Osage
Script type
Time period
2006–present
Directionleft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesOsage
Related scripts
Parent systems
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Osge (219), ​Osage
Unicode
Unicode alias
Osage
U+104B0–U+104FF

The Osage script is a new script promulgated in 2006 and revised 2012–2014 for the Osage language. Because Latin orthographies were subject to interference from English conventions among Osage students who were more familiar with English than with Osage, in 2006 the director of the Osage Language Program, Herman Mongrain Lookout, decided to create a distinct script by modifying or fusing Latin letters. This Osage script has been in regular use on the Osage Nation ever since.[1]

In 2012, while in the process of submitting the script to Unicode, a more precise representation of the sounds of Osage was formulated, and by the following year had been adequately tested. In February 2014, a conference on standardizing the reforms was held by Lookout and the staff at the Osage Nation Language Department along with UCS expert Michael Everson. The result included the introduction of case, the abolition of two letters, and the creation of several more.[2]

The Osage script was included in Unicode version 9.0 in June 2016 in the Osage block.[3]

Letters

Vowels

The 2014 vowel letters are as follows:

Osage vowels
OralNasal
OsageLatinOsageLatin
𐒰 𐓘A a 𐒰͘ 𐓘͘Ą ą
𐒱 𐓙Ai ai 𐒲 𐓚Aį aį
𐒳 𐓛Ə ə 𐒳͘ 𐓛͘Ə̨ ə̨
𐒷 𐓟E e 𐒸 𐓠Eį eį
𐒻 𐓣I i 𐒻͘ 𐓣͘Į į
𐓂 𐓪O o 𐓂͘ 𐓪͘Ǫ ǫ
𐓎 𐓶U u 𐓃 𐓫Oį oį

Long vowels are indicated with a macron, high tone by an acute accent, and a long vowel with high tone by a double acute accent: e.g. oral ⟨𐒰̄ 𐓘̄⟩ Ā ā, ⟨𐒰́ 𐓘́⟩ Á á, ⟨𐒰̋ 𐓘̋⟩ Ā́ ā́, nasal ⟨𐒰̄͘ 𐓘̄͘⟩ Ą̄ ą̄, ⟨𐒰́͘ 𐓘́͘⟩ Ą́ ą́, ⟨𐒰̋͘ 𐓘̋͘⟩ Ą̄́ ą̄́.

Ə and Ə̨ are not phonemic, but unstressed allophones of A and Ą.

The a comes from Latin ⟨A⟩ (without the crossbar, as in the NASA insignia "worm" logo), e from Latin cursive ⟨Ɑ⟩ (the 'long' sound of the English letter a is rather like Osage e). The source for i is obscure, though Latin ⟨I⟩ does appear inside ⟨Λ⟩ for the diphthong ai.

Consonants

The 2014 consonant letters and digraphs are as follows. As in Latin orthography, the ejective consonants are written with a diacritic, and the strongly aspirated stops with digraphs. The pre-aspirated stops were originally written as digraphs with h, but since they vary by dialect with geminates, the 2014 revision included new letters for them derived by adding a cross-bar.

Osage consonants
TenuisEjectiveAspiratedPre-aspirated
/geminate
OsageLatinOsageLatinOsageLatinOsageLatin
𐒴 𐓜Br br
𐒵 𐓝Č č𐒶 𐓞Hč hč
𐒹 𐓡H h
𐒺 𐓢Hy hy
𐒼 𐓤K k𐒼ʼ 𐓤ʼKʼ kʼ𐒼𐓸 𐓤𐓸
𐒼𐓯 𐓤𐓯		Kx kx
Kš kš		𐒽 𐓥Hk hk
𐒾 𐓦Ky ky
𐒿 𐓧L l
𐓀 𐓨M m
𐓁 𐓩N n
𐓄 𐓬P p𐓄ʼ 𐓬ʼPʼ pʼ𐓄𐓸 𐓬𐓸
𐓄𐓯 𐓬𐓯		Px px
Pš pš		𐓅 𐓭Hp hp
𐓆 𐓮S s
𐓇 𐓯Š š
𐓈 𐓰T t𐓈𐓸 𐓰𐓸
𐓌 𐓴		Tx tx
Ch ch		𐓉 𐓱Ht ht
𐓊 𐓲C c (ts)𐓊ʼ 𐓲ʼCʼ cʼ𐓋 𐓳Hc hc
𐓍 𐓵Ð ð
𐓏 𐓷W w
𐓐 𐓸X x
𐓑 𐓹Ɣ ɣ (gh)
𐓒 𐓺Z z
𐓓 𐓻Ž ž

