Appendix:Sondiv orthography
Kwandon is an abjad by David J. Peterson used to write the Sondiv language spoken by the alien Atrian people from The CW's Star-Crossed.
Orthography
Sondiv's script, known as Kwandon, is an abjad, a writing system that primarily represents consonantal sounds. Vowels are typically not written or are only written in specific contexts.
Design concept
Kwandon was created to have a appearance inspired by seaweed and oceanic elements, based on the water-world character of Atria. The goal was to emphasize consonants, with a particular visual style that included lines written over and under glyphs. Peterson had previously created scripts like abugidas and a syllabary for the show Defiance, and so aimed to create writing system of a different type for Star-Crossed.
Root system
Similar to Arabic, Sondiv employs a root system that allows for the easy formation of new words. There are twenty-four basic nominal patterns, an adjectival pattern, a determiner pattern and a pattern for male and female names, respectively. Patterns have broad semantic categories, such as "Animate A" and "Animate B," assigned to them. The script was designed encode these patterns unambiguously using only consonant characters and certain modifications to those characters.
Consonant modifications
Peterson devised a schema with four modifications to the consonant characters that accommodated roots with two and three consonants. The goal was to minimize the number of modifications while ensuring unambiguous encoding of the patterns. All glyphs occupy the same vertical space for efficiency.
Glyphs have two modifications above and two below the character. Modifications 1 and 2 are written over one or two consonants to the left, modification 3 is written under one or two consonants to the right, and modification 4 is written under a single consonant to the right or under and between two consonants. They are shown in the following table:
Root type | Modification | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
Biconsonantal | sk= |
sk=] |
s=/k |
s=[k |
Triconsonantal | skt== |
skt=]] |
s=//kt |
sk=[[t |
Glyphs
Romanization | IPA | Unmodified | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | a | a |
ga= gga== |
ga=] gga=]] |
a=/g a=//gg |
a=[g ga=[[g |
Former long vowel, used as a consonant in some roots. |
b | b | b |
gb= ggb== |
gb=] ggb=]] |
b=/g b=//gg |
b=[g gb=[[g |
|
ch | tʃ | ch |
gch= ggch== |
gch=] ggch=]] |
ch=/g ch=//gg |
ch=[g gch=[[g |
Used in loanwords. |
d | d | d |
gd= ggd== |
gd=] ggd=]] |
d=/g d=//gg |
d=[g gd=[[g |
|
e | e | e |
Invariant, used in special cases. | ||||
f | f | f |
gf= ggf== |
gf=] ggf=]] |
f=/g f=//gg |
f=[g gf=[[g |
Used in loanwords. |
g | g | g |
gg= ggg== |
gg=] ggg=]] |
g=/g g=//gg |
g=[g gg=[[g |
|
h | h | h |
gh= ggh== |
gh=] ggh=]] |
h=/g h=//gg |
h=[g gh=[[g |
|
i | i | i |
gi= ggi== |
gi=] ggi=]] |
i=/g i=//gg |
i=[g gi=[[g |
Former long vowel, used as a consonant in some roots. |
j | dʒ | j |
gj= ggj== |
gj=] ggj=]] |
j=/g j=//gg |
j=[g gj=[[g |
Used in loanwords. |
k | k | k |
gk= ggk== |
gk=] ggk=]] |
k=/g k=//gg |
k=[g gk=[[g |
|
l | l | l |
gl= ggl== |
gl=] ggl=]] |
l=/g l=//gg |
l=[g gl=[[g |
|
m | m | m |
gm= ggm== |
gm=] ggm=]] |
m=/g m=//gg |
m=[g gm=[[g |
|
n | n | n |
gn= ggn== |
gn=] ggn=]] |
n=/g n=//gg |
n=[g gn=[[g |
|
o | o | o |
Invariant, used in special cases. | ||||
p | p | p |
gp= ggp== |
gp=] ggp=]] |
p=/g p=//gg |
p=[g gp=[[g |
|
r | ɾ | r |
gr= ggr== |
gr=] ggr=]] |
r=/g r=//gg |
r=[g gr=[[g |
|
s | s | s |
gs= ggs== |
gs=] ggs=]] |
s=/g s=//gg |
s=[g gs=[[g |
|
sh | ʃ | sh |
gsh= ggsh== |
gsh=] ggsh=]] |
sh=/g sh=//gg |
sh=[g gsh=[[g |
Used in loanwords. |
t | t | t |
gt= ggt== |
gt=] ggt=]] |
t=/g t=//gg |
t=[g gt=[[g |
|
th | θ | th |
gth= ggth== |
gth=] ggth=]] |
th=/g th=//gg |
th=[g gth=[[g |
Used in loanwords. |
u | u | u |
gu= ggu== |
gu=] ggu=]] |
u=/g u=//gg |
u=[g gu=[[g |
Former long vowel, used as a consonant in some roots. |
v | v | v |
gv= ggv== |
gv=] ggv=]] |
v=/g v=//gg |
v=[g gv=[[g |
|
w | w | w |
gw= ggw== |
gw=] ggw=]] |
w=/g w=//gg |
w=[g gw=[[g |
|
y | j | y |
gy= ggy== |
gy=] ggy=]] |
y=/g y=//gg |
y=[g gy=[[g |
|
z | z | z |
gz= ggz== |
gz=] ggz=]] |
z=/g z=//gg |
z=[g gz=[[g |
Pronunciation
Patterns to form nouns, adjectives, determiners and names can apply to biconsonantal (e.g., S-K) and triconsonantal (e.g., S-K-T) roots. They are written with consonant letters representing prefixes and suffixes, as well as applying the presence or absence of the four modifications to the consonants of the root. Most of the patterns have singular and plural forms, and some of the plural forms end with a special plural glyph.
