Deseret Alphabet survives.

The Deseret alphabet was is a phonetic alphabet that was created during the late 19th century. It was created by the LDS and intended to replace Latin form script within their community, now suppose that this form of writing took hold in the LDS community, and within the state of Utah. Within Utah its usage is so strong that street signs and buildings often have Deseret Script and Roman Script on their street signs, roads, bridges, and Temples. Often copies of the Book of Mormon are printed only in Deseret Script, most are at least bitext. The bible likewise has also been printed in this text and is in wide use in the mormon community.

Here's the wiki page,and also this a translator page.

Also here's an example.

l .

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.

Well, to begin with, you'd need more Mormon nationalism. Most Mormons were perfectly fine with the Latin alphabet; it was what they were used to, after all. Only an intense hatred of both the American government and it's culture would make them want to switch.

The Deseret alphabet was also extremely expensive; the Wiki article points out that a library composed of stuff written in the Deseret alphabet would cost over a million dollars (in the 1840s/50s, when that was a mind-boggling sum).

I have three (or so) suggestions that would have to be followed to make this work:

1. You have to cause the Utah War to escalate, but have the US government unable to bring too much of the Army to subdue the Mormons. The Mormons would be fantastic at guerrilla warfare (Utah has the right terrain, and the Mormons have sufficient motivation), but even they wouldn't be able to stand against all or even a large portion the US Army. Nationalism seems to increase with successful guerrilla warfare, so would aid the desire to be different from the hated Americans. Look at the Wiki page for the Utah War for ideas on making the Utah War more violent.

2. You have to give the Mormons a great deal of money. And here's the thing; gold won't cut it. The gold will run out, and then the Deseret alphabet will die in it's cradle. Historically, the Mormons managed to prosper (somewhat; they were still pretty poor) from charging a pretty penny for supplies for the gold rushers; I'm thinking you'd need to lengthen the gold rush somehow, or cause a second rush for silver or whatever.

3. Get rid of the LDS support of the White Horse Prophecy. Have Brigham Young denounce it as not being written by Joseph Smith or something. That's one of our biggest ties to American nationalism; we don't see ourselves as a fundamentally different nation, we see ourselves as saviors of the American nation. (which, speaking as an liberal American Mormon, I think this spiritual nationalism is a mite ridiculous). Make the White Horse Prophecy discredited (probably during the height of the escalated Utah War), and you'll lessen patriotism towards the United States.

4. It's not needed, but what might help is cooperation with the Native Americans. If they send their children to Deseret schools, and want to learn Deseret writing, Brigham Young might be able to justify the expense and difficulty of the alphabet by pointing to the "Lamanites" (Book of Mormon term) desire to learn it. Perhaps the Native Americans get into a spat with the American government, and Brigham openly sides with them? Maybe you could even have them help in the Utah War. Side Note; a few Native American chiefs converted to Mormonism; they might be a factor in this.

Hope this helps!

MormonMobster said:

4. It's not needed, but what might help is cooperation with the Native Americans. If they send their children to Deseret schools, and want to learn Deseret writing, Brigham Young might be able to justify the expense and difficulty of the alphabet by pointing to the "Lamanites" (Book of Mormon term) desire to learn it. Perhaps the Native Americans get into a spat with the American government, and Brigham openly sides with them? Maybe you could even have them help in the Utah War. Side Note; a few Native American chiefs converted to Mormonism; they might be a factor in this.

Hope this helps!

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May I expand on this?

If you have at least one of the Native American languages develop a written form with the Deseret alphabet as the default form, that could easily help the Deseret alphabet to survive, with or without the LDS wholescalely adopting it. As with Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, whoever writes that Native American language in Deseret script would soon have their own myths surrounding it as being their own creation.

For example, if we take Navajo as an example, as a major Native American language in the Southwest, in the order of the Deseret script we would possibly have (comparing Navajo phonemes on the right of the list to General American phonemes on the left):

