Appendix:Castithan orthography

Castithan Language Navigation: Home, Phonology, Grammar, Vocabulary, Dictionary, Orthography, Dialogue

Fajizwalino is an abugida used to write the Castithan language from the Syfy series Defiance.

Fajizwalino script

Fajizwalino is characterized by its complexity, particularly in terms of correct spelling. While not the most challenging script to read, it poses difficulties in writing. Fajizwalino is written from left to right, and each glyph represents a syllable, comprising at most one consonant and one vowel.

Syllabograms

Nucleus → Onset ↓	*a	*aa	*i	*ii	*u	*uu	*ai	*au	*ia	*iu	*iai	*iau	*ua	*ui	*uai	*uau
None	a	aa	i	ii	u	uu	e	o	Initial: ya Non-initial: |ya	Initial: yu Non-initial: |yu	Initial: ye Non-initial: |ye	Initial: yo Non-initial: |yo	Initial: wa Non-initial: |wa	Initial: wi Non-initial: |wi	Initial: we Non-initial: |we	Initial: wo Non-initial: |wo
*b	ba	baa	bi	bii	bu	buu	be	bo	bya	byu	bye	byo	bwa	bwi	bwe	bwo
*ɓ	Ba	Baa	Bi	Bii	Bu	Buu	Be	Bo	Bya	Byu	Bye	Byo	Bwa	Bwi	Bwe	Bwo
*d	da	daa	di	dii	du	duu	de	do	dya	dyu	dye	dyo	dwa	dwi	dwe	dwo
*ɗ	Da	Daa	Di	Dii	Du	Duu	De	Do	Dya	Dyu	Dye	Dyo	Dwa	Dwi	Dwe	Dwo
*ð	dha	dhaa	dhi	dhii	dhu	dhuu	dhe	dho	dhya	dhyu	dhye	dhyo	dhwa	dhwi	dhwe	dhwo
*f	fa	faa	fi	fii	fu	fuu	fe	fo	fya	fyu	fye	fyo	fwa	fwi	fwe	fwo
*g	ga	gaa	gi	gii	gu	guu	ge	go	gya	gyu	gye	gyo	gwa	gwi	gwe	gwo
*ɠ	Ga	Gaa	Gi	Gii	Gu	Guu	Ge	Go	Gya	Gyu	Gye	Gyo	Gwa	Gwi	Gwe	Gwo
*h	ha	haa	hi	hii	hu	huu	he	ho	hya	hyu	hye	hyo	hwa	hwi	hwe	hwo
*k	ka	kaa	ki	kii	ku	kuu	ke	ko	kya	kyu	kye	kyo	kwa	kwi	kwe	kwo
*kʼ	Ka	Kaa	Ki	Kii	Ku	Kuu	Ke	Ko	Kya	Kyu	Kye	Kyo	Kwa	Kwi	Kwe	Kwo
*l	la	laa	li	lii	lu	luu	le	lo	lya	lyu	lye	lyo	lwa	lwi	lwe	lwo
*m	ma	maa	mi	mii	mu	muu	me	mo	mya	myu	mye	myo	mwa	mwi	mwe	mwo
*ᵐb	mba	mbaa	mbi	mbii	mbu	mbuu	mbe	mbo	mbya	mbyu	mbye	mbyo	mbwa	mbwi	mbwe	mbwo
*n	na	naa	ni	nii	nu	nuu	ne	no	nya	nyu	nye	nyo	nwa	nwi	nwe	nwo
*ⁿd	nda	ndaa	ndi	ndii	ndu	nduu	nde	ndo	ndya	ndyu	ndye	ndyo	ndwa	ndwi	ndwe	ndwo
*ŋ	nga	ngaa	ngi	ngii	ngu	nguu	nge	ngo	ngya	ngyu	ngye	ngyo	ngwa	ngwi	ngwe	ngwo
*ᵑɡ	ngga	nggaa	nggi	nggii	nggu	ngguu	ngge	nggo	nggya	nggyu	nggye	nggyo	nggwa	nggwi	nggwe	nggwo
*p	pa	paa	pi	pii	pu	puu	pe	po	pya	pyu	pye	pyo	pwa	pwi	pwe	pwo
*pʼ	Pa	Paa	Pi	Pii	Pu	Puu	Pe	Po	Pya	Pyu	Pye	Pyo	Pwa	Pwi	Pwe	Pwo
*r	ra	raa	ri	rii	ru	ruu	re	ro	rya	ryu	rye	ryo	rwa	rwi	rwe	rwo
*s	sa	saa	si	sii	su	suu	se	so	sya	syu	sye	syo	swa	swi	swe	swo
*sˤ	Sa	Saa	Si	Sii	Su	Suu	Se	So	Sya	Syu	Sye	Syo	Swa	Swi	Swe	Swo
*t	ta	taa	ti	tii	tu	tuu	te	to	tya	tyu	tye	tyo	twa	twi	twe	two
*tʼ	Ta	Taa	Ti	Tii	Tu	Tuu	Te	To	Tya	Tyu	Tye	Tyo	Twa	Twi	Twe	Two
*θ	tha	thaa	thi	thii	thu	thuu	the	tho	thya	thyu	thye	thyo	thwa	thwi	thwe	thwo
*v	va	vaa	vi	vii	vu	vuu	ve	vo	vya	vyu	vye	vyo	vwa	vwi	vwe	vwo
*z	za	zaa	zi	zii	zu	zuu	ze	zo	zya	zyu	zye	zyo	zwa	zwi	zwe	zwo
*zˤ	Za	Zaa	Zi	Zii	Zu	Zuu	Ze	Zo	Zya	Zyu	Zye	Zyo	Zwa	Zwi	Zwe	Zwo

