Shavian Letterforms; Research

The Shavian alphabet (also known as Shaw alphabet) is an alphabet conceived as a way to provide simple, phonetic orthography for the English language to replace the difficulties of the conventional and non phonetic spelling of the English language.

George Bernard Shaw openly commissioned the creation of a new 'functional' alphabet, and Ronald Keasley's design was developed within the linguistic society. The alphabet itself, was vary rarely used, but Bernard Shaw's play, 'Androcles and the Lion' was printed in the Shavian letterforms. The design as shown on the cover of the play, mimics the sound and pitches required to pronounce each letter, creating a visual phonography, as a pose to a symbolic representation of sound. The alphabet can be seen in full here.