maˈtʼuww

Writing Scripts Descended from Egyptian Hieroglyphs

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Glossary

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Logography

In the context of Egyptian, logograms can be divided into three categories:
1. Phonograms represent consonants.
2. Logograms define visual objects.
3. Determinatives provide context about a word and are not pronounced.

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Abjad

Letters represent consonants without vowels.
Vowel sounds are implied and can be indicated by diacritics (notations).
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Alphabet

Letters represent consonants and vowels.
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Abugida

Letters represent consonants followed by a particular vowel, unless modified by additional diacritics to indicate another vowel.

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Syllabary

Letters represent a syllable (usually a consonant and vowel).
These letters that share the same consonant or vowel sounds do not resemble each other, unlike abugidas,
as they do not rely on diacritics to modify vowels.

References


1. Daniels, P. T., & Bright, W. (Eds.). (1996). The world’s writing systems. Oxford University Press.