Writing Systems

The Uncracked Minoan Code: Linear A

We can read the sounds of the ancient Minoan script, Linear A, but we have no idea what the words…

10 months ago

Glagolitic: The Lost Slavic Alphabet

Before the familiar Cyrillic script dominated Eastern Europe, there was another, more mysterious alphabet designed for the Slavic people. We…

10 months ago

How to Invent an Alphabet

Ever dreamed of creating your own alphabet? This guide delves into the art and science of script creation, exploring the…

10 months ago

Arabizi: The Internet’s Hybrid Arabic Script

Arabizi is the internet’s hybrid Arabic script, an ingenious solution to typing Arabic sounds on Latin keyboards using numbers like…

10 months ago

The Emperor’s Alphabet: The Story of Phags-pa Script

In the 13th century, Kublai Khan commissioned a single, official script to unite the vast, multilingual Mongol Empire. The result…

10 months ago

The Cuneiform Stylus: The Tool That Wrote the Word

The world's first writing system, cuneiform, owes its distinctive wedge-shaped appearance to a surprisingly simple tool. This post explores how…

10 months ago

Reading Right-to-Left: How Scripts Shape the Brain

Does the direction you read in change how you perceive the world? This article delves into the surprising science of…

10 months ago

The Alphabet That Failed

In the 1960s, a radical new alphabet for English was born, bankrolled by the will of playwright George Bernard Shaw.…

10 months ago

The Scribe’s Shortcut: A History of the Tilde (~)

That familiar squiggle, the tilde (~), is more than just a decoration on the Spanish 'ñ' or a casual emoji.…

10 months ago

The Vai Script: A Dreamed-Up Alphabet

In the 1830s, an illiterate Vai man in West Africa named Momolu Duwalu Bukele had a vivid dream where he…

10 months ago

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