There are some cases in which the absence of modifications or an unexpected usage of them is used to inform a different reading. If two or three letters follow each other without modifications, they will be read as the determiner pattern. The second root letter, rather than the third, is modified (with modification 2) for the first male name pattern pronunciation. The modification of the third root letter (using modification 1) covers only the second letter, not the first, for the female name pattern pronunciation in triconsonantal roots.
Roman numeral |
Pattern | Biconsonantal root | Triconsonantal root | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||
— | Determiner | sk sik |
skt skit | ||
— | Adverbial determiner | skr sikur |
sktr skitur | ||
— | Feminine name | *sk=h Soka |
*skt=h Sakota | ||
— | Masculine name A | *sk=] Sak |
*sk=]t Sakat | ||
— | Masculine name B | *s=/ktwr Sektur |
*s=//kttwr Skettur | ||
i | Common noun A | s=/k sek |
s=/k+ sayak |
s=//kt sket |
s=//kt+ skayat |
ii | Common noun B | sk= sok |
sk=+ suvuk |
skt== skot |
skt==+ skuvut |
iii | Diminutive A | s=/ks skis |
s=/kl skil |
s=//kts sketis |
s=//ktl sketil |
iv | Diminutive B | sk=s skus |
sk=l skul |
skt==s skotus |
skt==l skotul |
v | Locative A | bs=/k besek |
bs=/k+ besayak |
bs=//kt besket |
bs=//kt+ beskayat |
vi | Locative B | bsk=m beskon |
bsk=wl beskuvul |
bskt==m beskuton |
bskt==wl beskutuvul |
vii | Locative C | s=[kh esika |
s=[kl eskil |
sk=[[th eskita |
sk=[[tl eskitil |
viii | Diminutive locative | bs=/ks beskis |
bs=/kl beskil |
bs=//kts besketis |
bs=//ktl besketil |
ix | Augmentative A | s=/k= swak |
s=/k=+ swayak |
s=//kt== swakat |
s=//kt==+ swakayat |
x | Augmentative B | sk=w sku |
sk=wl skuvul |
skt==w skutu |
skt==wl skutuvul |
xi | Common implement | s=[k esk |
s=[kl eskil |
sk=[[t esekt |
sk=[[tl eskitil |
xii | Augmentative implement | s=/k=m swakon |
s=/k=wl skuvul |
s=//kt==m swakton |
s=//kt==wl skutuvul |
xiii | Verbal noun A | isk= isuk |
iskt== iskut | ||
xiv | Verbal noun B | ssk=v soskiv |
ssk=l soskil |
sskt==v soskutiv |
sskt==l soskutil |
xv | Instance of action | ssk= sosuk |
ssk=+ sosuvuk |
sskt== soskut |
sskt==+ soskuvut |
xvi | Absolute noun | sk=]m oskon |
sk=]wl oskuvul |
skt=]]m oskuton |
skt=]]wl oskutuvul |
xvii | Animate A | is=/km isken |
is=/kwl iskivil |
is=//ktm isketen |
is=//ktwl isketivil |
xviii | Animate B | sk=] sak |
sk=]l sikil |
skt=]] skat |
skt=]]l siktil |
xix | Animate C | ys=/k=]m syaken |
ys=/k=]vl yaskivil |
ys=//kt=]]m syakaten |
ys=//kt=]]vl yaskativil |
xx | Animate D | ws=/k=]m swaken |
ws=/k=]vl waskivil |
ws=//kt=]]m swakaten |
ws=//kt=]]vl waskativil |
xxi | Temporal | s=[ks eskas |
s=[k+ sek |
sk=[[ts askitas |
sk=[[t+ sakit |
xxii | Collective noun | hsk=w husku |
hsk=wl huskuvul |
hskt==w huskutu |
hskt==wl huskutuvul |
xxiii | Individual noun | us=/ks uskis |
us=/kl uskil |
us=//kts usketis |
us=//ktl usketil |
xxiv | Natural noun | s=[k=] sovok |
sk=l skul |
sk=[[t=]] skovot |
skt==l skotul |
— | Adjective | s=[k= seku |
s=[k=hl skuhul |
sk=[[t== sekut |
sk=[[t==l skutil |
— | Comparative | mbsk= mbesku |
mbsk=hl mbeskuhul |
mbskt== mbeskut |
mbskt==l mbeskutil |
— | Superlative | mbs=[k mbesek |
mbs=[kl mbesekil |
mbsk=[[t mbesakit |
mbsk=[[tl mbesektil |
— | Adverb | s=[k=r sekur |
sk=[[t==r sekutur | ||
— | Comparative adverb | mbsk=r mbeskur |
mbskt==r mbeskutur | ||
— | Superlative adverb | mbs=[kr mbesikur |
mbsk=[[tr mbesakitur |
Number system
Sondiv employs a base-10 number system with special words for prime numbers up to twenty. Symbols for numbers are taken from the alphabet, and a special number sign differentiates numbers from words.