• /i/ - /iː/
• /eɪ/ - /eː/
• /ɑ/ - /ɑː/
• /ɔ/ - /o/
• /oʊ/ - /oː/
• /u/ - does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /õ(ː)/
• /ɪ/ - /ɪ/
• /ɛ/ - /e/
• /æ/ - does not exist in Navajo; letter used instead for /ɑ̃(ː)/
• /ɒ/ - /ɑ/
• /ʌ/ - does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /ĩ(ː)/
• /ʊ/ - does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /ẽ(ː)/
• /aɪ/ - does not exist in Navajo (as Navajo has no diphthongs); Deseret letter used instead to mark high tone
• /aʊ/ - does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter therefore not used
• /w/ - /w/; also marks labialization of previous consonant
• /j/ - /j/
• /h/ - /x~h/
• /p/ - Deseret letter used instead to mark the glottal stop, as well as glottalization of previous consonant or ejectives
• /b/ - /p/
• /t/ - /tʰ/
• /d/ - /t/
• /t͡ʃ/ - /t͡ʃʰ/
• /d͡ʒ/ - /t͡ʃ/
• /k/ - /kʰ/
• /g/ - /k/
• /f/ - sound does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /tɬʰ/
• /v/ - sound does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /tˡ/
• /θ/ - sound does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /tsʰ/
• /ð/ - sound does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /ts/
• /s/ - /s/
• /z/ - /z/
• /ʃ/ - /ʃ/
• /ʒ/ - /ʒ/
• /ɹ/ - sound does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /ɬ/
• /l/ - /l/; Navajo /l/ does not velarize (no Dark L; always Clear L), unlike English /l/
• /m/ - /m/
• /n/ - /n/
• /ŋ/ - sound does not exist in Navajo; Deseret letter used instead for /ɣ/ except before front vowels, where it not used (the letter for /j/ is used instead)

For the most part, in the spirit of the Deseret alphabet originating as a spelling reform of English, Navajo Deseret orthography could therefore be phonemic (popularly referred to as "phonetic") and thus alternations (like the D-effect) would be written out, à la Turkish or Welsh.

So, in this case, let's say that in the 19th century the Navajo - with possible assistance from LDS missionaries, who introduce it - begin writing their language in the Deseret alphabet, within the confines of what I present here (or something different). From there, whether or not the Deseret alphabet survives in Utah, it has basically taken off on its own amongst the Navajo to the point where it becomes their own alphabet for their language.

Some other nations - the Hopi, for example - may adopt the Deseret alphabet, but this time it would be based on their approximation of the original Navajo values, modifying it and adding additional letters as they please. In Hopi, for example, nasal vowels are not found but there are two additional vowels /ɨ/ and /ø/ (of which the Deseret letters for /u/ and /ʌ/, respectively, could be used; or Hopi speakers could invent new letters to represent those sounds). In that sense, the Deseret alphabet could therefore be identified as the script for Native American languages of the Southwest - in the case of OTL happening where Utah abandons the Deseret alphabet but with the TTL situation of the Deseret alphabet thriving amongst Native Americans (particularly the Navajo), the original purpose of the Deseret alphabet would be forgotten (and hence, in that sense, have its current situation as per OTL) as the Deseret alphabet would only be identified with Native Americans.

Thus, in conclusion, here's an adaptation of the OP to express this:

Now suppose that this form of writing took hold in the Navajo community, the wider Southwest Native American community, and within the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Within Utah, Arizona and New Mexico its usage is so strong that street signs and buildings often have Deseret Script (primarily in Navajo, as a major Native American language in those two states, but in other Native American languages as well) and Roman Script (primarily in English) on their street signs, roads, bridges, and Temples. Often copies of the Book of Mormon are printed only in Deseret Script, most are at least bilingual Navajo-English. The bible likewise has also been printed in this text and is in wide use in the Navajo community and the wider Southwest Native American community.

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Amazing, isn't it?

It might be helpful to keep *Utah in the hands of Mexico, so that the latin script they would be running into would be in a language that most of them didn't speak.

Sicarius said:

It might be helpful to keep *Utah in the hands of Mexico, so that the latin script they would be running into would be in a language that most of them didn't speak.

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That in itself still wouldn't ensure the survival of the Deseret Alphabet. Almost every single Latter-Day Saint/Mormon spoke English as their first language. And Mexico wouldn't bother to extend their control to Utah to enforce Castillian Spanish on the Mormons.

Keeping *Utah as technically Mexican territory, however, could help with Deseretan (I hate Deseret, simply because it doesn't work well with adjectives) nationalism.

Another idea; what if Mexico, in a panic during the Mexican-American War, wrangles some sort of deal with the US to release Brigham Young's "State of Deseret" as a partial buffer nation on the grounds that it not be annexed to the United States?

MormonMobster said:

Another idea; what if Mexico, in a panic during the Mexican-American War, wrangles some sort of deal with the US to release Brigham Young's "State of Deseret" as a partial buffer nation on the grounds that it not be annexed to the United States?

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It gets annexed anyway.