Px and pš are allophones, as are kx ~ kš and tx ~ ch (tsh). Hy and ky are sequences rather than single consonants.

The source of p is Latin ⟨P⟩, that of t is Latin ⟨D⟩ (an alternative transcription of Osage t), č is from ⟨Ch⟩, k from ⟨K⟩. C is from ⟨T⟩ with the Osage s. S and z are the top halves of ⟨S⟩ and ⟨Z⟩; š and ž are derived from adding a tail to the full letters, much like Latin ⟨ʒ⟩. Br is a ligatures of the letters br. M, n and l appear to be from their cursive Latin forms, and ð is a ligature of ⟨Th⟩, which is how it is often transcribed. W is a partial ⟨w⟩. X is from cursive ⟨x⟩; it was originally at a 45-degree (x-like) angle before it was split into x and inverted gh. H is obscure, but hy may be from the ⟨s⟩ of ⟨sh⟩, and h from hy. Ligatures for sc (sts) and sk were retired when the alphabet was reformed for Unicode encoding.

Punctuation

Words are separated by a space. Syllables were originally separated by a full stop, but that practice has ceased with increasing literacy.

2014 reforms

A meeting to reform the script in 2014 in preparation for Unicode encoding agreed on five changes:

  • Casing pairs were introduced.
  • Digraphs hC (or superscript ʰC) for the pre-aspirate consonants were replaced with dedicated letters, Ꞓ.
  • Ligatures for sc (sts) and sk were retired.
  • The nasal marks (ˆ following the letter for monophthongs, an underscore for diphthongs) were replaced by a dot (above-right for monophthongs, internally for diphthongs)
  • The letter x, originally set at a 45-degree angle, was made two letters, upright x and inverted gh.

Unicode

The Osage alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2016 with the release of version 9.0.

The Unicode block for Osage is U+104B0–U+104FF:

Osage[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+104Bx 𐒰 𐒱 𐒲 𐒳 𐒴 𐒵 𐒶 𐒷 𐒸 𐒹 𐒺 𐒻 𐒼 𐒽 𐒾 𐒿
U+104Cx 𐓀 𐓁 𐓂 𐓃 𐓄 𐓅 𐓆 𐓇 𐓈 𐓉 𐓊 𐓋 𐓌 𐓍 𐓎 𐓏
U+104Dx 𐓐 𐓑 𐓒 𐓓 𐓘 𐓙 𐓚 𐓛 𐓜 𐓝 𐓞 𐓟
U+104Ex 𐓠 𐓡 𐓢 𐓣 𐓤 𐓥 𐓦 𐓧 𐓨 𐓩 𐓪 𐓫 𐓬 𐓭 𐓮 𐓯
U+104Fx 𐓰 𐓱 𐓲 𐓳 𐓴 𐓵 𐓶 𐓷 𐓸 𐓹 𐓺 𐓻
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

  1. ↑ "Osage Nation Language Department". Archived from the original on 2011-11-20.
  2. ↑ Everson, Michael; Lookout, Herman Mongrain; Pratt, Cameron (2014-09-21). "Final proposal to encode the Osage script in the UCS: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2, Document N4619" (PDF). The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
  3. ↑ "Unicode version 9.0.0". The Unicode Consortium. 2016-06-21.
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