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While developing the Ta'agra language, we decided the Khajiit needed a system of writing as unique and interesting as their language. The Ta'agra script was heavily inspired by Arabic, Devanagari (Hindi), and Mongolian scripts. The Ta'agra writing system is written left to right, top to bottom, in a cursive style. Ta'agra does not have upper (majuscule) and lower (minuscule) cases.
In the Ta'agra alphabet (with the exception of "j") each letter makes only one unique sound, classifying it as an alphabetic writing system. In Ta'agra, a single letter is used for "ai", "ay", "ch", "rr", "ss", "sh", and "th" even though these are represented by a pair of letters when written in English.
Letters take on different forms depending on its position in the word (initial, the beginning of a word; medial, within a word; and terminal, ending a word). Some letters have natural breaks in the script (such as "t") and allow a small gap between letters, which is distinguished from a larger space that separates words. These forms of each letter are largely open to personal interpretation and may vary greatly from individual to individual. In fact, artistic modifications and calligraphy are highly praised by the Khajiit and might be considered an expression of the Two Moons Dance.
Ta'agra also includes elemenets of an abugida system. In particular, the vowels for "a", "ai", "ay", and "u" are given equal weight as consonants. The other vowels, however, are expressed more as diacritics. The initial and terminal forms of "e", "i", and "o", are treated as diacritics to the nearest letter. The medial forms of these characters, as well as the character for a glottal stop, are given less weight than a consonant, but nonetheless stand on their own as characters.
LETTERS
English
IPA
Ta'agra Initial
Ta'agra Medial
Ta'agra Terminal
Character Name
Sample
Notes
a
a
aho
"ah"
ai
aɪ
aito
"eye"
ay
e
ayto
"ay"
b
b
beh
ch
t͡ʃ
cho
d
d
doh
e
ɛ
eho
"eh"
f
f
fi
g
g
geh
"guh", never makes a "jay" sound
h
h
hih
i
i
iho
"ee", never sounds like "hit" or "hike"
j
d͡ʒ
*
*
joja
*Special: When "j" is the first letter of a word it always sounds like "job"
j
ʒ
*
joja
*Special: When "j" is not the first letter of a word it always sounds like "vision"
k
k
ket
l
l
lih
m
m
mo
n
n
nin
o
o
ohi
"oh", never sounds like "hot"
p
p
poh
q
q
.
qehi
Similar to K but deeper in the throat
r
r
roh
r's in Ta'agra are trilled (rolled)
rr
r:
arroh
An drawn-out purring form of the single "r"
s
s
sahi
"s", never sounds like "z"
ss
s:
assih
A drawn-out form of the single "s"
sh
ʃ
shari
"sh"
t
t
tef
th
θ
thato
"th", always unvoiced like "bath", never voiced like "bathe"
