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    The Deseret Alphabet Portal

    โ€œIt 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.โ€

    - Brigham Young

    Brigham Young, American Mormon leader, c1880
    โ€œNo 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.โ€

    - George A. Smith

    George A. Smith

    Learn

    Learn the Deseret Alphabet from the letters themselves through guided practice.

    The Letters

    ๐จ/iห/eat๐ฒ/สŒ/up๐ผ/d/deed๐‘†/z/zeal
    ๐ฉ/eษช/ate๐ณ/สŠ/ook๐ฝ/tสƒ/cheese๐‘‡/สƒ/she
    ๐ช/ษ‘ห/art๐ด/aษช/ice๐พ/dส’/jeep๐‘ˆ/ส’/sion
    ๐ซ/ษ”ห/aught๐ต/aสŠ/out๐ฟ/k/key๐‘‰/r/rerr
    ๐ฌ/oสŠ/oat๐ถ/w/woe๐‘€/ษก/gay๐‘Š/l/let
    ๐ญ/uห/ooze๐ท/j/you๐‘/f/fee๐‘‹/m/me
    ๐ฎ/ษช/it๐ธ/h/high๐‘‚/v/veer๐‘Œ/n/nee
    ๐ฏ/ษ›/end๐น/p/pea๐‘ƒ/ฮธ/thigh๐‘/ล‹/ng
    ๐ฐ/รฆ/at๐บ/b/bee๐‘„/รฐ/thy๐‘Ž/ษ”ษช/oil
    ๐ฑ/ษ’/odd๐ป/t/tea๐‘…/s/see๐‘/juห/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 '๐‘„'.

    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 ๐ป, and the latter by the ๐ณ, as it is very close to the สŠ sound (as in book).

    If you have any qualms about the Deseret spelling system, refer to this document: Designing Deseret, University of Utah

    Practice

    The practice section provides Deseret texts that get increasingly complex.

    1Short vowels, stops and nasals

    New letters ๐ฐ ๐ฎ ๐ช ๐ฉ ๐น ๐บ ๐ป ๐ผ ๐‘‹ ๐‘Œ ๐ธ ๐‘… ๐‘†

    1. ๐๐ฐ๐‘‹ ๐‘…๐ฐ๐ป.

      Sam sat.

    2. ๐“๐ฎ๐‘‹ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ป.

      Tim had a bat.

    3. ๐‘๐ฐ๐‘‹ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ผ ๐‘Œ๐ช๐ป ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป.

      Pam did not hit it.

    4. ๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐‘Œ ๐น๐ฐ๐‘Œ ๐ฎ๐‘† ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ธ๐ฐ๐‘Œ๐ผ.

      A tin pan is at hand.

    2More vowels, and l, k, g, th

    New letters ๐ฏ ๐ซ ๐‘Š ๐ฟ ๐‘€ ๐‘„ ๐ญ

    1. ๐“๐ฏ๐‘Š ๐ค๐ฏ๐‘Š ๐ป๐ญ ๐‘…๐ฏ๐‘Š ๐ฎ๐ป.

      Tell Nell to sell it.

    2. ๐œ ๐บ๐ฎ๐‘€ ๐ผ๐ซ๐‘€ ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐‘Œ ๐บ๐ฏ๐‘€.

      The big dog can beg.

    3. ๐“๐ฏ๐‘Œ ๐‘‹๐ฏ๐‘Œ ๐ฎ๐‘Œ ๐‘„ ๐ธ๐ซ๐‘Š.

      Ten men in the hall.

    4. ๐”๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ฎ๐‘† ๐ฐ๐ป ๐‘„ ๐‘‹๐ซ๐‘Š.

      Dad is at the mall.

    3The long vowels, and r

    New letters ๐จ ๐ฌ ๐ต ๐ฒ ๐‘‰

    1. ๐๐จ ๐‘…๐จ๐‘† ๐‘„ ๐‘…๐จ.

      He sees the sea.

    2. ๐˜๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฌ๐‘‹ ๐ฐ๐‘Œ๐ผ ๐จ๐ป.

      Go home and eat.

    3. ๐œ ๐‘‹๐ญ๐‘Œ ๐ฎ๐‘† ๐‘Œ๐ช๐ป ๐‘„ ๐‘…๐ฒ๐‘Œ.

      The moon is not the sun.

    4. ๐๐ต ๐‘Œ๐ต, ๐บ๐‘‰๐ต๐‘Œ ๐ฟ๐ต?

      How now, brown cow?

