Lo script

Lo script hiH lF
Script type	Abugida
Period	4589 CY to present
Languages	Regal Dòn Proper, Outlands Dòn, Butakkin, among others
Related scripts
Parent systems	Hashka proto-writing Hashka hieroglyphs Lo script

The Lo script (rarely also reffered to as Hashka syllabics) is an alphasyllabary used near universally throughout Anschuhe to encode hashka languages, including the literary Regal Dòn Proper, which it was originally created for. Its name derives from the RDP word for "small," lF loó.

History

Origin

Lo was personally created in 4589 CY by Queen Ngo Ngar Dèeil-Iinshin. Prior to its invention, literacy was exclusive to highly educated scholars trained on a complex logographic system, Hashka hieroglyphs (nowadays called the Hieh script, from hieeG hieé "large"). Queen Dèeil-Iinshin, who wished to increase literacy in the RSS during its early industrialisation, created Lo with this purpose in mind.

Spread

Lo spread slowly and recalcitrantly, mostly due to several attempts at squandering its promulgation by hashka literati, who believed literacy should remain a private, high-class matter, which had no place in the lower castes. As such, for most of its infancy, the script was mostly used by the royal family, their close friends, and religious scholars.

The spread of Lo quickened in 4592 with its adoption by several courtesan males who, wishing to become literate but being otherwise untrained in the Hieh script, sought to be taught by monks, who taught them Lo due to its ease of use and adoption. These early courtesan Lo users caught the attention of Queen Dèeil-Iinshin, who promoted their works as foundational literature. These works, now known as the Five-Hundred and Twelve and a Half Stories (kiBkvAnuA biA/6 Kíìkv́nú bi100½), were a collection of prosaic and poetic romantic, tragic and comedic stories, and the earliest proper pieces of Lo literature (not counting earlier epistolary works or diaries). The courtesan authors were assigned important scholarly positions and their works were taught in schools, leading to wider recognition of the script.

Modern day

As of 4627 CY, the Lo script is widely used across the near-entirety of the continent. Although literacy remains low in the more rural areas, urbanised areas see high rates, mostly thanks to the Lo script and its heavy promotion by royal hashka castes.

Letters

Consonants

The following table shows Lo script letters in their canonical kwomodo order, as specified by queen Dèeil-Iinshin, as well as their names and pronunciations in Regal Dòn Proper. All letters have an implicit /o/.

Letter	-e	Rom.	Name	IPA
kw	kwe	kw	kweʼé	/kʷo/
m	me	m	moó	/mo/
d	de	d	dùunil	/do/
n	ne	n	náá	/no/
N	-		vn nóó	/-n/
r	re	r	ruʼú	/ro/
R	-		vr nóó	/-r/
f	fe	f	fosoó	/ɸo/
l	le	l	leéwv́	/lo/
L	-		vl nóó	/-l/
c	ce	c	ciíjí	/t͡ʃo/
h	he	h	honeé	/xo/
H	-		vh nóó	/-x/
z	ze	hl	hláh	/ɬo/
sh	she	sh	shigùul	/ʃo/
q	qe	ng	ngo	/ŋo/
gw	gwe	gw	gwvnv́	/gʷo/
t	te	t	tv́v́	/to/
p	pe	p	podol	/po/
s	se	s	soná	/so/
k	ke	k	kùuhlan	/ko/
j	je	j	jiraʼá	/d͡ʒo/
b	be	b	bol	/bo/
g	ge	g	go	/go/
w	we	w	iwvv́	/wo/

Four additional letters were added in the early 4620s for easier transcription of Outlands Dòn and other languages with ejective stops.

Letter	Rom.	Name	IPA
c'	cʼ	ecʼáɂ	/tɕʼo/
t'	tʼ	ytuútʼuub	/tʼo/
p'	pʼ	ípʼao	/pʼo/
k'	kʼ	kʼeera	/kʼo/

Vowels

Vowels in Lo are appended to the consonants they follow, either in the form of diacritics (/a/, /i/ and /ə/), next to the base glyph (/u/) or by directly modifying the base glyph (/e/). /o/ is implicit.

Letter	On p	Rom.	Name	IPA
o	p	o	oroin	/o/ [ɤᵝ]
ii	pi	i	iin	[i]
aa	pa	a	àa	[a]
ee	pe	e	eén	[e]
vv	pv	v	vfe	[ə]
uu	pu	u	ùú	/u/ [ɯᵝ]

Tones

Tones in Lo are independent letters appended at the ends of syllables.

Length	Tone	IPA	Glyph	Rom.	Name
Short	Atonal	Varies	-	a	-
	Low	˩
	High	˦	A	á	hkóró
Long	Low	˩	D	aa	hcoo
	High	˦	S	áa	hv́vmoó
	Light rising	˨˧	F	aá	hluú
	Light falling	˧˩	G	àa	cèer
	Heavy rising	˧˥	Z	áá	káá
	Heavy falling	˥˨	X	àà	kòò
	Glottalised rising	˧˥ˀ	C	aʼá	hpaʼá
	Glottalised falling	˥˨ˀ	V	àʼa	nìʼikàa
	Convex	˨˥˧	B	áà	jáà
	Concave	˧˩˦	M	àá	hùú

Punctuation

Lo uses the following punctuation marks

Letter	Name	Usage
,	tií	Separating ideas within a sentence, listing.
.	tií-tií	Separating sentences.
:	tií bíhrur	Separating paragraphs.
-	tií-tv́v́	Quotations.

Numerals

Lo numerals are octal, additive, and read right to left.

Numeral	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Decimal	0	1	4	8	32	64	256	512	2048	4096
Octal				10	40	100	400	1000	4000	10000

Numbers are written by concatenating symbols representing individual values, with the smallest on the left and increasing to the right. E.g. 1135 = 112₈ = 74₁₀

There exist simple fractional numerals as well.

Numeral	/	!	%
Decimal	½	1⁄4	⅛
Octal			⅒