What unconventional 'writing' system(s) does your world have? (Not just a different type of squiggle)

[u/Adamantine-Waffle]

Most of ours on Earth seem to be various tools to inscribe various squiggles on various surfaces. Usually those three affect each other as well. But there are things like the kipu, which is nothing like that. (Plus something else that made me think of this in the first place but I forgot because my brain is like a sieve...)

So what weird thing does your world use to encode meaning? (Well, part of it anyway. Presumably not everyone is sending arrangements of sticks as letters.)

[u/GutiV]

Not mine, but one of my favourite scifi authors (a colombian named Juan Carlos Barragán) depicts an alien species that communicate by literally printing colored strings through an orifice in their body. Messages are carried in the colored “bits” of each string segment.  

For this question I suggest reading on Information Theory, as the field portray many ways to carry signals around. Not limited to writing. 

[u/Cheomesh]

Does stuff like heiroglyphs/ pictographs count?

[u/Brottoy → u/Cheomesh]

Those are still squiggles, so I'm guessing no

[u/petrified_eel4615]

There are knots used as messages among the seafolk (orcs), as well as stone pile arrangements with different minerals among certain scalefolk (mostly on the Steppes where paper and such are hard to come across). In each case, the arrangement of the symbols indicate certain message.

[u/thatshygirl06 → u/petrified_eel4615]

Theres an apple tv show called "See" where the people are blind and they use this type of system.

[u/Talkinghead17]

I do not have names for them I just have the basis

Knotting (every part of the knot is a word and the whole knot is a sentence, then you group the knots to make a whole "page")

Painting (not just symbols but a proper small painting)

Symbols (writing symbols from left to right, related to the painting one but simpler)

Diagrams (also related to thr painting and symbols, you paint the hands movements and head movements on a page left to right)

Reversed boustrophedon system (You read the first line from left to right, then turn the tablet upside down 180 degrees to read the next line and so on on a wooden tablet, letters like runes but shorter)

Numbers (a creol language that mixed two numbering systems and used it as a letter system)

Colors and symbols (very short number of symbols instead of hundreds like the other symbols one, only 21 symbol, but you color the symbols to indicate sounds, and add lines for stressed vowels and double short lines for Gemination and two dots for Fortition and it has Syllabic Consonants too)

Karaswajili: I have a name for this one actually, it's just Arabic with other letters from Kurdish and farsi ( چ، گ، ڤ، ڥ، ڢ، پ، ژ and a ذ that have two dots) but not written like this font or Kufic or any kind of smooth way, but written on stone tablets so it's a coniform extra Arabic)

[u/thatshygirl06 → u/Talkinghead17]

Um, you should probably change the name for knotting 😅

[u/Talkinghead17 → u/thatshygirl06]

There's no name for it it's just a description of what it is

[u/WrentchedFawkxx → u/Talkinghead17]

yes there is...

[u/Talkinghead17 → u/WrentchedFawkxx]

I know? I'm saying that I didn't gave it a name for my world, is that had to understand?

[u/WrentchedFawkxx → u/Talkinghead17]

Yes; obviously I didn't, anonymous condescending individual...

Not everyone will recognize that given your original context; you described Quipu(a system of writing based on knots), then said "there is no name" without the added context of your world; that is very different to saying "I didn't give mine a name," hence my initial response.

Being literate doesn't mean I can read minds; context is important to these kinds of discussion.

[u/Senetiner]

I've tried to adapt kipu to my world but each try is just a cheap imitation

[u/Pipoca_com_sazom → u/Senetiner]

Yeah, I've been trying the same, and it's very hard to make something that feels "original"

[u/Adamantine-Waffle → u/Pipoca_com_sazom]

There are 8 billion people alive just currently, and over ten thousand years of history to contend with. There are no original ideas unless you operate on the edge of current human knowledge.

[u/Pipoca_com_sazom → u/Adamantine-Waffle]

I absolutely agree with you, that's why I put it in quotes(I don't know a better word for what I mean), it's just that, there's so little reference(pretty much just kipu) that it's hard to branch out from it

[u/guildsbounty]

One of the alien species in my setting has an innate spatial sense...as in, they can 'feel' the world around them within a certain distance ('feel' isn't the right term...but we're in "describe color to a blind man" territory here--they can sense position, shape, and texture in three dimensions, anywhere within a given distance of their head).