    4f, v and the middle vowels

    New letters ๐ด ๐ณ ๐‘ ๐‘‚

    1. ๐Œ ๐‘Š๐ด๐ฟ ๐‘‹๐ด ๐‘Š๐ด๐‘.

      I like my life.

    2. ๐œ ๐‘๐ช๐‘‰๐‘‹ ๐ฎ๐‘† ๐‘๐ณ๐‘Š ๐ช๐‘‚ ๐ธ๐ฒ๐‘Œ๐‘†.

      The farm is full of hens.

    3. ๐˜๐ฎ๐‘‚ ๐‘‹๐จ ๐‘๐ด๐‘‚ ๐ช๐‘‚ ๐‘„๐ฏ๐‘‹.

      Give me five of them.

    4. ๐‘๐ณ๐ป ๐‘„ ๐บ๐ณ๐ฟ ๐ช๐‘Œ ๐‘„ ๐ผ๐ฏ๐‘…๐ฟ.

      Put the book on the desk.

    5The hushing sounds

    New letters ๐ถ ๐ฝ ๐พ ๐‘‡ ๐‘ˆ ๐‘ƒ ๐‘

    1. ๐Ÿ๐จ ๐ถ๐ช๐‘† ๐‘‚๐ฏ๐‘‰๐จ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐‘‰๐‘๐ณ๐‘Š.

      She was very cheerful.

    2. ๐–๐ฒ๐พ ๐‘„ ๐‘ƒ๐ฎ๐‘ ๐บ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐‘… ๐‘…๐ด๐‘†.

      Judge the thing by its size.

    3. ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐‘‡๐ญ ๐ฎ๐‘† ๐ธ๐ฎ๐‘†?

      Which shoe is his?

    4. ๐ฃ๐ฏ๐‘ˆ๐ณ๐‘‰ ๐‘„ ๐ป๐‘‰๐ฏ๐‘ˆ๐ณ๐‘‰ ๐ฐ๐‘Œ๐ผ ๐‘…๐ฎ๐‘ ๐‘„ ๐‘…๐ซ๐‘.

      Measure the treasure and sing the song.

    6Diphthongs and the last letters

    New letters ๐ท ๐‘Ž ๐‘

    1. ๐œ ๐บ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐ต๐‘Œ๐ผ ๐ฉ ๐ฟ๐‘Ž๐‘Œ.

      The boy found a coin.

    2. ๐ ๐‘๐‘ ๐‘Œ๐ญ ๐‘‚๐‘๐‘†.

      A few new views.

    3. ๐๐ฏ๐‘…, ๐ท๐ญ ๐‘‹๐ฉ ๐ท๐ญ๐‘† ๐ฎ๐ป.

      Yes, you may use it.

    4. ๐ค๐ต ๐ท๐ญ ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐‘Œ ๐‘‰๐จ๐ผ ๐‘„ ๐ธ๐ฌ๐‘Š ๐‘Š๐ด๐‘Œ ๐ถ๐ฎ๐‘„๐ต๐ป ๐ธ๐ฏ๐‘Š๐น.

      Now you can read the whole line without help.

    Library

    Note: these works are in GA (General American) Deseret.

    No works match your search.

    Translator

    Loading the dictionary…

    Why Deseret?

    1. It makes the education system more efficient given it is a simpler system.
    2. It makes handwriting quicker, saving time.
    3. It is more aesthetically pleasing. This can be broken down into three arguments.
      • Firstly, 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.
      • Secondly, the simple fact that there is consistency between the spelling and the pronunciation is aesthetically pleasing.
      • 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.

    Divinology

    An explanation of the positions of the site author.

    โ—‹ Tenet 1: There are supernatural beings [La Salette (1846), Jesus (c. 30 CE), Fatima (1917), Medjugorje (1981โ€“present), Garabandal (1961โ€“1965), Cokeville (1986), Zeitoun (1968-1971), Warraq (2009-2010)]

    We must ask those we know: How can group auditory and visual hallucinations be explained by natural means? As a note, there is a range in sense applied during apparitions. Warraq and Zeitoun were limited to visual hallucinations while Garabandal went as far as including touch.

    โ—‹ Tenet 2: We should determine their trustworthiness upon moral character and predictive accuracy.

    As regards to Garabandal a testament to the Lady's morality is the following statement from Lolli: "whenever there were sick people I think She would always lead us to bless them. She would cure them."

    โ—‹ Tenet 3: Many miraculous events have been misrepresented by Catholics [In the Motherly apparitions, there is very little reference to the Papacy and only as much as a positive allusion, which is not the same as affirming Universal Jurisdiction or Infallibility.]

