The writing system used for Man of Steel is not an alphabet. Rather, it’s an abugida. Wikipedia has a great concise definition of an abugida: it’s a “writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is secondary. This contrasts with a full alphabet, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent or optional.”

So, consonant symbols form consonant-vowel syllables based on their orientation and certain markings. I have created a chart with all the possible combinations (153 to be exact).

Additional Pronunciation Rules

Pronunciation is pretty straightforward according to the chart below except for the following deviations:

• [ɑ∅] → [ɔ∅]
• [æ∅] → [a∅]
• [ɑɹ] → [oɹ]
• [æɹ] → [aɹ]

…or to put it another way…

• When the vowel [ɑ] is at the end of a word, it changes to [ɔ].
• When the vowel [æ] is at the end of a word, it changes to [a].
• When the vowel [ɑ] appears before the consonant [ɹ], it changes to [o].
• When the vowel [æ] appears before the consonant [ɹ], it changes to [a].