This is an alphabetical list of any individuals, legendary or real, who are purported by traditions to have invented

alphabets An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...

or other

writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...

s, whether this is proven or not.

A

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (; ; 14 September 1486 – 18 February 1535) was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's '' Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' published in 1533 dre ...

- German alchemist, created the

Transitus Fluvii Transitus Fluvii ("passing through the river" in Latin) or ''Passage Du Fleuve'' (in French) is an occult alphabet consisting of 22 characters described by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in his '' Third Book of Occult Philosophy'' (Cologne, 1533, bu ...

Malachim Malachim was an alphabet published by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in the 16th century. Other alphabets with a similar origin are the Celestial Alphabet and Transitus Fluvii. "Malachim" is a plural form from Hebrew (מלאך, mal'ach) and means "a ...

, and Celestial Alphabets, c. 1525. *

Guru Angad Guru Angad (31 March 1504 – 29 March 1552; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਅੰਗਦ, pronunciation: ) was the second of the ten Sikh gurus of Sikhism. After meeting Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, becoming a Sikh, and serving and working with ...

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

Guru, ascribed invention of Gurmukhi script c. 1539 according to tradition. * Anigouran - Tuareg folk hero, ascribed invention of

Tifinagh Tifinagh ( Tuareg Berber language: or , ) is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifinagh, is still favored by the Tuar ...

according to tradition. * Afáka Atumisi - Surinamese, invented Afaka script in 1908. * Moubao Azong - Tibetan king, ascribed invention of Dongba script, c. 1250 (?), according to traditional Naxi genealogy.

B

* Celadet Bedir Khan - Kurd linguist, developed Bedirxan alphabet in 1932. *

Alexander Melville Bell Alexander Melville Bell (1 March 18197 August 1905) was a teacher and researcher of physiological phonetics and was the author of numerous works on orthoepy and elocution. Additionally he was also the creator of Visible Speech which was us ...

- American teacher, invented Visible Speech in 1867 * Anton Bezenšek - Slovenian linguist, developed

Bezenšek Shorthand Bezenšek Shorthand is a shorthand system, used for rapidly recording Bulgarian speech. The system was invented by the Slovene linguist Anton Bezenšek c. 1879. It is based on the Gabelsberger shorthand (used for German), so it is often referred ...

c. 1879 * Charles K. Bliss - Australian engineer, invented Blissymbolics c. 1949. * Lako Bodra - Indian railway clerk and community leader. Invented the Warang Citi script in the mid-1900s. * Robert Boyd - American, invented Boyd's Syllabic Shorthand in 1903. *

Louis Braille Louis Braille (; ; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system, named braille after him, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtu ...

- French teacher, invented

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displ ...

writing around 1821. *

Frédéric Bruly Bouabré Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, also known as Cheik Nadro (11 March 1923 – 28 January 2014), was an Côte d'Ivoire, Ivorian artist. Life and career Bouabré was born in Idibouo-Zépréguhé, Zépréguhé, Ivory Coast, and was among the first Ivoria ...

- Ivorian artist, invented the

Bété syllabary The Bété syllabary was created for the Bété language of Ivory Coast (in West Africa) in the 1950s by artist Frédéric Bruly Bouabré. It consists of about 440 pictographic characters, which represent scenes from life and stand for syllables ...

in the mid-1950s. *

Momolu Duwalu Bukele Momolu Duwalu Bukele (sometimes known as Momolu Duala Bukare, or spelled as Mɔmɔlu Duwalu Bukɛlɛ) (30 September 1788 – 1 October 1888) was the inventor of the Vai syllabary used for writing the Vai language of Liberia—one of several Africa ...

- Liberian, invented

Vai syllabary The Vai syllabary is a syllabic writing system devised for the Vai language by Momolu Duwalu Bukele of Jondu, in what is now Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia. Bukele is regarded within the Vai community, as well as by most scholars, as the s ...

around 1833. * John Byrom - British poet, invented a system of

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''s ...

c. 1715.

C

Cadmus In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; grc-gre, Κάδμος, Kádmos) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes. He was the first Greek hero and, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the da ...

- legendary Phoenician prince, ascribed invention of

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as ...

c. 1350 BC (?) according to tradition. * Cangjie - legendary Chinese scribe, also ascribed invention of Chinese characters c. 2650 BC (?) according to tradition. *

Carmenta In ancient Roman religion and myth, Carmenta was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation as well as the protection of mothers and children and a patron of midwives. She was also said to have invented the ...

- legendary Roman prophetess and mother of Evander, ascribed adoption of Greek alphabet to

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...

c. 1250 BC (?) according to tradition. *

Chao Yuen Ren Yuen Ren Chao (; 3 November 1892 – 25 February 1982), also known as Zhao Yuanren, was a Chinese-American linguist, educator, scholar, poet, and composer, who contributed to the modern study of Chinese phonology and grammar. Chao was born an ...

