A Guide to Constructed Languages: Writing Systems: Direction

Which direction is your script written in?



First row, all starting points are at the top:

• Left to right
• Right to left
• Left to right, and then right to left
• Right to left, and then left to right

Second row, all starting points are at the bottom:

• Left to right
• Right to left
• Right to left, and then left to right
• Left to right, and then right to left

Third row:

• Starting at the top left, read from top to bottom
• Starting at the top right, read from top to bottom
• Starting at the bottom left, read from bottom to top
• Starting at the bottom right, read from bottom to top

Fourth row:

• Starting at the bottom left, read from bottom to top, then top to bottom
• Reading from the top right, read from top to bottom, then bottom to top
• Reading from the top left, read from top to bottom, then bottom to top
• Starting from the bottom right, read from bottom to top, then top to bottom

Left to right, right to left, and top to bottom are probably the most popular. Left to right, and then right to left, and vice versa, was probably used most popularly by the ancient Egyptians.

You don't have to stick to a linear fashion, however. The Phaistos Disc shows text being written in spiral; though I don't think it was always written in spiral, this is an option.

Handedness and writing supplies may be indicators of which direction the text would naturally flow. In the West, being right handed is most popular, so writing from left to right is the easiest way to write for most people there (it flows better and you are less likely to smudge what you have written).

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EXERCISE

Which direction of writing do you think is most convenient? Which do you think is least convenient? Why?

What other ways of writing could there be? What kinds of people might use such a writing system?