El’ru-kitaun • Vulcan Handwriting

Briht’uhn — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 02:48:08 +0000

Very few non-Vulcans are familiar with Vulcan handwriting. It is one of the first things taught to Vulcan children in their formal education, but other than the context of private contemplation, there is very little need to write by hand in modern Vulcan society.This example shows the two sentences “Stonn killed the le-matya with an antler that he found in the sand after the animal bit his kneecap. It was mid-afternoon.” It is then followed by the numerals 0~9.

I’nam-tor el’ru-kitaun maafainik goh na’ri-vuhlkansu maut-zamik. Nam-tor wuhkuh t’wuhr-ong ik saven-tor na’kanu vuhlkansu svi’hotor-ek’saven, ki kula na’ong t’sha’tapan, nam-tor maut-pi’bolaya ik kitau k’el’ru svi’iyi-shila’es t’vuhlkantra. Sagluvau nash li-fal dah-zhit-bal °Stal Stonn le-matya k’stonn ik tal-tor svi’mazhiv po’ta zeshal aushfa mal-nef-hinek t’sa-veh. Ish-wak svi-aru.° Po’ish palikau feim t’su’us ik s’0 abi’9.

It is very easy to see that this type of script bears no design relationship to ceremonial calligraphy. The same text appears in both formats below. They are from two completely different traditions. However, they share the tendency to be more often written vertically than horizontally.

Veling kup gla-tor veh ta ri ma nash kitaun-ves patanafaya-tersaya na’vanu-tanaf-kitaun. Ne’la saudau ka-kitaya fna’on t’yidor. Sasarlah s’dah-natya-ba’tak — hemshin vuhrgwau galat-venek ik pukitau weh-k’ashiv abuling do yuting.

The handwriting glyphs originate from the same traditional system that is sometimes represented on ancient Vulcan dice. But, there is no obvious one to one correlation visually between the two due to the fact that the letters have undergone extensive simplification over time. Stylistically, these letterforms are somewhat similar to the standard script, but do not mimic them directly.

Tveshulau zhiyeh t’el’ru-kitaun s’ka-ba-torektra ik ein-wak saudau svi’ma’os-zhagra-muk. Ki ri nam-tor pa’shi-pashif spo’glan-ka’es sva’dahkuh fna’kla-min ik ki-veshtal velin’es lo’uk mes’wak. Fupa s’kuhz nash zhiyeh plo-kahkwa ka’a’gotavlu-zukitan, ki ri va’amau kharing.

This type of handwriting also appears horizontally and unlike traditional calligraphy does not rotate its glyphs when that occurs. They are simply positioned side by side with spaces between words. However, there are two major stylistic variations regarding the method of writing the vowels. In the most common style, vowels are written as superscript diacritics above the consonants. This is similar to some Indic abugida systems on Terra. The main reason for this is spacial efficiency. Compare the horizontal text above and below this paragraph to see that the preceding style requires less horizontal space than the one that follows. In the independent vowel model, each vocalic glyph rides on a ‘carrier’ in a similar fashion to Korean syllables that begin with a silent ‘ng’.

Isha yuting saudau nash el’ru-kitaun-ves heh rika’a’vanu-tanaf-zukitan ri da-tor zhiyeh ish-wak paresh-tor doming. Veling pushul-tor vla be’vla spo’ta ret svi’kanok-zhit. Ki, vah na’tikap t’ikatu’azun-kitaun nam-tor mortuyik-renyut-vuhnaya dah. Vah na’dan-tsuk-renyut kitau n’ikatu-azun abru’ikastarzun u’abu-salashar-ulidar kahkwaing ein-kitaun-torektra u’abugida t’India t’Terra. Nel-utvau na’nash skurin ret-yeht-urgam’es. Navathau n’yuti-zukitaun weh-abuk na’veh weh-nuk ik ne’nash nahptra na’lof pakashogau n’ta ya’bolau wuhr-renyut ten t’yuti-ret do veh ik zahal-tor. Vah na’rev t’tikop-ikatu-azun fau-tor kanok-zhiyeh t’ikatu-azun fi’leshek vah tikap ik kahkwa zhit-shaya t’Hanguk-gen ik palikau k’ngo ralash-famik.

If having two different systems for horizontal handwriting seems illogical, quite the opposite is true. Vulcan children are taught that logic is not merely some universal correct answer to a question, but rather the concept or discipline of processing the information at hand to make an optimally informed choice. When writing horizontally one must choose the style which is most logical for the immediate task. One must choose overall efficiency over clean, linear simplicity. The correct answer lies only in the mind of the maker of the choice.

A more complete introduction to Vulcan handwriting with all letters and conventions is available HERE.

Kuv ma dahr-natya-torektra na’yuti-el’ru-kitaun sauyau riozhikaik, mesyuting wa’nam-tor yeht’es. Saven-tor n’kan ta ri nam-tor ozhika veling ein-yeht-kilkaya ek’ovsotik na’deshker, ki keing rata il tafar ik tapan-tor n’ro’fori la’ka-yehat na’lof dvel-tor vah ki’puro’fah dan-roming. Ish-wak ik kitau yuting vun-dvel-tor veh renyut ik dan-ozhikaik na’iwi-pi-zupkes. Tal-tor veh yeht-kilkaya goh svi’sha-kashek t’veh ik dvel-tor.

LA i’nam-tor whet-ovsot-ragtaya na’el’ru-kitaun-torektra ik vinam-tor ek’nuhm heh ek’skurin.

Vulcan writing – korsaya.org

El’ru-kitaun • Vulcan Handwriting