Osage script facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Osage
Type	Alphabet
Spoken languages	Osage
Time period	2006–present
Parent systems	(Proto-writing) Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic alphabet Phoenician alphabet Greek alphabet Old Italic script Latin alphabet English alphabet Osage
Unicode range	U+104B0–U+104FF
ISO 15924	Osge
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Osage script is a special writing system created for the Osage language. It was first introduced in 2006. Later, it was updated between 2012 and 2014.

Before this new script, people used the Latin alphabet to write Osage. However, many Osage students knew English better than Osage. This made it hard for them to learn Osage using Latin letters. So, in 2006, Herman Mongrain Lookout, who led the Osage Language Program, decided to make a unique script. He did this by changing or combining Latin letters. The Osage script has been used regularly by the Osage Nation ever since.

In 2012, work began to add the Osage script to Unicode. Unicode is a worldwide standard for computer text. During this time, a better way to show Osage sounds was developed. By 2013, these new ideas were well tested. In February 2014, a meeting was held to make the changes official. Herman Mongrain Lookout and staff from the Osage Nation Language Department met with UCS expert Michael Everson. They decided to add both uppercase and lowercase letters. They also removed some combined letters and added new ones for sounds that were different in various Osage dialects.

The Osage script became part of Unicode version 9.0 in June 2016. You can find it in the Osage block of Unicode characters.

Understanding Osage Letters

The Osage script has its own set of letters for vowels and consonants. These letters help people write and read the Osage language.

Osage Vowel Letters

Here are the vowel letters from the 2014 update. Vowels can be spoken normally (oral) or with air coming through the nose (nasal).

Long vowels are shown with a line above them (like Ā). A high tone (a way of saying a sound) is shown with an accent mark (like Á). If a long vowel has a high tone, it gets a double accent (like Ā́). This also applies to nasal vowels.

Osage Consonant Letters

The 2014 update also included these consonant letters and letter pairs (digraphs). Some sounds, like ejective sounds, have a special mark. Others, like strongly aspirated sounds, use two letters.

How Punctuation Works

Words in Osage are separated by a space, just like in English. In the past, a period was used to separate syllables. However, as more people learned the script, this practice stopped.

Future Uses of the Script

There are ideas to use the Osage script for other languages. This includes languages in the same Dhegiha group. It might even be used for other languages in the larger Siouan family.

Osage Script in Unicode

The Osage alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2016. This happened when version 9.0 of Unicode was released.

The special section for Osage in Unicode is U+104B0 to U+104FF. This means computers can now properly show and use the Osage script.