About
Deseret is a more efficient, learnable and aesthetically pleasing spelling system for the English language. It was created in the 1850s under the leadership of Brigham Young.
Each letter stands for one sound, so a word is spelled the way it is said. There are no silent letters and no competing spellings for the same sound. Capital and small forms differ only in size.
The forty letters
| Letter | Name | Sound | As in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long vowels | |||
| ๐๐จ | Long I | /iห/ | eat |
| ๐๐ฉ | Long E | /eษช/ | ate |
| ๐๐ช | Long A | /ษห/ | art |
| ๐๐ซ | Long AH | /ษห/ | aught |
| ๐๐ฌ | Long O | /oส/ | oat |
| ๐ ๐ญ | Long OO | /uห/ | ooze |
| Short vowels | |||
| ๐๐ฎ | Short I | /ษช/ | it |
| ๐๐ฏ | Short E | /ษ/ | end |
| ๐๐ฐ | Short A | /รฆ/ | at |
| ๐๐ฑ | Short AH | /ษ/ | odd |
| ๐๐ฒ | Short O | /ส/ | up |
| ๐๐ณ | Short OO | /ส/ | book |
| Semivowels and diphthongs | |||
| ๐๐ด | Ay | /aษช/ | ice |
| ๐๐ต | Ow | /aส/ | out |
| ๐๐ถ | Wu | /w/ | woe |
| ๐๐ท | Yee | /j/ | you |
| Consonants | |||
| ๐๐ธ | H | /h/ | high |
| ๐๐น | Pee | /p/ | pea |
| ๐๐บ | Bee | /b/ | bee |
| ๐๐ป | Tee | /t/ | tea |
| ๐๐ผ | Dee | /d/ | deed |
| ๐๐ฝ | Chee | /tส/ | cheese |
| ๐๐พ | Jee | /dส/ | jeep |
| ๐๐ฟ | Kay | /k/ | key |
| ๐๐ | Gay | /ษก/ | gay |
| ๐๐ | Ef | /f/ | fee |
| ๐๐ | Vee | /v/ | veer |
| ๐๐ | Eth | /ฮธ/ | thigh |
| ๐๐ | Thee | /รฐ/ | thy |
| ๐๐ | Es | /s/ | see |
| ๐๐ | Zee | /z/ | zeal |
| ๐๐ | Esh | /ส/ | she |
| ๐ ๐ | Zhee | /ส/ | vision |
| ๐ก๐ | Er | /r/ | err |
| ๐ข๐ | El | /l/ | let |
| ๐ฃ๐ | Em | /m/ | me |
| ๐ค๐ | En | /n/ | knee |
| ๐ฅ๐ | Eng | /ล/ | sing |
| Later additions | |||
| ๐ฆ๐ | Oi | /ษษช/ | oil |
| ๐ง๐ | Ew | /juห/ | ewe |
Credits
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.
History
English spelling had troubled reformers long before the 1850s. Its rules record centuries of sound change, borrowing and printers' habit rather than the language as it is spoken, and learning to read means learning each word twice: once as sound, once as spelling.
The Board of Regents
The alphabet was developed at the University of Deseret in Salt Lake City from 1853, by a committee of the Board of Regents working under Brigham Young. The most active hand was George D. Watt, who had trained in Pitman shorthand and brought a phonographer's instincts to the problem: one symbol per sound, and no sound without a symbol.
The result was a wholly new set of letterforms rather than an adaptation of the Latin ones. That was deliberate. A reader who cannot fall back on familiar shapes cannot fall back on familiar spellings either.
In print
Type was cast in the 1860s, and the Deseret News printed occasional passages. Four books followed: the First and Second Books in 1868, and in 1869 a Book of Mormon and a third reader. Little else was ever set in it.
Why it stopped
The obstacles were practical rather than linguistic. New type was expensive, and every book in existence was already in the Latin alphabet; a reader fluent in Deseret would have had almost nothing to read. Most adults could already read English perfectly well and had no reason to start again. Brigham Young's death in 1877 removed the project's remaining institutional support.
Since
The alphabet was encoded in Unicode 3.1 in 2001, in the range U+10400โU+1044F, which is what makes this page possible: the letters below are text, not images. Fonts, keyboards and converters have followed. The barrier that stopped it in 1877 โ the cost of new type โ no longer exists.
