Algilez Alphabet & Font
Contents on this page
1 Introduction
1 Why a new alphabet?
Alphabets are intended to enable a language
to be written.
However, languages evolve and change.
Spellings and pronunciations vary over time and regional
accents may differ.
Some languages have adopted existing alphabets from other
languages and modified letters to suit their own pronunciation.
In addition, some characters in the alphabet may not be
clear when handwritten or at very small font sizes.
The result of all this is that letters and
words written using existing alphabets will be pronounced in
different ways, even by speakers of the same language as well as
by different language speakers. There may be some confusion over what a word is, or how
it is pronounced. The learning of a new language can be hindered by requiring
learners to remember different sounds to the alphabet letters
that they already use in their native languages.
Algilez is a new language and it makes
sense to provide a new alphabet, so that the written form is
clear and unambiguous. All of the phonemes (sounds) of Algilez are already found
in English. However the Latin alphabet letters used for English are not all of
common international use. The Algilez alphabet therefore uses a combination of
standard Latin characters, some modified Latin characters and
some new characters.
2 Downloading the Algilez Alphabet Font
2.1 Downloading the font
In order to see text using Algilez Alphabet
characters, it is necessary to download the Algilez Font:-
AlgilezA True Type Font
ã
Use the right mouse button (not the left) and
'Save Target as ...' (MS Internet Explorer) or 'Save Link as
...' (Firefox). This will enable you to copy the file onto your
computer prior to installing.
(Clicking with the left button only gives a preview of
the font and does not enable you to download and install it).
Save the font file into any convenient folder on your computer.
2.2 Installing the font
Windows 7:-
Right click on the font file and select ‘Install’.
Earlier versions of Windows:-
'My Computer > Control Panel (Classic View)> Fonts
Right click on the Font folder and click on ‘Install New Font'.
Open the folder containing the Algilez font file, select it and it will appear in the box.
2.3 Kerning
In order to give the best appearance to the
font, it is necessary to make sure that kerning (automatic
letter spacing) is turned on. This can be done for each style type by:
Windows 7, Microsoft Word 2007:-
‘Home’ tab, click on the little arrow to the right of ‘Font’, select Algilez,
select ‘Character Spacing and tick the checkbox next to Kerning. Select for 8 pts and above.
Earlier versions of Windows and Word:-
1. Format>Style>Modify>
(For Word 2003 go direct to 2)
2. Format>Font>Character Spacing>Kerning for fonts (check)>OK>OK>Apply'
3 The Algilez Alphabet
3.1 General information
The alphabet is composed of a mixture of
normal Latin alphabet symbols, modified Latin symbols and new
symbols. The majority of the symbols (letters, numbers and punctuation
symbols etc) are those in common international use. A few have been slightly modified (but are still
recognisable and similar to Latin symbols) in order to avoid
confusion for different language speakers or to aid clarity when
hand writing.
3.2 Numbers
Sound files for both Apple Quick Time Player (QTP) and for Windows Media Player (WMP) are included.
These enable you to hear the pronunciation of the Algilez characters.
Algilez character |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
Latin character |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
Name |
za |
an |
du |
tri |
før |
fav |
sis |
sev |
ok |
nin |
Here are the Algilez numbers on a sound file:-
Apple QTP
Microsoft WMP
3.3 The Algilez alphabet
ã |
ø |
a |
b |
c |
d |
e |
f |
g |
h |
i |
j |
k |
l |
ã |
ø |
a |
b |
c |
d |
e |
f |
g |
h |
i |
j |
k |
l |
ah |
o(r) |
uh |
be |
che |
de |
eh |
fe |
ge |
he |
ee |
je |
ke |
le |
m |
n |
o |
p |
q |
r |
s |
t |
u |
v |
w |
x |
y |
z |
m |
n |
o |
p |
q |
r |
s |
t |
u |
v |
w |
x |
y |
z |
me |
ne |
o |
pe |
the |
re |
se |
te |
oo |
ve |
we |
she |
ye |
ze |
Here is the whole Algilez alphabet on a sound file:-
Apple QTP
Microsoft WMP
Use the right mouse button (not the left) and
'Save Target as ...' (MS Internet Explorer) or 'Save Link as
...' (Firefox). This will enable you to copy the file onto your
computer prior to installing.
