1.
Abugida
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This contrasts with a full alphabet, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent, partial, or optional. The terms also contrast them with a syllabary, in which the symbols cannot be split into separate consonants, abugidas include the extensive Brahmic family of scripts of South and Southeast Asia, Semitic Ethiopic scripts, and Canadian Aboriginal syllabics. As is the case for syllabaries, the units of the system may consist of the representations both of syllables and of consonants. For scripts of the Brahmic family, the term akshara is used for the units, abugida as a term in linguistics was proposed by Peter T. Daniels in his 1990 typology of writing systems. Abugidas were long considered to be syllabaries, or intermediate between syllabaries and alphabets, and the term syllabics is retained in the name of Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, other terms that have been used include neosyllabary, pseudo-alphabet, semisyllabary and syllabic alphabet. The formal definitions given by Daniels and Bright for abugida and alphasyllabary differ, some writing systems are abugidas but not alphasyllabaries, an abugida is defined as a type of writing system whose basic characters denotes consonants followed by a particular vowel, and in which diacritics denote other vowels. Bright did not require that an alphabet explicitly represent all vowels, Phagspa is an example of an abugida that is not an alphasyllabary, and modern Lao is an example of an alphasyllabary that is not an abugida, for its vowels are always explicit. This description is expressed in terms of an abugida and this may formally make the system ambiguous, but in practice this is not a problem, for then the interpretation with the never used inherent vowel sound will always be a wrong interpretation. The fundamental principles of an abugida apply to words made up of consonant-vowel syllables, the syllables are written as a linear sequences of the units of the script. If all modifications are by diacritics and all follow the direction of the writing of the letters. However, most languages have words that are more complicated than a sequence of CV syllables, the first complication is syllables that consist of just a vowel. Now, in languages, this issue does not arise. This is common in Semitic languages and in languages of mainland SE Asia, for some languages, a zero consonant letter is used as though every syllable began with a consonant. For other languages, each vowel has a letter that is used for each syllable consisting of just the vowel. These letters are known as independent vowels, and are found in most Indic scripts and these letters may be quite different to the corresponding diacritics, which by contrast are known as dependent vowels. As a result of the spread of writing systems, independent vowels may be used to represent syllables beginning with a glottal stop, the next two complications are sequences of consonants before a vowel and syllables ending in a consonant. The simplest solution, which is not always available, is to break with the principle of writing words as a sequence of syllables and use a unit representing just a consonant. In a true abugida, the lack of marking may result from the diachronic loss of the inherent vowel
2.
Batak languages
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The Batak languages are spoken by Batak of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Historically they were written using Batak script but the Latin script is now used for most writing, there are considered to be two main Batak language groups, Northern Batak and Southern Batak. Simalungun has been considered an intermediary, but more recent studies suggest that it is a part of the Southern Batak group, within Northern Batak, a study noted 76% cognate words between Karo and Batak, 81% with Pakpak, 80% with Simalungun, and 30% with Malay. Karo and Toba Batak are mutually unintelligible, Northern Batak, Pak-Pak Dairi, Karo Southern Batak, Simalungun, Angkola–Batak Mandailing, Batak Toba Mandailing and Angkola are closer related to each other than to Toba. The geographical influences on the Batak languages can be seen in the map to the right, Lake Toba separates the Karo from direct contact with the Toba. http, //unicode-table. com/en/sections/batak/
3.
