Franc Serafin Metelko

Metelko was born in the village of Škocjan in Lower Carniola, then part of the Habsburg monarchy.

In 1825, he published a book in German titled Lehrgebäude der slowenischen Sprache im Königreiche Illyrien und in den benachbarten Provinzen (Slovenian Textbook for the Kingdom of Illyria and Neighboring Provinces).

In addition, Metelko based his phonology on his local Lower Carniolan dialect, which was not acceptable for most contemporary Slovenian authors.

Čop also persuaded the local Austrian educational authorities to ban Metelko's alphabet from schools, which they did with an official decree in 1833.

Metelko's alphabet remained in public memory because of a satirical poem by France Prešeren titled "Al' prav se piše kaa ali kaſha" (How to Write the Word Porridge), which criticized the Alphabet War as nonsense.

Example of Metelko's proposed script: Valentin Stanič 's adaptation of the poem "Der Kaiser und der Abt" by Gottfried August Bürger