(Clicking with the left button only gives a preview of
the font and does not enable you to download and install it).
Algilez Letter |
Upper Case |
Symbol Name |
IPA symbol |
Latin lower case |
Latin upper case |
ã |
à |
'ah' (car, father)
QTP
WMP |
ɑː |
Control a (=ã) |
Control Shift a (=Ã) |
ø |
Ø |
'o(r)' (fort, saw)
QTP
WMP |
ɔː |
Control
o (=ø) |
Control Shift
o (=Ø) |
a |
A |
'uh' (cut, buck)
QTP
WMP |
Ʌ |
a |
A |
b |
B |
'beh' (bed, tab)
QTP
WMP |
b |
b |
B |
c |
C |
'che' (check, church)
QTP
WMP |
ʧ |
c |
C |
d |
D |
'deh' (den, dead)
QTP
WMP |
d |
d |
D |
e |
E |
'eh' (bet, deaf)
QTP
WMP |
ɛ |
e |
E |
f |
F |
'fe' (fen, deaf)
QTP
WMP |
f |
f |
F |
g |
G |
'ge' (get, Algilez)
QTP
WMP |
g |
g |
G |
h |
H |
'heh' (hem, hot)
QTP
WMP |
h |
h |
H |
i |
I |
'ee' (beat, heap)
QTP
WMP |
iː |
i |
I |
j |
J |
'je' (jet, judge)
QTP
WMP |
ʤ |
j |
J |
k |
K |
'ke' (kettle,
kick)
QTP
WMP |
k |
k |
K |
l |
L |
'le' (let, lull)
QTP
WMP |
l |
l |
L |
m |
M |
'me' (met, mum)
QTP
WMP |
m |
m |
M |
n |
N |
'ne' (net, earn)
QTP
WMP |
n |
n |
N |
o |
O |
'o' (hot, lost)
QTP
WMP |
ɒ |
o |
O |
p |
P |
'pe' (pet, skip)
QTP
WMP |
p |
p |
P |
q |
Q |
'the' (thesaurus, beth)
QTP
WMP |
θ |
q |
Q |
r |
R |
're' (red, ore)
QTP
WMP |
ɹ |
r |
R |
s |
S |
'se' (set, hiss)
QTP
WMP |
s |
s |
S |
t |
T |
'te' (ten, hot)
QTP
WMP |
t |
t |
T |
u |
U |
'oo' (chute, ooze)
QTP
WMP |
u |
u |
U |
v |
V |
've' (vet, cave)
QTP
WMP |
v |
v |
V |
w |
W |
'we' (wet, awake)
QTP
WMP |
w |
w |
W |
x |
X |
'sheh' (shed, wish)
QTP
WMP |
ʃ |
x |
X |
y |
Y |
'ye' (yet, yonder)
QTP
WMP |
j |
y |
Y |
z |
Z |
'ze' (zebra, wizard)
QTP
WMP |
z |
z |
Z |
Note the difference for the Latin alphabet letter ‘a/A’.
It is pronounced like the short ‘u’ in
cut and
buck.
3.4 New alphabet letters and new sounds
Three Latin alphabet letters are changed.
'c' is replaced by ‘c',
pronounced 'ch' (as in cheese, IPA symbol ʧ),
'q' is replaced by ‘q',
pronounced 'the' (as in thesaurus, same IPA symbol) and
'x' is replaced by ‘x',
pronounced 'she' (as in shed, same IPA symbol). When the Algilez Alphabet Font is installed, the c, q and
x keys on your keyboard will produce the new characters.
Two new vowels are added to the Latin
alphabet. The first
vowel is 'ã’
a(r), (pronounced as in far, father) IPA symbol ɑː. The
second is 'ø’
o(r) (pronounced as in fort, saw, IPA symbol ɔː). The Algilez Alphabet Font will
convert ã, Ã,and ø, Ø into those new characters.
A quick way of producing
ã, Ã, ø, Ø is to modify your keyboard using the instructions in
Section 4 below.
Once the Algilez font is installed, the
'ã’
is produced by Control + ‘a’ (which produces ã in conventional
fonts). Upper case
produced in the usual way using Shift, Control, ‘a’, giving Ã.
