Ydtobogȧndeki

Ydtobogȧndeki (also known as itamea) is the writing system used for current Ydtobogȧntiaky Languages. It originated in 5700BK as a pictographic system used in the Ydtobogȧn Peninsula for trade between tribes. After 4500BK, sixteen common pictographs began to be used to represent individual sounds. From 4000BK to 3700BK, the alphabet went through slight change which gave the letters their current form. Its other name, itamea, came from the name of the first two letters.

History

The Ydtobogȧndeki script started out as a pictographic system, but only sixteen pictographs remained. The image to the right shows the alphabet used from 4000BK to 2500BK. Under each glyph is its original form and under that its romanization. The Ydtobogȧndeki <u> and <ŋ> were ligatures of <or> and <ng> respectively, but began to change shape into something more distinctive.

Each pictograph had a meaning that was more or less common, but the glyphs were used mainly due to their relative simplicity. Although the glyphs used for <u> and <ŋ> were originally ligatures created to represent sounds, they also had (uncommon) meanings when the pictographic system was still prominent.

The ancient name of each glyph (in English alphabetical order) is: arha, bol, dahān, eŋok, goim, heta, ita, kāl, liba, mēa, nōm, nōugoim, orn, pogia, rilian (or ura), tēla, ornua, ytoed.

Their meaning, respectively, are: valley, edge, wheel, person, fruit, eye, west, shore, mountain, lake, river, river's fruit, stick, land, elbow (or arm/hand), leg, stick arm (branch), know.

The alphabetical order is: i m n a d g t k o r l p e h y b ŋ u

They are most often pronounced: /i m n a ð ɣ t k o ɹ l p e h ɨ β ŋ u/

Diacritics

All vowel letters with each diacritic

Digraphs are not used in almost all Ydtobogȧntiaky languages, so Ydtobogȧndeki makes use of two diacritics in many languages. Both diacritics, consequently, are written above vowel letters only.

Another, much more uncommon, diacritic is used some Ydtobogȧntiaky languages. However, modern languages with this distinction are only found in the Ē̂dentiaguen subdivision of the Ydtobogȧntiaky language family, and are still relatively rare. Like the other two, it is used only on vowels, but it is placed below the letter, not after.

In some languages, diacritics are used for marking separate vowel phonemes. In others, disambiguation in homophones created by sound change is the most prominent use. Stress, however, is rarely marked by diacritics as it is usually regular in Ydtobogȧntiaky languages.

Tudega

The tudega looks similar to a vertical line (but is usually romanized as a circumflex) and is used primarily in Matlapogiogân languages to mark vowels that are not represented by one of the six vowel letters.

The word tudega is Proto-Matlapogiogân for "raiser/lifter".

Usage of tudega (Proto-Matlapogiogân) and tugah (Proto-Yŋòrtuèian)

This name comes from its usage in Proto-Matlapogiogân, in which it "raised" <a> /a/ to <â> /æ/ and <e> /ɛ/ to <ê> /e/. It was used for this in Proto-Ē̂dentiaguen, but only for distinguishing <e> /ɛ/ from <ê> /e/.

In Pogeduimogan languages, the tudega is primarily used for disambiguation. This usage originated in Proto-Pogeduimogan when it's speakers adopted the Ydtobogȧndeki system in its eighteen-glyph alphabetic form.

Sound change from Proto-Ydtobogȧntiaky changed both *dier /ðjeɹ/ (have) and *tier /tjeɹ/ (move) to <der> /ðɛɹ/. Usually, the tudega is placed on the first vowel of the root of the less common meaning. Therefore, Proto-Pogeduimogan uses <der> for "have" and <dêr> for "move".

Occasionally, the tudega may be romanized as an acute accent if placed on the same letter as a macron. This is because the <ē̂> in some Ē̂dentiaguen languages is actually the letter <ē> with a combining circumflex, and some devices/websites/applications/etc. do not support combining diacritics.

Tugah

The tugah looks similar to a miniature arha (but is usually romanized as a grave accent) and is used primarily in Yŋòrtuèian languages to mark either short vowels or vowels not represented by the six vowel letters.

The word tugah is Proto-Matlapogiogân for "lowerer/makes like arha". This name comes from its usage in Proto-Yŋòrtuèian, in which it "lowered" <e> /e/ to <è> /ə/ and <o> /o/ to <ò> /ɒ/. The name was also influenced by the vowel that arha represented in Proto-Yŋòrtuèian, which was /a/, a low vowel. Proto-Ē̂dentiaguen used the diacritic only for "lowering" <e> /e/ to <è> /ə/.

Tubitadiut

Usage of the tugah and tubitadiut in Proto-Ē̂dentiaguen

The tubitadiut looks similar to a miniature horizontally flipped rilian (but is usually romanized as a macron) and is used primarily in Ē̂dentiaguen languages to mark long vowels.

The word tubitadiut is Proto-Matlapogiogân for "causes to be long". This name comes from its usage in Proto-Ē̂dentiaguen, in which it indicated a vowel phoneme pronounced distinctively longer than usual. Some itamezations of Proto-Ydtobogȧntiaky use the tubitadiut to mark long vowels as well.

Use

This alphabetic writing system is used in most Ydtobogȧntiaky languages that existed after 4000BK. Some languages use diacritics.

Extended Alphabet

The extended Ydtobogȧndeki alphabet, or bitanokâŋ itamea in Proto-Matlapogiogân, is comprised of seven extra letters and one extra diacritic. It is used in some languages with a high phonemic inventory. Most Ydtobogȧntiaky languages actually don't use this form of the alphabet, as their phonemic inventories are either relatively small, or small enough for diacritics to be useful enough.

Letters

The seven additional letters and their romanizations.

The seven letters of the extended alphabet are added to the end of the standard alphabet in the order shown, in terms of alphabetical order: z ṭ ḍ ü ö ł '

They were most commonly pronounced as: /z ʈ ʐ y ø ɮ ʰ/

The letter <ṭ> sometimes represented /t͡ʃ/, <ḍ> sometimes represented /ʒ/, and <'> sometimes represented /ɦ/ or /ʁ/.

Tukoradiut

The letters tēla and dahān with the tukoradiut.

The tukoradiut looks similar to "и" and is used primarily in non-Ydtobogȧntiaky languages that distinguished voicing to mark voiced phonemes. When placed on a letter that already represents a voiced phoneme (i.e. <d> /ð/), the letter without the diacritic usually represents the voiceless counterpart.

The word tukoradiut is Proto-Matlapogiogân for "causes to be soft". This name comes from its usage, in which it indicated a voiced (also referred to as "soft") consonant.