A Font of Their Own

Where do alphabets come from?

Some alphabets were developed by committee. The Cyrillic alphabet was produced by what was basically a medieval think tank and it used by languages with a Slavic origin or a strong Slavic influence. According to Wikipedia, it is one of the most-used writing systems. And the Korean alphabet, created during the reign of King Sejong the Great, is so popular and a source of such national pride that there is actually a Korean alphabet holiday. Who knew?

Other alphabets formed organically when a group (usually scribes or merchants) realized that picture writing (or pictograms) was just way too cumbersome for everyday use. Most of the Western world uses a standard Latin alphabet that the Romans adapted from the Greek (considered to be the first true alphabet) who derived it from an earlier Phoenician writing system. The modern letterforms are pretty much consistent across the board (and across the continent and, for that matter, across the ocean) but the pronunciation can vary in ways that are sometimes logical, but often just plain bizarre. (If anyone can explain to me how the French word for yes, Oui, is pronounced “wee,” I will give them a gold star). But that’s what happens when you try to fit a square peg into a round hole. The Latin alphabet is pretty much one size fits all.

But what about smaller communities with languages that do not have a historic writing system of their own. Do you shoehorn them into a pre-existing alphabet? Or develop something entirely new?

The Cherokee syllabary (which is kind of like an alphabet, but where each symbol represents a syllable) was created in the early 1800s. And, although some symbols resemble Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters, the relationship between symbols and sounds is different (of course). It is a unique solution for a unique language.

Or do you adapt a current alphabet so it better suits a language’s needs? That is what New Zealand-based graphic designer Johnson Witehira did when he created the first font designed specifically for the Māori community. As this article for Eye on Design at AIG.com explains, the font, Whakarare, uses a Latin character set that is restricted letters that only appear in the Māori alphabet. The font was created with Māori design principles. Not exactly a true alphabet, but a solution that seems to work.