- Chinese-American linguist, led the development of

Gwoyeu Romatzyh Gwoyeu Romatzyh (), abbreviated GR, is a system for writing Mandarin Chinese in the Latin alphabet. The system was conceived by Yuen Ren Chao and developed by a group of linguists including Chao and Lin Yutang from 1925 to 1926. Chao himself la ...

in 1925–6. *

Saint Clement of Ohrid Saint Clement of Ohrid ( Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian: Свети Климент Охридски, ; el, Ἅγιος Κλήμης τῆς Ἀχρίδας; sk, svätý Kliment Ochridský; – 916) was one of the first medieval Bulgarian ...

- Archbishop, ascribed invention of

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...

c. 900, according to tradition. * Woyo Couloubayi - Malian, developed the Masaba syllabary for Bambara in the early 1930s. * Gregg M. Cox - linguist who developed the Coorgi-Cox alphabet in 2005. * Saint Cyril - Greek monk, believed to have created Glagolitic alphabet c. 863.

D

John Dee John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, teacher, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divination, a ...

- English alchemist and mathematician, invented an

Enochian Enochian ( ) is an occult constructed language — said by its originators to have been received from angels — recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his colleague Edward Kelley in late 16th-century England. Kelley was a scryer who w ...

alphabet (not to be confused with that of Pantheus) c. 1582. * Émile Duployé - French abbot, inventor of Duployan shorthand, 1868. * Reginald John Garfield Dutton - British, invented

Dutton Speedwords Dutton Speedwords, transcribed in Speedwords as , is an international auxiliary language as well as an abbreviated writing system using the English alphabet for all the languages of the world. It was devised by Reginald J. G. Dutton (1886–1 ...

shorthand in 1922.

E

* C.C. Elian (artist) - invented Elian script, c. 1980s, a transformation of the Latin alphabet into lines and dashes, allowing for multiple variations of the same word. *

Enmerkar Enmerkar was an ancient Sumerian ruler to whom the construction of Uruk and a 420-year reign was attributed. According to literary sources, he led various campaigns against the land of Aratta. Historical king Late Uruk period The tradition ...

- legendary Sumerian king, ascribed invention of

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge- ...

c. 2300 BC (?) according to ''

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta ''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'' is a legendary Sumerian account, preserved in early post-Sumerian copies, composed in the Neo-Sumerian period (ca. 21st century BC). It is one of a series of accounts describing the conflicts between Enmerkar, ...

'' epic. * Enos - Biblical patriarch, ascribed introduction of consonantal Ge'ez alphabet c. 3350 BC (?) according to tradition. * James Evans - Canadian missionary, invented a syllabary used for Ojibwe and Cree c. 1840, these days referred to as

Cree syllabics Cree syllabics are the versions of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics used to write Cree dialects, including the original syllabics system created for Cree and Ojibwe. There are two main varieties of syllabics for Cree: Western Cree syllabics and ...

F

Scott Fahlman Scott Elliott Fahlman (born March 21, 1948) is a computer scientist and Professor Emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute and Computer Science Department. He is notable for early work on automated planning and s ...

- American computer scientist, proposed the first

smiley A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...

emoticon An emoticon (, , rarely , ), short for "emotion icon", also known simply as an emote, is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using characters—usually punctuation marks, numbers, and letters—to express a person's feelings, ...

in 1982. * Assane Faye - Senegalese, invented the Garay alphabet for Wolof, 1961. * Fenius Farsa - legendary Scythian king, ascribed invention of Ogham writing c. 2000 BC (?) according to tradition. *

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

- American statesman, developed

Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet was Benjamin Franklin's proposal for a spelling reform of the English language. The alphabet was based on the Latin alphabet used in English. The alphabet Franklin modified the standard English alphabet by om ...

c. 1768. *

Frumentius Frumentius ( gez, ፍሬምናጦስ; died c. 383) was a Phoenician Christian missionary and the first bishop of Axum who brought Christianity to the Kingdom of Aksum. He is sometimes known by other names, such as Abuna ("Our Father") and ...

- Syrian saint who converted the African

kingdom of Aksum The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in w ...

to Christianity, traditionally credited with development of consonantal Ge'ez script into vocalic Ge'ez script in the mid 4th-century. *

Fu Hsi Fuxi or Fu Hsi (伏羲 ~ 伏犧 ~ 伏戲) is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking as well a ...

- legendary Chinese king, ascribed invention of

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

c. 2850 BC (?) according to tradition.

G

Franz Xaver Gabelsberger Franz Xaver Gabelsberger (9 February 1789, Munich - 4 January 1849, Munich) was a German stenographer; the inventor of Gabelsberger shorthand. Biography His father was a wind instrument manufacturer, originally from Mainburg, who died whi ...

