Talk:Brigham Young

Deseret Alphabet?

Has anyone considered including the Deseret alphabet into this universe? I think that Brigham Young *there* would have also created the Deseret alphabet, only he would have created it for French rather than English. I also think that one could very easily adapt the Deseret alphabet to French. Most of the consonants would represent the exact same sounds, albeit they would have slightly different names. For example, Deseret letter pee would be called pé in French. The only exceptions to this would be chee, jee, esh, zhee, eth, thee, er, and eng. Of course, eth and thee would not be used for writing French, as the sounds they represent to not exist in French. Er would represent the French rhotic, and eng would represent the palatal nasal.

Chee and jee versus esh and zhee is more complicated. I argue that letters esh and zhee would not be used, and chee and jee would be used in their place. Chee looks like "c" as in "ch", the way that /S/ is often represented in French, and jee looks like "g", a way that /Z/ is often represented in French.

The vowels are more complicated. Long E would represent /e/, Long A would represent /A/, Long Ah would be /O/, Long O /o/, Long Oo /y/, Short E /E/, Short A /a/, Short O would be /@/, and Short Oo would be /2/ and /9/. Short Ah would not be used nor would any of the diphthongs. Wu would do double duty here, representing /u/ and /w/. Short I would indicate nasalization.

Some may say that French homophones would become a huge problem in this system. I agree that homophones would become an issue, but I think they would be readily alleviated by simply using accent marks like French already does. In addition, some writers may reintroduce some unused letters (or invent them) to distinguish minimal pairs. Either way, I think that the users of this alphabet would figure out what suits them best before the alphabet inevitably becomes obsolete, as it does *here*.

More interestingly though, maybe while the mainstream Saints living in New Cornwall abandon the script, the some of the fringe groups out west keep using it as a secret code. It may grow so pervasive in the unique frontier land that brews up *there* that even while Alta California takes control of the majority of Deseret, some people living there may still have the habit of writing their B’s backwards or putting extra loops in their D’s and S’s. I think it’s interesting and worth consideration if you guys are up for it.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to the Deseret alphabet Wikipedia article here --Gwaell

I realize now that I made a huge assumption that wasn't true. I just realized that it wasn't Brigham Young who invented the script *here*. it was invented by George Watt, the first convert to the church from the British Isles. However, I did some research and found out that George Watt left the church and joined the Godbeites precisely while the Deseret alphabet ceased to be used. Of course, in our timeline, the Godbeites died out a decade later. However, I propose that these dissenters would persist in the unique frontier land that exists *there* and would carry the Deseret alphabet with them. Maybe the dissenters also chose to speak English or Castilian rather than French, and that both fosters disagreements and allows the Deseret alphabet to become a multi-lingual alphabet. I have to admit that I am biased in favor of this alphabet, but I still think that its inclusion could make Mormon fundamentalism more interesting.--Gwaell 09:18, 13 May 2020 (PDT)

Having the Deseret alphabet being utilized makes way more sense than English in Cyrillic for Oregon. I agree completely with you. The problem is that all things Mormon is purely Dan's domain and he's both busy and skeptical about making a lot of changes to the franchise. Your permission might take awhile to get. Do you want me to pass this onto him on Facebook or get you his email? Misterxeight 09:31, 13 May 2020 (PDT)

That sounds like a great idea. --Gwaell 12:34, 13 May 2020 (PDT) Would you still be willing to get me his email ? --Gwaell 10:42, 17 May 2020 (PDT)