title
D16 Syllabics
Artist/Designer
Calder Ruhl Hansen
Date
2023
type of writing system
Syllabary, Abugida, Phonetic
Based on
English language
References
Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, Mayan glyphs, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Hangul
The English language presents a unique challenge for creating a syllabic writing system due to its vast array of over 10,000 distinct syllables. D16 Syllabics approaches this task by employing a set of techniques influenced by various writing systems worldwide: rotating shapes inspired by Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics; pictographic symbols echoing Mayan glyphs and Egyptian hieroglyphs; and stacked syllable blocks and schematic phonetic symbols reminiscent of Korean Hangul. The name “D16” derives from the dihedral group of order 16, a mathematical concept that governs how a symbol’s orientation affects its pronunciation. Rather than aiming for a complete and optimized representation of English phonetics, D16 embraces ambiguity that can be resolved through context. It allows for multiple ways of writing a syllable and even encourages the creation of new symbols. This system prioritizes expressiveness and artistic freedom, representing the spirit of the ancient writing systems that inspired its development.
Watch the video for the artist’s explanation of how D16 Syllabics work.
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Artwork courtesy of Calder Ruhl Hansen. All rights reserved.
abjad
abugida
acrophony
acrostic
alphabet
alphasyllabary
asemic writing
automatic writing
boustrophedon
character
character set
cipher
code
conscript
cryptography
encode
experimental
grapheme
glyph
hieroglyph
hieroglyphics
imaginarium
language
letter
letterform
linguistic
logosyllabary
logographic
logogram
nat scirpt
neography
optophonetic
phoneme
phonetic
pictograph
quasi
re-worlding
script
syllabary
syllable
symbol
speculative
torus
versimilitude
writing system
