Semantic Alphabet

The signs in Semantic Alphabet were created by Charles K. Bliss, and so was the combinatorial logic that builds complex meanings out of a small set of simple ones. Semantic Alphabet does not claim those ideas. It adapts Bliss's language so the signs can be typed as easily as ordinary text. The signs follow one another in a line. No special layout software is required. To keep Blissymbolics consistent, Semantic Alphabet should be treated as a different language, with some different ways of deriving meaning. The Blissymbolics page describes the original system.

The main difference is where the indicators go. Markers for noun, verb, plural, and the like sit at the end of each sign, not on top of it. Signs combine only horizontally, so a small ordinary font is enough.

The glyphs themselves were drawn by typing letter pairs in a font made for the purpose. Those pictures do not survive as ordinary text, so the account below is of the rules, not a font chart.

Order is meaning

An arrow pointing away from a line means to start or to depart. Reverse the same mark and it means to arrive or to stop. Once the keys are memorized, a word can take about half the keystrokes of the English word it translates. That speed comes only with practice.

The first part of a compound sign is the primary meaning. A heart followed by an opening reads as "open feeling," and also as freedom. Put the opening first and the sense shifts toward an emotional opening: still close to freedom, but flavored by opportunity.

Indicators

A small volcano-like mark is the action indicator. Placed at the end of a sign, it makes a verb. On the emotional-opening sign, it means "to open emotionally" or "to set free."

A small box is the noun indicator. After the heart, the sign means the physical heart. After an opening, it means a physical opening.

A separate mark is the adjective indicator. After an opening, the sign means "open." After the heart, it means "emotional."

The plural indicator is pictured as two sticks together. After an opening, the sign means openings. After the heart, it means feelings.

Pointing at a part

A pointer meaning "this," and another meaning "that," work like the stick a teacher uses in a lecture. They identify one part of a symbol-object. A sign for "room," combined with a pointer, can pick out the floor, the wall, or the ceiling. The number of specific words this produces is very large.