Proto-Sinaitic script
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It is also referred to as Sinaitic, Proto-Canaanite, Old Canaanite, and Canaanite. The earliest Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions are dated to between the mid-19th and the mid-16th century BC. The principal debate is between an early date, around 1850 BC, and a date, around 1550 BC. The choice of one or the other date decides whether it is proto-Sinaitic or proto-Canaanite, the so-called Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions were discovered in the winter of 1904–1905 in Sinai by Hilda and Flinders Petrie. The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions strongly suggest a date of development of Proto-Sinaitic writing from the mid-19th to 18th centuries BC, the Sinai inscriptions are best known from carved graffiti and votive texts from a mountain in the Sinai called Serabit el-Khadim and its temple to the Egyptian goddess Hathor. The mountain contained turquoise mines which were visited by repeated expeditions over 800 years, many of the workers and officials were from the Nile Delta, and included large numbers of Canaanites who had been allowed to settle the eastern Delta. The date of the inscriptions is placed in the 17th or 16th century BC. Four inscriptions have been found in the temple, on two small statues and on either side of a small stone sphinx. They are crudely done, suggesting that the workers who made them were illiterate apart from this script and they are all very short, most consisting of only a couple of letters, and may have been written by Canaanite caravaners or soldiers from Egypt. They sometimes go by the name Proto-Canaanite, although the term Proto-Canaanite is also applied to early Phoenician or Hebrew inscriptions, the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions were carved on the stone sides of an ancient high-desert military and trade road linking Thebes and Abydos, in the heart of literate Egypt. They are in a wadi in the Qena bend of the Nile, 25°57′N 32°25′E, among dozens of hieratic and hieroglyphic inscriptions. If the latter, h1 and h2 may be graphic variants rather than different consonants, some scholars think that the רב rb at the beginning of Inscription 1 is likely rebbe, and that the אל ʾl at the end of Inscription 2 is likely ʾel god. Brian Colless has published a translation of the text, in some of the signs are treated as logograms or rebuses Excellent banquet of the celebration of ʿAnat. ʾEl will provide plenty of wine and victuals for the celebration and we will sacrifice to her an ox and a prime fatling. This interpretation fits into the pattern in some of the surrounding Egyptian inscriptions, according to the alphabet hypothesis, the shapes of the letters would have evolved from Proto-Sinaitic forms into Phoenician forms, but most of the names of the letters would have remained the same. Below is a table showing selected Proto-Sinaitic signs and the correspondences with Phoenician letters. Also shown are the values, names, and descendants of the Phoenician letters. The Other section shows the corresponding Archaic Greek, Modern Greek, Etruscan, abjad Byblos syllabary Ugaritic script Albright, Wm. F
4.
Phoenician alphabet
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The Phoenician alphabet, called by convention the Proto-Canaanite alphabet for inscriptions older than around 1050 BC, is the oldest verified alphabet. The Phoenician alphabet is an abjad consisting of 22 letters, all consonants and it was used for the writing of Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language, used by the civilization of Phoenicia. The Phoenician alphabet is derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs and it became one of the most widely used writing systems, spread by Phoenician merchants across the Mediterranean world, where it evolved and was assimilated by many other cultures. The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was derived from Phoenician. Another derivative script is the Aramaic alphabet, which was the ancestor of the modern Arabic script, the Modern Hebrew script is a stylistic variant of the Aramaic script. The Greek alphabet was derived from Phoenician. Phoenician was usually written from right to left, although there are texts written in boustrophedon. The earliest known inscriptions are the so-called Proto-Sinaitic script sporadically attested in the Sinai and in Canaan in the late Middle. The script was not widely used until the rise of new Semitic kingdoms in the 13th and 12th centuries BC, the Phoenician alphabet is a direct continuation of the Proto-Canaanite script of the Bronze Age collapse period. Beginning in the 9th century BC, adaptations of the Phoenician alphabet -- such as Greek, Old Italic, Anatolian, and the Paleohispanic scripts -- were very successful. This simple system contrasted with the scripts in use at the time, such as cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Another reason for its success was the trading culture of Phoenician merchants. Phoenician inscriptions have been found in sites at a number of former Phoenician cities and colonies around the Mediterranean, such as Byblos. Later finds indicate earlier use in Egypt, Phoenician had long-term effects on the social structures of the civilizations that came in contact with it. As mentioned above, the script was the first widespread phonetic script and its simplicity not only allowed it to be used in multiple languages, but it also allowed the common people to learn how to write. The Phoenician alphabet was first uncovered in the 17th century, and it was at first believed that the script was a direct variation of Egyptian hieroglyphs. This idea was popular due to the recent decipherment of hieroglyphs. However, scholars could not find any link between the two writing systems, nor to hieratic or cuneiform, the theories of independent creation ranged from the idea of a single man conceiving it, to the Hyksos people forming it from corrupt Egyptian
5.
