View source for Abugida

{{Short description|Syllable-based writing system}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
[[File:Phrase sanskrit.svg|thumb|300px|Comparison of various abugidas descended from [[Brahmi script]]. [[Sanskrit]] for, ''May [[Shiva|Śiva]] protect those who take delight in the language of the gods.'' ([[Kalidasa]])]]
{{Contains special characters|Ethiopic}}
{{Contains special characters|Indic}}
{{Contains special characters|Canadian}}
{{Contains special characters|Javanese}}
{{Contains special characters|Bengali}}

An '''abugida''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɑː|b|uː|ˈ|ɡ|iː|d|ə|,_|ˌ|æ|b|-|audio=En-Abugida-pronunciation.ogg}};<ref>{{cite Dictionary.com|abugida}}</ref> from [[Geʽez]]: {{lang|gez|አቡጊዳ}}, {{transliteration|gez|'äbugīda}})—sometimes also called an '''alphasyllabary''', '''neosyllabary''', or '''pseudo-alphabet—'''is a segmental [[Writing systems#Segmental writing system|writing system]] in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a [[consonant]] letter, and [[vowel]] notation is secondary, like a [[diacritical mark]]. This contrasts with a full [[alphabet]], in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an [[abjad]], in which vowel marking is absent, [[Abjad#Impure abjads|partial]], or optional. In less formal contexts, all three types of script may be termed "alphabets".{{r|Bright}} The terms also contrast them with a [[syllabary]], in which a single symbol denotes the combination of a consonant and a vowel.

Related concepts were introduced independently in 1948 by [[James Germain Février]] (using the term {{Lang|fr|néosyllabisme}})<ref name= "Février1948">{{cite book|last=Février|first=James Germain|author-link=James Germain Février|title=Histoire de l'écriture|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HkhNAQAAIAAJ|year=1948| publisher= Payot|pages=333–83|chapter=Le Néosyllabisme}}</ref> and [[David Diringer]] (using the term ''semisyllabary''),<ref name= "Diringer1948">{{cite book|last=Diringer|first=David|author-link= David Diringer|title=The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1287|year=1948 |publisher=Philosophical Library|page =601 (index)}}</ref> and in 1959 by [[Fred Householder]] (introducing the term ''pseudo-alphabet'').<ref>Householder, F. (1959). [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3294984 Review of The Decipherment of Linear B by John Chadwick], The Classical Journal, 54(8), 379–83. Retrieved 30 September 2020.</ref> The [[Ethiopian Semitic languages|Ethiopic]] term "abugida" was chosen as a designation for the concept in 1990 by [[Peter T. Daniels]].<ref>Daniels, P. (1990). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/602899 Fundamentals of Grammatology]. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 110(4), 727–31. doi:10.2307/602899: "We must recognize that the West Semitic scripts constitute a third fundamental type of script, the kind that denotes individual consonants only. It cannot be subsumed under either of the other terms. A suitable name for this type would be "alephbeth," in honor of its Levantine origin, but this term seems too similar to "alphabet" to be practical; so I propose to call this type an "abjad," ''[Footnote: I.e., the alif-ba-jim order familiar from earlier Semitic alphabets, from which the modern order alif-ba-ta-tha is derived by placing together the letters with similar shapes and differing numbers of dots. The abjad is the order in which numerical values are assigned to the letters (as in Hebrew).]'' from the Arabic word for the traditional order of its script, which (unvocalized), of course, falls in this category... There is yet a fourth fundamental type of script, a type recognized over forty years ago by James-Germain Fevrier, called by him the "neosyllabary" (1948, 330), and again by Fred Householder thirty years ago, who called it "pseudo-alphabet" (1959, 382). These are the scripts of Ethiopia and "greater India" that use a basic form for the specific syllable consonant + a particular vowel (in practice always the unmarked a) and modify it to denote the syllables with other vowels or with no vowel. Were it not for this existing term, I would propose maintaining the pattern by calling this type an "abugida," from the Ethiopian word for the auxiliary order of consonants in the signary."</ref><ref name=Bright/> Faber suggested "segmentally coded syllabically linear phonographic script"; [[William O. Bright]] used the term ''alphasyllabary'';<ref>Amalia E. Gnanadesikan (2017) Towards a typology of phonemic scripts, Writing Systems Research, 9:1, 14–35, DOI: 10.1080/17586801.2017.1308239 "The second is that of Bright (1996, 1999) which follows Daniels in abjads and alphabets (Bright, 1999), but identifies instead of abugidas a category of alphasyllabaries. As Bright (1999) points out, the definition of abugida and the definition of alpha-syllabary differ. This fact alone suggests that at least one of the two classifications is either incomplete or inaccurate—or, at the very least, that they have two different purposes. This paper is intended as a (long-delayed) response to Bright (1999) and argues that both of these systems are in fact incomplete."</ref><ref>Peter T. Daniels, [https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc60.pdf Littera ex occidente: Toward a Functional History of Writing], in Studies in Semitic and Afroasiatic Linguistics presented to Gene B. Gragg edited by Cynthia L. Miller pages 53–69: "Alongside the terms I rejected (neosyllabary [Février 1948], pseudo-alphabet [Householder 1959], semisyllabary [Diringer 1948], and alphasyllabary [Bright 1992]) because they imply exactly the notion I am trying to refute – that the abugida is a kind of alphabet or a kind of syllabary – I have just come across semialphabet in the Encyclopœdia Britannica Micropœdia (though what is intended by the distinction "the syllabic KharoœøÏ [sic] and semialphabetic BrΩhmÏ" [s.v. "Indic Writing Systems"] is unfathomable). W. Bright denies having devised the term alphasyllabary, but it has not yet been found to occur earlier than his 1992 encyclopedia (in 1990:136 he approved semisyllabary). Compare Daniels 1996b:4 n. * and Bright 2000 for the different conceptualizations of abugida and alphasyllabary: functional vs. formal, as it happens. The words abjad and abugida are simply words in Arabic and Ethiopic, respectively, for the ancient Northwest Semitic order of letters, which is used in those languages in certain functions alongside the customary orders in Arabic reflecting rearrangement according to shape, and in Ethiopic reflecting an entirely different letter-order tradition"</ref> and Gnanadesikan and Rimzhim, Katz, & Fowler suggested ''aksara'' or ''āksharik''.<ref>Amalia E. Gnanadesikan (2017) Towards a typology of phonemic scripts, Writing Systems Research, 9:1, 14–35, DOI: 10.1080/17586801.2017.1308239 "This type of script has been given many names, among them semi-alphabet (Diringer, 1948, referring to Brāhmī), semi-syllabary (Diringer, 1948, referring to Devanāgarī) or semi-syllabic script (Baker, 1997), syllabic alphabet (Coulmas, 1999), alphasyllabary (Bright, 1996, 1999; Trigger, 2004), neosyllabary (Daniels, 1990), abugida (Daniels, 1996a) and segmentally coded syllabically linear phonographic script (Faber, 1992) as well as the Sanskrit-inspired terms aksara system (Gnanadesikan, 2009) or āksharik script (Rimzhim, Katz, & Fowler, 2014). As is discussed further below, however, there is a considerable degree of typological diversity in this family of scripts."</ref>