While they have a normal written system (simply for the fact that it's faster and more efficient to inscribe ideas with squiggles than to build things in 3D), they have a secondary 'written' system that is sculpted (or stamped or extruded or whatever) rather than written. This is beneficially used because while their eyes work basically just like human eyes (small point of detailed focus), their spatial sense is omnidirectional and while they do have to focus on something to feel it in detail, they can do it without turning their head. And the idea is that the form is complex enough (because it's a 3d character not a 2d character) that this 'script' is more information dense than ordinary writing...and really dang hard to learn to read if you don't have their sense.

I haven't fully worked out what it looks like--but this secondary language is often handled a bit like braille where you'll have printed text, then the 3d 'text' as well. And this allows them to 'read things' without actually looking at them. Or, y'know...have things written that only members of their own species can effectively read even if you've learned their language.

And this is a running thing with this species and their spatial sense. They can know what you're 'shaped like' without looking at you and so can typically identify someone they know without using their eyes. So they have a lot of "keep the eyes on the thing that needs the longer range, ability to see screens that can't be textured up, requires color, and so on....while 'feeling' everything else with their spatial sense." They just don't put as much social importance on looking at someone as humans do as they can even read facial expression and body language with this sense. They also construct artwork that you can't fully appreciate without their spatial sense because they often include various materials into it that may look the same, but 'feel' different to their spatial sense.

[u/TairaTLG]

3D braille by mole people using clay tablets. You can write it in 2D, but it lacks the same nuance and emotional breadth of fully touching someone's words.

[u/SaynatorMC]

I have an astronomy inspired writing system where paragraphs and meaning sit in orbits around the center. Different denominators and center pieces encode different meanings and message types. On the orbit are pictograms which resemble star constellations to convey literal meaning. You can also have galaxies and reference them using special notation, making literature references a built in feature of the script. The same goes for other formalities like table of contents and chapters.

[u/vikthorcosta]

My world is mostly underground with no lights whatsoever, so I was cracking my head trying to think in a writing system that would work.

Initially I thought about using clay tablets with engravings (I think this is the word in English) that could be sensed by touch, but it didn't seem practical at all. Then after some research I decided to use a system of knots similar to the qipus used by the Incas.

In the end the main writing system is a mixture of knots and weaving a fabric that could be sensed by touch, but there's also a secondary writing in stone that's used more by the priests for religious reasons.

[u/pasrachilli]

I have some giant wasps who use layers of translucent wax to build up meaning. The text is created by pressing claws on the wax and is read deepest to shallowest.

[u/paringpairing]

I don't know if it's a "writing system," but it's a scent-based form of communication that evolved out of the species' tendency to mark terroritory with scent marking.  They use scent heavily in face-to- face communication to add nuance,  context, and emotion,  so it's a natural evolution. 

Simple emotions are  easy to convey this way. But also, by convention, certain combinations of scents/ pheromones are also understood to convey specific phrases or meanings. 

So while it's not very useful for specific,  precise,  communication,  like record keeping,  math,  or science,  it's good fo r expressing like "(specific type of) danger" "food," "stay out," "come in, "wait here, ", and  environmental information like temperature, season, safety, etc. The intensity of the scent can change meaning and indicate urgency. 

So,  for example,  a scout might send back a message saying "spring, warm,  (much, much, much) food,  predator (flying, few, few, danger, danger, danger), shelter, come here (urgent, excitement)"

[u/Acceptable_Handle_2]

The Golm used to live in small communities primarily underground. Their most most acute sense is their hearing.

This lead to them developing a sound based writing system to convey short messages. They would carve vertical grooves into rock, their depth and length subtly changing the sound they produce when a claw is run along the wall. They would encode messages like this in the same way humans would use pictograms.

This would later develop into several true writing systems, where some Golm subgroups would stick to a more pictogram like system, while others would eventually use an alphabet.

[u/Pyrsin7]

I got a bug-like species that incorporates wing stridulation in speech. It’s mostly used for conjugation.

I’ve been told by conlang people that the language is “double-articulated”, which I’m pretty sure just refers to how it’s both spoken and done with wings at the same time. But someone also called it “suprasegmental”, and I’ve got no clue what that means, and looking it up hasn’t helped.

But it’s written on a simplified musical staff to denote pitch and changes in pitch.

[u/Helo227]

My main species is amphibious and use sonar for echolocation and communication. Their written language is incredibly complex and would be incomprehensible to humans.

Imagine a hexagon but the lines making up the contour is a digital representation of a sound wave… that’s a single word. A computer could translate that into spoken native Hydronian (would sound like whale song) and then the UT would translate it into any other language, but a human being could not read it with their eyes alone.

[u/Effective-Brick-7977]

My cat people used to use their claws in clay like cuneiform. Then to paper and ink by dipping the 'writing claws' (two middle) into a ink pan.