- German secretary, invented

Gabelsberger shorthand Gabelsberger shorthand, named for its creator, is a form of shorthand previously common in Germany and Austria. Created c. 1817 by Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, it was first fully described in the 1834 textbook ''Anleitung zur deutschen Redezeichen ...

around 1817. * Chief Gbili - Liberian, invented

Kpelle syllabary The Kpelle syllabary was invented c. 1935 by Chief Gbili of Sanoyie, Liberia. It was intended for writing the Kpelle language, a member of the Mande group of Niger-Congo languages spoken by about 490,000 people in Liberia and around 300,000 pe ...

c. 1935. * Mangei Gomango - Indian, invented Sorang Sompeng script in 1936. * John Robert Gregg - Irish author, invented Gregg Shorthand c. 1888. * Gregory of Durrës - Albanian monk, ascribed invention of the Elbasan script c. 1761

H

Thomas Harriot Thomas Harriot (; – 2 July 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his con ...

- English mathematician, invented phonetic alphabet for transcribing

Carolina Algonquian language Carolina Algonquian (also known as Pamlico, Croatoan) was an Algonquian language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup formerly spoken in North Carolina, United States. Carolina Algonquian was formerly spoken by Secotan (later known as Machapunga) ...

in 1584. * Hemadpant - A scholar from ancient

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and Prime Minister in

Yadava Dynasty The Seuna, Sevuna, or Yadavas of Devagiri ( IAST: Seuṇa, –1317) was a Medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of ...

, according to one theory invented the

Modi Script Modi ( mr, मोडी, , ; also Mudiya) is a script used to write the Marathi language, which is the primary language spoken in the state of Maharashtra, India. There are multiple theories concerning its origin. The Modi script was used alo ...

that was used to write

Marathi Language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state o ...

till 19th century before

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...

was officially adopted to write Marathi. *

Hildegard of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen (german: Hildegard von Bingen; la, Hildegardis Bingensis; 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher ...

- German nun, invented Litterae ignotae c. 1150. * James Hill - British, developed Teeline Shorthand in 1970. *

Honorius of Thebes Honorius may refer to: People * Honorius (emperor) (Flavius Honorius Augustus, 384–423), western Roman emperor 395–423 * Honorius of Canterbury (Saint Honorius, died 653), archbishop of Canterbury 627–653 * Honoratus of Amiens (Saint Honor ...

- possibly mythical author, ascribed invention of Theban alphabet c. 1220 (?).

K

* Hussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare - Somali, invented

Kaddare script The Kaddare alphabet is a writing script created to transcribe Somali, a Cushitic language in the Afroasiatic language family. History The orthography was invented in 1952 by a Sufi Sheikh, named Hussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare. A phonetically ...

c. 1953. *

Kisimi Kamara Kisimi Kamara (1890–1962) was a simple village tailor from Sierra Leone who gave his people the gift of writing. He invented the Mende syllabary in 1921. Early life Kisimi Kamara was born in 1890 in the village of Vaama, Pujehun District i ...

- Sierra Leonean tailor, invented Mende syllabary, ''Ki-ka-ku'', in 1921. * Solomana Kante - Guinean author, invented the

N'Ko N'Ko () is a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949, as a modern writing system for the Mandé languages of West Africa. The term ''N'Ko'', which means ''I say'' in all Mandé languages, is also used for the Mandé literary standard written ...

alphabet in 1949. * Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, Serbian

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

, developed

Serbian Cyrillic alphabet The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

c. 1818, adapting Cyrillic alphabet. * Osman Yusuf Kenadid - Somali, invented

Osmanya script The Osmanya script ( so, Farta Cismaanya 𐒍𐒖𐒇𐒂𐒖 𐒋𐒘𐒈𐒑𐒛𐒒𐒕𐒖), also known as Far Soomaali (𐒍𐒖𐒇 𐒘𐒝𐒈𐒑𐒛𐒘, "Somali writing") and, in Arabic, as ''al-kitābah al-ʿuthmānīyah'' (الكتا ...

c. 1921. *

Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mono ...

- Persian mathematician, helped codify the

Hindu–Arabic numeral system The Hindu–Arabic numeral system or Indo-Arabic numeral system Audun HolmeGeometry: Our Cultural Heritage 2000 (also called the Hindu numeral system or Arabic numeral system) is a positional decimal numeral system, and is the most common syste ...

c. 825 *

Ong Kommandam Ong Kommandam (also Ong Kommadam) was the confidant and successor of Ong Keo as the leader of the Mon-Khmer tribes of southern Laos in their struggle for independence from French and Lao rule. Ong Keo was assassinated in 1910 by the Commissioner o ...

