Braellaf

The Braellaf alphabet is the creation of Jason Liekhus, who started work on it in July 2004 as a part of his fictional world project. He was inspired by some ideas that he had been researching, such as lenition and the phonetics of many Celtic and Germanic languages. The Alphabet's aesthetic quality was borrowed primarily from Greek and Cyrillic, though its mechanics are similar to Irish Uncial.

Internal history

The Braellaf alphabet is used to write Braeggydh as well as its many related dialects. Braeggydh acts as a lingua franca between the many tribes and communities of the people of Braedh, a sub-continent 1500 kilometers northeast of the Amenic Empire (see Sabethir).

The Braellaf alphabet evolved from a series of older, more angular glyphs that were general carved into wood or stone. Many characters were adopted from the block scripts of Godhva and Rimarh, which lie across Osg E Cilanoun, the sea southeast of Braedh. In later years the alphabet was revised and refined under Amenic influence and the importing of paper from the East.

Notable features

All consonants in Braeggydh with the exception of /j/, /w/, /l/ and /r/ fall into a group of three related phonemes; one voiced, one unvoiced, and one nasal or breathy. These sounds, when appearing at the beginning of a word, can be lenited depending on the quality of the sound of the last letter of the word that precedes it. Final vowels never affect initial consonants, or vise versa. However, an initial vowel can be affected by any final vowel occurring before it. The vowel would fall behind a consonant to which it is related, thus separating it from the other vowel. All lenition is marked with a diacritic over the altered character.
The stress of vowels is another peculiarity in Braeggydh. Each vowel letter has both a stressed and unstressed form, though they are represented by the same letter. There can be only one stressed vowel per word, which naturally falls on the second to last syllable. There are exceptions and alterations, which tie into the rules of plurality and verbal tense. If a vowel falls on any other syllable, it is denoted by a diacritic.
In Braeggydh each letter has both a capital and lowercase form. The capital is used only to mark the beginning of the sentence. It is not used with proper nouns as in English.

Braellaf alphabet

Sample text

Sample text in the Braellaf alphabet

Transliteration

Byn ur caemben e 'nandaeth ur aennyn a beth pen 'ndein moun. Staedhra 'ghur laethryn a beth aenger outh, ur tho dhein 'vhouast aer baesc paeth roein outh.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

If you have any questions about the Braellaf alphabet, you can contact Jason Liekhus at: ausila@aim.com

Other alphabets invented by Jason Liekhus

Braellaf, Ihathvé Sabethired, Old Zubaric

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