Indic writing systems

Indic writing systems
Set of several dozen scripts used now or in the past to write many South and Southeast Asian languages.

Aside from the Kharoshthi (Kharosthi) script, used с 4th century BC–3rd century AD, all extant writing of the region descends from the Brahmi script, first attested in the Middle Indo-Aryan rock inscriptions of Ashoka (3rd century BC). In the first six centuries after Ashoka, Brahmi appears to have diversified into northern and southern variants. The northern types gave rise to the so-called Gupta scripts (4th–5th centuries), which are ultimately the progenitors of the Devanagari script (now used to write Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali), the Bengali and Oriya scripts, and Gurmukhi, the script of the Sikh scriptures, used also for modern Punjabi in India. The southern types gave rise to the Sinhalese, Telugu, and Kannada scripts on the one hand, and to the Pallava script on the other. The latter formed the basis of numerous other scripts, including those of the Tamil and Malayalam languages, a host of Southeast Asian scripts (e.g., those used to write Mon, Burmese, Khmer, Thai, and Lao), and a number of Austronesian languages.

* * *

      those that include the syllabic Kharoṣṭhī and semialphabetic Brāhmī scripts of ancient India. No systems of writing subsequently developed from the Kharoṣṭhī script. Brāhmī, however, is thought to be the forerunner of all of the scripts used for writing the languages of India, Tibet, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia (exceptions include those areas in which native writing systems have been replaced by the Latin or Arabic alphabet or by Chinese).

      A northern form of Brāhmī developed into the Gupta (Gupta script) scripts, from which derived the Tibetan and Khotanese systems. (Khotanese was also influenced by the Kharoṣṭhī script.) From the Tibetan script were derived the writing system of the Lepchā (Rong)—the aboriginal inhabitants of Sikkim, India—and the Passepa writing system of the Chinese Imperial chancery under the Yüan dynasty (1279–1368); the Passepa system is no longer in use.

      A southern form of Brāhmī developed into the Grantha (Grantha alphabet) alphabet, from which in turn the writing systems of the Dravidian (Dravidian languages) languages of southern India (e.g., Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada) as well as the writing systems of the Sinhalese language of Ceylon, the Khmer and Mon languages of Southeast Asia, and the Kavi, or Old Javanese, system of Indonesia were developed. The Thai writing system is thought by scholars to be derived from that of the Khmer (Khmer language), the Burmese and Lao systems from that of Mon (Mon language), and the Buginese and Batak systems of Indonesia from that of Kavi. The scripts used by speakers of the Tai dialects other than Shan and Lao are derived from the Burmese writing system. The ancient Cham inscriptions of the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) speakers who formerly inhabited southern Vietnam are also written in a script of South Indic origin. See also Brāhmī; Grantha alphabet; Gupta script; Kharoṣṭhī.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Dhivehi writing systems — Thaana alphabet The Dhivehi or Divehi writing systems are the different scripts used by Maldivians during their history. The early Maldivian scripts fell into the abugida category, while the more recent Taana has characteristics of both an… …   Wikipedia

  • writing — /ruy ting/, n. 1. the act of a person or thing that writes. 2. written form: to commit one s thoughts to writing. 3. that which is written; characters or matter written with a pen or the like: His writing is illegible. 4. such characters or… …   Universalium

  • Systems — (as used in expressions) BAE Systems Indic writing systems systems analysis systems ecology systems engineering systems programming * * * …   Universalium

  • Writing system — Predominant scripts at the national level, with selected regional and minority scripts. Alphabet Latin Cyrillic Latin Greek …   Wikipedia

  • calligraphy — calligrapher, calligraphist, n. calligraphic /kal i graf ik/, calligraphical, adj. calligraphically, adv. /keuh lig reuh fee/, n. 1. fancy penmanship, esp. highly decorative handwriting, as with a great many flourishes: She appreciated the… …   Universalium

  • Tibeto-Burman languages — Introduction       language group within the Sino Tibetan family (Sino Tibetan languages). At the end of the 20th century, Tibeto Burman languages were spoken by approximately 57 million people; countries that had more than 1 million Tibeto… …   Universalium

  • Indosphere — is a subgrouping of Tibeto Burman languages as defined by linguist James Matisoff, which includes languages that are typologically and morphologically a closeness to Indo Aryan languages. It is commonly used in areal linguistics to contrast with… …   Wikipedia

  • Khmer language — or Cambodian language Mon Khmer language spoken by more than seven million people in Cambodia (where it is the national language), southern Vietnam, and parts of Thailand. Khmer is written in a distinctive script, which, like the writing systems… …   Universalium

  • Tamil language — Dravidian language spoken by more than 63 million people. It is an official language of Tamil Nadu state in India and one of the official languages of Sri Lanka. Large Tamil speaking communities also reside in Malaysia and Singapore, South Africa …   Universalium

  • name — namer, n. /naym/, n., v., named, naming, adj. n. 1. a word or a combination of words by which a person, place, or thing, a body or class, or any object of thought is designated, called, or known. 2. mere designation, as distinguished from fact:… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”