Abugidas include the extensive [[Brahmic scripts|Brahmic family of scripts]] of Tibet and South and Southeast Asia; [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] Ethiopic scripts; and [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]]. As in syllabaries, the writing system's units may consist of representations of both syllables and consonants. For scripts of the Brahmic family, the term ''[[akshara]]'' is used for the units.

==Etymology==
In several languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea, ''abugida'' traditionally meant letters of the Ethiopic or [[Geʽez script]] in which many of these languages are written. The Geʽez script is one of several segmental writing systems; others include [[Brahmic script|Indic/Brahmic scripts]] and [[Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics]]. The word ''abugida'' derives from the letters ''{{'}}ä, bu, gi,'' and ''da'', in much the same way that ''[[abecedary]]'' derives from the Latin letters ''a be ce de'', ''[[abjad]]'' derives from the [[Arabic]] ''a b j d'', and ''[[alphabet]]'' derives from the two first letters in the [[Greek alphabet]], ''alpha'' and ''beta''. ''Abugida'' as a term in linguistics was proposed by [[Peter T. Daniels]] in his 1990 [[Linguistic typology|typology]] of [[writing system]]s.<ref name="Daniels">{{cite journal|jstor=602899|doi=10.2307/602899|title=Fundamentals of Grammatology|first=Peter T.|last=Daniels|date=Oct–Dec 1990|volume=119|issue=4|pages=727–731 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society}}</ref>

==Terminology==
As Daniels used the word, an abugida contrasts with a [[syllabary]], where letters with shared consonant or vowel sounds have no particular resemblance. Furthermore, an abugida contrasts with an [[alphabet]] proper, where independent letters denote consonants and vowels. The term ''alphasyllabary'' was suggested for the Indic scripts in 1997 by [[William O. Bright]], following South Asian linguistic usage, to convey that "they share features of both alphabet and syllabary."<ref>He describes this term as "formal," i.e., more concerned with the graphic arrangement of symbols, whereas ''abugida'' was "functional," putting the focus on sound–symbol correspondence. However, this is not a distinction made in the literature.</ref><ref name=Bright/>

The formal definitions given by Daniels and Bright for abugida and alphasyllabary differ; some writing systems are abugidas but not alphasyllabaries, and some are alphasyllabaries but not abugidas. An abugida is defined as "a type of writing system whose basic characters denote consonants followed by a particular vowel, and in which diacritics denote other vowels".<ref name=WWS_glossary/> (This "particular vowel" is called the ''inherent'' or ''implicit'' vowel, as opposed to the ''explicit'' vowels marked by the diacritics.)<ref name=WWS_glossary/>

An alphasyllabary is defined as "a type of writing system in which the vowels are denoted by subsidiary symbols, not all of which occur in a linear order (with relation to the consonant symbols) that is congruent with their temporal order in speech".<ref name=WWS_glossary/> Bright did not require that an alphabet explicitly represent all vowels.<ref name=Bright/> [[ʼPhags-pa script|ʼPhags-pa]] is an example of an abugida because it has an [[inherent vowel]], but it is not an alphasyllabary because its vowels are written in linear order. Modern [[Lao alphabet|Lao]] is an example of an alphasyllabary that is not an abugida, for there is no inherent vowel and its vowels are always written explicitly and not in accordance to their temporal order in speech, meaning that a vowel can be written before, below, or above a consonant letter, while the syllable is still pronounced in the order of a consonant-vowel combination (CV).

