Huruph Runasimi

Huruph Runasimi is a constructed script that was first documented by Langmaker user Eran of Arcadia, and is currently under development by user Rcgy. In its current form, it is an attempt to modify the Perso-Arabic script for use in writing the Southern Quechua literary standard. Southern Quechua is a standard written language based on the two largest "dialects" of Quechua, which are in actuality more like sister dialects in a dialect continuum that encompasses several languages in the Quechuan Family (a family of closely related languages spoken in the Andean regions of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Argentina). The name of this neography is derived from the Arabic word for "letters" (huruuf) and the Quechuan word for the various languages in the family (Runasimi, or "People Language").

It is an interesting coincidence that the term Arabic is also used nowadays to describe a family of closely related languages, still referred to as "dialects" by non-linguists, that includes a literary standard based on the parent language (cf. the Romance languages and Latin in the middle ages).

Correspondences

The correspondences in Huruph Runasimi are derived mostly from the Mozarabic script, using a نّ (a ن with a "shadda" on top) to represent the /ɲ/ phoneme, and relying on the three "long vowels" of Arabic to represent the three vowels of Southern Quechua (thereby minimizing the use of diacritics). However, unlike the Mozarabic script, which employed only Classical Arabic letters, the Huruph Runasimi orthography uses Perso-Arabic letters in order to better represent the pan-Quechuan consonant system. In the latest version of the script, the correspondences are as follows:

  A = ا
  B = ب
 CH = چ
CHH = چه
CH' = چئ
  H = ه
  I = ي
  K = ك
 KH = كه
 K' = كئ
  L = ل
 LL = لّ
  M = م
  N = ن
  Ñ = نّ
  P = پ
 PH = په
 P' = پئ
  Q = ق
 QH = قه
 Q' = قئ
  R = ر
  S = س
 SH = ش
  T = ت
 TH = ته
 T' = تئ
  U = و
  W = و
  X = خ
  Y = ي

Problems Inherited from the Perso-Arabic System

One problem with using this system to write Southern Quechua is the ambiguity that arises from the pairs U-W and I-Y. However, the ease of writing without excessive diacritics is an advantage and may compensate for the added mental effort (cf. Latin semivowels).

Also, the various ligatures of the Perso-Arabic script may present an initial obstacle when attempting to teach this system in places where educational resources are scarce, although one could argue that the various cursive versions of the Spanish alphabet are equally complex and present a similar obstacle.

Deviations from Perso-Arabic Tradition

An effort has also been made by the developers of this script to avoid using obscure Perso-Arabic letters such as the ڇ, or "Tcheheh," in favor of easier-to-generate digraphs such as چه , which is a "Tcheh" combined with a "Heh." Aspiration of a stop is thus indicated simply by placing a ه after it, the way it is done in Southern Quechua.

Glottalization of an ejective is indicated in a similar fashion by adding an invariable ئ to the base stop, regardless of the vowel that follows, in sharp contrast with the traditional method for representing glottal stops in Arabic.

See also

• Aljamiado
• Artificial script
• Genealogy of scripts derived from Proto-Sinaitic
• Quechua as a dialect continuum
• Quechua as a family of closely related languages
• List of languages by first written accounts
• Perso-Arabic script
• Semivowel
• Southern Quechua