Isogloss - Isographs

Isographs

Just as there are distinguishing features of related languages, there are also distinguishing features of related scripts (for a discussion of writing systems, see The World's Writing Systems).

For example, a distinguishing feature of the ancient Old Hebrew script (i.e., Iron Age Old Hebrew script) is the fact that the letters bet, dalet, 'ayin, and resh do not have an open head, while Aramaic of the same period has open-headed forms. Similarly, the bet of Old Hebrew has a distinctive stance (namely, leans to the right), while the bet of the Aramaic and Phoenician script series has a different stance (namely, both of these lean to the left).

Recently, Christopher Rollston has suggested using the term isograph to designate a feature of the script that distinguishes it from a related script series (e.g., a feature that distinguishes the script of Old Hebrew from Old Aramaic and Phoenician, etc.).

Read more about this topic:  Isogloss