Sarati

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Sarati
Type:	Abugida
Languages:	Quenya
Created by	J. R. R. Tolkien	~1919
Time period:	V.Y. 1179-
Parent writing systems:	artificial script Sarati
Child writing systems:	Tengwar
ISO 15924 code:	`Sara`
Image:Sarati ill2.gif
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

Sarati is an artificial script which was created by J. R. R. Tolkien. In his mythology, the Sarati alphabet was invented by Rúmil of Tirion in Valinor. When Fëanor created the later Tengwar script, more ubiquitous both in Middle-earth and in real life, he modeled it after the Sarati. Unlike the Tengwar and Tolkien's other Elvish alphabet, the Cirth, the Sarati is written in several different directions, though the most prominent is from top to bottom. Others are left to right, right to left, and boustrophedon.

As in the later Tengwar, each full character represents a consonant, while vowels are represented with diacritics (called tehtar in the terminology associated with the Tengwar). In the Sarati, vowel signs are written to the left (or sometimes right) of the consonants in vertical writing, above (and sometimes below) in horizontal writing. According to Tolkien, consonants were considered more salient than vowels, and vowels were considered merely modifiers. When writing Quenya, the sign for "a" is usually omitted, as it is the most common vowel in Quenya. This would technically make the Sarati an abugida with an inherent vowel of "a".