Glossary

'Phags pa

This is an abugida, whose writing direction is from top to bottom, left to right.

Abjad

This writing system consists of glyphs that denote consonants only.

Abugida

This writing system consists of glyphs that denote consonants followed by a particular vowel, and in which diacritics denote the other vowels

Alibata

This is an abugida, whose writing direction is from the bottom up, left to right.

Alphabet

This writing system uses glyphs that denote either vowels, or consonants.

Berber

This is an abjad, whose writing direction can be in any direction.

BiDi

See Bi-Directional language.

Bi-Directional Language

This refers to a language that is read from right to left. This is a typical feature of Semitic writing systems.

Boustrophedon

A writing system in which the direction of writing changes at the end of each line. It the first line is from right to left, the second line will be from left to right. This is a typical feature of early Mesopotamian writing

Carian

This is an alphabet, whose writing direction can be in any direction.

Chinese, Simplified

I am arbitrarily defining this as being the glyphs that have been introduced in The People's Republic of China, since the communist takeover.

Chinese, Traditional

I am arbitrarily defining this as being the glyphs that were not introduced by the The People's Republic of China, since the communist takeover.

Clicks

These are found in Khosian and Bantu languages. Unicode representations are:

• dental click ǀ Ux01C0

• Retroflex click ǃ Ux01C3

Coptic

This is an alphabet, whose writing direction is from left to right.

Complex Text Layout

This is a writing system in which the characters change shape, according to the characters that they are next to. This is a typical feature of Indic Valley Scripts.

Consonant

A sound in spoken language that is characterized by a constriction or closure at one or more points along the vocal tract.

CTL

See Complex Text Layout

Diacritic marks

These are marks added to a letter, that change the phonetic meaning of the letter.

• Acute Accent ´
  

• Anunaasika ˙
  

• Anusvaara .
  

• Apostrophe '
  

• Bar

• Breve ˘
  

• Caron ˇ
  

• Cedilla ¸
  

• Circumflex ^ UxOO5E

• Comma ,
  

• Diaresis ¨
  

• Dot

• Double Acute ˝
  

• Grave Accent ` Ux0060

• Háček ˇ
  

• Kroužek °
  

• Kroužek ͦ Unicode U+0366

• Macron ¯
  

• Middle Dot ·
  

• Ogonek ˛
  

• Ring ͦ Unicode U+0366

• Slash /

• Spiritus Asper ̔ Unicode U+0314

• Spiritus Lenis ̕ Unicode U+0315

• Tilde ~ Unicode

• Titlo Unicode U+0483

• Umlaut ¨
  

• Virgule /
  

Egyptian demotic

This is a logosyllabary, whose writing direction is from right to left.

Esperanto

Artificial Language created in the late 19^th century, as a second langauge for everybody. It draws its vocabulary mainly from European languages.

Evidential Grammar

A grammar that requires the sentence to include the evidence supporting the statements within the sentence.

Featural Writing System

A writing system in which the shape of the glyphs correlate with distinctive features of the segments of the language.

G11N (Globalization)

Globalization. The process of making a product, or process competitive on a Global scale.

Globalization

See G11N

Hanunoo

This is an abugida, whose writing direction can be in any direction.

Harakat

These are the vowel marks that are used with the Arabic Writing System.

• 
  

Hebrew

This is an abjad, whose writing direction is from right to left.

Hittite

This is a logosyllabary, whose writing direction can be in any direction.

I18N (internationalization)

Internationalization. Creating documents, software and the like, to make it easy to translate and localize the software,or documents for into other languages, of for use by different cultures.

Input Method Editor

A utility that enables text entry from sources other than a keyboard. These are used for Indic Valley and East Asian language input.

IME

See Input Method Editor

Internationalization

See i18N

Jawi

Writing system used for writing Malay, based upon the Arabic Alphabet.

Kana

Term used to refer to either, or both Hiragana, and Katakana writing systems.

L10N (Localization)

Localization: The process of converting documents, software, and similar items to be easily understood by a specific culture. Whilst this often involves translation, that is not a necessary component.

Language

A dialect with an army behind it.

Latin

This is an alphabet, whose writing direction is left to right. It is used for most West European languages.

Lepcha

This is an abugida, whose writing direction is from top to bottom, right to left. Omniglot classifies it as a syllabic alphabet whose writing direction is left to right. This is one example of how scholars disagree with how to classify languages, and writing systems.

LibO

This is an abbreviation for LibreOffice.

Linear A

This is a logosyllabary, whose writing direction is from left to right.

