Alfa-Larawan

[masako]

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/alfalarawan.htm

Alfa-Larawan was invented by Frederick Victor Paredes Añana as an alternative way to write Tagalog. It was inspired by the Baybayin script and the name is a combination of alphabet and the Tagalog word larawan which means picture or image. The appearance of each character was inspired by the human head as well as the mouth & jaw movements. Alfa-Larawan comes in two versions: the Male Version and the Female Version.

Being that there are only two reasonable factors when looking at a script of any kind, aesthetics and functionality, I tend to go 1-5 for both, for a possible 10 for really well thought-out and designed scripts.

This script, I give a 2...that's probably the lowest I could go.

Functionality: When/How would this script ever be written? That is not to say that a written form could/would not develop, but I can only proceed with what is presented, and I see no practicality in this, nor do I see any real use of IPA, X-Sampa, or any other phonetic transcription schema.

Aesthetics: I realize that there is artistic value here, but artistry and scripts can be mutually exclusive, and the former should be born of the latter, not the inverse. I see this as an attempt to make a script from a guidebook on 'how to draw', or some such, not much else.

[teh_Foxx0rz]

It would be much better to just use the chin/mouth parts, of course with different diacritics...
Though Tagalog already has it's own syllabary.

But it's an interesting idea.

[masako]

But it's an interesting idea.

I'm gonna disagree with you here...There's nothing interesting to me about a script that relies exclusively on pictures of faces. The impracticality of this script leaves me wanting nothing to do with it. I think the only interesting aspect of the particular script is that it is an attempt at a cipher-script for Tagalog, something that is uncommon in the cipher-script world.

[Ilaeriu]

I was going to post here saying, "Did you know 'larawan' is the Tagalog word for 'picture'?" LOL.

Anyway, interesting concept. I agree, it would be better to just do away with the head and just keep the chin part, but then it would defeat the purpose. The usage of the differently shaped pendants to change the vowel was a good idea.

It would be much better to just use the chin/mouth parts, of course with different diacritics...
Though Tagalog already has it's own syllabary.

But it's an interesting idea.

The diacritics are carried over from the original Baybayin script, I think.

Yeah, but no one uses it, we just use the Latin alphabet. I doubt that most Filipinos have even heard of Baybayin.

[Thakowsaizmu]

I am sorry, but what the hell is that? How is it any kind of functional/realistic/useable? It looks like a bad idea, and is.