The 'ø’
character is produced using Control + ‘o’ (which produces ø in
conventional fonts).
Upper case produced in the usual way using Shift,
Control, ‘o’, giving Ø.
4 Changing keyboards to type ã and ø characters
If you wish, you can continue to use
conventional Latin alphabet fonts.
However you will still need to mentally adjust to the new
pronunciations of all of the existing English language vowels
and the new sounds for ‘c’, ‘q’ and ‘x’. I believe that the new
alphabet font will help make this adjustment much easier.
The two new vowels can be indicated instead
by ã and
ø. For people using Microsoft Word, the English Language
keyboard layout can be quickly modified to produce these two new
characters more easily (i.e. with just two keys instead of 3 or
4). This only takes a few seconds and should not affect your normal use of the keyboard.
Go to this link to see the instructions:-
Changing keyboards to type ã and ø characters
Printing and writing Algilez
The Algilez Alphabet Font has been designed
to work down to an 8 pt font size on a computer screen.
This should be small enough for most use.
(Microsoft Word only goes down to 8 pt.
Below 8 pt the font becomes barely legible anyway).
When hand writing, the new symbols (ã, ø, a, i, c, q, x
) may require a little practice until your normal hand writing speed can be attained.
A number of other characters have been
slightly modified to avoid writing overlaps, ambiguity between
characters or to emphasise that the pronunciation will differ
from native languages, but they should still be recognisable as
standard Latin characters:-
g |
j |
l |
o |
u |
v |
w |
y |
1 |
7 |
9 |
g |
j |
l |
o |
u |
v |
w |
y |
1 |
7 |
9 |
All other characters are the same as in the standard Latin
alphabet and which should be in common international use.
6
Upper & Lower Case, Punctuation
In Algilez there are no different upper or
lower case letters.
Initial letters of sentences, proper names and initials (such as
UN etc) are just bolder, larger versions of the lower case
letters. The only
exception might be the lower case ‘s’ which is sometimes written
as ‘¸'.
Algilez:-
Algilez
John Smith:-
John Smiq
AG, UN
AG, UN
Punctuation follows the normal convention for English:-
1. Initial capital letters at the beginning of a sentence, names, initials etc.
2. Full stops (periods) at the end of a sentence, followed by two space gap.
3. Comma at the end of a phrase followed by a one space gap.
4. Comma after millions, thousands etc.
5. One space gap between words and number parts etc.
7
Additional Algilez Symbols
These follow the normal convention for
English language symbols. Standard alternatives are provided for the multiply and
divide signs (x &
÷) which are not normally found on computer keyboards.
Mathematical Symbols
|
×, *
|
om, omez
|
Symbol for multiply (times x or
*).
|
÷, /
|
at, atez
|
Symbol for divide (divided by,
÷ or
/).
|
-
|
lu, luez
|
Symbol for subtract (minus -).
|
+
|
wu, wuez
|
Symbol for addition (plus +).
|
=
|
ek, ekez
|
Symbol for equals (=)
|
Grammatical &
Punctuation Symbols
|
(
|
lefus
|
Symbol for left bracket
|
)
|
retus
|
Symbol for right bracket
|
"
|
pous
|
Symbol for quoted speech mark
|
“
|
pogã
|
Symbol for beginning of quoted speech mark
|
”
|
pofin
|
Symbol for end of quoted speech mark
|
.
|
frasfin
|
Symbol for end of sentence mark
(full stop/period)
|
,
|
fraslãl
|
Symbol for pause, comma
|
8
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
IPA characters are a peculiar set of
modified Latin and other characters e.g.:-
ŋ, ɲ, ɳ,
ʤ, ɘ,
ʧ
Although the symbols often appear in
dictionaries, they are little known outside linguistics or
language teaching.
However they are the only simple way of expressing the majority
of sounds used in different languages.
The three Phonetic Alphabet ‘n’
symbols used above, are obvious variations on the letter ‘n’.
However, things become much more difficult
with characters such as
ʤ, ɘ
& especially
ʧ. Here the
relationship to normal Latin alphabet letters is less clear and
no-one apart from a language expert will know what sounds the
symbols represent.
