of identity and politics, and has enormous implications for acceptability of an orthography. This is another area where local speakers' input is essential.</p> <ul> <li>Ahmed, Asmaa Mhd. Ibrahim. 2004. Suggestions for Writing Modern Nubian Languages. In: Leoma C. Gilley (ed.), Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages. 9. Entebbe, Uganda: SIL-Sudan, 185–213.</li> <li>Ahlberg, Aija Katriina. 2020. <a href="https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/70978">How abugida readers learn alphabetic literacy skills: The role of phonological awareness in the transfer process in the Konso language, Southwest Ethiopia. </a>Ph.D. Thesis, University of Jyväskylä.</li> <li>Anonby, Erik, and Ashraf Asadi. 2018. <span class="displayFields"><span class="subTitle"><a href="http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-355930">Bakhtiari Studies II: Orthography</a>. </span></span>Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.</li> <li>Bender, Margaret. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p91.xml" target="_self">Indexicality, voice, and context in the distribution of Cherokee scripts</a>. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 91-103.</li> <li>Biers, Kelly and Ellen Osterhaus. 2021. <u><a href="https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/24968">Notes from the Field: Wisconsin Walloon Documentation and Orthography</a></u>. Language Documentation and Conservation 15:1-20.</li> <li>Blood, Doris E. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/IJSL.2008.034/html?lang=en">T</a><a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/IJSL.2008.034/html?lang=en">he ascendancy of the Cham script: how a literacy workshop became the catalyst</a>. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 45-55.</li> <li>Brooks, Tim. July 20, 2021. <a href="https://www.endangeredalphabets.com/2021/07/20/designing-new-scripts-the-missing-mro/">Designing New Scripts: The Missing Mro</a>. EndangeredAlphabets.com</li> <li>Bunčić, Daniel, Sandra L. Lippert, and Achim Rabus (eds.). 2016. Biscriptality: A Sociolinguistic Typology. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag, WINTER.</li> <li>Campbell, George L. and Christopher Moseley. 2012. The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. London: Routledge.</li> <li>Can an Alphabet Save a Culture? <a href="https://unlocked.microsoft.com/adlam-can-an-alphabet-save-a-culture/?ocid=cmmd54fxocm&form=M402JX">Online article </a>on the ADLaM alphabet of Pulaar (Fulani).</li> <li>Chamberlain, Bradford L. 2008. Script selection for Tibetan-related languages in multiscriptal environments. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192:117-131.. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p117.xml">https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p117.xml</a><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> </span></span></li> <li>Clement, Victoria. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p171.xml" target="_self">Emblems of independence: script choice in post-Soviet Turkmenistan.</a> International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 171-185.</li> <li>Coulmas, Florian. 1999. Development of orthographies. In Daniel A. Wagner, Richard Venezky, and Brian V. Street (eds.)<em> Literacy: An international handbook</em>. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. 137-142.</li> <li>Ellis, Nick C, Miwa Natsume, Katerina Stavropoulou, Lorenc Hoxhallari, Victor H.P. van Daal, Nicolette Polyzoe, Maria-Louisa Tsipa, and Michaelis Petalas. 2004. The effects of orthographic depth on learning to read alphabetic, syllabic, and logographic scripts. Reading Research Quarterly 39.4. 438-468.</li> <li>Enwall, Joakim. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p153.xml" target="_self">Script choice among the Miao in China </a> International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 153-169.</li> <li>Hatcher, Lynley. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p105.xml">Script change in Azerbaijan: acts of identity</a>. <em>International Journal of the Sociology of Language </em>192:105–116.</li> <li>Hopkins, Jason. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p75.xml" target="_self">Choosing how to write sign language: a sociolinguistic perspective </a> International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 75-89.</li> <li>Iyengar, Arvid. 2018. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/35434247/Variation_in_Perso_Arabic_and_Devan%C4%81gar%C4%AB_Sindh%C4%AB_orthographies_An_overview?email_work_card=view-paper">Variation in Perso-Arabic and Devanāgarī Sindhī orthographies: An overview</a>. Written Language and Literacy 21: 169-197.</li> <li>Katz, Leonard and Ram Frost. 1992. The Reading Process is Different for Different Orthographies: The Orthographic Depth Hypothesis. In: Ram Frost and Leonard Katz (eds.), Orthography, Phonology, Morphology, and Meaning. Advances in Psychology 94. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 67–84.</li> <li>Kelly, Piers. 2016. "Introducing the Eskaya writing system: a complex Messianic script from the southern Philippines." The Australian Journal of Linguistics 36 (1):131-163. doi: 10.1080/07268602.2016.1109433. