Osage script

The Osage script is a new script promulgated in 2006 and revised 2012–2014 for the Osage language. Because Latin orthographies were subject to interference from English conventions among Osage students who were more familiar with English than with Osage, in 2006 the director of the Osage Language Program, Herman Mongrain Lookout, decided to create a distinct script by modifying or fusing Latin letters. This Osage script has been in regular use on the Osage Nation ever since.[1]

Osage
Type
LanguagesOsage
Time period
2006–present
Parent systems
DirectionLeft-to-right
ISO 15924Osge, 219
Unicode alias
Osage
U+104B0U+104FF

In 2012, while in the process of submitting the script to Unicode, a more precise representation of the sounds of Osage was formulated, and by the following year had been adequately tested. In February 2014, a conference on standardizing the reforms was held by Lookout and the staff at the Osage Nation Language Department along with UCS expert Michael Everson. The result included the introduction of case, the abolition of two ligatures and the addition of several derived characters for sounds that varied between dialects.[2]

The Osage script was included in Unicode version 9.0 in June 2016 in the Osage block.[3]

Letters

For the pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet, see Osage language#Phonology or the links below.

Vowels

The 2014 vowel letters are as follows:

Osage vowels
OralNasal
OsageLatinOsageLatin
𐒰 𐓘A a 𐒰͘ 𐓘͘Ą ą
𐒱 𐓙Ai ai 𐒲 𐓚Aį aį
𐒳 𐓛Ə ə 𐒳͘ 𐓛͘Ə̨ ə̨
𐒷 𐓟E e 𐒸 𐓠Eį eį
𐒻 𐓣I i 𐒻͘ 𐓣͘Į į
𐓂 𐓪O o 𐓂͘ 𐓪͘Ǫ ǫ
𐓎 𐓶U u 𐓃 𐓫Oį oį

Long vowels are indicated with a macron, high tone by an acute accent, and a long vowel with high tone by a double acute accent: e.g. oral 𐒰̄ 𐓘̄ Ā ā, 𐒰́ 𐓘́ Á á, 𐒰̋ 𐓘̋ Ā́ ā́,, nasal 𐒰̄͘ 𐓘̄͘ Ą̄ ą̄, 𐒰́͘ 𐓘́͘ Ą́ ą́, 𐒰̋͘ 𐓘̋͘ Ą̄́ ą̄́.

It is not clear how Ə is used, as it is not phonemic in Osage.

The a comes from Latin A (without the crossbar, as in the NASA "worm" logo), e from Latin cursive (the 'long' sound of the English letter a is rather like Osage e). The source for i is obscure, though Latin I does appear inside Λ in the diphthong ai.

Consonants

The 2014 consonant letters and digraphs are as follows. As in Latin orthography, the ejective consonants are written with a diacritic, and the strongly aspirated stops with digraphs. The pre-aspirated stops were originally written as digraphs with h, but since they vary by dialect with geminates, the 2014 revision included new letters for them derived by adding a cross-bar.

Osage consonants
PlainEjectiveAspiratedPre-aspirated
/geminate
OsageLatinOsageLatinOsageLatinOsageLatin
𐒴 𐓜Br br
𐓊 𐓲C c (ts)𐓊ʼ 𐓲ʼCʼ cʼ𐓌 𐓴Ch ch𐓋 𐓳Hc hc
𐒵 𐓝Č č𐒶 𐓞Hč hč
𐓍 𐓵Ð ð
𐒹 𐓡H h
𐒺 𐓢Hy hy
𐒼 𐓤K k𐒼ʼ 𐓤ʼKʼ kʼ𐒼𐓸 𐓤𐓸Kx kx𐒽 𐓥Hk hk
𐒾 𐓦Ky ky𐒼𐓯 𐓤𐓯Kš kš
𐒿 𐓧L l
𐓀 𐓨M m
𐓁 𐓩N n
𐓄 𐓬P p𐓄ʼ 𐓬ʼPʼ pʼ𐓄𐓸 𐓬𐓸Px px𐓅 𐓭Hp hp
𐓄𐓯 𐓬𐓯Pš pš
𐓆 𐓮S s
𐓇 𐓯Š š
𐓈 𐓰T t𐓈𐓸 𐓰𐓸Tx tx𐓉 𐓱Ht ht
𐓏 𐓷W w
𐓐 𐓸X x
𐓑 𐓹Ɣ ɣ (gh)
𐓒 𐓺Z z
𐓓 𐓻Ž ž

Px and are allophones, as are kx ~ and tx ~ ch (tsh). Hy and ky are sequences rather than single consonants.

The source of p is Latin P, that of t is Latin D (an alternative transcription of Osage t), č is from Ch, k from K. C is from Ts and the Osage s. S and z are the top halves of S and Z; š and ž are derived from adding a tail to the full letters, much like Latin ʒ. Br, st, sk are ligatures of those letters, m, n and l appear to be from cursive, and ð is a ligature of Th, which is how it is often transcribed. W is a partial w. X might be from cursive x; h is obscure.

Punctuation

Words are separated by a space. Syllables were originally separated by a full stop, but that practice has ceased with increasing literacy.

Further applications

There are considerations for the script to be usable for other languages in the same Dhegiha group even as far as within the Siouan family.[4]

Unicode

The Osage alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2016 with the release of version 9.0.

The Unicode block for Osage is U+104B0U+104FF:

Osage[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+104Bx 𐒰 𐒱 𐒲 𐒳 𐒴 𐒵 𐒶 𐒷 𐒸 𐒹 𐒺 𐒻 𐒼 𐒽 𐒾 𐒿
U+104Cx 𐓀 𐓁 𐓂 𐓃 𐓄 𐓅 𐓆 𐓇 𐓈 𐓉 𐓊 𐓋 𐓌 𐓍 𐓎 𐓏
U+104Dx 𐓐 𐓑 𐓒 𐓓 𐓘 𐓙 𐓚 𐓛 𐓜 𐓝 𐓞 𐓟
U+104Ex 𐓠 𐓡 𐓢 𐓣 𐓤 𐓥 𐓦 𐓧 𐓨 𐓩 𐓪 𐓫 𐓬 𐓭 𐓮 𐓯
U+104Fx 𐓰 𐓱 𐓲 𐓳 𐓴 𐓵 𐓶 𐓷 𐓸 𐓹 𐓺 𐓻
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

  1. Osage Nation Language Department Archived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Michael Everson; Herman Mongrain Lookout; Cameron Pratt (2014-09-21). "Final proposal to encode the Osage script in the UCS" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2, Document N4619. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
  3. Unicode version 9.0.0
  4. Martucci, Brian (15 January 2014). "The Endangered Osage Language Gets a Unicode-Friendly Alphabet". The Line. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
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