Deseret alphabet

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Deseret alphabet
Type	Alphabet
Spoken languages	Mostly English, but intended for others too
Created by	Board of regents and church leaders led by Brigham Young
Time period	The later half of the 19th century
Parent systems	{{{family}}} Deseret alphabet
ISO 15924	Dsrt
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

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.

In public statements, Brigham Young claimed the alphabet was intended to replace the traditional Latin alphabet with an alternative, more phonetically accurate alphabet for the English language. This would offer immigrants an opportunity to learn to read and write English, he said, 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.

Young also prescribed the learning of Deseret to the school system, stating "It will be the means of introducing uniformity in our orthography, and the years that are now required to learn to read and spell can be devoted to other studies"^[1].

Though never explicitly stated, it is agreed among most historians that Deseret was desirable, at least in part, by its exclusivity. Certain news was published only in Deseret, keeping from non-locals—or the unschooled—the ability to decipher the text.^[2]

[edit] Development and use

Sample from the Deseret Second Book, printed in 1868. The first three (and part of the fourth) words read "One of the worst habit[s]" (The first four words phonetically read "W-u-n ah-v thee w-u-r-s-t")

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^[3]. 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 a Book of Mormon excerpt called First Nephi-Omni. Additionally published in the Deseret News were various articles and passages from the New Testament, which were printed on a press obtained by Orson Pratt.

Considerable non-printed material in the Deseret Alphabet still exists, including one headstone in Cedar City, some coinage, letters, diaries, and meeting minutes. Orson Pratt supervised the transcription of the complete Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants. One of the more curious items found in the Deseret Alphabet is an English-Hopi dictionary.

Despite heavy promotion, the Deseret Alphabet was never widely adopted. This reluctance was partly due to prohibitive costs; Pratt estimated that the cost of printing a regular library would be over one million dollars. Interest nonetheless continues among hobbyists who generally produce material for private consumption. With modern computer systems lowering the costs associated with typesetting, new material in the Deseret Alphabet occasionally appears.

[edit] Table of glyphs

A 1860 $5 gold piece, with inscription "Holiness to the Lord" in the Deseret alphabet

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 will not 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.)

[edit] See also

• Cherokee alphabet
• State of Deseret

[edit] References

• Bigler, David. 1998. Forgotten kingdom: the Mormon theocracy in the American West, 1847-1896. Spokane: Arthur Clark
• Ivins, Stanley S. 1947. The Deseret Alphabet. Utah Humanities Review 1:223-39.
• Thompson, Roger. 1982. Language planning in frontier America: The case of the Deseret Alphabet. Language Problems and Language Planning 6:45-62.
• Wintersteen, Larry Ray. 1970. A History of the Deseret Alphabet. MA thesis, Brigham Young University.
• Young, Brigham (October 8, 1868), "Southern Missions—Deseret Alphabet—Relief Societies—Home Manufactures", Journal of Discourses Volume 12 By President Brigham Young, his two Counsellors, and the Twelve Apostles, 12, Liverpool: Albert Carrington, pp. 297–301 .

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Deseret alphabet

• M. Scott Reynolds' Deseret Alphabet portal
• Joshua Erickson's Deseret Alphabet Pages
• Unicode Code Chart, 10400–1044F (Deseret), retrieved from http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10400.pdf
• Colorado History page
• The Deseret Alphabet at Omniglot
• Bob Moss Deseret Alphabet Art
• Deseret First Book images
• Deseret Fonts
• The Book of Mormon, Doctrines & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price in the Deseret alphabet