Shavian letter Array

Use Keyman for regular Shavian typing.

Keyman is an app that adds keyboard layouts. Add “English (Shavian)” and choose Shaw JAFL, Shaw Imperial, or Shaw QWERTY.

Desktop and phone layouts are listed as of 2026.

What sound does 𐑼 represent?

It represents an unstressed vowel followed by English R.

𐑼 is one Shavian letter for a weak vowel plus R: the sound is like the reduced first vowel in English “about” followed by R. Shavian also has 𐑩 for the weak vowel and 𐑮 for R. The letter covers unstressed sounds, as at the start of “array” and the end of “worker.” English speakers who pronounce R at a syllable’s end say it here; speakers who usually omit that R leave it silent unless a vowel follows.

Shavian is a redesigned alphabet for English, intended to make spelling easier to predict and cheaper to print. Playwright George Bernard Shaw publicly called for a reformed alphabet in 1941. Kingsley Read was experimenting with alphabets and produced an early manual, The Symbol, in the early 1940s. A competition funded by Shaw’s will made Read the sole designer; the 48-letter system was complete by 1960. A side-by-side edition of Shaw’s play Androcles and the Lion appeared in 1962. By 2024, Shavian had made little headway as a replacement for ordinary English spelling, though advocates and users remained.