Ka Hakalama Hou

Ka Hakalama Hou was created by Seth Van Middlesworth as an alternative way to write Hawaiian. It is a syllablic alphabet or abugida in which the symbols represent a consonant plus a vowel or an individual vowel. As Hawaiian has only a small number of phonemes, a syllabic script like this could be a more efficient way to write it than the Latin alphabet. The name Ka Hakalama Hou means 'The New Syllabary' in Hawaiian.

Notable features

Type of script: abugida / syllabic alphabet
Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal lines
Used to write: Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi)
Base letter shapes are formed using a method similar to a pigpen cipher. Phonetically similar sounds are opposite each other (except for K and W). Velars are opposite each other, bilabials are opposite each other, and glottals are opposite each other.
Base letter forms with no modification have an inherent -a ending. Other vowels are indicated by modifying the base letter forms.

Ka Hakalama Hou

Alphabet chart based on one by Mattias Persson

Notes

The letter a is pronounced [æ/a/ɐ/ə], e is pronounced [ɛ/e/i], k is pronounced [t] or [k], l is pronounced [l], [ɾ] or [ɹ], p is pronounced [p] or [b] and w is pronounced [w] or [v].

Sample text

Sample text in the Ka Hakalama Hou

Transliteration

Hānau kū'oko'a 'ia nā kānaka apau loa, a ua kau like ka hanohano a me nā pono kīvila ma luna o kākou pākahi. Ua ku'u mai ka no'ono'o pono a me ka 'ike pono ma luna o kākou, no laila, e aloha kākou kekahi i kekahi.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Other constructed scripts for natural languages

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