- Laotian freedom fighter, developed the

Khom script Khom script may refer to either of the following writing systems derived from the Khmer script: *Khom Thai script The Khom script ( th, อักษรขอม, akson khom, or later th, อักษรขอมไทย, akson khom thai; lo, ...

, first used 1926. * Tony Koyu - from Arunachal Pradesh invented Tani Lipi a scientific script of Arunachal Pradesh in 2001. *

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon se ...

- Japanese monk, ascribed invention of

Kana The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters ( kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most ...

syllabary c. 806, according to tradition. *

Shigetaka Kurita (born May 9, 1972, Gifu Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese interface designer and often cited for his early work with emoji sets. Many refer to him as the creator of the emoji, a claim clarified in recent years. He was part of the team that cre ...

- Japanese designer, created the NTT DoCoMo

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conv ...

set.

J

* Krishna Bahadur Jenticha - invented the Jenticha script for the

Sunwar language Sunuwar, Sunuwar, or Kõinch (; ; other spellings are Koinch and Koincha), is a Kiranti language spoken in Nepal and India by the Sunuwar people. It was first comprehensively attested by the Himalayan Languages Project. It is also known as K ...

in 1942

L

* Jean-Marie-Raphaël Le Jeune - Canadian, created Chinook writing, 1893, an adaptation and expansion of Duployan. *

Francis Lodwick Francis Lodwick Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (or Lodowick; 1619–1694) was a pioneer of a priori language, ''a priori'' languages (what in the seventeenth century was called a 'philosophical language'). Biography Francis Lodwick was a mer ...

- Dutch linguist, invented ''Universal Alphabet'' in 1686. *

Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus '' Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopie ...

- German linguist, developed

Standard Alphabet by Lepsius The Standard Alphabet is a Latin-script alphabet developed by Karl Richard Lepsius. Lepsius initially used it to transcribe Egyptian hieroglyphs in his '' Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien'' and extended it to write African languages, publis ...

c. 1855. * Lontanna Igwe Onduze - Nigerian software designer and artist, created the Ndèbe script c. 2008.

M

Mani Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina ...

- Ancient Iranian prophet, invented

Manichaean alphabet The Manichaean script is an abjad-based writing system rooted in the Semitic family of alphabets and associated with the spread of Manichaeism from southwest to central Asia and beyond, beginning in the 3rd century CE. It bears a sibling relation ...

* Aulay Macaulay - English tea-dealer, who invented ''Polygraphy'', a system of

in 1747. * John R. Malone - American, developed the

UNIFON Unifon is a Latin-based phonemic orthography for American English designed in the mid-1950s by Dr. John R. Malone, a Chicago economist and newspaper equipment consultant. It was developed into a teaching aid to help children acquire reading a ...

alphabet c. 1955. *

Mesrop Mashtots Mesrob or Mesrop ( hy, Մեսրոպ) is an Armenian given name. Mesrob / Mesrop may refer to: * Mesrop Mashtots, also Saint Mesrop, Armenian monk, theologian and linguist. Inventor of the Armenian alphabet ** Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient M ...

- Armenian monk, created the

Armenian alphabet The Armenian alphabet ( hy, Հայոց գրեր, ' or , ') is an alphabetic writing system used to write Armenian. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The system originally ha ...

in c. 405. *

Olof Melin Olof Werling Melin (3 August 1861 – 15 January 1940) was a Swedish colonel and the creator of Melin Shorthand, the dominant shorthand system in Sweden. Biography Melin was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. Melin taught the Gabelsberger shorthand ...

- Swedish colonel, invented

Melin Shorthand The Melin system of shorthand is the dominant shorthand system used in Sweden. It was created by Olof Melin (1849–1940), an officer in the Swedish Army. He was a teacher of the Gabelsberger shorthand Gabelsberger shorthand, named for its cre ...

c. 1880. *

Mongkut Mongkut ( th, มงกุฏ; 18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, titled Rama IV. He ruled from 1851 to 1868. His full title in Thai was ''Phra Bat Somdet Phra Menthora Ramathibo ...

- Thai king, invented the Ariyaka script *

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

- English author, invented Utopian alphabet in 1516. * Adrien-Gabriel Morice - French, developed Carrier syllabary c. 1885. * Samuel F. B. Morse - American inventor, invented

Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one ...

c. 1835. * Ali Moslehi Moslehabadi - Iranian comparative linguist, developed IPA2, also known as Pársik in 2004. * Pandit Raghunath Murmu - Indian, created

Ol Chiki script The Ol Chiki () script, also known as Ol Chemetʼ (Santali: ''ol'' 'writing', ''chemet'' 'learning'), Ol Ciki, Ol, and sometimes as the Santali alphabet invented by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in the year 1925, is the official writing system for San ...

in 1925. * Ol Guru Mahendra Nath Sardar - Indian, created Ol Onal script.