    Upon being asked if the Lady referenced the Pope, Mari Loli stated: โ€œThe only thing I remember was Her remark about obedience to the Church and to the Pope.โ€ Moreover, upon being asked whether the locutions (not to be confused with apparitions) contained messages referencing Pope, there were none. MARI LOLI 1978 | Garabandal Warning
    The Secret of La SaletteFirst text
    Melanie, what I am about to tell you will not laways be a secret. You may make it public in 1858. The Priests, the ministers of my Son, the priests by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and those dedicated to God who by their infidelity and their wicked lives are crucifying My Son again! The sins of those consecrated to God cry out towards heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless sacrifice to the Eternal on behalf of the world." "God will strike in an unprecedented way." "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust his wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions altogether." "The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign, in every society and every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years." "The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and the gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of wrath from God." "May the vicar of my Son, Pope Pius IX never leave Rome again after 1859; may he, however, be steadfast and noble, may he fight with his weapons of faith and love. I will be at his side. May he be on his guard against Napoleon; he is two faced, and when he wishes to make himself Pope as well as Emperor, soon God will draw back from him. He is the eagle who, always wanting to rise higher, will fall on the sword he wished to use to force his people to be raised up." "Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops." "May the Pope guard against the performers of miracles. For the time has come when the most astonishing wonders will take place in the earth and in the air." "In the year 1864, Lucifer together with a large number of demons will be unloosed from hell; they will put an end to faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels in hell; several religious institutes will lose all faith and lose many souls. " "Evil books will be abundant on earth, and the spirit of darkness will spread everywhere, a universal slackening in all that concerns the service of God. They will have great power over Nature; there will be churches built to serve these spirits. People will be transported (spiritually) from one place to another by these evil spirits, even priests, for they will not have been guided by the good spirit of the gospel which is the spirit of humility, charity and zeal for the glory of God. On occasion, the dead and the righteous will be brought back to life." (That is to say that these dead will take on the form of righteous souls which have lived on earth, in order to lead men further astray; these so-called resurrected dead, who will be nothing but the devil in this form, will preach another Gospel contrary to that of the true Jesus Christ, denying the existence of Heaven; that is to say, the souls of the damned. All these souls will appear as if united with their bodies.) "In places there will be extraordinary wonders, because true faith has died and a false light shines on the world. Woe to the Princes of the Church whose only occupation will be to heap wealth upon more wealth, and to preserve their authority and proud domination!" "The vicar of my Son will have much to suffer, as, for a time, the Church will be the victim of great prosecution: this will be a time of darkness. The Church will suffer a terrible crisis. "As the holy Faith of God is forgotten, every individual will wish to be his own guide and superior to his fellow man. Civil and ecclesiastical authority will be abolished. All order and justice will be trampled underfoot. Nothing will be seen but murder, hatred, jealousy, falsehood and discord without love for the mother country or the family. The Holy Father will suffer greatly. I will be by His side to the end in order to receive his sacrifice. The wicked will make several attempts on his life, but they cannot harm Him. But neither he nor his successor will live to see the triumph of the Church of God. "All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vices of all kinds. "In the year 1865, there will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the flower of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the King of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to induce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the earth. "France, Italy, Spain and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchmen will fight Frenchmen, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes. "At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all of Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the heavens. Paris will burn and Marselles will be engulfed. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. "The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penance and their tears will rise up to Heaven, and all of God's people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession. And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy will command His angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all those given over to sin will perish and the earth will be desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in its poor but fervent imitations of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for their will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God. "This peace among men will be short-lived. Twenty-five years of plentiful harvest will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this earth. "A forerunner of the Antichrist, with his troops gathered from several nations will fight against the true Christ, the only Savior of the world. He will shed much blood and will want to annihilate the worship of God to make himself be looked upon as a God." "The earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds (in addition to plague and famine which will be widespread). There will be a series of wars until the last war, which will then be fought by the ten kings of the Antichrist, all of whom will have one and the same plan and will be the only rulers of the world. Before this comes to pass, there will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. But the children of the Holy Church, the children of the Faith, my true followers, they will grow in their love for God and in all the virtues most precious to Me. Blessed are the souls humbly guided by the Holy Spirit! I will fight on their side until they reach a fullness of years." "Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles with dread at what must happen to the earth stained with crime. Tremble, earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside only adore