Lepsius Standard Alphabet

Lepsius Standard Alphabet
First line of [[ǂKá̦gára|ǂKá̦gára]] in ǀXam language in W.H.I. Bleek and L. Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman folklore, 1911
Script type
alphabet
CreatorKarl Richard Lepsius
Published
1849
Time period
late 19th century
LanguagesEgyptian language, languages of Africa
Related scripts
Parent systems
Child systems
Paleotype
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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[1] and extended it to write African languages, published in 1853,[citation needed] 1854[2] and 1855,[3] and in a revised edition in 1863.[4] The alphabet was comprehensive but was not used much as it contained a lot of diacritic marks and was difficult to read and typeset at that time. It was, however, influential in later projects such as Ellis's Paleotype, and diacritics such as the acute accent for palatalization, under-dot for retroflex, underline for Arabic emphatics, and the click letters continue in modern use.

  1. ^ Lepsius 1849
  2. ^ Lepsius 1854
  3. ^ Lepsius 1855
  4. ^ Lepsius 1863