N

Ibrahim Njoya King Ibrahim Mbouombouo Njoya ( Bamum: , ''Iparəim Nʃuɔiya'', formerly spelled in Bamum as , and Germanicized as ''Njoja'') in Yaoundé, was seventeenth in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon da ...

- King of

Bamum Bamum, also spelled Bamoum, Bamun, or Bamoun, may refer to: *The Bamum people *The Bamum kingdom *The Bamum language *The Bamum script The Bamum scripts are an evolutionary series of six scripts created for the Bamum language by Ibrahim Njoya, ...

(Cameroon), invented

Bamum script The Bamum scripts are an evolutionary series of six scripts created for the Bamum language by Ibrahim Njoya, King of Bamum (now western Cameroon) at the turn of the 19th century. They are notable for evolving from a pictographic system to a s ...

c. 1910. *

Nurhaci Nurhaci (14 May 1559 – 30 September 1626), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Qing (), was a Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th century in Manchuria. A member of the House of Aisin-Gioro, he reigned ...

(king), or possibly his translators Erdeni and Gagai ? - Manchurians, created

Manchu alphabet The Manchu alphabet ( mnc, m=, v=manju hergen, a=manju hergen) is the alphabet used to write the now nearly-extinct Manchu language. A similar script is used today by the Sibe people, Xibe people, who speak a Xibe language, language consider ...

in 1599.

O

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

/*Wōdanaz - the chief god in Scandinavian/Germanic paganism. Associated in the

Hávamál ''Hávamál'' ( ; Old Norse: ,Unnormalised spelling in the :Title: Final stanza: ../ref> classical pron. , Modern Icelandic pron. , ‘Words of he High One��) is presented as a single poem in the Icelandic , a collection of Old Norse poems f ...

with the origins of the

Runic alphabet Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

Futhark (Later

Futhorc Anglo-Saxon runes ( ang, rūna ᚱᚢᚾᚪ) are runes used by the early Anglo-Saxons as an alphabet in their writing system. The characters are known collectively as the futhorc (ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ ''fuþorc'') from the Old English sound va ...

). *

Ogma OGMA – Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal S.A. is a Portuguese aerospace company focused on aircraft maintenance and manufacturing. History OGMA was founded as part of the reorganisation of the Portuguese Army's Aeronautic Service on June ...

- legendary Irish deified chieftain, also ascribed invention of Ogham writing c. 1875 BC (?) according to tradition. * Narayan Oraon - Indian doctor. Invented the Tolong Siki alphabet for Kurukh in 1999.

P

* Zaya Pandita - Oirat lama, developed Todo script in 1648. * Johannes Pantheus - German author, invented

alphabet (not to be confused with that of Dee) in 1478. *

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He ...

- Swiss alchemist, invented Alphabet of the Magi c. 1520. * Chögyal Phagpa - Tibetan monk, invented Phagspa script in 1269. * Pharnavaz I of Iberia - Iberian king, ascribed development of

Georgian alphabet The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written ...

in 284 BC, according to tradition. * Francisco de Pina, and other Portuguese missionaries - created the

Vietnamese alphabet The Vietnamese alphabet ( vi, chữ Quốc ngữ, lit=script of the National language) is the modern Latin writing script or writing system for Vietnamese. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages originally developed by Portuguese m ...

c. 1620s. *

Isaac Pitman Sir Isaac Pitman (4 January 1813 – 22 January 1897) was a teacher of the :English language who developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman shorthand. He first proposed this in ''Stenographic Soundhand'' in 183 ...

- British teacher, invented

Pitman shorthand Pitman shorthand is a system of shorthand for the English language developed by Englishman Sir Isaac Pitman (1813–1897), who first presented it in 1837. Like most systems of shorthand, it is a phonetic system; the symbols do not represent lett ...

in 1837. * Sam Pollard - British missionary, invented Pollard script in 1905. * Parley P. Pratt - American Mormon leader, developed

Deseret alphabet The Deseret alphabet (; Deseret: or ) is a phonemic English-language spelling reform developed between 1847 and 1854 by the board of regents of the University of Deseret under the leadership of Brigham Young, the second president of the ...

with George D. Watt c. 1855. *

George Psalmanazar George Psalmanazar ( 1679 – 3 May 1763) was a Frenchman who claimed to be the first native of Formosa (today Taiwan) to visit Europe. For some years he convinced many in Britain, but he was eventually revealed to be of European origins. He sub ...

- European impostor and scholar, invented a (fraudulent) Formosan alphabet in 1704.