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/20301709/2016_Introducing_the_Eskaya_writing_system_a_complex_Messianic_script_from_the_southern_Philippines_The_Australian_Journal_of_Linguistics_36_1_131_163?email_work_card=abstract-read-more">Pre-pub version.</a></li> <li>Kelly<span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">,</span></span></span> Piers. 2018. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333220579_The_invention_transmission_and_evolution_of_writing_Insights_from_the_new_scripts_of_West_Africa">The Invention, Transmission and Evolution of Writing: Insights from the New Scripts of West Africa</a>. In Ferrara, Silvia and Miguel Valerio (eds.) Paths into Script Formation in the Ancient Mediterranean. Studi Micenei Ed Egeo-Anatolici Nuova Serie, Supplemento 1. Edizioni Quasar, Rome.</li> <li>King, Robert D. 1998. The potency of script: Hindi and Urdu. <em>International Journal of the Sociology of Language</em> 150. 43-59.</li> <li>Meyer, Ronny. 2016. <a href="https://journals.uio.no/osla/article/view/4422">The Ethiopic Script: Linguistic Features and Socio-cultural Connotations</a>. In Binyam Sisay Mendisu & Janne Bondi Johannessen (eds.) Multilingual Ethiopia: Linguistic Challenges and Capacity Building Efforts, Oslo Studies in Language 8(1), 2016. 137–172.</li> <li>Miller, Michelle, 2013. A Description of Kmhmu’ Lao Script-Based Orthography. <a href="http://mksjournal.org/">Mon Khmer Language Journal</a> 42:12-25.</li> <li>Page, Christina Joy. 2013. “<a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2013.783035">A new orthography in an unfamiliar script: a case study in participatory engagement strategies.</a>” <em>Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development</em>, DOI:10.1080/01434632.2013.783035.</li> <li>Page, Christina. 2017. <a href="https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/52396">Biliteracy across Scripts: Implications for Language Development in Southeast Asia</a>. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 10.1: 36-44.</li> <li>Sampson, Geoffrey. 2016. <a href="http://file:///C:/Users/Cahill/Downloads/Typology_and_the_study_of_writing_system.pdf">Typology and the study of writing systems</a>. Linguistic Typology 20(3): 561–567.</li> <li>Savage, Andrew. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p5.xml">Writing Tuareg — the three script options</a>. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 5-13.</li> <li>Sidwell, Paul. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p15.xml" target="_self">The Khom script of the Kommodam Rebellion</a>. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 15-25.</li> <li>Silva, David J. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p57.xml" target="_self">Missionary contributions toward the revaluation of Hangeul in late nineteenth-century Korea </a> International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 57-74.</li> <li>Smalley, William A., Chia Koua Vang, and Gnia Yee Yang.1990. Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.</li> <li>Seyoum, Mulugeta. 2020.Ethiopic Script Based Dime Orthography. Studies in Ethiopian Languages 9: 1-25<span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">.</span></span></span></span></span></span> <a href="https://www.academia.edu/74293836/Ethiopic_Script_Based_Dime_Orthography?email_work_card=view-paper">https://www.academia.edu/74293836/Ethiopic_Script_Based_Dime_Orthography?email_work_card=view-paper</a><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></li> <li>Thomas, Dorothy M. 1989. "Changing the Northern Khmer orthography." Notes on Literacy 57:47–59.</li> <li>Unseth, Peter. 1980. "The consideration of non-Roman orthographies in literacy programs." Notes on Literacy 29:16–21.</li> <li>Unseth, Peter. 2005. <a href="https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/wll.8.1.02uns">Sociolinguistic Parallels between choosing scripts and languages</a>. Written Language and Literacy, Volume 8:1, 19–42.</li> <li>Unseth, Peter. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p1.xml">The sociolinguistics of script choice: an introduction</a>. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192:1-4.</li> <li>Unseth, Peter and Carol Unseth. 1991. The consideration of non-Roman orthographies in literacy programs. <em>Notes on literacy</em> 29. 16-21.</li> <li> <div>Vitrano-Wilson, S. (2018). Tai Dam orthographies: Multigraphia, mismatching tones, and mutual borrowing of tone marking devices among three scripts. <i>Written Language & Literacy</i>, <i>21</i>(2), 198–237. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00015.vit&source=gmail&ust=1695820086672000&usg=AOvVaw3YZ7zn_heQ0yqnHJ-VpNOW" href="https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00015.vit" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.<wbr></wbr>00015.vit</a></div> </li> <li>Warren-Rothlin, Andy. 2014. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/13819335/West_African_Scripts_and_Arabic_Script_Orthographies_in_Socio_Political_Context?email_work_card=title">West African Scripts and Arabic-Script Orthographies in Socio-Political Context</a>. In Versteegh, K. and Mumin, M. (eds), The Arabic Script in Africa. New York: Brill. pp 261-89.</li> <li>Wyrod, Christopher. 2008. <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/ijsl/2008/192/article-p27.xml" target="_self">A social orthography of identity: the N'ko literacy movement in West Africa</a>. