The written language of the drow of Kumonosu.
A syllabary of spun webs. Every logo is one syllable, built from three parts: a frame that shows where a consonant is made, a spoke that shows how, and strands that show the vowel.
Read down each column, then move to the column on the right. The name at left is Kumonosu: ku · mo · no · su, “the life of Su”.
Reading a logo
Learn the parts below and every syllable in the chart becomes readable. There are about seventeen to remember, not a hundred and forty.
The top edge: where the consonant is made
The spoke: how the consonant is made
The spur: voiced or not
A single spur on the rightmost edge turns a voiceless consonant into its voiced partner.
The strands: the vowel
i sounds like “ih”, as in bit. ii sounds like “ee”, as in meet.
Every syllable
Rows are grouped by the shape of the top edge. The first row has no consonant: a flat top and no spoke.
| a | e | i | ii | o | u | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| none | a | e | i | ii | o | u |
| p | pa | pe | pi | pii | po | pu |
| b | ba | be | bi | bii | bo | bu |
| m | ma | me | mi | mii | mo | mu |
| w | wa | we | wi | wii | wo | wu |
| ph | pha | phe | phi | phii | pho | phu |
| t | ta | te | ti | tii | to | tu |
| d | da | de | di | dii | do | du |
| n | na | ne | ni | nii | no | nu |
| s | sa | se | si | sii | so | su |
| z | za | ze | zi | zii | zo | zu |
| ts | tsa | tse | tsi | tsii | tso | tsu |
| dz | dza | dze | dzi | dzii | dzo | dzu |
| r | ra | re | ri | rii | ro | ru |
| ch | tcha | tche | tchi | tchii | tcho | tchu |
| j | ja | je | ji | jii | jo | ju |
| sh | sha | she | shi | shii | sho | shu |
| zh | zha | zhe | zhi | zhii | zho | zhu |
| ny | nya | nye | nyi | nyii | nyo | nyu |
| y | ya | ye | yi | yii | yo | yu |
| k | ka | ke | ki | kii | ko | ku |
| g | ga | ge | gi | gii | go | gu |
| ng | nga | nge | ngi | ngii | ngo | ngu |
| h | ha | he | hi | hii | ho | hu |
Final consonants
A syllable can end in one of eight consonants. Each hangs as a tail that branches down and to the right of the point, so it never runs along the word’s thread. No other consonant can end a syllable.
Two vowels in one logo
The second vowel’s frame swings around the point and shares the right side, like the next sector of an orb web. Order is kept: ai and ia look different. On a voiced consonant, the spur moves to the outer edge of the second frame. A consonant before two vowels is allowed only in borrowed words.
Glides, for borrowed words only
A glide sits on the left. If the vowel has a crossbar, the crossbar reaches past the left edge; otherwise a short stub comes out at mid-height. Straight out is a w. Dangling down is a y. A logo with a glide never spins: a second vowel gets its own logo.
Marks on words
A dot always belongs to the word below it; a bar always belongs to the word above it. Marks apply only to words for parties, words for spirits, and verbs. On a party they show its role in a contract: light for the initiator, dark for the responder, none for a witness. On a verb, dark reverses the action: banhaki is buy, and the same word with a dark bar is sell.
Writing a page
- The logos of one word hang on a single unbroken thread. The thread is cut between words.
- A sentence ends with an empty space one logo tall.
- A new paragraph always starts a new column, with one empty space at the top.
- Numbers run top to bottom, highest place first. Zero is an empty frame.
- A line without a verb ends with ’hoka (“is”), hung from the word before it as a clitic.
- The first logo of every word in a name, place or title has thick side bars.
Samples
Names, places and titles carry thick side bars on the first logo of each word. A title follows the name it belongs to.
Common words
The first hundred words: fifty nouns and fifty verbs. Some shapes appear in both lists on purpose; their position in a sentence decides which reading is meant. ’hoka always hangs from the word before it, so it is shown here on its own dashed thread.
Nouns
Verbs
Drow script of Kumonosu. Glyph rules follow the Drow Alphabet grammar.