Folksprak/Orthography
All the countries in the region presently use the Latin alphabet. However, to maintain a culturally distinct identity, it is necessary to transition to an alphabet indigenous to the area. Runes were created to be carved, either on bark or stone and were once common in Northern Europe. They often bear some similarity to their Latin counterparts.
Fonts
Fonts that show these glyphs include Code2000, Geneva, Quivira, Unifont, and Apple Symbols.
Mapping
Consonants
English [th] and [z] are rather late additions to the alphabet, and not part of Folksprak today. There are, in fact, many such letters which would be needed for place names around Europe. ᛊ/Z, ᛢ/Q, ᛝ/Ŋ, and ᚦ/Þ are not productive and part of "historic" name spellings only. Swedish /ɧ/ may be written ᚺ. (Other "old" letters include ᛠ/Ä, ᚫ/Æ, ᛡ/Ï, ᛥ/ST, ᚸ/Ȝ, and ᛤ/KK.)
| Labial | Alveolar | Post. | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | /m/ ᛗ | /n/ ᚾ | *ŋ *ᛝ | ||
| Voiced Stop | /b/ ᛒ | /d/ ᛞ | /g/ ᚷ | ||
| Unvoiced Stop | /p/ ᛈ | /t/ ᛏ | */θ~ð/ *ᚦ | /k/ ᛣ | |
| Voiced Fricative | /v/ ᚹ | */z/ *ᛊ | |||
| Unvoiced Fricative | /f/ ᚠ | /s/ ᛋ | /ʃ/ ᚳ | /x/ ᛉ | /h/ ᚻ |
| Approximant | /r/ ᚱ | /j/ ᛄ | |||
| Lateral | /l/ ᛚ |
There are set digraphs for non-Germanic sounds:
- ᛊᛄzj for zh
- ᚳᛄcj for ch
Vowels
| Round | Front | Middle | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | /ʏ/ /yː/ ᚣ | /ɪ/ /iː/ ᛁ | /ʊ/ /uː/ ᚢ | |
| Mid. | /œ/ /øː/ ᛟ | /ɛ/ /eː/ ᛖ | /ə/ * | /ɔ/ /oː/ ᚩ |
| Low | /a/ /äː/ ᚪ | |||
Diphthongs are ᚩᛁ,ᚩᚢ,ᚪᛁ,ᛖᛁ/oi, ou, ai, ei. ᚪᚢ/au is the same as ᚩᚢ/ou. ᛖᚢ/eu is just long ᚢ/u.
Keyboards
Unicode
Runes are a clearly established part of the Unicode tables, in the range of 16A0-16FF.
