Deseret Alphabet

From Book of Mormon Onomasticon
Jump to navigationJump to search

Due to the influx of immigrant LDS converts from multiple foreign language backgrounds, the University of Deseret (now University of Utah) created a phonetic based alphabet as an aid to pronounce English.[1] The DESERET ALPHABET consists of 38 letters to account for alternate pronunciations of English vowels and some consonants.

The inclusion of the DESERET ALPHABET spellings in this Onomasticon is provided as an aid to the pronunciation of these words at the time the Book of Mormon was printed[2] using the DESERET ALPHABET.

The characters are in Unicode and may not appear on all browsers. If you have difficulty try an alternate internet browser.

Pronunciation Guide

Glyph Name IPA   Glyph Name IPA   Glyph Name IPA   Glyph Name IPA
𐐀 Long I /iː/ 𐐁 Long E {/eΙͺ/ 𐐂 Long A /ɑː/ 𐐃 Long Ah /ɔː/
𐐄 Long O /oʊ/ 𐐅 Long Oo /uː/ 𐐆 Short I /Ιͺ/ 𐐇 Short E /Ι›/
𐐈 Short A /Γ¦/ 𐐉 Short Ah /Ι’/ 𐐊 Short O /ʌ/ 𐐋 Short Oo /ʊ/
𐐌 Ay /aΙͺ/ 𐐍 Ow /aʊ/ 𐐎 Wu /w/ 𐐏 Yee /j/
𐐐 H /h/ 𐐑 Pee /p/ 𐐒 Bee /b/ 𐐓 Tee /t/
𐐔 Dee /d/ 𐐕 Chee /tΚƒ/ 𐐖 Jee /dΚ’/ 𐐗 Kay /k/
𐐘 Gay /Ι‘/ 𐐙 Ef /f/ 𐐚 Vee /v/ 𐐛 Eth /ΞΈ/
𐐜 Thee /Γ°/ 𐐝 Es /s/ 𐐞 Zee /z/ 𐐟 Esh /Κƒ/
𐐠 Zhee /Κ’/ 𐐑 Er /r/ 𐐒 El /l/ 𐐣 Em /m/
𐐀 En /n/ π₯ Eng /Ε‹/ 𐐦 Oi /Ι”Ιͺ/ 𐐧 Ew /juː/

Long Sounds
Letter Name Sound IPA
𐐀 Long I eat /iː/
𐐁 Long E ate /eΙͺ/
𐐂 Long A art /ɑː/
𐐃 Long Ah aught /ɔː/
𐐄 Long O oat /oʊ/
𐐅 Long Oo ooze /uː/
Short Sounds
Letter Name Sound IPA
𐐆 Short I it /Ιͺ/
𐐇 Short E et /Ι›/
𐐈 Short A at /æ/
𐐉 Short Ah ot /Ι’/
𐐊 Short O ut /ʌ/
𐐋 Short Oo book /ʊ/

See also DESERET, Deseret Variant

Deseret Alphabet: 𐐔𐐇𐐝𐐀𐐑𐐇𐐓 πˆπ’π™πˆπ’π‡π“

Notes


  1. ↑ See "The Deseret Alphabet as an Aid in Pronouncing Book of Mormon Names" by Frederick M. Huchel. Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (9:1, 58-59, 79)
  2. ↑ 𐐜 𐐒𐐋𐐗 π‰πš π£πƒπ‘π£πŠπ€ (The Book of Mormon) (New York: Published for the Deseret University by Russell Bros., 1869). Available online at Archive.org