Women's Script

Women's script, or writing in modern Alethkar (i.e., Alethi script), is considered to be amongst the feminine arts in Vorin culture.
With the exception of ardents, Alethi men learn only glyphs, leaving letters and reading to their wives, sisters, daughters, and scribes. However, in Alethela there were men of letters, such as Nohadon, who wrote The Way of Kings.
==Practice==
Since in modern Alethkar reading and writing are considered feminine arts, virtually everyone in positions of power there are functionally illiterate. Affairs of state such as the writing of treatises, accounting, etc. are either dictated to or scribed by female scholars.
==Structure==
===Undertext===
Alethi written works often include margin notes known as undertext, intended solely for women readers and scribes. These annotations provide additional supplemental information regarding the main text.
===Phonology and romanization===
Women's/Alethi script is horizontally symmetrical around the line on which it is written. Its alphabet is rather elegant in the way it organizes phonemes. Graphemes are systematically derived from the sound properties of their corresponding phonemes, rather than simply being arbitrary symbols. Each grapheme has two elements that describe its sound properties: shape and height. The resulting script is visually similar to the graphical representation of the sound waves in speech.Time Waster's Guide Archive
* Since Alethi has no W or X, the respective English transliterations are U and KS.
* The English letter C is written as either S or K depending on its pronunciation.
* H may not quite sound like an H, but it's being used to represent H in English transliteration.
* The letter J is pronounced exactly like Y in modern Alethi. There may have been a sound change involved there. It's being used here as a J sound. Time Waster's Guide ArchiveStormlight Archive Translation Guide, 17th Shard, 3/6/14
===Characters===
(To be continued.)
==Easter Eggs==
There are two examples of the Women's/Alethi script in The Way of Kings. Both are excerpts from Navani's notebook. These illustrations were done by Isaac Stewart and provide interesting insights into the nature of fabrial creation.
==Notes==
Although no translation was included in The Way of Kings, it wasn't long before a fan deciphered the script and revealed the hidden messages. The code was cracked by Harakeke at Time Waster's Guide Archive. After that, Peter Ahlstrom and Isaac Stewart revealed further details regarding the Alethi language.
==References==
Category:Language