Famrel - the Alternative to 'Eoio!

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Paul Frommer's
Language Workbook

[Ithisa Kíranem]

Note to previous users: I've updated the font. Download from the attachment on *this* post.

Well, tired of writing Na'vi with the Latin alphabet? There's the 'Eoio font of course, but it's an alphabet, and alphabets are kinda boring.   I (with help from 'Oma Tirea) have invented a Na'vi reverse abugida, which is basically a cross between an alphabet and a syllabary. Plus to date no language on Earth uses this type of script! (there are abugidas but no reverse ones). With the unimaginative name "Famrel", this script enables you to compactly and beautifully write Na'vi in a totally out-of-earth way! Here's a table of the characters and diacritics (depurplefied and corrected from a table ta 'Oma Tirea):

Basically, each character is a vowel with consonants denoted by diacritics.

Famrel is designed to be quick to write with a brush on any surface, unlike 'Eoio which is designed for inscriptions in stone.

And there's a font for this! Check out the attachment. Actually writing it is kind of complicated though. You'll need to capitalize all syllable-final consonants and all fricatives in consonant clusters, while substituting q for kx, g for ng, d for tx, 8 for rr, 9 for ll, and b for px, and at last remove all spaces after punctuation. Example:

Original sentence: Oel ngati kameie, ma sempul!
Capitalize properly: oeL ngati kameie, ma seMpuL
Substitution: oeL gati kameie, ma seMpuL
Remove punctuation space: oeL gati kameie,ma seMpuL
Rendered with the font: oeL gati kameie,ma seMpuL

Original post

NOTE: Scroll down for an OpenType font  

I've invented an "inverse abugida" script for Na'vi. It is designed to be easy to write with a brush and can be written very fast. As with the 'Eoio font thread, I will not disclose the alphabet or font yet but instead publish a sample for everybody to try decode. This is a published Na'vi poem:

HINT: This is an alphasyllabary, not a plain alphabet.

Also, thanks to 'Oma Tirea for peyä idea!

[Ithisa Kíranem]

To aid in decoding, the first word is keftxo.

[Tirea Aean]

Poetry by Alyara Arati

A moving expression of what Na’vi has meant to this poet.

http://naviteri.org/2011/12/ulte-yora%E2%80%99tu-leiu-and-the-winner-is/

Interesting script. Hint was a giveaway.

Imo for some reason, Eoio script is easier for me to memorize. Unless you make a chart map for this. Oh and a font.

[Alyara Arati]

Poetry by Alyara Arati

A moving expression of what Na’vi has meant to this poet.

http://naviteri.org/2011/12/ulte-yora%E2%80%99tu-leiu-and-the-winner-is/

Interesting script. Hint was a giveaway.

Imo for some reason, Eoio script is easier for me to memorize. Unless you make a chart map for this. Oh and a font.

I wasn't gonna say, but sometimes you just recognize your own name.

Irayo!

Spoiler

I know that was a little sloppy.  Ngaytxoa.

[Ithisa Kíranem]

Spoiler

I know that was a little sloppy.  Ngaytxoa.

Yeah. There shouldn't be a dot in the I graph. The dot makes it ì, so you actually said "ìrayo." Good attempt though! I'll release the font quickly.

[Ithisa Kíranem]

The font is in the attachment. It doesn't have numbers or syllable-initial "w" yet. You need to encode your text in the following way:

1. Convert ng->g, kx->q, px->b, tx->d, rr->8, ll->9, ts->c
2. Capitalize all syllable-final consonants
3. Capitalize all fricatives starting a consonant cluster

So the poem's first lines would be:

keFdo 'aRmefu
CgaRmaWväGìK nì'aWtu
aYfaYìvaru
k8 a lì'Fyati
oeL roluN alu na'vi
a tìdeN soli

['Oma Tirea]

* downloads and installs *

* Checking out the font... *

['Oma Tirea]

And I got this.  The key to use is in Parentheses.

[Ithisa Kíranem]

Well, the ts is not supposed to be tiny like that except in consonant clusters  
ceG
(tseng)

and you got rr and ll confused
k8
(krr)
p9de
(plltxe)

['Oma Tirea]

Well, the ts is not supposed to be tiny like that except in consonant clusters   
ceG
(tseng)

and you got rr and ll confused
k8
(krr)
p9de
(plltxe)

Tse, I did get LL and RR confused.  'Ä'!

I thought something was weird with word-initial Ts.  Looks like another typing mistake...

Have you thought about using the technique of combining consonants, kinda like many South/east Asian languages do for vowels (also for custom/IPA diacritics)?  Your font would go along smoother with those.

Kop, Etrìpa syayvi with the numerals and the w onset

[Ithisa Kíranem]

Yeah. However ligatures in FontForge is a tons-of-steps process, and FontForge doesn't obey me sometimes. Bascially, the Ubuntu repo version of FontForge crashes on startup, so I'm using the development version built from source. FF has a whole lot of problems with segfaults, and now it doesn't segfault when it starts up, but it segfaults (i.e. crash with no error and close itself in a split second without saving anything) randomly when I press the ctrl key. Basically, if you try pressing Ctrl+S to save, there is a 50% chance that the whole app would go "poof" and disappear before you even get to press the S after the Ctrl. I need to tediously do File->Save...

[Tirea Aean]

Whλ does almost every single character look like a backwards lambda with tiny differences? It's making it so hard for me to memorize it D;

Didn't read 'Oma Tirea's note at the top of the image. THAT would explain.

So the VOWEL is the main part of the character, and the CONSONANT is the thing floating on top or whatever?

Interesting.

So reading your sig, I get


L  F+   L  N  V
Ì ' ya   E  A ' I

Kefyak?

[eejmensenikbenhet]

Ehm, for me the 8's and 9's don't show up... (Well, they do show up, but as 8 and 9, not as Famrel script)

[Ithisa Kíranem]

Whλ does almost every single character look like a backwards lambda with tiny differences? It's making it so hard for me to memorize it D;

Didn't read 'Oma Tirea's note at the top of the image. THAT would explain.

So the VOWEL is the main part of the character, and the CONSONANT is the thing floating on top or whatever?

Interesting.

So reading your sig, I get


L  F+   L  N  V
Ì ' ya   E  A ' I

Kefyak?

Exactly. Consonants also go float on the bottom if they are syllable-fina. If they are syllable-initial they go on the top.

And regarding 8 and 9, what browser are you using? Internet Explorer and Firefox work for me, but Chrome seemingly not.

[eejmensenikbenhet]

Whλ does almost every single character look like a backwards lambda with tiny differences? It's making it so hard for me to memorize it D;

Didn't read 'Oma Tirea's note at the top of the image. THAT would explain.

So the VOWEL is the main part of the character, and the CONSONANT is the thing floating on top or whatever?

Interesting.

So reading your sig, I get


L  F+   L  N  V
Ì ' ya   E  A ' I

Kefyak?

Exactly. Consonants also go float on the bottom if they are syllable-fina. If they are syllable-initial they go on the top.

And regarding 8 and 9, what browser are you using? Internet Explorer and Firefox work for me, but Chrome seemingly not.

I'm using Chrome... Partially because then the 'Eoio font shows up correctly... -.-