The Written Language of the Siritean Empire

seu hii vegkuel plehhar ro quinvellatrya siritea

In the Empire, written language is expressed using a set of characters called the Shedteu. These characters are written horizontally, left to right, in lines from top to bottom of a page.

See also Pronunciations and Writing Examples.

Consonants

There are fifteen basic consonant characters. Eight of these are the Dalteu, characters whose sound varies. Unmodified Dalteu are unvoiced (U) consonants, such as s, p, t, or k. They can be marked with modifiers to become voiced (V), semi-voiced, or to glide between voiced and unvoiced forms. A semi-voiced form is a sound blending that of the voiced and unvoiced sounds. A glide form starts as one form then transitions into the other as a second, distinct sound. The remaining consonants are the fixed Muenteu. The Muenteu as well as the Dalteu can be modified with marks to represent aspirants, lengthening, and other modifications.

Dalteu

	Voiced	Dalteu Modifiers & Placement
P	B		voiced; on leftmost vertical
F	V		semi-voiced; on leftmost vertical
T	D		V-U glide; above consonant
K/Q*	G		U-V glide; above consonant
S	Z
THin	THan
SH	ZH
CH	J

Two constructions can represent the Q character:

K+W+vowel is the familiar English “Qu” sound as in Quit or Quark.
K+a 'u-vowel' pair character is a softer, more open-mouthed sound.

Muenteu

	L		N		W		X
	M		R		Y

Dalteu & Muenteu Modifiers

Mark	Function	Position	Mark	Function	Position
	aspriant (leading H)	right of consonant		lengthening	above glyph
	terminal H	right of consonant		nasalized	above glyph
	hard aspirant (leading HH)	right of consonant		glottal	between glyphs
	terminal HH	right of consonant		repeat consonant after vowel	attach to vowel stroke end

Vowel Markings

There are 30 vowel marks in the Shedteu. Collectively, they are called Voneteu. They take one of three forms:

Initial and post-glottal single vowels, represented by a single stroke. (5 marks)
Post-consonant single vowels, represented by a "positioned" stroke from one of five locations around the consonant. Initial and post-glottal double vowels consist of the single-vowel stroke for the first vowel of the diphthong with the positioned stroke for the second vowel. (5 marks)
Post-consonant diphthongs (paired vowels), represented by a stroke attached at the first's position and then arcing to the second's. The styling of these arcs varies greatly and is often used to artistic effect. (20 marks)

Additionally, there are three marks which modify a vowel sound.

Vowel Mark		Vowel Modifiers
Positioned Strokes		Mark	Effect
O	U		lengthen vowel
E	A		aspriant (leading H)
I Rectangle above represents position of character vowel follows.			hard aspirant (leading HH)

Initial Single		Post-Consonant Diphthongs
Initial Single		O	U	E	I	A
	O
	U
	E
	I
	A
Rectangles above represent the character the vowel follows. A post-consonant single vowel lacks the 'lengthening' dot.