Tactile Script

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A Tactile Script is a writing system which is not intended for visual interpretation, but is "read" by touch instead. Some can be read by sight, but that is a side effect or unintended consequence of their design; other such scripts may be designed or used in such a way as to force touch-only interpretation. Such scripts can be either alternative alphabets for blind speakers of a language, or be the only alphabet for a language spoken by a culture or species which is blind or puts a low value on the use of sight.

Tactile scripts for English, circa 1900.

Do not confuse Tactile Scripts with writing systems which transcribe non-oral communication like Telepathy, and which cannot be understood at all by persons or species lacking the relevant means of communication.

Wikipedia, of course, has a small page on the subject.

Compare Alternate Number System.

Examples of Tactile Script include:

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons
  • Illithiad (Monstrous Arcana) introduced Qualith script, fit for the way telepathic creatures think. It usually consists of 4 striated lines flowing on, best read with tentacles. Certain symbols (Creed identifiers) use 6 lines.
  • Forgotten Realms has an Elven tradition of bidding via yulthaari. It's an IOU note in the form of small platinum tube with "writing" on the inside that must be read with one's finger and can't be accidentally read from the outside.

Web Comics

• Schlock Mercenary many-leveled glyphs used by the Oafa includes "touchscript". They are jellyfish-like creatures that resemble a hydrogen blimp with prehensile tentacles dangling from one side.

Real Life

• The most widely known real-world system is the Braille alphabet for blind people, but there are others, such as Moon code. Several such scripts, including Braille and Moon, can be seen in the image above.
• Ameslan and other Signed Language systems can be used as Tactile Scripts for those who are deaf and blind. The best-known example is probably Helen Keller, as seen in The Miracle Worker.
• Perhaps the most extreme real tactile system is Vibratese, created in 1957. Instead of being based around some manner of alphabet embossed into a surface like Braille, it instead used patterns of vibrations for letters, numerals, and presumably punctuation. It never achieved wide usage, and as of the early 21st century has all but disappeared; there is almost no information left on it.