I am a whovian, a fan of the Doctor Who series, and recently this interest inspired me to go on a spur-of-the moment research escapade into the wonderful workings of the Gallifreyan language. In the show, Gallifreyan is a language used by Time Lords, and it is composed of beautiful interlocking circular glyphs. It looks so different from English- or any earth language, really- that I had to find out more. How is it read? How difficult is it to learn? Can I learn to write it?
Here's what I learned: Loren Sherman, a fan developed an alphabet system for writing English using Gallifreyan symbols, and it has become as good as canon among the whovian community. It was WAY easier than I thought it would be. This version of Gallifreyan is read counterclockwise, in a circle, starting at the bottom. Each word is contained in a circle, which can be arranged with others into circular sentences. Sentences spiral inwards. Gallifreyan fascinates me, because even though it expresses words, a certain amount of artistic freedom goes into writing it. It's like calligraphy. Alien calligraphy. A phrase can look either really cool, or really mediocre, depending on how you compose the letters and words. You can play with the scale of the characters, and often the same word can be written in a variety of ways. Since my little trip on the interwebs I've been practicing writing simple things, like my name, in the margins of my notebook. Maybe we'll see some Gallifreyan calligraphy art in the future.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHello. I'm Alison. I'm not really a blogger, but I have this blog now. I'm an art student at ASU, born and raised in the searing Arizona heat. I Like fandom and spooky stuff. Plz explore my meager site. Archives
May 2020
|