Quya - writing with glyphs
a page dedicated to my friend john crowe
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Glyphs are written in columns from right to left... 1>2>3>4>5>6>7
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and each column is written from top to bottom... 1>2>3
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thus the components in this glyph are read in the order:
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Generally, glyphic components overlap those lying to their left, but this rule may be suspended for aesthetic reasons, as it is in this glyph where the face in right profile is overlapped by the components on the left...
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similarly, glyphic components tend to overlap those below them in a column, but this rule is even more prone to being broken than the previous one. In the example given, the lefthand face is above the component above it. This was done so that the lower loop of the 'il' component should not obscure the eyes of the face component.
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Here is another example where the components overlap from bottom to top. The reason that the dragonfly is on top is so that its head should not be obscured. The reason here, then, is to retain legibility. For aesthetic reasons the top 'mual' component is overlapped by the middle one. This also has the advantage that the break in the middle 'mual' is more clearly visible... this break being a critical aspect of reading the component.
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Generally, glyphic components conform to either fixed fractions within a column, or a number of columns. The components in this glyph, for example, are all 'thirds'...
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in this glyph they're all 'halves'...
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and, in the lower half of the 6th column of this glyph, the two eye components are, more unusually, 'quarters'...
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the top of the 2nd column of this contains the 'twin' component "á" which occupies 'two thirds'. It should be noted that this component, like many others, can come in different sizes. A single column and a 'half' is shown in the syllabary.
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The 1st column of this glyph is a single component...
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the 1st two columns of this glyph are the single 'chameleon' component, which unusually has two other components drawn over it...
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There other, uncommon, special cases. In this glyph, for example, the two components in the 2nd column the first column of this glyph is a single component, the remaining three columns are also a single component...
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There other, uncommon, special cases. In this glyph, for example, the two components in the 2nd column are both 'thirds' but the space between them, in which another 'third' would fit, is left blank. This arrangement was chosen to preserve the rectangularity of the glyph. The two components were not expanded from 'thirds' into 'halves' because their circular form is an important part of their meaning and thus this has to be preserved...
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here is another example, in which the 'na' component in the 3rd column is stretched down (by means of its tears) to fill the whole of its column. If the glyph is examined the reason for this becomes apparent - in that otherwise it would be difficult to see how a rectangular glyph could be composed.
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Though a glyph can be used to represent a single word, often they are used to write phrases or even whole sentences. This glyph reads as iyanukya-nge xuxukó which translates as: "just one more day"...
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for ease of legibility as well as avoiding ambiguities, a glyph consisting of more than one word will have the components comprising each word marked off from the others by means of 'serifs'. This diagram shows roman characters with and without serifs...
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glyph serifs complete the rectangular boundaries of a glyphic component. In the diagram the components on the left have no serifs, while those on the right do...
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serifs are also used to 'close' the boundaries of a glyph...
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generally, word separations within glyphs occur along column boundaries as in this example. This glyph reads as umyártatna qányán which translates as: "earth and sky"...
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however, word boundaries can occur within a column. In this glyph the first word tlom "hand" is separated from the rest of the glyph by serifs. The rest of the glyph reads as nuhuhmayátlax which translates as: "of darkness"...
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here, for emphasis the word rul "ring" is separated off as a glyph with serifs from the glyph which reads as knánayayirilxeyem which translates as: "that witnesses ichorous blood"...
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more unusual is the word separation that occurs here in the middle of the 2nd column. The first three components that read as osrá "storms" are separated from the next three components which read as nárálxate which translates as: "at sea"...
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The means by which a syllabic component such as "na" is clipped into the consonant "n" is by means of superimposing on the glyphic component a 'terminator' which is the small annulus shown here on the right of the glyph "kór"...
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the placing of the terminator is down entirely to aesthetic considerations. In the example given here the first word which is read as kum "tower" is separated from the rest of the glyph with serifs. This word is composed of the sub-components ku and mára. It is the latter which is clipped to "m" by the superimposition of the terminator...
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this glyph has three terminators which means that it reads nuhmahma qerayanáyanxahe "fallen angels" rather than as nuh(a)mah(a)ma qerayanáyan(a)xahe... which might or might not mean something else...
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this glyph has a terminator to replace one of its three sky-glyph subcomponents - which is an aesthetic conceit that in no way changes the meaning of the glyph...
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Finally, it should be noted that it is possible to clip any of a number of syllablic components that begin with a given consonant to thus obtain the desired consonant. This choice can be used to give a glyph a hidden meaning; whether one that enhances the overall reading of the glyph, or makes some subtle auxiliary point, or even a humorous one. For example, in this glyph that is read as yuyukóron "into the Labyrinth", the final, terminated "n" has been supplied by the "na(há)" component. I could have used instead nárál "sea", or nektá "nine", or nóth "ladder", etc... But I had my reasons for choosing the crying eye of the moon...
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All writing has an aesthetic aspect, but pictographic writing systems are more dominated by aesthetics than most.
Quyan glyphs are composed using a number of rules and enough of these are given here to allow you, should you wish to, to compose your own. However, the aesthetic aspect can often overturn these rules.
A Quyan 'glyph' is a rectangular construct, generally of a fixed height but of variable length. It is the construction of this rectangular form that is the rule that dominates all others. This rule is aesthetic and not linguistic.
Like other pictographic systems, Quyan has rich possibilities for sub-meanings. In Chinese, for example, a poem about a forest by Wang Wei, will use ideograms that contain elements which look like and represent trees. Thus one can be reading, linguistically, about trees and forests, but the written form is, in effect, a picture of a forest.
The origins of many of the images that make up the glyphic components in Quya are mythologically derived. This makes it possible for a glyphic text to have a mythological and, even, an astrological subtext.
Because texts can be written as glyphs in a number of ways (there being particular freedom in the choice of terminated components - this being described below) the writer in Quyan can determine all manner of subtle subtexts.
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