There are opportunities to provide a
special set of Algilez alphabet letters in order to form symbols
that include all of the sounds expressed by the International
Phonetic Alphabet. Whenever
a different phoneme (sound) needs to be expressed, the nearest
sounding Algilez character can be modified.
The modification can be in the form of an extension to
the character (in order to match the IPA symbol) or a small
circle added to different positions around the outside of an
Algilez alphabet character.
This would be quite distinctive, easily included in fonts
and easily written by hand.
Up to 8 positions would be possible without clashes or
confusion, enabling a wide variety of symbols (and hence sounds)
to be expressed
This would give the additional advantage of allowing those who
are unfamiliar with the IPA to quickly see the similarity
between an new, unfamiliar phonetic symbol and the nearest
Algilez character.
(IPA diacritic marks, which may be needed by linguists, can be
provided in the normal way).
For example, the Algilez character for 'n'
is
n. The nasal
'ng', which is shown by the IPA character
ŋ,
can be produced in the Algilez alphabet as
ŋ.
Other similar 'n' sounds, such as
ɳ
and
ɲ
can be shown by similar
characters e.g.
ɳ and
ɲ.
The Algilez character ‘i’
is one version of the Latin alphabet character ‘i’, (which has
several different pronunciations in English, hence the new
symbol). This can
be modified with the small circle as mentioned above, so that
IPA character ‘ɪ’
becomes ‘ɪ’.
This pronunciation is not used in Algilez but may be
required when writing foreign language names etc.
The same principle applies to all other variations of
characters. The
font modification used is the circular degree symbol, which has
been added to each of the 1/8th positions around the
normal Algilez symbol.
E.g. Н ɦ ʕ ʡ χ ɥ ʢ ħ. The degree circle was chosen as it would be quick to
add when writing by hand and would also be easily recognised.
In other cases, the curved tail, as in
ŋ above could be used.
Another example is the word for China
–
Zhōngguó.
This attempt at phonetical spelling using the Latin
alphabet is not very helpful and few people would achieve the
correct pronunciation by using it.
Algilez uses the native pronunciations for countries and
place names. The
Algilez word for China is therefore Joŋgoa.
The pronunciation of the ‘ŋ’
character might be
difficult for those who don’t know what the character is.
However, it is clearly a variation of the ‘n’
character and if pronounced as that character, the pronunciation
would not be very far out.
This means that readers would be able to make a
reasonable attempt at pronunciation of foreign language words
based on their knowledge of Algilez pronunciation.
The correct pronunciation for the new characters (ŋ)
would hopefully not be hard to learn.
There are several implications for this.
It could mean that any language presently using the Latin
alphabet could be written using a particular subset of the full,
international Algilez alphabet (i.e. one incorporating all of
the sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet).
This would avoid the confusing idiosyncrasies presently
found in many languages due to pronunciations of words being
quite different to their spellings (particularly in languages
such as English and French). It could make the learning of other
second languages much easier since students would see the
Algilez phonetic symbol and be able to see the similarity to
other Algilez characters which would be a guide to the correct
pronunciation should be.
However we have to bear in mind that word recognition may depend
as much on spelling (no matter how idiosyncratic) and that
national culture may require the retention of what might not be
totally logical spelling systems!
It would obviously be counter-productive if an aid to
learning then had to be ‘unlearnt’.
For a complete set of the IPA and the Algilez Alphabet equivalents please go to
Algilez IPA Comparison Chart
9
Development of the Algilez Alphabet and Font
Algilez uses the same pronunciation as English. However the characters
in the Latin alphabet do not all have a standard international
pronunciation and may be pronounced in many different ways (even within
a single language), hence the need for a new alphabet. The Algilez
Alphabet (under its original name ‘Gilo’) was designed in 1999. Recently
(2012) I have reviewed the alphabet and made some major changes. I have
used the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as a guide whenever
possible. The word ‘symbol’ below means any alphabet letter, number or
character.
|
Aims of the
Algilez Alphabet
|
Method to be
used
|
1.
|
To use only
one symbol for each of the phonemes (sounds) of the
Algilez language.
|
There are 27
phonemes in Algilez.
One alphabet symbol per phoneme.