Localization

See L10N

Logosyllabary

This is a writing system which uses glyphs to denote words, morphemes, or syllables.

Manchu

This is an alphabet, whose writing direction is from top to bottom, left to right.

Mende Kikakui

This is a syllabary, whose writing direction is from right to left.

Meroïtic

This is an abugida, whose writing direction is from right to left. The hieroglyphic form is written from top to bottom, in columns.

Mongolian

This language uses the Arabic writing system, but with vertical, rather than horizontal lines.

N'ko

This is an alphabet, whose writing direction is from right to left.

Nikkudim

These are the vowel points that are used in Hebrew. [Unicode U+05B0 through U+05BD]

• Patah

• Segol

• Hireq

• Qames

• Qibbus

• Qames

• Sere

• Holem

• Qames-He

• Sere-Yod

• Hireq-Yod

• Holem-Vav

• Sureq

• Shewa

• Hatep-Patah

• Hatep-Segol

• Hatep-Qames

• Matheg ֽ ֽֽֽ Unicode 0x5BD

Noun Class Grammar

A language whose grammar uses Noun Classes.

Noun Classes

Nouns are associated with one of ten or more different “classes”.

Nushu

This is a logosyllabary, whose writing direction is from top to bottom, right to left. This language is written by females only.

Ogham

This is an alphabet, whose writing direction is bottom to top, Boustrophedon.

OOo

Abbreviation for OpenOffice.org.

Open Office

A common, but incorrect name for OpenOffice.Org.

Open Office is a registered trade mark for an email utility.

Oriya

This is an abugida, whose writing direction is from left to right.

Orkhon

This is an abjad, whose writing direction is from bottom to top, right to left.

Pahawh Hmong

This is quasi-abugida, whose writing direction is from left to right. [Vowels, not consonants are emphasized.]

Punctuation Marks

Most punctuation marks used by the different writing systems are listed here.

• Apostrophe ' Ux0027

• Bang (English) ! Ux0021

• Colon : Ux003A

• Comma , Ux002C

• Comma (Arabic) ، Ux060C

• Dash ‐ Ux2010

• Double Acute ̋ Ux030B

• Em Dash — Ux2014

• En Dash – Ux2013

• Final Quotes " Ux202C

• Hyphen - Ux002C

• Initial Quotes " Ux201C

• Interrobang ‽ Ux203D

• Paseq (Hebrew) ׀ Ux05C0

• Period . Ux002E

• Period (Arabic) ۔۔۔ Ux06D4

• Q Mark (Arabic) ؟ Ux061F

• Q Mark (Greek) ; Ux037E

• Q mark (Spanish) ¿ Ux00BF

• Quotation mark " Ux0022

• Reversed SemiColon ⁏ Ux204F

• Reversed Solidus \ Ux005C

• SemiColon ; Ux003B

• SemiColon (Arab) ؛ Ux061B

• Virgule / Ux002F

The Arabic Period will only be correctly displayed at the end of sentence in the Arabic writing system, hence the series that is displayed here.

Proto-Elamite

This is a logosyllabary, whose writing direction is from top to bottom, left to right.

Rongo-Rongo

This is a boustrophedon writing system, with the distinguishing feature that alternate lines are "upside down".

Ruby

This usually is a pronunciation guide to a word, usually written below, or to the right of the word. Sometimes a definition of the word is provided, instead of the pronunciation.

Syllabary

A writing system whose glyphs denote syllables.

Tagbanwa

This is an abugida, whose writing direction is from the bottom up, left to right.

Tengwar

This is a featural script, whose writing direction is from left to right.

Toki Pona

A conlang that has 118 official words, and roughly 1 500 “borrowed” words, which are mainly place names, or the names of various languages.

Triple O

Rarely used as an abbreviation for OOo, its use is greatly discouraged.

Tsalagi

This is a syllabary, whose writing direction is from left to right.

Ugaritic

This is an abjad, whose writing direction is from left to right.

UI

See User Interface

Uighur

This is an abjad, whose writing direction is from top to bottom, left to right.

User Interface

a) The part of the program that interacts with the user.

b) The icons, text and graphical elements of the program that the user sees.

Vowel

A sound in spoken language that is characterized by an open configuration of the vocal tract.

Vowel Points

These are diacritic marks used to indicate vowels, in abjads. See also: Nikkudim, Harakat.

Xhosa

Bantu language spoken in southern Africa. The most notable feature of this language are the clicks, which were probably borrowed from !kung.

Zulu

Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa, along the Indian Ocean.

!Kung

Khoisan language spoken in Namibia. The most notable feature of this language are the clicks. It is often referred to as "The click language."