“It will be the means of introducing uniformity in our orthography, and the years that are now required to learn to read and spell can be devoted to other studies.”
— Brigham Young
“No greater or more blessed mission can be given to an Elder in Israel than to teach the true principles of education to the rising generation of this Territory. I would advise our brethren, aside from the ordinary schools, to get up evening reading classes in all our settlements for the instruction of those who cannot attend at other times.”
— George A. Smith
Learn
Learn the Deseret Alphabet from the letters themselves through guided practice.
The Letters
𐐨
/iː/
eat
𐐲
/ʌ/
up
𐐼
/d/
deed
𐑆
/z/
zeal
𐐩
/eɪ/
ate
𐐳
/ʊ/
ook
𐐽
/tʃ/
cheese
𐑇
/ʃ/
she
𐐪
/ɑː/
art
𐐴
/aɪ/
ice
𐐾
/dʒ/
jeep
𐑈
/ʒ/
sion
𐐫
/ɔː/
aught
𐐵
/aʊ/
out
𐐿
/k/
key
𐑉
/r/
rerr
𐐬
/oʊ/
oat
𐐶
/w/
woe
𐑀
/ɡ/
gay
𐑊
/l/
let
𐐭
/uː/
ooze
𐐷
/j/
you
𐑁
/f/
fee
𐑋
/m/
me
𐐮
/ɪ/
it
𐐸
/h/
high
𐑂
/v/
veer
𐑌
/n/
nee
𐐯
/ɛ/
end
𐐹
/p/
pea
𐑃
/θ/
thigh
𐑍
/ŋ/
ng
𐐰
/æ/
at
𐐺
/b/
bee
𐑄
/ð/
thy
𐑎
/ɔɪ/
oil
𐐱
/ɒ/
odd
𐐻
/t/
tea
𐑅
/s/
see
𐑏
/juː/
ewe
Many letters in the Deseret Alphabet have syllabic values (i.e. sounds represented when the letter is used by itself). The only truly useful syllabic value is 'thee' (as in the article 'the') for '𐑄'.
There are two commonly used sounds in General American that were not accounted for in the original Deseret alphabet. These are the 'flapped t' (as in 'little' for many Americans) and the schwa (as in the O in abbot). The former should be represented by the 𐐻, and the latter by the 𐐳, as it is very close to the ʊ sound (as in book).
One argument for the Deseret Alphabet is that it makes learning the English language quicker, given the standard alphabet is extremely complicated in its usage. This would make the education system more efficient.
A second argument is that Deseret is a more aesthetically pleasing spelling system. For one, the symbols themselves are more aesthetically pleasing as they all take up equal height and width, have the same symbol for both upper and lower case, and have a consistent style to them that the Latin English alphabet lacks. As a second note, the simple fact that there is consistency between the spelling and the pronunciation is aesthetically pleasing. And finally, for many the Deseret system evokes the history of the Western pioneers.
History
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the years 1852-1877, introduced to its membership a form of rhetoric (writing system) called the deseret alphabet (phonetic alphabet). This experiment was intended to alleviate the problem of non-communication which was created by the great influx of foreign speaking Saints into the great Salt Lake Valley.
The alphabet was developed and encouraged by the Prophet Brigham Young and a few followers. Much to their dismay the members of the Church did not have the same vision of its workability as did its promoters.
This new alphabet appears not to have met the needs of the people nor did it interest them. Its use and development was hindered by temple building, farming, settling, new doctrine, and possibly little faith in following their prophet, president, and leader. The Deseret Alphabet died with Brigham Young in 1877. Yet, it appears to have been a noble experiment towards a spelling reform. Perhaps it would have worked under different situations and different environment.
The goal of this resource is to facilitate the learning and usage of the Deseret Alphabet, with the ultimate goal that it be normalised.
The site uses Deseret spellings that align with the General American pronunciation, however, it is permissible to use different word spellings if one wishes to represent a different accent — as long as the Deseret letters are correctly matched to the sounds.
