Undiine

Undine is a logographic script and chromatophore-based language created by Brian Loo Soon Hua during the autumn of 2018. The Undine language and script were designed as a fun challenge because Brian, badly bitten by the conlang bug, had wanted to create a language that was: A.) written using logograms, B.) non-verbal, C.) "spoken" by non-human entities and D.) "spoken" underwater.

Sentences are chains of moving glyphs appearing like colourful bars on the colour-changing skins of the Undine race. In writing, the glyphs most often appear in vertical boustrophedon, alternating directions line-by-line from top-down to bottom-up and going from left to right. In "spoken" conversation, the first sentences appears on the Undine's skin, vanish and is then replaced by the next sentence in logical sequence.

Biological background

Undines are vaguely-humanoid water-based elementals with a fish- and crustacean-like anatomy. Their heads resemble large, bloated catfish, complete with gills, a full set of fins, long sensory chin barbells and smooth pink skins covered in microscopic, colour-changing chromatophore cells. Their slender, emaciated bodies are covered in pale-grey exoskeletons resembling prawn shells, their hands look like large orange ducks' feet and their long, footless legs terminate in sharp points like those of a giant crab or lobster. Lacking vocal cords, they communicate entirely by manipulating the colour of their skin, forming complex logographic glyphs on their heads and faces. Like cuttlefish, they can control the patterns on the left and right sides of their head-bodies independently, thus being capable of simultaneously holding two separate conversations with other Undines swimming on either side of them.

Notable features

Type of writing system: logographic script
Direction of writing: left to right in vertical boustrophedon style
Sentences are arranged beginning with the subject pronoun or subject noun phrase glyphs forming the "head", followed by the verb and any adverbs as the "body", then any direct and indirect objects forming the "tail". Finally, a tense particle is attached to form the "tail tip".
Glyphs are colour-coded for parts of speech: body part nouns are often yellow, many verbs are surrounded by a dark blue ring, glyphs for words related to possession, handling, giving, taking and making are orange, prepositions are dark red, pronouns are pink and tense particles are pink and bright red.

Undiine writing system

Undiine scirpt

Sample text

Sample text in Undiine (UDHR)

Transliteration

All Undines are hatched free and equal in dignity and rights. They possess reason and conscience. They should act towards one another like brood-siblings.
(Undine version of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Another sample text

Sample text in Undiine (My hovercraft is full of eels)

Transliteration

My hovercraft is full of eels.

Brian's webpage about the Undine language

Another script by Brian Loo Soon Hua: Phorcydian

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