Editing Deseret alphabet (section)

== Handwriting ==
There were two main handwritten forms of the Deseret alphabet: a [[cursive]] version and a [[Block letters|printed]] version. Over the lifetime of the alphabet, the cursive form fell out of favor among most users of the alphabet and by 1856 no more cursive documents exist.<ref name="Beesley2002" />{{rp|21}} Its impact on the [[glyph]]s can however still be plainly seen in the loops of certain characters such as <span lang="en-Dsrt>𐑅</span>, <span lang="en-Dsrt>𐑀</span> and <span lang="en-Dsrt>𐐼</span>.<ref name="Beesley2004" />{{rp|13}} The earliest surviving versions of the Deseret alphabet, from 1853 (one year before its January 1854 approval), have printed and cursive forms side-by-side, suggesting that a cursive form was part of the plan from the very beginning.<ref>University of Deseret papers: New alphabet file, circa 1853. Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah (Call number MS 4223 – you can see the digital object on https://history.lds.org {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522183656/https://history.lds.org/ |date=22 May 2019 }} )</ref>

=== Cursive ===
[[File:Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia written in Deseret cursive.svg|thumb|239x239px|Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit<br />𐐎𐐮𐐿𐐨𐐹𐐨𐐼𐐨𐐲, 𐑄 𐑁𐑉𐐨 𐐯𐑌𐑅𐐴𐐿𐑊𐐬𐐹𐐨𐐼𐐨𐐲 𐑄𐐰𐐻 𐐯𐑌𐐨𐐶𐐲𐑌 𐐿𐐰𐑌 𐐯𐐼𐐮𐐻]]
The cursive form of the Deseret alphabet was mainly used by two people: George D. Watt, and James Henry Martineau.<ref name="Beesley2002" />{{rp|21}} Watt, a [[stenographer]], recorded several bishops meetings and wrote other personal documents in this cursive style.<ref name="Beesley2004" />{{rp|13}} A chart of the cursive form appears below. The blue glyphs represent how to write each character, while the top row of printed glyphs shows the corresponding Unicode reference glyph.

[[File:Early Deseret cursive lineup based on a document written by its creator George D Watt.svg|border|frameless|class=descharts|600x600px]]

The cursive style has many unorthodox characteristics uncommon to [[alphabet|alphabetic writing systems]]. [[Vowel]]s can be dropped if the writer is in a hurry and feels the word is obvious as in an [[abjad]], letters can be written above or below the base line depending on what precedes them, and 𐐮 is placed on letters after they are already written as in an [[abugida]]. Furthermore, unlike the typeset alphabet, the cursive alphabet has no letter case. These characteristics could have arisen because Watt was a local expert in [[Pitman shorthand]], which is written in a similar way.<ref name="Beesley2004" />{{rp|13}}

The table below shows some examples of how the cursive form is written. Dropped vowels are marked in parentheses.

[[File:Deseret cursive examples based on the Mormon bishops meeting minutes recorded by George D Watt.svg|border|frameless|539x539px]]

=== Block letters ===
George D. Watt found his own alphabet cumbersome to write and abandoned it. As he wrote to Brigham Young on 21 August 1854:<ref name="Watt1977">{{Cite journal|last=Watt|first=Ronald G.|date=1977-01-01|title=Sailing "The Old Ship Zion": The Life of George D. Watt|jstor=43042710|journal=Brigham Young University Studies|volume=18|issue=1|pages=48–65}}</ref><ref>[https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=29ac45ca-71bd-40de-9ab7-2c476a4cbb1d&crate=0&index=1 Brigham Young office files, 1832–1878 (bulk 1844–1877); General Correspondence, Incoming, 1840–1877; General Letters, 1840–1877; T-W, 1854; George D. Watt letter (Identifier CR 1234 1).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511191922/https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=29ac45ca-71bd-40de-9ab7-2c476a4cbb1d&crate=0&index=1 |date=11 May 2021 }} Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah</ref>{{Blockquote|text=Dear Bro. I herein submit for your examination the result of much thought and extensive practice on the new alphabet since the Board of Regents last met.  '''I candidly confess that I never did like the present construction of the alphabet.''' I was not left as free as I could have wished to be in the construction of it. [...] I am now thoroughly convinced that it is not the most expeditious method of writing and printing, but on the contrary it retards the hand in its onward course.|sign=|source=}}
His new alphabet closely resembled an 1853 publication of Isaac Pitman, containing only 33 letters. However, at this point, Young was still enamored with the original Deseret alphabet, and so he rejected the proposal and Watt continued to publicly promote the alphabet as part of his job despite his reservations.<ref name="Watt1977" />
[[File:Fragment of Marion Shelton's Hopi dictionary.jpg|thumb|A fragment of Marion Shelton's Hopi dictionary, the source of his handwriting. This section shows translations into the [[Hopi language]] ([[Orayvi|Orayvi dialect]]) for words that start with the English phoneme {{IPAc-en|oʊ}}.]]
After 1855, no more cursive documents appear, and all surviving journals are written in block letters.<ref name="Beesley2002" />{{rp|21}} Marion J. Shelton, an early Mormon missionary who wrote a dictionary of the Hopi language in the alphabet, was a "typical" 40-letter Deseret writer,<ref name="Beesley2004" />{{rp|19}} and his style of writing is shown below.

[[File:Early Deseret printed handwritten lineup based on a document written by Mormon pioneer Marion J. Shelton.svg|border|frameless|600x600px]]