Aramaic alphabet
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The ancient Aramaic alphabet is adapted from the Phoenician alphabet and became distinctive from it by the 8th century BCE. It was used to write the Aramaic language and had displaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet for the writing of Hebrew, the letters all represent consonants, some of which are also used as matres lectionis to indicate long vowels. Rather, it is a different type, the earliest inscriptions in the Aramaic language use the Phoenician alphabet. Over time, the alphabet developed into the form shown below, Aramaic gradually became the lingua franca throughout the Middle East, with the script at first complementing and then displacing Assyrian cuneiform, as the predominant writing system. Imperial Aramaic was highly standardised, its orthography was based more on historical roots than any spoken dialect and was influenced by Old Persian. Both were in use through the Achaemenid Persian period, but the cursive form steadily gained ground over the lapidary, the Aramaic script would survive as the essential characteristics of the Iranian Pahlavi writing system. A group of 30 Aramaic documents from Bactria has been recently discovered, an analysis was published in November 2006. The texts, which were rendered on leather, reflect the use of Aramaic in the 4th century BC in the Persian Achaemenid administration of Bactria, the widespread usage of Achaemenid Aramaic in the Middle East led to the gradual adoption of the Aramaic alphabet for writing Hebrew. Formerly, Hebrew had been using an alphabet closer in form to that of Phoenician. After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the unity of the Imperial Aramaic script was lost, the Hebrew and Nabataean alphabets, as they stood by the Roman era, were little changed in style from the Imperial Aramaic alphabet. A cursive Hebrew variant developed from the early centuries AD, the Old Turkic script is generally considered to have its ultimate origins in Aramaic, in particular via the Pahlavi or Sogdian alphabets, as suggested by V. Thomsen, or possibly via Karosthi. Aramaic is also considered to be the most likely source of the Brahmi script, ancestor of the Brahmic family of scripts, today, Biblical Aramaic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects and the Aramaic language of the Talmud are written in the Hebrew alphabet. Syriac and Christian Neo-Aramaic dialects are written in the Syriac alphabet, Mandaic is written in the Mandaic alphabet. The near-identity of the Aramaic and the classical Hebrew alphabets caused Aramaic text to be mostly in the standard Hebrew script in scholarly literature. In Maloula, one of few surviving communities in which a Western Aramaic dialect is still spoken and they started to use the Syriac alphabet instead. In Aramaic writing, Waw and Yodh serve a double function, originally, they represented only the consonants w and y, but they were later adopted to indicate the long vowels ū and ī respectively as well. In the latter role, they are known as matres lectionis or mothers of reading. Ālap, likewise, has some of the characteristics of a mater lectionis because in initial positions, it indicates a glottal stop, among Jews, the influence of Hebrew often led to the use of Hē instead, at the end of a word
6.
Brahmi script
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Brahmi is the modern name given to one of the oldest writing systems used in South and Central Asia from the 1st millennium BCE. Brahmi is an abugida that thrived in the Indian subcontinent and uses a system of marks to associate vowels with consonant symbols. It evolved into a host of other scripts that continue in use, Brahmi is related to the ancient Kharosthi script, which was used in what is now eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kharosthi died out in ancient times, the best-known Brahmi inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dating to 250–232 BCE. The script was deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, Brahmi was at one time referred to in English as the pin-man script, that is stick figure script. Thence the name was adopted in the work of Georg Bühler. The Gupta script of the 5th century is sometimes called Late Brahmi, the Brahmi script diversified into numerous local variants, classified together as the Brahmic scripts. Dozens of modern scripts used across South Asia have descended from Brahmi, one survey found 198 scripts that ultimately derive from it. The script was associated with its own Brahmi numerals, which provided the graphic forms for the Hindu–Arabic numeral system now used through most of the world. The Brahmi script is mentioned in the ancient Indian texts of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, for example, the Lipisala samdarshana parivarta lists 64 lipi, with the Brahmi script starting the list. The Lalitavistara Sūtra states that young Siddhartha, the future Buddha, mastered philology, Brahmi and other scripts from Brahmin Lipikara, a shorter list of eighteen ancient scripts is found in the texts of Jainism, such as the Pannavana Sutra and the Samavayanga Sutra. These Jaina script lists include Brahmi at number 1 and Kharoshthi at number 4 but also Javanaliya, while the contemporary Kharosthi script is widely accepted to be a derivation of the Aramaic alphabet, the genesis of the Brahmi script is less straightforward. Salomon reviewed existing theories in 1998, while Falk provided an overview in 1993, an origin in Semitic scripts has been proposed by some scholars since the publications by Albrecht Weber and Georg Bühlers On the origin of the Indian Brahma alphabet. The most disputed point about the origin of the Brahmi script has long been whether it was an indigenous development or was borrowed or derived from scripts that originated outside India. Most scholars believe that Brahmi was likely derived from or influenced by a Semitic script model, however, the issue is not settled due to the lack of direct evidence and unexplained differences between Aramaic, Kharosthi and Brahmi. Virtually all authors accept that regardless of the origins, the degree of Indian development of the Brahmi script in both the form and the structure has been extensive. It is also accepted that theories of Vedic grammar probably had a strong influence on this development. In contrast, some reject the idea of foreign influence
7.