7 vowels, 20
consonants and 1 ‘non-Algilez’ consonant (the ‘th’
sound) used for names etc.
|
2.
|
To provide a
single set of symbols to be used for lower case, upper
case and handwriting.
This is to
avoid the unnecessary burden of learning different
symbols for each case and for handwriting.
|
Lower case
symbols are used as standard, with slightly enlarged and
thickened versions for upper case.
Handwritten symbols are generally identical to
the lower case except for the small joining link lines
from one symbol to the next.
The only exception is the handwritten lower case
‘s’ which is sometimes written as ‘¸’.
The majority
of lower case symbols, are designed to link at baseline
level, where possible, to ease handwriting.
|
3.
|
To use
standard Latin alphabet symbols where they have a common
international use
|
Standard Latin alphabet symbols used for letters b, d,
f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, z
These are recognised by the International Phonetic
Association as being letters that are generally
pronounced the same way in most languages.
Algilez and English both use these standard
pronunciations.
Note: The
one exception is that
‘r’ is
generally ‘trilled’ or ‘rolled’ in many languages.
The IPA ‘r’ represents the trilled version.
The English and Algilez version is represented in
the IPA as ‘ɹ’.
Since either pronunciation is acceptable (i.e.
trilled or non-trilled, it is still clearly a letter
‘r’), I have retained the normal Latin ‘r’.
|
4.
|
To provide
modified Latin characters in the Algilez alphabet, where
there are international variations in the pronunciation
of those Latin characters.
The
modification is intended to remind readers that the
characters should be pronounced the Algilez way and not
as the Latin characters in the speakers native language.
|
I have
modified:
g, j, r, v, w,
y [g,
j, r, v, w, y]
‘g’
pronunciation varies in English - hard in ‘get’ or soft
as in ‘generation’.
There are also international variations.
‘j’ has many
variations internationally.
E.g. German ‘Ja’, would be spelt ‘Ya’ in
English).
‘v’ and ‘w’
sounds in German and other eastern European languages
are different to the English language sounds for those
letters.
‘y’ is little
used outside English and French and has a variety of
different pronunciations.
|
5.
|
To provide new
unique symbols for all vowels (since these vary in
pronunciation within a single language as well as
between different languages)
|
Unique symbols
provided for:
a, e, i, o, u
plus the two new Algilez symbols (ã
& ø).
[a,
e, i, o, u, ã, ø]
The
pronunciation of the five vowel letters in English
varies enormously, due both to normal use of the
language and to regional accents.
To avoid any confusion, the provision of new
symbols requires Algilez speakers to learn the sounds
for all seven vowel symbols (all of which are already
used in English).
|
6.
|
To modify
Latin symbols in order to avoid confusion between ones
of similar style and size
|
I have
slightly modified:
l & m [l,
m]
‘l’ has been
given a ‘tail’ to distinguish it from numeral 1.
‘m’ has a more
rounded top to avoid clashes with ‘r + n’.
|
7.
|
To remove from
the Algilez alphabet those symbols which cannot be used
for a single phoneme
|
I have removed
c, q, x
These have
been replaced by the symbols for the
ch,
th and
sh phonemes
mentioned below..
|
8.
|
To provide new
alphabet symbols for Algilez phonemes which do not exist
in the Latin alphabet
|
I have
provided new symbols for those phonemes [c,
q, x]
which, in English, presently require two
Latin letters:
‘ch’ (as in
church) – ‘c’ is used for this sound in the
Latin alphabet.
‘th’ (as in
Elizabeth) – there are no Algilez words with this
sound but since there are many names containing the
sound, it has been included. – ‘q’ is used in the Latin
alphabet.
‘sh’ (as in
sheep) – ‘x’ is used in the Latin alphabet.
|
9.
|
Standard, international symbols to remain (numbers,
currency symbols, punctuation symbols
etc)
|
Algilez uses those generally accepted international
symbols for numbers, currencies etc.
(Very slight changes to 1, 7 & 9)
[1,
7, 9]
|
10.
|
To provide
alphabet symbols for as many other phonemes as possible,
which are used in other languages, so that proper names
in those languages can be spelt in Algilez.