R

* Ram Khamhaeng the Great - Thai king, ascribed invention of

Thai alphabet The Thai script ( th, อักษรไทย, ) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols ( th, พยัญชน ...

in 1283, according to tradition. *

Ronald Kingsley Read Ronald Kingsley Read (19 February 1887February 1975) was one of four contestants chosen to share the prize money for the design of the Shavian alphabet, a completely new alphabet intended for writing English. He was later appointed sole responsi ...

- British, invented the Shavian (early 1960s) and

Quikscript QUIKSCRIPT is a simulation language derived from SIMSCRIPT, based on 20-GATE.a programming language for the 1960s Bendix G-20 computer References * "Quikscript - A Simscript-like Language for the G-20", F.M. Tonge et al., Communications of ...

(1966) writing systems. *

Jeremiah Rich Jeremiah Rich (died 1660?) was an English stenographer, who published a pioneering system of shorthand writing. Life Rich's uncle, William Cartwright, taught him shorthand, and he became a noted practitioner of the art. He dedicated his ''Semigr ...

- English, invented a system of

in 1654. * Ríg - (identified as Heimdall) gave the runes to his son,

Jarl Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the pet ...

(

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...

poem

Rígsþula ''Rígsþula'' or ''Rígsmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Ríg') is an Eddic poem, preserved in the manuscript (AM 242 fol, the Codex Wormianus), in which a Norse god named Ríg or Rígr, described as "old and wise, mighty and strong,", fathers ...

)

Futhark (Later

) c. 150 AD (?) per tradition. * Alexandre de Rhodes - Avignonese missionary, developed

c. 1625, basing on works by Portuguese missionaries such as Francisco de Pina.

S

* Carl W. Salser - American teacher, developed Personal Shorthand with C. Theo Yerian. c. 1955. * Thikúng Men Salóng - Bhutanese scholar, invented Lepcha script some time around 1700. *

Bakri Sapalo Sheikh Bakri Sapalo (born Abubakar Garad Usman; November 1895 - 5 April 1980) was an Oromo scholar, poet and religious teacher. He is best known as the inventor of a writing system for the Oromo language. Life Bakri Sapalo was the son of Garad U ...

- Oromo poet, writer, and teacher from Ethiopia, invented an alphasyllabic

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of ha ...

for the Oromo language c. 1956. *

Johann Martin Schleyer Johann Martin Schleyer (; 18 July 1831 – 16 August 1912) was a German Catholic priest who invented the constructed language Volapük. His official name was "Martin Schleyer"; he added the name "Johann" (in honor of his godfather) unoffic ...

- created three letters (ꞛ, ꞝ, and ꞟ) for his international auxiliary language

Volapük Volapük (; , "Language of the World", or lit. "World Speak") is a constructed language created between 1879 and 1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Catholic priest in Baden, Germany, who believed that God had told him in a dream to create an ...

at the end of the 19th century. *

Saraswati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a g ...

- Indian goddess, created

devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...

alphabet. *

Sejong the Great Sejong of Joseon (15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), personal name Yi Do (Korean: 이도; Hanja: 李祹), widely known as Sejong the Great (Korean: 세종대왕; Hanja: 世宗大王), was the fourth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Initial ...

- Korean king of

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

, invented

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The l ...

writing in c. 1443, promulgated in 1446. * Seol Chong - inventor of the Korean

Idu script Idu (이두, hanja : , meaning ''official's reading'') is an archaic writing system that represents the Korean language using hanja. The script, which was developed by Buddhist monks, made it possible to record Korean words through its equ ...

and Gugyeol script (c.650 - c.730), according to tradition. *

Sequoyah Sequoyah (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏍᏏᏉᏯ, ''Ssiquoya'', or ᏎᏉᏯ, ''Se-quo-ya''; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American polymath of the Ch ...

, Cherokee silversmith, invented

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

syllabary c. 1819. *

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. ...

, son of

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

, is mentioned in the Chronicle of Malalas as being the "first to invent Hebrew script and to write with it"John Malalas, ''Chronographia'', book I, section 1 (translation by Elizabeth Jeffreys, Michael Jeffreys, Roger Scott et al. 1986, page 2) * Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur - Somali, invented

Borama script The Gadabuursi script also known as the Borama alphabet (Borama: ), is a writing script for the Somali language. It was devised around 1933 by Sheikh Abdurahman Sh. Nur of the Gadabuursi clan. History Though not as widely known as Osmanya, ...

c. 1933. * Thomas Shelton - English translator, developed ''Short Writing'', an early

, in 1626. * Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche - Tibetan religious teacher of uncertain historicity, ascribed creation of the Dongba script by religious fables. * Shong Lue Yang - Hmong, created Pahawh Hmong alphabet in 1959. * M. Siahzathang - Zo author, invented the Zoulai script for the Zou language in 1952. * Sirijonga - Nepalese king, ascribed invention of

Limbu alphabet The Limbu script (also Sirijanga script) is used to write the Limbu language. It is a Brahmic type abugida. History According to traditional histories, the Limbu script was first invented in the late 9th century by Limbu King Sirijunga Hang a ...

c. 880, according to tradition. *

Kai Staats Kai Kruse Staats is a filmmaker, science researcher, writer, and entrepreneur. At the Arizona State University School of Earth & Space Exploration, Staats contributed to the design of off-world human habitats as project lead for an Interplanetary ...

