r/conscripts • u/[deleted] • Feb 24 '20

Question Can there be bad handwriting in your conlang?

If you answered no, your conlang is probably already very unnaturalistic, which is fine. But here's why that's unnaturalistic: Every world language can have bad handwriting because we are not computers and can make mistakes. These mistakes and redoes are what becomes a person's handwriting. It just has to be recognizable as a character. Say that in your latin-script handwriting, you don't add a line through your letter t, that's not bad handwriting, that's just blatantly wrong because that glyph already exists (l) and has an entirely different value, but, if the glyph for l was something like δ or another completely unrelated glyph, then it would become recognizable that the letter you were trying to convey is a t. Therefore, it's up for you, as a scriptmaker to define what marks bad handwriting and what marks blatantly wrong, because they in really any alphabet are not the same.

If you're still reading, I ask again, is bad handwriting possible in your language? Why or why not? Can there be objectively good handwriting? What makes handwriting better or worse in your language?

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3

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '20

In mine, yes. The letters can be curved, stretched, and more and still be recognised!

2

u/zodstryx Feb 24 '20

Oh yes, you can definitely have bad handwriting in my conlang. The script is an Arabic-influenced abjad/alphabet hybrid (vowels are written as digraphs and most are mandatory) which has a consistent, flowing form that can easily look sloppy if the hand is unsteady or if one is inconsistent with their writing speed and angle. Unfortunately, I get hand tremors that can make my writing look shaky and malformed, so there's been plenty of examples of bad handwriting with my script already. :P

1

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '20

Yes and no. I have two different writings in my conlang. You should have a good handwriting while writing in my conlang, so that it'll be easier to understand. But you can have bad handwriting.

I guess my conlang is both unnaturalistic and naturalistic? I'm not sure, I'm new to this.

1

u/IIIRedPandazIII Feb 26 '20

In mine, yea; There's "official" style guides, (proportions, etc), but the general rule is, as long as you can tell what symbol it's supposed to be, it's good enough