Encounter the Fascinating History of the Deseret Alphabet in Scholars & Saints Season 4 Episode 6

Season 4 Episode 6 – The Deseret Alphabet (feat. Ryan Shosted and Neal Davis)

The Deseret Alphabet is one of the most fascinating, original orthographies to come out of American history. But little research has been done into the exact origins of the alphabet, its religious and cultural significance, and its evolution in the digital era.

Linguist Ryan Shosted and computer language designer Neal Davis deliver the most comprehensive study of the Deseret Alphabet’s history and functionality in their 2026 book The Deseret Alphabet: A Fixed and Unalterable Sound. Shosted and Davis join host Nicholas Shrum on this episode of Scholars & Saints to discuss the contested historiography of the alphabet, probe it’s phoneticization of English and the nature of linguistic representation, explain the orthography’s revival in the digital era, and explore the cultural significance of the alphabet’s use for Mormons, Utahans, and the American West more broadly.

Ryan K. Shosted is a Professor of Linguistics and the Director of the Chin-Woo Kim Phonetics Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he studies phonetics, phonology, Hittite and Cuneiform, as well as the Deseret Alphabet.

Neal Davis is an educator, engineer, and computer language designer. He has previously taught computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and worked as a developer and software engineer for organizations like the Urbit Foundation and Zorp Corp.

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What is Scholars and Saints?

Scholars & Saints is the official podcast of the University of Virginia’s Mormon Studies program, housed in the Department of Religious Studies. Scholars & Saints is a venue of public scholarship that promotes respectful dialogue about Latter-day Saint traditions among laypersons and academics. On this podcast, we dive into the academic study of Mormonism, engage recent and classic scholarship, interview prominent and up-and-coming thinkers in the field and reflect on Mormonism’s relevance to the broader study of religion.

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