- American filmmaker, created iConji in 2010. * Stephen of Perm - Russian missionary, invented the

Old Permic The Old Permic script ( kv, Важ Перым гижӧм, ), sometimes known by its initial 2 characters as Abur or Anbur, is a "highly idiosyncratic adaptation" of the Cyrillic script once used to write medieval Komi (a member of the Permic bra ...

alphabet in 1372. * Heron Stone - invented Phonographics in 1994 * Valerie Sutton - American choreographer, developed MovementWriting for transcribing dance in 1972 and SignWriting for transcribing

sign languages Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...

in 1974.

T

* Taautus, legendary inventor of the

Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician al ...

* Samuel Taylor - British, invented Universal Stenography system of

in 1792. *

Tenevil {{more citations needed, date=February 2015 Tenevil (russian: Теневиль) (ca. 1890–1943?) was a Chukchi reindeer herder, living in the tundra near the settlement of Ust-Belaya in Russian province of Chukotka. Around 1927 or 1928 he i ...

- Chukchi reindeer herder, developed a writing system for

Chukchi language Chukchi , also known as Chukot, is a Chukotko–Kamchatkan language spoken by the Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The language is closely related to Koryak. Chukchi, Koryak, Kerek, A ...

c. 1931. *

Charles Allen Thomas Charles Allen Thomas (February 15, 1900 – March 29, 1982) was a noted American chemist and businessman, and an important figure in the Manhattan Project. He held over 100 patents. A graduate of Transylvania College and Massachusetts Institute ...

- invented Thomas Natural Shorthand in 1935. * Thonmi Sambhota - legendary Tibetan scribe, ascribed invention of

Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic language ...

c. 650, according to tradition. *

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...

- mythical Egyptian deity, ascribed invention of

Egyptian hieroglyphics Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1, ...

c. 3000 BC (?) according to tradition. * John William Tims - Missionary, developed

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot language, Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up t ...

syllabary c. 1890. *

Marcus Tullius Tiro Marcus Tullius Tiro (died 4 BC) was first a slave, then a freedman, of Cicero from whom he received his nomen and praenomen. He is frequently mentioned in Cicero's letters. After Cicero's death Tiro published his former master's collected w ...

- Roman secretary, ascribed invention of

Tironian notes Tironian notes ( la, notae Tironianae, links=no) are a set of thousands of signs that were formerly used in a system of shorthand (Tironian shorthand) dating from the 1st century BCE and named after Tiro, a personal secretary to Marcus Tullius Ci ...

shorthand c. 63 BC, according to tradition. * J. R. R. Tolkien - British author, invented the

Tengwar The Tengwar script is an artificial script, one of several scripts created by J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of ''The Lord of the Rings''. Within the fictional context of Middle-earth, the Tengwar were invented by the Elf Fëanor, and use ...

Cirth The Cirth (, meaning " runes"; sg. certh ) is a semi‑artificial script, based on real‑life runic alphabets, one of several scripts invented by J. R. R. Tolkien for the constructed languages he devised and used in his works. ''Cirth'' is ...

and Sarati c. 1930. * Dhaniram Toto - Indian social worker, author, and Toto community elder; invented an alphabetic script for the

Toto language Toto (Bengali: , Toto: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken on the border of India and Bhutan, by the tribal Toto people in Totopara, West Bengal along the border with Bhutan. It is also spoken in Subhapara, Dhunchipara, and Panchayatpara hill ...

, published in 2015. *

Johannes Trithemius Johannes Trithemius (; 1 February 1462 – 13 December 1516), born Johann Heidenberg, was a German Benedictine abbot and a polymath who was active in the German Renaissance as a lexicographer, chronicler, cryptographer, and occultist. He is co ...

- German cryptographer, invented an "Angelic" (magical) alphabet in 1499. * Deowan Turi - possibly mythical, ascribed invention of Warang Citi alphabet c. 1250 (?) by Lako Bodra.

U

Ulfilas Ulfilas (–383), also spelled Ulphilas and Orphila, all Latinized forms of the unattested Gothic form *𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌰 Wulfila, literally "Little Wolf", was a Goth of Cappadocian Greek descent who served as a bishop and missio ...

