Kalis was invented by Sascha Mücke and is a logical next step in the evolution of writing: While alphabets abstract from abugidas by splitting the glyphs representing syllables into single sounds (consonants and vowels), Kalis abstracts sounds into their features like place and manner of articulation, having glyphs for voiced, fricative etc. This leads to a featural type of alphabet with a very small number of glyphs whose pronunciation is highly influenced by their context.
The name Kalis is a word that uses all the gylphs of that alphabet exactly once.
Kalis has four basic consonant roots, three modifiers and one extra glyph for the vowel a:
The three modifiers affect the sound of the roots before them. Multiple modifiers can be applied to a root to signalize combined or amplified manners of articulation:
(e and o represent open-mid, é and ó close-mid vowels here)
Of course there are many more ways to combine roots and modifiers, e.g. a voiced-modifier after a vowel might lengthen the vowel or a double fricative-modifier might push the place of articulation further back towards the throat. The system is highly adaptable to different phonologies.
The following is a transcription of the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights using an ad hoc orthographic mode for English.
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)
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