Fajizwalino contains several distinct vowel markers that have identical pronunciations in modern Castithan, much like Greek's use of epsilon (ε) and eta (η), and omicron (ο) and omega (ω). These stem from the historical presence of long vowels spelt differently, even though modern Castithan no longer distinguishes between short and long vowels. The pronunciation (but not the spelling) of the historically short vowels has changed in certain contexts in the modern language, for example, short *[i] and *[u] become [je] and [wo] respectively when stressed. Furthermore, the former diphthongs *[ai] and *[au] became the monophthongs [e] and [o].

Some noteworthy aspects of Fajizwalino's consonants include the loss of nasal elements in the prenasalized series at the beginning of a word (e.g., *[ᵐba] is pronounced [ba] word-initially) and the deletion of [w] after a bilabial (therefore, *[pua] is pronounced [pa] rather than [pwa]). The old emphatic consonants [pʼ tʼ kʼ ɓ ɗ ɠ sˤ zˤ] are no longer pronounced differently from their non-emphatic counterparts [p t k b d g s z], but are still distinguished in writing and underwent or triggered different sound changes. Fajizwalino lacks symbols for modern Castithan's post-alveolar sibilants and affricates, which arose from palatalizations.

Although gemination is no longer phonemic in Castithan, geminates are still written with a special glyph placed before the syllable with a geminate consonant, for instance *[pːa] is spelt ppa.

It is important to note that Fajizwalino does not allow the writing of a consonant without a vowel, the most basic form of a consonantal glyph includes a short [a], modern Castithan's consonant clusters are written with vowels which have become silent. For instance, shtako is spelt siTaaKu ([sitʼaakʼu]).

Numerals

Castithan uses vigesimal numerals:

Arabic	Fajizwalino
0	0
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
10	)
11	!
12	@
13	#
14	$
15	%
16	^
17	&
18	*
19	(
20	10

Punctuation

In addition to numerals, Fajizwalino includes the following punctuation marks:

Roman	Fajizwalino
Period	.
Question mark (with a to show both the initial and the final form)	?a?
Comma (short pause)	,
Double comma (long pause)	,,
Hyphen	-
Combining hyphen	_
Quotes	[ ]
Quotes and period	{ }
Quotes and question mark	< >
End of phrase	/

Ideographic symbols

One distinctive aspect of Castithan's writing system is the inclusion of ideographic symbols inspired by Tamil's letter-inspired glyphs:

Fajizwalino	Meaning
=	Today, day, sun
=M	Month
=Y	Year
=$	Scrip, money, cash, jaja, $
=$/	Free, gratis
=#	Number, #
=c	Credit, credit cards accepted
=h	Hospital, health, clinic, medical, aid
=d	Danger, dangerous
=f	Female, feminine, woman, women
=m	Male, masculine, man, men
=s	Shanje liro (ruler caste)
=v	Valáne liro (former members of the Shanje liro who married someone below)
=e	Emine liro (merchant caste)
=y	Yuke liro (worker caste)
=r	Rizi liro (soldier caste)

These symbols were intended for widespread use, similar to restroom signs and other commonly recognized symbols. However, they were used sparingly in the Defiance series.