Deseret alphabet

The **Deseret alphabet** () is a writing system invented in the 19th Century in America by the Mormon Church. A group of leaders called the Board of Regents created it. They were from Brigham Young University.

Brigham Young wanted all letters to match sounds, to make reading and writing easier for immigrants. Teachers taught the alphabet in the school system at the time.

Between 1854 and 1869, books, newspapers, street signs and mail used the new alphabet. Even though the LDS church tried very hard to support the alphabet, it wasn't continued for very long.

### Creation (1847–1854)

Church leaders Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball were part of the Board of Regents that made the Deseret alphabet. Other important creators were George D. Watt and William W. Phelps.

Before they decided to use the Deseret alphabet, the Board of Regents thought they would use Pitman style alphabets. On 29 November 1853, they came together to vote. Then, Willard Richards, who was sick when the Board of Regents had talked about which alphabet to use, saw the Pitman style alphabet. He said it looked too much like the English alphabet, and he wanted to start over with something new. His words convinced Brigham Young and the rest of the Board of Regents to make the Deseret alphabet. Less than two months later, the Board of Regents approved the first 38-letter Deseret alphabet.

## Alphabet

In the Deseret alphabet, capital letters ("majuscule" or upper case) look the same as the lower case ("minuscule") letters, except the capital letters are larger. In the chart below, the "Glyph" is the letter shape, and next to it is the letter's name, which is how it sounds.

|Glyph|Name|||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="11"||||||||||||
|rowspan="11"||||||||||||
|rowspan="11"||||||||||||
|𐐀 𐐨|Long I||𐐁 𐐩|Long E||𐐂 𐐪|Long A||𐐃 𐐫|Long Ah||
|𐐄 𐐬|Long O||𐐅 𐐭|Long Oo||𐐆 𐐮|Short I||𐐇 𐐯|Short E||
|𐐈 𐐰|Short A||𐐉 𐐱|Short Ah||𐐊 𐐲|Short O||𐐋 𐐳|Short Oo||
|𐐌 𐐴|Ay||𐐍 𐐵|Ow||𐐎 𐐶|Wu||𐐏 𐐷|Yee||
|𐐐 𐐸|H||𐐑 𐐹|Pee||𐐒 𐐺|Bee||𐐓 𐐻|Tee||
|𐐔 𐐼|Dee||𐐕 𐐽|Chee||𐐖 𐐾|Jee||𐐗 𐐿|Kay||
|𐐘 𐑀|Gay||𐐙 𐑁|Ef||𐐚 𐑂|Vee||𐐛 𐑃|Eth||
|𐐜 𐑄|Thee||𐐝 𐑅|Es||𐐞 𐑆|Zee||𐐟 𐑇|Esh||
|𐐠 𐑈|Zhee||𐐡 𐑉|Er||𐐢 𐑊|El||𐐣 𐑋|Em||
|𐐤 𐑌|En||𐐥 𐑍|Eng||𐐦 𐑎|Oi*||𐐧 𐑏|Ew*||
|colspan=15|*Not part of original alphabet|||||||||||

## Related pages

- International Phonetic Alphabet
- Brigham Young

## Further reading

- Bigler, David. 1998. _Forgotten kingdom: the Mormon theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896_.  Spokane: Arthur Clark
- Ivins, Stanley S. 1947. The Deseret Alphabet. _Utah Humanities Review_ 1:223-39.
- Lynott, Patricia A. 1999. "Communicating Insularity: The Deseret Alphabet of Nineteenth-Century Mormon Education." _American Educational History Journal_ 26 (1):20–26.
- Thompson, Roger. 1982. Language planning in frontier America: The case of the Deseret Alphabet. _Language Problems and Language Planning_ 6:45–62.
- Wintersteen, Larry Ray. 1970. _A History of the Deseret Alphabet_. MA thesis, Brigham Young University.
- .

## Other websites

- The Mormon Alphabet Experiment | "From the Stacks" at New-York Historical Society
- M. Scott Reynolds' Deseret alphabet portal
- Joshua Erickson's Deseret alphabet pages
- The Deseret Alphabet at Omniglot
- Deseret Alphabet Translator  Converts standard orthography to Deseret alphabet and vice versa
- Deseret to IPA converter Converts Deseret input to International Phonetic Alphabet

## Infobox (writing system)

- **name**: Deseret alphabet
- **nativename**: 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻
- **type**: Alphabet
- **time**: Mainly 1854–1869; some use in modern era
- **languages**: English language, English, Native American languages (Hopi language)
- **creator**: George D. Watt, under the direction of the Board of Regents led by Brigham Young
- **sample**: Deseret_Alphabet.svg
- **imagesize**: 200px
- **unicode**: [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10400.pdf U+10400–U+1044F]
- **iso15924**: Dsrt
- **fam1**: Isaac Pitman phonotypy
- **fam2**: _English Phonotypic Alphabet_
- **published**: 1854