Writing systems in Zacapican

Written language in Zacapican has been shaped by evolution and revolution in methods and usage of scripts over the multi-millennial history of writing in southern Oxidentale. The oldest known system of writing was found in what is now the Zacaco Republic, and has been termed A Script written with a reed stylus cutting lines in clay tablets. This undeciphered writing system, presumed to be an ideographic or syllabic script, has been determined to be the written form of an undiscovered primordial Zacapine language which remains one of the great historical and anthropological mysteries of Zacapican. A later writing form known as Huehuetlacuilolli ("old writing") would be introduced much later through the Nahua migrations of the mid 3rd millenium BCE. Huehuetlacuilolli an archaic mixture of ideographic and logographic glyphs similar to the Mutulese Tz'ib'najal to which it is most likely related. This would be the only writing system in the region for roughly two millennia, and the system through which important writings such as important theological texts of the early polytheist pantheon and the classical codices.

Modern writing in Zacapican, which exists almost entirely in an alphabetic rather than glyphic or syllabary form, dates to the 8th century with the innovation of Aztatlacuilolli better known as Heron script. This was the writing method invented in medieval Angatahuaca for the rapid transcription of messages and speeches delivered by politicians and religious figures in the then minor Cozauist city-state of Aztapamatlan. Heron script was first used as a phonemic writing reform for the Purépecha and later Nahuatl languages, quickly becoming closely intertwined with the rising power of Aztapamatlan and the spread of its Cozauist state religion. As Aztapamatlan expanded, so to was writing in all of the empire's languages reformed into the Heron script from its earlier picto-glyphic nature, helping to cement the political control of Aztapamatlan as the art of reading the pre-Aztapaman histories was rapidly lost often within a single generation of the conquest. The Cozauist religion was likewise transformed by Aztapamatlan, with its holy scriptures being re-codified and standardized through their transliteration into Heron script. Aztatlacuilolli remains the primary script in use in Zacapican as well as those overseas regions which came under Aztapaman and later Zacapine influence, such as Pulacan.

The Latinzation system used to write Nahuatl and other Zacapine languages in the Latin alphabet was developed in the mid 19th century by the Belisarian academic Jose Antonio Severino, and has become known as the Severine system. Latin writing has found increased use in Zacapican in the 19th century since the nation's modernization and the advent of the truly global economy, requiring many Zacapine businesses and institutions to interface with foreign bodies, a process simplified by the Severine latinization system.

Heron Script

Alphabet

Glyph	Letter			Glyph	Letter			Glyph	Letter			Glyph	Letter
𐐀 𐐨	I	/iː/		𐐄 𐐬	O	/oʊ/		𐐈 𐐰	A	/æ/		𐐐 𐐸	H	/h/
𐐤 𐑌	N	/n/		𐐑 𐐹	P	/p/		𐐕 𐐽	Ch	/tʃ/		𐐝 𐑅	S/Soft C	/s/
𐐎 𐐶	W	/w/		𐐞 𐑆	Z	/z/		𐐓 𐐻	T	/t/		𐐢 𐑊	L	/l/
𐐗 𐐿	K/Q/Hard C	/k/		𐐇 𐐯	E	/ɛ/		𐐏 𐐷	Y	/j/		𐐟 𐑇	Sh/X	/ʃ/
𐐣 𐑋	M	/m/		𐐘 𐑀	G	/ɡ/		𐐡 𐑉	R	/r/		𐐖 𐐾	J	/dʒ/
𐐔 𐐼	D	/d/		𐐌 𐐴	Ai	/aɪ/		𐐂 𐐪	Ah	/ɑː/		𐐚 𐑂	V	/v/
𐐒 𐐺	B	/b/		𐐊 𐐲	Uh	/ʌ/		𐐅 𐐭	Oo	/uː/		𐐃 𐐫	Aw	/ɔː/
𐐆 𐐮	Ih	/ɪ/		𐐛 𐑃	Th	/θ/		𐐋 𐐳	Euh	/ʊ/		𐐙 𐑁	F	/f/
Not part of original alphabet; see Versions below

Orthography

A degree of free spelling is inherent to the use of Heron script, allowing for flexible accommodation of the different dialects and languages in Zacapican.

Versions

The original 20 charachters encompasses the full set of phonemes used in the Purépecha language for which the Heron script was first created. Nahuatl uses only 17 of these, encompassing what is known as the Nahuatl-Heron alphabet that lacks the G, R and J letters used by the full Purépecha set. However, Aztapaman colonial adventures in Malaio and later efforts to integrate foreign peoples into Aztapaman society would necessitate the addition of new letters into the script to include phonemes not used in native Zacapine languages but present in Latin or Setswana. These would include the letters B and V, as well as various other phonemes alien to Zacapine language, adding a total of 12 additional letters for a total of 32 letters in the modern version of the script.