#EndangeredAlphabets: When Alphabets Are Codes

A table of Buginese cypher script with equivalent in standard Buginese script cited by B F Matthes in his book "Eenige proeven van Boegineesche en Makassaarsche Poëzie", 1883. Source: Wikipedia In a sense, every script is a code, comprehensible to some, incomprehensible to those who don't know its workings. We tend to think that writing … Continue reading #EndangeredAlphabets: When Alphabets Are Codes

#EndangeredAlphabets: Consider the Mermaid

We have no idea what we don't know about writing until we see someone doing something else with it. And it's my great good fortune that in voyaging about among the endangered alphabets, I've found people doing things with writing that change the very definition of writing. This delightful image, for example, is a detail … Continue reading #EndangeredAlphabets: Consider the Mermaid