, Goth missionary, believed to have invented

Gothic alphabet The Gothic alphabet is an alphabet used for writing the Gothic language. Ulfilas (or Wulfila) developed it in the 4th century AD for the purpose of translating the Bible. The alphabet essentially uses uncial forms of the Greek alphabet, wi ...

c. 350 AD, according to tradition. *

Uyaquk Uyaquq (also Uyaquk or Uyakoq; sometimes referred to in English as Helper Neck) (ca. 1860–1924) was a member of the Yup'ik people who became a Helper in the Moravian Church, noted for his linguistic abilities. He went from being an illitera ...

- Yupik (Alaska Native) missionary, invented Yugtun script c. 1900.

V

* Naum Veqilharxhi - Albanian, invented the Vithkuqi alphabet in 1845.

W

Wanyan Xiyin The Wanyan (; Manchu: ''Wanggiyan''; Jurchen script: ) clan was among the clans of the Heishui Mohe tribe living in the drainage region of the Heilong River during the time of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Of the Heishui Mohe, the clan was coun ...

- Manchurian scribe, invented

Jurchen script The Jurchen script (Jurchen: ) was the writing system used to write the Jurchen language, the language of the Jurchen people who created the Jin Empire in northeastern China in the 12th–13th centuries. It was derived from the Khitan script ...

in 1120. *

William Bell Wait William Bell Wait (1839–1916) was a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind who invented New York Point, a system of writing for the blind that was adopted widely in the United States before the braille system was univers ...

- American teacher, invented

New York Point New York Point (New York Point: ) is a braille-like system of tactile writing for the blind invented by William Bell Wait (1839–1916), a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. The system used one to four pairs of poi ...

system in 1868. *

Diedrich Westermann Diedrich Hermann Westermann (June 24, 1875 – May 31, 1956) was a German missionary, Africanist, and linguist. He substantially extended and revised the work of Carl Meinhof, his teacher, although he rejected some of Meinhof's theories only impl ...

- German missionary, developed

Africa Alphabet The Africa Alphabet (also International African Alphabet or IAI alphabet) was developed by the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures in 1928, with the help of some Africans led by Diedrich Hermann Westermann, who served as di ...

in 1928. * George D. Watt - American Mormon leader, developed

with Parley P. Pratt c. 1855. * W. John (or John W.) Weilgart - Austrian-born American psychoanalyst and philosopher; creator of the philosophical language aUI and its writing system. *

John Wilkins John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death. Wilkins is one of the ...

- English academic. Invented the so-called ' real character' as a writing system for a proposed

Philosophical language A philosophical language is any constructed language that is constructed from first principles. It is considered a type of engineered language. Philosophical languages were popular in Early Modern times, partly motivated by the goal of revising n ...

in 1668. * John Willis - English, invented a system of

in 1602.

Y

Yeli Renrong Yeli Renrong ( Tangut: ; , died 1042) was a scholar and official who served in the court of the Western Xia dynasty of China. He was a trusted official of the Western Xia founder Emperor Jingzong. According to the official '' History of Song'', t ...

- Tangut scholar, invented

Tangut script The Tangut script ( Tangut: ; ) was a logographic writing system, used for writing the extinct Tangut language of the Western Xia dynasty. According to the latest count, 5863 Tangut characters are known, excluding variants. The Tangut characte ...

in 1036. * Yelü Diela - Manchurian scribe, ascribed creation of

Khitan small script The Khitan small script () was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language (the other was the Khitan large script). It was used during the 10th–12th century by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in present ...

c. 925. * C. Theo Yerian - American teacher, developed Personal Shorthand with Carl W. Salser. c. 1955.

Z

Zhang Binglin Zhang Binglin (January 12, 1869 – June 14, 1936), also known by his art name Zhang Taiyan, was a Chinese philologist, textual critic, philosopher, and revolutionary. His philological works include ''Wen Shi'' (文始 "The Origin of Writing"), ...

- Chinese linguist, invented shorthand that was developed into

Zhuyin Bopomofo (), or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, also named Zhuyin (), is a Chinese transliteration system for Mandarin Chinese and other related languages and dialects. More commonly used in Taiwanese Mandarin, it may also be used to transcribe ...

in 1913. * Zhou Youguang - Chinese linguist, invented Pinyin romanisation, 1958 * Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar - Mongolian monk, created Soyombo script in 1686 and

Zanabazar square script Zanabazar's square script is a horizontal Mongolian square script ( mn, Хэвтээ Дөрвөлжин бичиг, ''Khevtee Dörvöljin bichig'' or mn, Хэвтээ Дөрвөлжин Үсэг, ''Khevtee Dörvöljin Üseg''), an abugida develo ...

. * Wido Zobo - Liberian, invented Loma syllabary c. 1935.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inventors Of Writing Systems

Writing systems A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable f ...

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References