In the longer
term, the Algilez variations could be used to replace
the present International Phonetic Alphabet (which uses
a variety of Latin and other alphabet symbols).
|
Although not
part of the normal 28 Algilez character alphabet, up to
8 variations of each letter are provided within the
font, each representing a different sound from the IPA.
The font
modification used is the circular degree symbol, which
has been added to each of the 1/8th positions
around the normal Algilez symbol.
The degree circle was chosen as it would be quick
to add when writing by hand and would also be easily
recognised.
For example,
although there is only one IPA sound for ‘t’, there are
7 variations for ‘r’ (in Algilez,
r).
Hence, although a reader might not know the
correct pronunciation for
ɻ, it
would clearly be a variation of ‘r’.
The IPA symbol for that phoneme being ‘ɻ’
which few people would know.
|
11.
|
To provide a modified Latin alphabet as a ‘quick start’
for initial learners of Algilez, particularly those who
are English language speakers.
This has also been done to assist those learners using
mainframe computers (e.g. at school or university) who
may not have the ability to download a new
alphabet/font.
|
Standard Latin alphabet used with additional symbols
ã &
ø
for the two new vowels.
Note: This
still requires Algilez students to learn the correct
Algilez pronunciation for the vowels
a, e, i, o, u
and for the letters
c, q &
x
[a,
e, i, o, u, ã, ø, c, q, x]..
All other letters are pronounced as in English.
|
The font currently used for the Algilez
alphabet is a very simple one (probably equivalent to Ariel or
similar fonts). It
would be possible to have the Algilez alphabet equivalents of
many other fonts which are used for the existing Latin alphabet
such as
Comic,
Old English,
Times New Roman, etc.
10 What is wrong with the Latin Alphabet?
There are two main problems.
One is that it is already too complicated, with upper
case, lower case and handwritten letters which may differ.
The second, more important problem, is that the sounds of
the letters in the Latin alphabet differ between different
languages and even within a single language.
For example in English, the Concise Oxford Dictionary
gives :-
7 different pronunciations of the letter 'a'
6 different pronunciations of the letter 'e'
4 different pronunciations of the letter 'i'
10 different pronunciations of the letter 'o'
4 different pronunciations of the letter 'u'
(31 in total) all differing according to
the context, preceding and following letters and historical
usage. Most books
recognise that English has 12 pure vowels and another 10
diphthongs. If you
compare the pronunciations of Latin letters in some of the major
European languages e.g. English, German, French, Italian and
Spanish, they all differ!
There is not a single Latin letter which has a 100%
constant pronunciation throughout these languages!
There are probably only four Latin letters
that could be considered as having a 'standard' pronunciation by
the majority of (but not all) languages: - d, k, m & p.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
gives a longer list and has assigned the same sounds as used in
English to the Latin letters b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, s, t,
v, w & z. This is
obviously convenient for English speakers but does not take into
account the difficulties that some non-English speakers may
have, when confronted with non-standard pronunciation from their
native languages.
For example, Latin letters ‘v’ and ‘w’ are pronounced by
speakers of German and some other languages, in the way that
English speakers would pronounce ‘f’ and ‘v’.
Although there is a workload involved in
the learning of seven new alphabet letters, the time taken would
be rapidly repaid by the elimination of the confusion resulting
from the multiple sounds possible for conventional Latin
letters. I have
designed the Algilez alphabet to take these differences into
account. The
Algilez alphabet characters therefore fall into a number of
different types:-
1.
Those characters from the Latin
alphabet which in the IPA list are considered common to most
languages:-b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s. t v, w, z, (b,
d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s. t v, w, z)
2.
Characters in the Latin alphabet
list above which need a slight change to reduce confusion or
overlap with other characters, particularly when handwriting:-
l, m, 1, 7, 9, (l,
m, 1, 7, 9)
3.
Other Latin alphabet characters
which may have slightly different pronunciations in some
languages and therefore require a character that is similar but
slightly different to the Latin alphabet:- g, j, v, w, y, (g,
j, v, w, y).
4.
New characters for the Algilez
language (c,
q, x) which replace existing Latin characters which are
not used (c, q, x)
5.
New characters for the two new
Algilez vowels (ã,
ø) and the existing Latin alphabet vowels a, e, i, o & u
(a,
e, i, o &
u).
Algilez
Information : last
revised: 22 May 2019
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