Pallava alphabet
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The Pallava script, a Brahmic script, was developed under the Pallava dynasty of Southern India around the 6th century AD. The form shown here is based on examples from the 7th century AD, letters labeled * have uncertain sound value, as they have little occurrence in Southeast Asia. Each consonant has an inherent /a/, which will be sounded if no vowel sign is attached, if two consonants follow one another without intervening vowel, the second consonant is made into a subscript form, and attached below the first. Sivaramamurti, C, Indian Epigraphy and South Indian Scripts, bulletin of the Madras Government Museum. Chennai 1999 Media related to Pallava script at Wikimedia Commons Examples of Pallava at SkyKnowledge. com
8.
Kawi script
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Aksara Kawi is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia from the 8th century to around 1500 AD. Kawi is the ancestor of traditional Indonesian scripts, such as Javanese and Balinese, Kawi is derived from the Pallava script mentioned by scholars of Southeast Asian studies such as George Coedès and D. G. E. Hall as the basis of several writing systems of Southeast Asia. The Pallava script was used to write middle Tamil. The earliest known texts in Kavi date from the Singhasari kingdom in eastern Java, the more recent scripts were extant in the Majapahit kingdom, also in eastern Java, Bali, Borneo and Sumatra. The scripts are abugidas, meaning that characters are read with an inherent vowel, diacritics are used, either to suppress the vowel and represent a pure consonant, or to represent other vowels. The literary genre written in this alphabet is called Kakawin, a well-known document written in Kawi is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, found in 1989 in Laguna de Bay, in the metroplex of Manila, Philippines. Baybayin Hanunóo script Tagbanwa alphabet Buhid script Filipino orthography Vatteluttu - TAMIL Tiongson, Jaime F. Laguna copperplate inscription, a new interpretation using early Tagalog dictionaries
9.