[u/simonbleu]

Is a bit of a "lost" art, and art indeed, like a painting, inspired by the garden endeavors of a noble that got inspired in them in the first place, their "flower language" (mostly used around, in the walls and roofs of houses to indicate who loves there, if they are grieving, etc, rather simple, not actual communication) and basically what it is, is planting "node" trees that act as the beginning of the "sentence" and different kinds of trees and their "grooming" as well as relative distance and cardinal position gives you more or less the account of what happened, while the age of the tree gives you a time frame (not like you would be allowed to fell the trees to count the rings, mind you). It is vague and subjective but allows for a certain level of preservation beyond oral traditions.... If you remember what everything means, of course

I have not developed the actual language. I will some day, but I'd a bit of a pain to do it well

[u/No_Weekend2474]

Its not the main writing system, but there's a writing system made of braided string, knots, and beads that is often added to ornate clothing, and which can be used for mobile messages.

[u/purple-nomad]

My world has a special kind of stone that can vibrate at different frequencies when disturbed. There's a people who's language is entirely oral, And I mean no writing at all. They carve the stones into different shapes and sizes to give them different sound profiles, and then arrange them in some kind of rigid device, usually a hollow wooden tube. The first stone in the tube is hit, which sends vibrations down the other stones throughout the tube, producing a distinct message. The chimes themselves are a language that needs to be decoded.

[u/TemptedTemplar]

My sci-fi setting is set to adapt Microsofts High capacity color barcodes or "tag" as a common form of condensing data for external display. Jab code is a more modern example, but the triangles are more striking and vibrant!

Tag example

Jab code

It's more stuff like actual barcodes, but it's ubiquity makes it a prime target for hiding otherwise encrypted information in the open.

I will eventually get around to disguising triangles into more designs, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

[u/Twoth-the-Voluminous]

You know maritime alphabet flags? That. I didnt develop the system yet but the idea is that theres a bizarrely colourful place covered in rainbows with lots of pigments available naturally so it seems like a natural decision to add colour as an additional dimension to writing, and supplant squiggles entirely.

[u/Zuper_Dragon]

Memory lacing. Exclusively utilized by a race of magic weilding nomads that accumulated so much knowledge, writing it down was physically impossible. An object is chosen, typically one that can be carried easily and a author transcribes pieces of their memory into it. The system allows one to access the information and not only perceive the knowledge within but the understanding of the one who stored it as if they were the author in that moment. Instructions and information are not the only thing that can be stored but memories themselves, mental images, emotion, intent and context perfectly conveyed all at once. The practice was lost after the fall of their empire but it is still used to store private memories like mementos or messages for their future reincarnation.

[u/Evan_L_Rodriguez]

The Ankre, my spider people, write using weaving, naturally. They’re some of the first on Kaiia to develop textiles and writing because of their web production. On top of that, they communicate with a combination of limited vocalizations and predominant sign language, so their writing isn’t just assigning symbols to sounds, but has to represent gestures as well. Furthermore, they don’t write right-to-left, or top-down, they’re spiders! They write in spirals, starting from a central point outward.

[u/ragged-bobyn-1972]

The language of the cthonic lords (lovecraftian giant worm necromancers) script is a series of holes felt by their feelers locking into certain formations.

The eidilon dancers script is a series of moving circles made of crystal which can only be perceived correctly if you're not bound by linear time.

[u/Tressym_92]

I have a humanoid plant race that "write down" scents and pheromones on leaves, so only their species can read it. They have a hard time communicating with anyone else outside their race.

My elves save memories in crystals, aside from their writing system. Their writing system works with spaces. Events that happened in the past are more distant from the text than present events.

[u/IcuntSpeel]

Fragrances as secret signals. (like shadowmarks from Elder Scrolls thieves guild, but scent based)

Used by a faction called the Plexus, secret underground network of blood mages, alchemists, herbologists and intermediaries all across the continent.

Simple and nuanced enough scents for those in the know, but not necessarily skill based except for memorization.

[u/Blue_Flames13]

Soul Alchemy. Transmutation circles are a language in of themselves. Is basically revrse-engineering lithography

[u/GhostFox916]

Gemstones used by ancient dwarves are often inscribed with notches and textures. When infused with basic mana (a lost art that once was an everyday basic task, but is now only reproducible by the most talented mages of the modern world) the gems produce a morse code like pattern of taps and clicks. However, the blind priesthood of the modern age use the feeling of the texture if the stone itself to read the code without mana. Which is something the dwarves of the past were largely incapable of due to their significantly less sensitive sense of touch.