Xylphika

Xylphika was invented by Ian James in 2008. It was inspired by various ancient South Asian writing systems, and is an offshoot of his major linguistic project (soon to be published). The name Xylphika is a pseudo-Greek back-derivation from Paracelsus' coinage, meaning 'out of the Sylphic', suggesting translation from the words of an imaginary, intelligent, elfin-like people.

Internal history

Xylphika is the rarely-seen written form of a language sometimes heard by humans, who usually don't realize it is a language at all, or who do, but can't believe their ears. It is used by an ancient race of human-like beings who, through the use of various tricks, remain almost completely invisible to modern humans. They are often confused with elves or undines.

Features of the language

voicing is rarely applied, so most speech resembles whispering.
phonemes are grouped systematically, and are named after elements of their mythology.
the sounds are extremely soft, sweet and fascinating to human listeners.
phrases are often delivered in swift outbursts; these are usually rich in meaning.
phrases can also be delivered in long continuous streams by using both egressive and ingressive phonemes; these are usually light-hearted or seductive in nature.
voiced plosives (/b/ /d/ /g/ etc) are considered vulgar, and only emerge in very rare displays of anger or frustration.
the language has changed very little over the last 5,000 years and all dialects across the planet are still mutually intelligible to a great extent.
many species of animal and bird can understand it well, but few can speak it.
when written on water, information in the text can be stored in the body of water, to be later retrieved directly by the tongue (details of this technique not known).

Features of the script

phonetically consistent.
vowels are considered extensions to consonants and their phonemic region (or vice versa), so the script functions more like a syllabary than an alphabet.
voiced phonemes carry diacritics above, which give melodic information; the simplest/vaguest mark is an acute.
other modifications to the base forms are written as tails below the baseline.
ingressive phrases are written upside-down (reflected vertically).
the basic letters are easy to write, but complex decorative filigree and knotting is usually added, the style of which depends on region and tribe.
most phrases are composed so they can be read in reverse with little loss of meaning; this is due to peculiarities of the grammar and the strong use of metaphor; these then form semantic palindromes.
most artifacts of writing are intentionally disguised as natural formations, or written at such great speed that the letter forms become very free and irregular, or written with impermanent materials.
there are many more writing systems for Xylphika than there are dialects; the one reproduced here is from a South Pacific region.

Xylphika script

The phoneme groups

Xylphika script bases

Xylphika script phonemes

One-sided forms of the E and W bases are also available for use in certain combinations.

Other phonemes:

Xylphika script - other phonemes

Egressive forms of all the above phonemes are called Governing. Many of them can be ingressive; they are then called Astral.

Rare phonemes:

Dead trees - voiced fricatives
Human weapons - voiced plosives

Other symbols:

Sample text

The following passage is an imitation of human speech, mostly whispered:

Sample text in the Xylphika script

Approximate transliteration:

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)

In Xylphika, this passage reads as a joke about 2 human brothers married to the same wife.

Contact regarding the author's various script systems can be made via email: ianrjames at hotmail dot com.

Also by Ian James

New Akha, New Maori, New Mong, Tengwar for Scottish Gaelic, Xylphika

Other constructed scripts