Deseret alphabet Totally Explained

Everything about Deseret Alphabet totally explained

The Deseret alphabet (𐐼𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻 𐐰𐑊𐑁𐐩𐐺𐐯𐐻 or 𐐼𐐯𐑆𐐲𐑉𐐯𐐻 𐐰𐑊𐑁𐐲𐐺𐐯𐐻) is a phonetic alphabet developed in the mid-19th century by the board of regents of the University of Deseret (later the University of Utah) under the direction of Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The alphabet was intended to replace the traditional Latin alphabet with an alternate, more phonetically accurate alphabet for the English language. This would offer immigrants an opportunity to learn to read and write English, which is often less phonetically consistent than many other languages. Similar experiments were not uncommon during the period, and some of the better-known results include Pitman Shorthand and (much later) the Shavian alphabet.

Development and use

The Deseret alphabet was developed primarily by a committee made up of the university's board of regents and church leaders Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball. The two main contributors to the alphabet's character development were Pratt and George D. Watt, a local expert on shorthand systems. The Deseret alphabet may have been inspired by or even based upon Michael Hull Barton's phonetic alphabet he published out of Boston and Harvard from 1830-1832. Originally a Quaker, Barton was baptized a Mormon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire about October 1831 (during his phonetic alphabet experiment), but within a few months then converted to Shakerism, although he continued to meet with early Mormon leaders until at least 1844. See Barton's Something New: comprising a new and perfect alphabet containing forty distinct characters, etc.

as a PDF.
The alphabet went through at least three major revisions during its first few years. At least four books were published in the new alphabet (The First Deseret Alphabet Reader, The Second Deseret Alphabet Reader, The Book of Mormon, and an excerpt called First Nephi-Omni) as well as various articles and New Testament passages published in the Deseret News on a press obtained by Orson Pratt, who estimated that the cost of printing a regular library would be over one million dollars.

Table of glyphs

The Unicode Standard version 3.1 includes the Deseret alphabet in positions 10400 to 1044F; version 4.0 adds the letters Oi and Ew. (Most combinations of operating systems, Web browsers, and installed font sets won't be able to display this table correctly; browsers that do handle it properly include Safari, Camino, and Firefox running under Mac OS X 10.3.9 and higher.)

Capital				Lowercase
Hex	Decimal	Glyph	Name	Hex	Decimal	Glyph	Name
10400	66560	𐐀	Long I	10428	66600	𐐨	Long I
10401	66561	𐐁	Long E	10429	66601	𐐩	Long E
10402	66562	𐐂	Long A	1042A	66602	𐐪	Long A
10403	66563	𐐃	Long Ah	1042B	66603	𐐫	Long Ah
10404	66564	𐐄	Long O	1042C	66604	𐐬	Long O
10405	66565	𐐅	Long Oo	1042D	66605	𐐭	Long Oo
10406	66566	𐐆	Short I	1042E	66606	𐐮	Short I
10407	66567	𐐇	Short E	1042F	66607	𐐯	Short E
10408	66568	𐐈	Short A	10430	66608	𐐰	Short A
10409	66569	𐐉	Short Ah	10431	66609	𐐱	Short Ah
1040A	66570	𐐊	Short O	10432	66610	𐐲	Short O
1040B	66571	𐐋	Short Oo	10433	66611	𐐳	Short Oo
1040C	66572	𐐌	Ay	10434	66612	𐐴	Ay
1040D	66573	𐐍	Ow	10435	66613	𐐵	Ow
1040E	66574	𐐎	Wu	10436	66614	𐐶	Wu
1040F	66575	𐐏	Yee	10437	66615	𐐷	Yee
10410	66576	𐐐	H	10438	66616	𐐸	H
10411	66577	𐐑	Pee	10439	66617	𐐹	Pee
10412	66578	𐐒	Bee	1043A	66618	𐐺	Bee
10413	66579	𐐓	Tee	1043B	66619	𐐻	Tee
10414	66580	𐐔	Dee	1043C	66620	𐐼	Dee
10415	66581	𐐕	Chee	1043D	66621	𐐽	Chee
10416	66582	𐐖	Jee	1043E	66622	𐐾	Jee
10417	66583	𐐗	Kay	1043F	66623	𐐿	Kay
10418	66584	𐐘	Gay	10440	66624	𐑀	Gay
10419	66585	𐐙	Ef	10441	66625	𐑁	Ef
1041A	66586	𐐚	Vee	10442	66626	𐑂	Vee
1041B	66587	𐐛	Eth	10443	66627	𐑃	Eth
1041C	66588	𐐜	Thee	10444	66628	𐑄	Thee
1041D	66589	𐐝	Es	10445	66629	𐑅	Es
1041E	66590	𐐞	Zee	10446	66630	𐑆	Zee
1041F	66591	𐐟	Esh	10447	66631	𐑇	Esh
10420	66592	𐐠	Zhee	10448	66632	𐑈	Zhee
10421	66593	𐐡	Er	10449	66633	𐑉	Er
10422	66594	𐐢	El	1044A	66634	𐑊	El
10423	66595	𐐣	Em	1044B	66635	𐑋	Em
10424	66596	𐐤	En	1044C	66636	𐑌	En
10425	66597	𐐥	Eng	1044D	66637	𐑍	Eng
10426	66598	𐐦	Oi	1044E	66638	𐑎	Oi
10427	66599	𐐧	Ew	1044F	66639	𐑏	Ew

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