Gabyrian alphabet

The Gabyrian alphabet is the writing system of the Gabyrian language and various other languages spoken in the Free City of Gabyr, its colonies and sphere of influence. The writing system is halfway between an abjad and an abugida, but is closer to the earlier, as vowel signs are considered optional in most cases. Like in most abugidas, all proper letters are consonants, with vowels being written as diacritics underneath the consonantal letters - however, unlike in abugidas, there is no inherent vowel, and as a matter of fact (just like in all other impure abjads), these diacritics can be left out altogether, leaving vowels unwritten. Words are typically separated by using a colon.

Vocalic diacritics
With the exception of the sign for the schwa and the letter that marks the absence of a vowel, none of the vowel diacritics have an actual name.

In text written in the Gabyrian language (as opposed to other languages using the Gabyrian script) - especially in text largerly devoid of loanwords, foreign names and onomatopoeia - the usage of these vowel-marking diacritics is largerly optional, as native speakers can easily make out the vowels from context alone. In vowelless text, the qarash is used to disambiguate between consonant clusters and two consonants with an unwritten vowel between them - its usage is only mandatory when its absence would cause ambiguity, otherwise it is optional as well. Additionally, it may be used to disambiguate between the semivowels and the corresponding vowels Mater lectionis. In fully vocalized text with all vowels written, the qarash is never used.

Consonant-modifying diacritics

 * The Softi is used to indicate a consonant being "weak":
 * It primarily means that the letters standing for the lenis obstrudents must be pronounced as fricatives  in that context, and  as stops . This is primarily used in loanwords. The combination of this diacritic with the letter for  is used to indicate the voiced labiodental fricative  in loanwords and foreign names.
 * When used after or an "aspirate obstrudent", it indicates that the letter representing said consonant is a silent letter. This is used to indicate both vowel-clusters and word-initial vowels in loanwords and onomatopoeia.
 * Historically, this diacritic was also used in conjunction with the tenuis obstrudents to indicate their mutation to their lenis  or aspirate  counterparts. However, this usage is no longer valid and acceptable, as Gabyrian spellings have been reformed to be more phonetic, with archaic spellings thrown out of the window.
 * The Foshti is used to indicate a consonant being "strong":
 * It primarily means that the letters standing for the lenis obstrudents must be pronounced as stops  in that context, and  as fricatives.
 * When used in conjunction with the tenuis consonants, it is typically used to indicate aspiration . This is almost exclusively used in the transliteration of foreign names and foreign words: in neutralized loanwords, the aspiration is lost, and words are spelled accordingly (without this diacritic).
 * Historically, foshti was used instead of zadash to indicate gemination. There was a transitional period during which the two diacritics were interchangeable, but now they are separate and have two complete different uses.
 * Zadash is used to indicate gemination of consonants. Historically, it was interchangeable with foshti, but that is no longer the case, and the two have clearly divided, separate roles.