9,124
edits
Brooding: Difference between revisions
→Writing System and Orthography
Bpnjohnson (talk | contribs) |
Bpnjohnson (talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 179: | Line 179: | ||
== Writing System and Orthography == | == Writing System and Orthography == | ||
In addition to the transliteration system outlined above, Brooding also uses a writing system comprised of two sets of characters: seeing characters and blind characters. Seeing characters form an alphabet, with each seeing character representing a Brooding sound. The blind characters are logograms used in various ways. | |||
=== Writing conventions === | |||
Brooding is written primarily as an abjad, omitting the vowels in most cases. The only time that the vowels are required is when they appear at the beginnings of a word. | |||
In addition to the abjad, the blind characters are used in several different ways: | |||
* When used as a solitarily as a word, they represent an particular entire word. | |||
* Some blind characters can be used in pairs to indicate other words. | |||
* In nouns and verbs, they symbolize a grammatical operation - such as the noun being plural or the verb being in the past. While this does not affect the spelling of the word, it does change relative meaning of the word and how the word is spoken. | |||
* A particular blind character indicates that the word is actually a sequence of numerals. | |||
Additionally, since the seeing characters cover all of the sounds in Brooding, words can be spelled out | |||
phonetically, vowels and all. This includes words usually symbolized by a blind character, or a noun or verb | |||
modified by a blind character. This is not the common usage, but allows for greater flexibility for artistic | |||
and/or surreptitious uses. | |||
Brooding is generally written left-to-right with lines written top-to-bottom. However, when used in an image or | |||
in another context, there may not be lines of text. Various visual elements can be used to connect parts of the | |||
sentence together (pointing hands, direction of open eyes, presence of various forms of beards, etc.). | |||
==== Other writing conventions ==== | |||
* Word boundaries are indicated by the eyes of the faces. The eyes looking to the right indicates the first letter of a word, while the eyes looking left indicates the end. The eyes in the middle are straight ahead if in the middle. This may are may not be visible on blind characters, however, so determining if a blind character is part of a word or not will depend on looking at the eyes of surrounding words. | |||
* In Brooding, sentences are organized not with periods but by the tilt of the faces. The head turning right indicates the beginning of a sentence, while the head turning left indicates the end. The faces in the middle are always looking straight ahead | |||
* A paragraph in Brooding is smaller than in a conventional English text and is used in clusters that can be spread out all over the page. Each paragraph begins with a Tined Character (A character with a three tined or forked beard) similar to how a paragraph in English is started with an indent. | |||
* In Brooding, kerning can be used to indicate a hushed volume, a secret conversation, or just a side note to the text. This is accomplished by making the characters closer together or the space between them narrower. | |||
===Structure of a Character=== | |||
Brooding characters are all faces. While the exact face is variable, what determines which character a face is | |||
depends on the state of three features of the face: eyes, mouth and tilt. | |||
====Eyes==== | |||
Which of the eyes are closed or not indicate the state of the eyes. | |||
The eyes of a Brooding face can be in one of four states: | |||
* both eyes open | |||
* left eye closed | |||
* right eye closed | |||
* both eyes closed | |||
NB: In terms of discussing letter structure, left and right eyes are from the perspective of the face, not of the reader. | |||
====Mouth==== | |||
The mouth of a Brooding face can be in one of six states: | |||
* mouth closed | |||
* mouth open | |||
* mouth open with teeth visible | |||
* mouth open with teeth clenched | |||
* mouth puckered | |||
* tongue out | |||
Notes: | |||
* The exact expression on the mouth (smile, frown, smirk, etc.) is not relevant as long as the mouth is recognizable as one of the above. | |||
* The primary difference between 'teeth visible' and 'teeth clenched' is whether the teeth are touching. | |||
* 'Puckered' might be tight or loose, but visibly puckered. | |||
* The traditional Brooding characters with tongue out show the tongue sticking out very far and down. In practice, however, as long as the tongue is obviously out of the mouth is allowable. Teeth being visible is irrelevant in this case. | |||
====Tilt==== | |||
The vertical tilt of the face is the last distinguishing feature of a Brooding character. | |||
There are three options for vertical tilt: | |||
* head striaght ahead | |||
* head tilted downward | |||
* head tilted upward | |||
=== Seeing Characters === | |||
====Vowels==== | |||
====Consonants==== | |||
====Blends==== | |||
=== Blind Characters === | |||
==== Solitary Characters ==== | |||
==== Paired Characters ==== | |||
==== Noun Modifiers ==== | |||
==== Verb Modifiers ==== | |||
== General Structure == | == General Structure == | ||