Appendix:Shiväisith orthography

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Todjydheenil is an alphabet created by David J. Peterson used to write the Shiväisith language spoken by the Dark Elves from Marvel's Thor: The Dark World.

Unlike the other scripts Peterson invented to write conlangs he created for films, Todjydheenil was designed after the film's release and therefore does not appear in it and is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's canon.

Design concept

Todjydheenil is a runiform script featuring unique symbols with original designs that were intended to convey a sinister feel.

Spelling

Shiväisith's orthography is quite close to its pronunciation, aside from a few special cases:

  • Consonant glyphs exist for most sounds, but there are no separate glyphs for f, th, or dh. In Shiväisith, p and f, t and th, as well as d and dh are in complementary distribution, speakers perceive them as identical sounds and write them with the same letters.
  • The spelling of h is another special case. While there is a separate h rune mainly used at the beginning of words, it is different from the h that typically occurs between vowels or word-finally, which is spelled with either g or k. For example, karihi is spelled as kariki in Todjydheenil.

Letters

The alphabet has letters for both short and long vowels as well as diphthongs and several common consonant clusters. They are shown in the following table:

Todjydheenil Romanization IPA Notes
a a ɑ
aa aa ɑː
au au ɑu
ä ä æ
ää ää æː
äi äi æi
äy äy æy
d d or dh d, ð [ð] between vowels or word-finally, [d] elsewhere.
dj dj ɟ
e e e
ea ea
ee ee
ei ei ei
g g or h g, h [h] between vowels or word-finally, [g] elsewhere.
h h h
i i i
ia ia
ie ie ie
ii ii
io io io
j j j
k k or h k, h [h] between vowels or word-finally, [k] elsewhere.
ks ks ks
ksh ksh
l l l
lj lj ʎ
m m m
mp mp mp
n n n
nd nd nd
ndj ndj ɲɟ
ng ng ŋg
nj nj ɲ
nk nk ŋk
nt nt nt
ntj ntj ɲc
o o o
oo oo
ou ou ou
ö ö ø
öö öö øː
öy öy øy
p p or f p, f [f] between vowels or word-finally, [p] elsewhere.
ps ps ps
psh psh
r r ɾ
s s s
sh sh ʃ
t t or th t [θ] between vowels or word-finally, [t] elsewhere.
tj tj c
ts ts ts
tsh tsh
u u u
ua ua
ue ue ue
uo uo uo
uu uu
v v v
y y y
yy yy

Punctuation

The punctuation in Todjydheenil is minimalistic and includes a versatile rune that can represent various punctuation marks, such as periods, commas, colons, and semi-colons. The punctuation marks are summarized below:

Todjydheenil Usage
. Pause or end of sentence
? Question mark

Number system

The numbering system involves placeholders, where numbers are placed to the right until they exceed the placeholder's value. Once exceeded, a counter is added to the left:

Todjydheenil #
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
) 10
2) 20
( 100
* 1,000
+ 10,000
= 100,000
9=9+9*9(9)9 999,999

References