yourselves, tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing ground of Asmodeus and his like. It will be during this time that the Antichrist will be born of a Hebrew nun, a false virgin who will communicate with the old serpent, the master of impurity, his father will be a Bishop. At birth he will spew out blasphemy; he will have teeth, in a word, he will be the devil incarnate. He will scream horribly, he will perform wonders, he will feed on nothing but impurity. He will have brothers who, although not devils incarnate like him, will be children of evil. At the age of twelve they will draw attention to themselves by the gallant victories they have won; soon they will lead armies aided by the legions of hell. "The seasons will be altered, the earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will reflect only a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the earth's globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc.... "Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. "The demons of the air together with the Antichrist will perform great wonders on earth and in the atmosphere, and men will become more and more perverted. God will take care of his faithful servants and men of good will. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and people of all nations will get to know the truth. "I make an appeal to the earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on My children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to Me so that I may lead them to My Divine Son, those whom I carry in My arms, so to speak, those who have lived according to My spirit. Finally I call on the Apostles of the last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveals yourselves as My cherished children. I am on your side and within you, provided your faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you hungry for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends. "The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. But now Enoch and Elijah will come, filled with the spirit of God. They will preach with the might of God, and men of goodwill will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted. They will make great strides forward through the virtue of the Holy Spirit, and will condemn the diabolic errors of the Antichrist. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. Voices will be heard in the air. Men will beat their heads against walls, call for death, and on the other hand death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the duration of the test? At the blood, the tears and the prayers of the righteous, God will relent. Enoch and Elijah will be put to death. Pagan Rome will disappear. The fire of heaven will fall and consume three cities. All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be led astray because they have not worshiped the true Christ who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only faith will survive. "Now is the time, the abyss is opening. Here is the king of kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects, calling himself the Savior of the world. He will rise proudly in the air to go to Heaven. He will be smothered by the breath of the Archangel Saint Michael. He will fall, and the earth, which will have been in a continual series of evolutions for three days, will open up its fiery bowels; and he will be plunged for eternity with all his followers into the everlasting chasms of hell. And then water and fire will purge the earth and consume all the work's of men's pride and all will be renewed. God will be served and glorified."
    Garabandal Messages1961โ€“1965
    First message โ€” October 18, 1961 โ€œMany sacrifices must be made... Much penance must be done... We must pay many visits to the blessed sacrament... But first of all we must be very good... Already the cup is filling, and if we do not change we shall be punished.โ€ Conchita, Loli, Jacinta and Mari-Cruz Second message โ€” June 19, 1962 โ€œTuesday, (June 19, 1962) "Loli and I were in the calleja (place near the first apparition) and she (the virgin) told us a message for the whole world and it is this: The virgin has said to us that we are not awaiting the chastisement (because we are disregarding her first message by the way we live)... but without awaiting it, it will come because the world has not changed... and now with this (message) she has said it twice and we do not heed her because the world is worse and must change much but has not changed at all. Prepare yourselves confess for the chastisement will come soon. The world continues the same and I think that the world has not changed at all. What a pity that it does not change. Soon the great chastisement will come if it (the world) does not change. This message was given to Loli and me.โ€ Jacinta Gonzales Third message โ€” June 23, 1962 โ€œThe virgin has told us: The world continues the same... that it has not changed at all. Few will see god. They are so few that it causes the virgin much sorrow. What a pity that it does not change. The virgin told us that the chastisement is coming seeing that the world is not changing. The cup is filling up. How sad the virgin was although she didn't let us see it because she loves us so much and she suffers alone. She is so good! Be good everyone so that the virgin will be happy. She told us that we who are good should pray for those who are bad. Let us pray to god for the world for those who do not know him. Be good... be very good everyone.โ€ Maria Dolores Mazon, Jacinta Gonzalez, 13 years old Final message โ€” June 18, 1965 โ€œSince my message of October 18, 1961 has not been complied with and has not been made much known to the world, I will tell you that this is the last one. Before the chalice was filling now it is overflowing. Many cardinals, many bishops, and many priests are on the path of perdition and they take many souls with them. To the eucharist, there is given less and less importance. We should avoid the wrath of god on us by our good efforts. If you ask pardon with your sincere soul god will pardon you. It is I, your mother, who through the intercession of st. Michael, wish to say that you amend, that you are already in the last warnings and that I love you much and do not want your condemnation. Ask us sincerely and we will give to you. You should sacrifice more. Think of the passion of Jesus.โ€ Conchita Gonzales

    Fr. Benac: What did you feel you were holding?

    Mari Loli: We could not sense or feel His weight yet we couldn't move our hands beyond the space occupied by His body when we had him in our arms. He looked and smiled at us. He looked like a normal child only that as I was a little child it caused me surprise to see Him as a child and yet so big being God.

    About

    This site was created by alexdimop@outlook.com and is the sister project of the Deseret Alphabet web extension.

    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.