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Article published In: On the Systematic Nature of Writing Systems
Edited by David F. Mora-Marín and Lynne Cahill
[Written Language & Literacy 26:1] 2023
► pp. 30–56

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More matters of typology

Alphasyllabaries, abugidas and related vowelled segmentaries

 | University of New England
Published online: 25 April 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00072.iye
Abstract
Since their coinage a quarter-century ago, the terms abugida and alphasyllabary (Bright, W. (1999). A Matter of typology: Alphasyllabaries and abugidas. Written Language & Literacy 2(1): 45–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Daniels, Peter T. & William Bright (1996). Abbreviations, conventions, and definitions. In Peter T. Daniels & William Bright (eds.), The world’s writing systems, xxxix–xlv. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) have revolutionised our conceptualisation of writing systems. Together with alphabet, these terms have proven invaluable in classifying subtypes of segmentaries–writing systems whose grain size is the phonological segment (Gnanadesikan, Amalia E. (2017). Towards a typology of phonemic scripts. Writing Systems Research 9(1): 14–35. Retrieved from Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Nevertheless, there remain areas of ambiguity. Segmentaries that are either abugidas or alphasyllabaries–but not both–may be classified under various labels, and inconsistently so. Moreover, certain minoritised writing systems such as those based on Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics or Braille are only rarely covered in typological studies, despite the potential insights they offer.
In this paper, I use Bright, W. (1999). A Matter of typology: Alphasyllabaries and abugidas. Written Language & Literacy 2(1): 45–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and Gnanadesikan, Amalia E. (2017). Towards a typology of phonemic scripts. Writing Systems Research 9(1): 14–35. Retrieved from Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar typology of vowelled segmentaries as the point of departure to propose an augmented classification based on specific graphematic criteria. Aside from illustrating the proposed typology by applying it to various writing systems, I also identify avenues for further refinement.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction and terminology
    • 1.1Background and overview
    • 1.2Terminology
  • 2.Vowelled segmentaries: From Bright (1999) to Gnanadesikan (2017)
  • 3.An augmented paradigm
  • 4.Implementation and open questions
    • 4.1Aksharic systems
    • 4.2Sorani Kurdish–Arabic, Uyghur–Arabic, and Yiddish–Hebrew
    • 4.3Korean–Hangeul
    • 4.4Canadian Syllabics
  • 5.Conclusion and future directions
  • Notes
  • References
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2025. Typology of Writing Systems—Early History. In Reference Module in Social Sciences, DOI logo

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