Preface

When I was sixteen years old, my family traveled to Portland, Oregon to visit my Great Uncle Ted. While in Portland, I purchased Akira Nakanishi’s book Writing Systems of the World: Alphabets, Syllabaries, Pictograms.1 The book became a constant companion for me throughout the rest of the trip. Upon return to our home in California, I read the book more closely. On page 110, toward the end of the book, I found the following entry:

𐐮𐑁 𐐶𐐨 𐑉𐐴𐑆 𐐲𐑉𐑊𐐮 𐐮𐑌 𐑄 𐑋𐐫𐑉𐑌𐐮𐑍, 𐐶

𐑉𐐴𐑆. 𐐸𐐨 𐑉𐐴𐑆 𐐯𐑆 𐐮𐑌 𐑄 𐐨𐑅𐐻. 𐐮𐑌 𐑄

𐑅𐐲𐑌-𐑉𐐴𐑆, 𐑄 𐐺𐐲𐑉𐐼𐑆 𐐺𐐨𐑀𐐮𐑌 𐐻𐐭 𐑅𐐮𐑍

𐐰𐑌𐐼 𐐺𐐳𐑇 𐐯𐑆: 𐑄𐐩 𐑅𐐨𐑋 𐑂 𐐯𐑉𐐮 𐑀 𐐰𐑌𐐼 𐐽

𐑅𐐲𐑌 𐐮𐑆 𐐿𐐲𐑋𐐮𐑍 𐐻𐐭 𐑇𐐴𐑌 𐐲𐐹𐐱𐑌 𐑄 𐐯𐑋.

𐐶𐐪𐑉𐑋 𐑉𐐩𐑆 𐐱𐑌 𐑄 𐐲𐑉𐑃. 𐐸𐐨 𐑇𐐴𐑌𐑆

𐐰𐑌𐐼 𐐲𐐹𐐱𐑌 𐑄 𐐹𐑊𐐰𐑌𐐻𐑅, 𐐰𐑌𐐼 𐑀𐐮𐑂𐑆 𐑄 𐐯𐑋

𐑄𐐩𐑉 𐐺𐐮𐐭𐐻𐐮.

MORMON SCRIPT. The writing of Mormonism

in North America. From the 19th century. (Author’s

collection)

I was shocked. I had been born and raised LDS, how could there be a “Mormon script” without my having heard of it? I brought the book with me to church the following Sunday and asked my teachers if they knew anything about the enigmatic symbols. Not one of them had heard of a “Mormon Script” before. I decided to set the mystery aside and moved the questions to the back of my mind. In the meantime, I studied several of the world’s writing systems including Arabic, Hebrew, Khmer and Georgian.

Shortly after beginning college, I obtained a copy of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems by Florian Coulmas.2 On page 347 I found the following (mis)information above a chart which ostensibly gave the sound values of these mysterious symbols:

Mormon alphabet A script created in the 1830s for English by Joseph Smith (1805-44), founder of the Mormon sect, who claimed that it was revealed to him in 1823 on golden plates by an angel. The characters are arbitrarily designed, although some of them resemble alphabetic letters (table 22). The script represents an attempt at designing a writing system for English which approximates a one-to-one mapping relation between sounds and symbols independent of traditional orthography.

The symbols in the chart were hand-drawn and the phonetic symbols used next to them as a key did not correspond to any accepted system3. No source was cited for the table. In other words, the entry was useless. When I tried to use the chart to decode the sample in Nakanishi’s book, I found almost no correspondence between the two. It would be years before I learned that the script’s true name was the Deseret Alphabet and that Brigham Young had commissioned it the decade after Joseph Smith’s death (and it therefore had absolutely nothing to do with visions or gold plates).

About three years after returning from a mission to England, I began studying linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. While there, I took advantage of the Bancroft library and its superb collection of early Mormon books. I will never forget the first time I held the 1869 Deseret Alphabet Book of Mormon. The book was made of fine materials and truly beautiful. As I leaved through page after page of strange characters, it struck me how much effort must have been put forth in transcribing the entire Book of Mormon text into this new script and how expensive the whole endeavor must have been for a struggling religious community. I left the experience determined to learn to read and understand the Deseret Alphabet. This book is the product of that experience.

The Purpose of this Book

This book provides all the information a student will need in order to read the classic 1869 version of the Deseret Alphabet properly and to write with it today. It also intends to dispel misinformation about the Deseret Alphabet’s origin and purpose. The first chapter gives a brief overview of the origins and purpose of this peculiar Mormon script. Chapter 2 explains the reasons behind the standardized 1869 Deseret spellings and spares no details in introducing the English sound system. Chapter 3 is a complete internal workbook which reintroduces the letters and structure of the 1869 Deseret Alphabet spellings in a hands-on manner. Chapter 4 briefly introduces archaic alternate characters for advanced study. Chapter 5 gives guidelines for using the Deseret script today and proposes resurrecting the alphabet.

The more time I spend studying the Deseret Alphabet, the more I am struck by its hidden beauty and great potential. The ultimate purpose of this book is to share that feeling with the world.

What this Book is Not

This book does not pretend to give a detailed history of the origin and demise of the nineteenth-century Deseret Alphabet. Kenneth R. Beesley has already written about that in The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode.4 The history of the Deseret Alphabet deserves to be written and I look forward to seeing a full account of this remarkable script published in book form. However, I will not be the one to write such a book, as my skills are in linguistics and are not those of a historian.

Using this Book

The student needs to narrow down his goals prior to using this book. If the desire is to read the Deseret Alphabet for research purposes, then the first three chapters are all that is needed. Furthermore, the student who is not familiar with linguistics can skim over chapter 2 and go straight to chapter 3 for the quickest route to Deseret reading competency. If that course is chosen, chapter 2 should be used as a reference to chapter 3 in the event that certain spellings do not make sense. If the student desires to read and compose modern Deseret Alphabet documents, and to do it properly, he should focus on chapters 5 while referring back to chapter 2 for clarifications on English sounds.

I sincerely hope this work will inspire a new generation and help them to respect and cherish this amazing script given us by our forefathers.