Proposal for Encoding the Woleai Script in the Smp of the Ucs
Everson, Michael (2011-10-21). Proposal for Encoding the Woleai Script in the Smp of the Ucs (Report). pp. 1–12.
- Has attachment: File:EATLLA6D.pdf
Abstract: The Woleai script has its origins in a diffusion of the Latin script to the Woleai Atoll. Alfred Snelling, a missionary in Chuuk (then called Truk) in 1888, had evidently helped to devise a Latin alphabet for the Chuukese language. In 1905 he became lost at sea and landed with his Chuukese crew on the island of Eauripik, a Woleaian-speaking atoll 100 km to the southwest of Woleai itself. There he taught the Latin orthography for Chuukese to the Woleaians, who re-interpreted the alphabet as a syllabary, where each letter-name stood for its syllable (consonant + -i). Later the writing spread to other islands in the Woleai Atoll, and additional characters were devised on the island of Faraulep (perhaps after “the big typhoon” in 1907), since a syllabary with endings in -i was not sufficient to be practical. An expedition from Hamburg arriving in Woleai in 1909 discovered the writing system and did ethnographic research on it, though this was not published until 1929. Riesenberg and Kaneshiro’s work was collected in 1954–57 and published in 1960. The Eauripik characters were described by Riesenberg and Kaneshiro as “Type 2 script”, and the script identified by their informants as originating in Faraulep as “Type 1 script”. Both Type 1 and Type 2 characters were used together; the classification is useful only in determining the development of the script. Although Type 2 characters have their origin in the Latin script, Type 1 characters are new additions to the script (some of which represent different fish, parts of the body, and parts of canoes), which spread to many of the islands in the Woleai group. Usage of the script appeared to be in decline in the 1950s. It could be found in a variety of contexts, including personal tattoos....