Learn
Each set adds a few letters to the ones already met. Read the Deseret line first and sound it out; the English is there when you need it.
1Short vowels and stops
New letters ๐ช ๐ฎ ๐ฐ ๐ธ ๐น ๐บ ๐ป ๐ผ ๐ ๐
๐๐ป ๐บ๐ฐ๐ป.
At bat.
๐๐ฐ๐ป ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ช ๐บ๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ป๐ฐ๐บ.
Pat had a bad tab.
๐๐ช๐บ ๐๐ช๐ป ๐ช ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐น๐ช๐ป.
Bob got a big pot.
๐๐ป ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ผ ๐๐ช๐ป ๐ป๐ฎ๐น.
It did not tip.
2Adding s, m, n and l
New letters ๐ซ ๐ญ ๐ฏ ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐
๐๐ฐ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ ๐น๐ฏ๐๐.
Sam has ten pens.
๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฒ๐.
The man sat in the sun.
๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ค๐ฏ๐ ๐ป๐ญ ๐ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป.
Tell Nell to sell it.
๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ ๐๐ซ๐.
Mom is at the mall.
3Long vowels
New letters ๐จ ๐ฉ ๐ฌ ๐ต
๐ ๐ ๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐จ.
I see the sea.
๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐ป ๐๐ฉ๐ป.
He ate late.
๐๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฌ๐ ๐ ๐๐ต๐๐จ.
Go home slowly.
๐ ๐๐ญ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ญ.
The moon is new.
4The other consonants
New letters ๐ณ ๐ด ๐ถ ๐ฝ ๐พ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐
๐๐จ ๐ถ๐ช๐ ๐๐ฏ๐๐จ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐๐ณ๐.
She was very cheerful.
๐๐ฒ๐พ ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ ๐ด๐.
Judge the thing by its size.
๐๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ธ๐ฎ๐?
Which shoe is his?
๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐ ๐ณ๐๐ฏ๐.
Sing the song again.
5Diphthongs and full sentences
New letters ๐ท ๐ฟ ๐ ๐
๐ ๐บ๐ ๐๐ต๐๐ผ ๐ช ๐ฟ๐๐.
The boy found a coin.
๐๐ต ๐๐ต, ๐บ๐๐ต๐ ๐ฟ๐ต?
How now, brown cow?
๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐.
A few new views.
๐ค๐ต ๐ท๐ญ ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐จ๐ผ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ด๐ ๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ป ๐ธ๐ฏ๐๐น.
Now you can read the whole line without help.
Syllabic values
Letters of the Deseret Alphabet may have names that are sounded when the letter is used by itself. ๐ป has the name “tee”, so it can stand alone for the word tea; likewise ๐ for es and ๐ for el.
- ๐ป tee
- ๐บ bee
- ๐ es
- ๐ ef
- ๐ el
- ๐ em
- ๐ en
- ๐ eth
- ๐ thee
- ๐ er
Translate
Loading the dictionaryโฆ
Texts
Passages set in the alphabet, with the English beneath each line. The button on the Learn tab hides the English here too.
The Lord's Prayer
๐๐ ๐๐ช๐๐ณ๐ ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ช๐๐ป ๐ฎ๐ ๐ธ๐ฏ๐๐, ๐๐ฐ๐๐ฌ๐ผ ๐บ ๐๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐.Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
๐๐ด ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐. ๐๐ด ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ ๐บ ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐, ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ธ๐ฏ๐๐.Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ฉ๐๐จ ๐บ๐๐ฏ๐ผ.Give us this day our daily bread.
๐๐๐ผ ๐๐ณ๐๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ป๐ , ๐ฐ๐ ๐ถ๐จ ๐๐ณ๐๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐.And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
๐๐๐ผ ๐๐จ๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ช๐ป ๐ฎ๐๐ป๐ญ ๐ป๐ฏ๐๐น๐ป๐ฉ๐๐, ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐๐ณ๐ ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ช๐ ๐จ๐๐.And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Deseret First Book
๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ช ๐๐ฐ๐.This is a man.
๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ ๐ช ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ป.The man has a hat.
๐ ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ช๐ ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ป.The cat sat on the mat.
๐ ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ ๐ ๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐ฒ๐.I can see the sun.