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192: 27-44.</li> </ul> <p><a href="http://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?id=">ScriptSource</a>: Writing Systems, Computers, and People - "a dynamic, collaborative reference to the writing systems of the world, with detailed information on scripts, characters, languages - and the remaining needs for supporting them in the computing realm."</p> </div></div></div></div> </section> </div> </section> <aside class="col-md-3 sidebar-second-wrapper" role="complementary"> <div class="region region-sidebar-second"> <section id="block-menu-block-4" class="block block-menu-block clearfix"> <div class="menu-block-wrapper menu-block-4 menu-name-menu-expertise parent-mlid-0 menu-level-3"> <ul class="menu nav"><li class="first last expanded active-trail menu-mlid-45391 active"><a href="/orthography" class="active-trail">Orthography</a><ul><li class="first expanded active-trail menu-mlid-45376 active"><a href="/orthography/topical-resources" class="active-trail">Topical Resources</a><ul><li class="first leaf menu-mlid-45416"><a href="/orthography/community-participation-and-stakeholders">• Community participation</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-110341"><a href="/orthography/conferences">• Conferences</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45421"><a href="/orthography/dialects">• Dialects</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45426"><a href="/orthography/endangered-languages">• Endangered languages</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-59776"><a href="/orthography/fonts-and-technical-issues">• Fonts and technical issues</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45431"><a href="/orthography/linguistics-and-orthography">• Linguistics</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45436"><a href="/orthography/naming-symbols">• Naming the symbols</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45441"><a href="/orthography/psycholinguistics-education-factors">• Psycholinguistics & Education factors</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-59771"><a href="/orthography/punctuation">• Punctuation</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45446"><a href="/orthography/reform-orthographies">• Reform of orthographies</a></li> <li class="leaf active-trail active menu-mlid-45451 active active"><a href="/orthography/script-issues" class="active-trail active">• Script issues</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45456"><a href="/orthography/sociopolitics">• Sociopolitics</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45461"><a href="/orthography/stages-orthography-development">• Stages of orthography</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45466"><a href="/orthography/standardization">• Standardization</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45471"><a href="/orthography/testing-and-experiments">• Testing and experiments</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-47536"><a href="/orthography/tone">• Tone</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-103286"><a href="/orthography/training-and-teaching">• Training and teaching</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-103281"><a href="/www.sil.org/orthography/vowels">• Vowels</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-48606"><a href="/https%3A//www.sil.org/orthography/word-breaks">• Word breaks</a></li> <li class="last leaf menu-mlid-45476"><a href="/orthography/writing-orthography-statement-or-report">• Writing up a report</a></li> </ul></li> <li class="last expanded menu-mlid-45381"><a href="/orthography/area-resources">Area Resources</a><ul><li class="first leaf menu-mlid-45396"><a href="/orthography/africa">• Africa</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45401"><a href="/orthography/americas">• Americas</a></li> <li class="leaf menu-mlid-45406"><a href="/orthography/asia">• Asia</a></li> <li class="last leaf menu-mlid-45411"><a href="/orthography/pacific">• Pacific</a></li> </ul></li> </ul></li> </ul></div> </section> </div> </aside>  </div> </div> <footer class="footer"> <div class="footer-top"> <div class="container"> <div class="region region-footer"> <section id="block-panels-mini-sil-bootstrap-footer-menu" class="block block-panels-mini clearfix"> <div class="panel-flexible panels-flexible-new clearfix" id="mini-panel-sil_bootstrap_footer_menu"> <div class="panel-flexible-inside panels-flexible-new-inside"> <div class="panels-flexible-row panels-flexible-row-new-main-row panels-flexible-row-first clearfix footer-links"> <div class="inside panels-flexible-row-inside panels-flexible-row-new-main-row-inside panels-flexible-row-inside-first clearfix"> <div class="panels-flexible-region panels-flexible-region-new-column_1 panels-flexible-region-first "> <div class="inside panels-flexible-region-inside panels-flexible-region-new-column_1-inside panels-flexible-region-inside-first"> <div class="panel-pane pane-block pane-block-276 pane-block footer-logo" > <div class="pane-content"> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/sil_logo_white.png" style="width: 100px; 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