List of writing systems
Writing systems are used to record human language, and may be classified according to certain common features.
The usual name of the script is given first; the name of the languages in which the script is written follows (in brackets), particularly in the case where the language name differs from the script name. Other informative or qualifying annotations for the script may also be provided.
Proto-writing and ideographic systems
Ideographic scripts (in which graphemes are ideograms representing concepts or ideas rather than a specific word in a language) and pictographic scripts (in which the graphemes are iconic pictures) are not thought to be able to express all that can be communicated by language, as argued by the linguists John DeFrancis and J. Marshall Unger. Essentially, they postulate that no true writing system can be completely pictographic or ideographic; it must be able to refer directly to a language in order to have the full expressive capacity of a language. Unger disputes claims made on behalf of Blissymbols in his 2004 book Ideogram.
Although a few
| Name | Language(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Adinkra | ||
| Aztec script | Nahuatl | includes syllabic and logographic elements |
| Birch-bark glyphs | Anishinaabemowin | |
| Chinese characters | ) | some are ideograms; 一二三 (one, two, three) |
| Dongba | Naxi | Often supplemented with syllabic Geba script .
|
| Egyptian hieroglyphs | Ancient Egyptian | the determinatives are a system of ideograms found in this script, to clarify the topic of certain words. |
| Emoji | — | used in electronic messages and web pages |
| Ersu Shaba script | Ersu | |
| Kaidā glyphs | ||
| Linear B | Mycenaean Greek | incorporates syllabic and over ideographic signs |
| Lusona | ||
| Nsibidi | Ekoi, Efik, Igbo | |
| Siglas poveiras | ||
Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing
|
Mi'kmawi'sit
|
|
| Testerian | used for missionary work in Mexico |
There are also symbol systems used to represent things other than language:
| Name | Notes |
|---|---|
| Blissymbols | A constructed ideographic script used primarily in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
|
| iConji | A constructed ideographic script used primarily in social networking |
| Isotype | |
| A wide variety of notation systems |
Logographic systems
In logographic writing systems,
No logographic script is composed solely of
Consonant-based logographies
- Demotic – the writing systems of Ancient Egypt
Syllable-based logographies
- Anatolian hieroglyphs – Luwian
- Chữ Hán, obsolete)
- Sawndip – Zhuang
- Chữ Nôm - Vietnamese
- Khitan large script – Khitan
- Khitan small script – Khitan
- Jurchen script – Jurchen
- Tangut script – Tangut
- Eghap (or Bagam)script
- Chorti, Yucatec, and other Classic Maya languages
- Pau Cin Hau logographic script – Tedim
- Sui script – Sui language
- Yi/Lolo languages
Syllabaries
In a syllabary, graphemes represent syllables or moras. (The 19th-century term syllabics usually referred to abugidas rather than true syllabaries.)
- Afaka – Ndyuka
- Alaska or Yugtun script – Central Yup'ik
- Bété
- Cherokee – Cherokee
- Cypriot – Arcadocypriot Greek
- Geba – Naxi
- Iban or Dunging script – Iban
- Kana – Japanese (although primarily based on moras rather than syllables)
- Kikakui – Mende
- Kpelle – Kpelle
- Mycenean Greek
- Lisu Bamboo script
- Loma – Loma
- Masaba – Bambara
- Nüshu – Chinese
- Nwagu Aneke script – Igbo
- Vai – Vai
- Woleaian – Woleaian (a likely syllabary)
- Yi (modern) – various Yi/Lolo languages
Semi-syllabaries
In most of these systems, some consonant-vowel combinations are written as syllables, but others are written as consonant plus vowel. In the case of Old Persian, all vowels were written regardless, so it was effectively a true alphabet despite its syllabic component. In Japanese a similar system plays a minor role in foreign borrowings; for example, [tu] is written [to]+[u], and [ti] as [te]+[i]. Paleohispanic
The Tartessian or Southwestern script is typologically intermediate between a pure alphabet and the Paleohispanic full semi-syllabaries. Although the letter used to write a stop consonant was determined by the following vowel, as in a full
Consonant-vowel semi-syllabaries
- Bamum script – Bamum (a defective syllabary, with alphabetic principles used to fill the gaps)
- Eskayan – Bohol, Philippines (a syllabary apparently based on an alphabet; some alphabetic characteristics remain)
- Linear Elamite – Elamite language
- Paleo-Hispanic languages
- Old Persian cuneiform – Old Persian
Onset-rime semi-syllabaries
- Bopomofo – phonetic script for different varieties of Chinese.
- Khom script – Bahnaric languages, including Alak and Jru'.
- Quốc Âm Tân Tự – Vietnamese
Segmental systems
A segmental script has graphemes which represent the phonemes (basic unit of sound) of a language.
Note that there need not be (and rarely is) a one-to-one correspondence between the graphemes of the script and the phonemes of a language. A phoneme may be represented only by some combination or string of graphemes, the same phoneme may be represented by more than one distinct grapheme, the same grapheme may stand for more than one phoneme, or some combination of all of the above.
Segmental scripts may be further divided according to the types of phonemes they typically record:
Abjads
An
- .
- Aramaic, including Khwarezmian (AKA Chorasmian), Elymaic, Palmyrene, and Hatran
- Western, Central, and Southeast Asia,
- Hebrew – Hebrew and other Jewish languages
- Manichaean script
- Nabataean – the Nabataeans of Petra
- Pahlavi script – Middle Persian
- Parthian
- Psalter
- Phoenician – Phoenician and other Canaanite languages
- Proto-Canaanite
- Sogdian
- Turoyo and other Neo-Aramaic dialects
- Tifinagh – Tuareg
- Ugaritic, Hurrian
True alphabets
A true alphabet contains separate letters (not diacritic marks) for both consonants and vowels.