Balinese script
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With some modifications, the script is also used to write the Sasak language, used in the neighboring island of Lombok. The script is a descendant of the Brahmi script, and so has similarities with the modern scripts of South. The Balinese script, along with the Javanese script, is considered the most elaborate and ornate among Brahmic scripts of Southeast Asia, the script is mainly used today for copying lontar or palm leaf manuscripts containing religious texts. There are 47 letters in the Balinese script, each representing a syllable with inherent vowel /a/ or/ə/ at the end of a sentence, which changes depending on the diacritics around the letter. Pure Balinese can be written with 18 consonant letters and 9 vowel letters, while Sanskrit transliteration or loan words from Sanskrit, a set of modified letters are also used for writing the Sasak language. Each consonant has a form called gantungan which nullifies the inherent vowel of the previous syllable. Punctuation includes a comma, period, colon, as well as marks to introduce, musical notation uses letter-like symbols and diacritical marks in order to indicate metrical information. Text are written left to right without word boundaries, There is also a set of holy letters called aksara modre which appears in religious texts and protective talismans. Most of them are constructed using diacritic ulu candra with corresponding characters, a number of additional characters, known to be used inline in text, remains under study and those characters are expected to be proposed as Balinese extensions in due course. A basic letter in Balinese is called aksara, and each letter stands for a syllable with inherent vowel /a/, consonants are called wianjana or aksara wianjana. Balinese script has 33 consonants, however only 18 consonants called wreṣāstra are used for writing basic vocabulary in Balinese language, the rest consonants are, known as sualalita, mainly used for writing Sanskrit and Kawi loanwords in Balinese language. The consonants can be arranged into Sanskrit order and hanacaraka traditional order, the consonants can be arranged in hanacaraka traditional order. The sequence forms a poem of 4 verses narrating the myth of Aji Saka, however, the hanacaraka sequence only has the 18 consonants of aksara wreṣāstra and exclude aksara sualalita. However, this table below include aksara sualalita as the current romanization have no diacritics for the consonants, as other Brahmic scripts, consonants in Balinese script can be arranged into Sanskrit order. Thus, Balinese script had been influenced by Shiksha, the table below uses Sanskrit order. They are, in order, ha na ca ra ka / da ta sa wa la / ma ga ba nga / pa ja ya nya. ^2 The consonant ha is sometimes not pronounced. For example, ᬳᬸᬚᬦ᭄ hujan is pronounced ujan. ^3 The exact form of ca laca is unknown because only the form is left. Vowels, called suara or aksara suara, can be written as independent letters when vowels appear in initial position
10.
Baybayin
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Baybayin, known in Visayan as badlit, and known in Ilocano as kur-itan/kurditan, is an ancient Philippine script derived from Brahmic scripts of India and first recorded in the 16th century. It continued to be used during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines up until the late 19th century, the alphabet is well known because it was carefully documented by Catholic clergy living in the Philippines during the colonial era. The term baybay literally means to spell in Tagalog, Baybayin was extensively documented by the Spanish. Some have incorrectly attributed the name Alibata to it, but that term was coined by Paul Rodríguez Verzosa after the arrangement of letters of the Arabic alphabet, other Brahmic scripts used currently among different ethnic groups in the Philippines are Buhid, Hanunóo, Kulitan and Tagbanwa. Many of these writing systems descended from ancient alphabets used in India over 2000 years ago, although Baybayin does share some, there is no evidence that it is this old nor is there evidence that it is recent. The Archives of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, one of the largest archives in the Philippines, currently possesses the biggest collection of extant ancient Baybayin alphabets in the world. A Baybayin bill, House Bill no.4395 and Senate Bill 1899 and it was refiled in the 17th Congress of the Philippines through Senate Bill 433 in 2016. It aims to declare Baybayin, wrongfully known as Alibata, as the script of the Philippines. The bill mandates to put a Baybayin translation under all business, the writing system being pursued by the bill is a modernized version of the Baybayin which incorporates the common segments of numerous indigenous writing forms throughout the country. The system is a nationalistic approach due to its comprehensive range. Baybayin was noted by the Spanish priest Pedro Chirino in 1604 and Antonio de Morga in 1609, to be known by most Filipinos, and was generally used for personal writings, poetry, etc. According to William Henry Scott, there were some datus from the 1590s who could not sign affidavits or oaths, there is no data on when this level of literacy was first achieved, and no history of the writing system itself. There are at least six theories about the origins of Baybayin, the Kawi script originated in Java, and was used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia. It is a document, and has inscribed on it a date of Saka era 822. One hypothesis therefore reasons that, since Kawi is the earliest attestation of writing on the Philippines, a second example of Kawi script can be seen on the Butuan Ivory Seal, though it has not been dated. An earthenware burial jar, called the Calatagan Pot, found in Batangas is inscribed with characters similar to Baybayin. However, its authenticity has not yet been proven, many of the writing systems of Southeast Asia descended from ancient scripts used in India over 2000 years ago. The shapes of the characters bear a slight resemblance to the ancient Kavi script of Java, Indonesia
1
5
4
6
(used in Mandailing)
^2 
^3 
^4 
^5 
^6 
) and H (
) are usually written above spacing vowel diacritics instead of above the base character.
ping, 
pong, 
peh, and 
pih.
