The Deseret Alphabet

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Hagoth
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The Deseret Alphabet

Post by Hagoth » Sat Apr 18, 2020 12:48 pm

I have always been confused by the early Utah Mormons' desire to develop and enforce a new alphabet. I was thinking about Newspeak in 1984 and suddenly it made more sense. The reason given was that it was phonetically based and people could learn that alphabet more quickly than the Roman alphabet and focus their efforts on other fields of learning. But it makes more sense to me that it would serve as a huge boost to message controlling. If you teach a generation of kids to read an alphabet that looks nothing like the one in the books that come from outside the kingdom you instantly make them illiterate regarding any outside message while keeping them fully literate to all indoctrination coming from inside. The added bonus is that it makes it very easy to identify which books are approved and which are subversive. Two levels of message control.

If the only goal was to make English writing more phonetic you could easily tweak the existing alphabet and spelling conventions to that end (e.g. use markings to differentiate long and short vowels, spell tough as tuff, etc.)

In case you're not familiar with it, the Deseret Alphabet is about as close to English as Reformed Egyptian:
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And in case you want to start making the transition yourself, here's a handy translator:
http://2deseret.com/
“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” -Mark Twain

Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Buddha: "Be your own light."

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wtfluff
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Re: The Deseret Alphabet

Post by wtfluff » Sat Apr 18, 2020 2:57 pm

Reading the first sentence of the OP, the first think that popped into my fluffy brain: Secret Decoder Ring.

So the statements about approved and subversive messages, and the translator definitely ring true for me.

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Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions. -Frater Ravus

IDKSAF -RubinHighlander

You can surrender without a prayer...

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Hagoth
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Re: The Deseret Alphabet

Post by Hagoth » Sat Apr 18, 2020 3:56 pm

You know, of course, that A Christmas Story is Satan's counterfeit of the Joseph Smith story. There's a mystical thread that binds it all together. Just follow the clues:

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“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” -Mark Twain

Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Buddha: "Be your own light."

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moksha
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Re: The Deseret Alphabet

Post by moksha » Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:46 pm

𐐐𐐯𐑊𐐬 Hagoth, 𐑄𐐮𐑅 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻 𐐈𐑊𐑁𐐰𐐺𐐯𐐻 𐐮𐑆 𐑅𐐲𐑋 𐐹𐑉𐐮𐐻𐐨 𐐿𐐭𐐿𐐨 𐑅𐐻𐐲𐑁 - 𐐨𐑂𐐲𐑌 𐑁𐐫𐑉 𐐩 𐐹𐐮𐐿𐐷𐐭𐑊𐐷𐐲𐑉 𐐹𐐨𐐹𐐲𐑊.
Good faith does not require evidence, but it also does not turn a blind eye to that evidence. Otherwise, it becomes misplaced faith.
-- Moksha

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Hagoth
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Re: The Deseret Alphabet

Post by Hagoth » Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:17 am

moksha wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:46 pm
𐐐𐐯𐑊𐐬 Hagoth, 𐑄𐐮𐑅 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻 𐐈𐑊𐑁𐐰𐐺𐐯𐐻 𐐮𐑆 𐑅𐐲𐑋 𐐹𐑉𐐮𐐻𐐨 𐐿𐐭𐐿𐐨 𐑅𐐻𐐲𐑁 - 𐐨𐑂𐐲𐑌 𐑁𐐫𐑉 𐐩 𐐹𐐮𐐿𐐷𐐭𐑊𐐷𐐲𐑉 𐐹𐐨𐐹𐐲𐑊.
Peculiar indeed!
“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” -Mark Twain

Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Buddha: "Be your own light."

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Ho Lee Turtle
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Re: The Deseret Alphabet

Post by Ho Lee Turtle » Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:13 am

moksha wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:46 pm
𐐐𐐯𐑊𐐬 Hagoth, 𐑄𐐮𐑅 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻 𐐈𐑊𐑁𐐰𐐺𐐯𐐻 𐐮𐑆 𐑅𐐲𐑋 𐐹𐑉𐐮𐐻𐐨 𐐿𐐭𐐿𐐨 𐑅𐐻𐐲𐑁 - 𐐨𐑂𐐲𐑌 𐑁𐐫𐑉 𐐩 𐐹𐐮𐐿𐐷𐐭𐑊𐐷𐐲𐑉 𐐹𐐨𐐹𐐲𐑊.
And the translation is...

“Hello /h/ah/g/oh/t/h/, this Deseret Alphabet is some pretty kooky stuff o' even for a peculiar people.”


Good thing I have my own rock and top hat, and it works!!

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Exiled
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Re: The Deseret Alphabet

Post by Exiled » Sun Apr 19, 2020 5:12 pm

Gotta love our history.

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