==General description==
The fundamental principles of an abugida apply to words made up of consonant-vowel (CV) syllables. The syllables are written as letters in a straight line, where each syllable is either a letter that represents the sound of a consonant and its inherent vowel or a letter modified to indicate the vowel. Letters can be modified either by means of [[diacritic]]s or by changes in the form of the letter itself. If all modifications are by diacritics and all diacritics follow the direction of the writing of the letters, the abugida is not an alphasyllabary. But most languages have words that are more complicated than a sequence of CV syllables, even ignoring tone.

The first complication is syllables that consist of just a vowel (V). In some languages, a [[zero consonant]] letter is used as though every syllable began with a consonant. In others, each vowel has a separate letter that is used for each syllable consisting of just the vowel. These are known as ''independent vowels'' and are found in most Indic scripts. They may be quite different from the corresponding diacritics, 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]], even for non-initial syllables.

The next two complications are [[consonant cluster]]s before a vowel (CCV) and syllables ending in a consonant (CVC). 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 letter representing just a consonant (C). This [[Syllable#Coda|final consonant]] may be represented by:
*a modification of the final letter that explicitly indicates the lack of a vowel ([[virama]]),
*a lack of vowel marking on the letter (often with ambiguity between no vowel and a default [[inherent vowel]]),
*vowel marking on the letter for a short or neutral vowel such as ''[[schwa]]'' (with ambiguity between no vowel and that short or neutral vowel), or
*a visually unrelated letter.

In a true abugida, the lack of distinctive vowel marking of the letter may result from the diachronic loss of the inherent vowel, e.g. by [[syncope (phonology)|syncope]] and [[apocope]] in [[Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages|Hindi]].

When not separating syllables containing consonant clusters (CCV) into C + CV, these syllables are often written by combining the two consonants. In Indic scripts, the earliest method was simply to arrange them vertically, writing the second consonant of the cluster below the first. The two consonants may also merge as [[Typographic ligature|conjunct consonant]] letters, where two or more letters are graphically joined in a [[Typographic ligature|ligature]], or otherwise change their shapes. Rarely, one of the consonants may be replaced by a gemination mark, e.g. the [[Gurmukhi]] ''[[Gurmukhi alphabet#Gemination|addak]]''.

When arranged vertically, as in [[Burmese alphabet|Burmese]] or [[Khmer alphabet|Khmer]], they are said to be "stacked". Often there has been a change to writing the two consonants side by side. In the latter case, this combination may be indicated by a diacritic on one of the consonants or a change in the form of one of the consonants, e.g. the [[Devanagari#Conjunct consonants|half forms]] of [[Devanagari]]. Generally, the reading order of stacked consonants is top to bottom, or the general reading order of the script, but sometimes the reading order is reversed.

The division of a word into syllables for the purposes of writing does not always accord with the language's natural phonetics. For example, Brahmic scripts commonly handle a phonetic sequence CVC-CV as CV-CCV or CV-C-CV, but sometimes phonetic CVC syllables are handled as single units, and the final consonant may be represented:
*in much the same way as the second consonant in CCV, e.g. in the [[Tibetan alphabet|Tibetan]]{{citation needed|reason=This is the condensed, single-stack style, not the usual multi-stack style|date=January 2016}}, [[Khmer alphabet|Khmer]]<ref name="TUS_Khmer_VC"/> and [[Tai Tham alphabet|Tai Tham]]<ref name=Tai_Tham_Unicode_Proposal/> scripts. <!-- Full stop is **after** reference because the final reference refers only to Tai Tham. The list of names has now been sandwiched by 'the ... scripts' to prevent the reference for Tai Tham being taken to apply to the whole sentence. --> The positioning of the components may be slightly different, as in Khmer and Tai Tham.
*by a special dependent consonant sign, which may be a smaller or differently placed version of the full consonant letter, or may be a distinct sign altogether.
*not at all. For example, repeated consonants need not be represented, homorganic nasals may be ignored, and in [[Baybayin]] and [[Makasar script]], the syllable-final consonant was traditionally never represented.<ref name=WWS_Insular_SEA/><!-- p476 -->

More complicated unit structures (e.g. CC or CCVC) are handled by combining the various techniques above.

'''Examples using the [[Devanagari]] script'''
* ''K'' = /ka/ = [[File:devnag ka.png]]
* ''Ki'' = /ki/ = [[File:devnag ki.png]]
* ''K*'' = /k/ = [[File:devnag k.png]] (with a ''[[Halant]]'' [[File:devnag halant.png]] under the character)
* ''K*M'' = /kma/ = [[File:devnag kma.png]]
* ''İK'' = /ika/ = [[File:devnag ika.png]]
* ''İK*'' = /ik/ = [[File:devnag ik.png]]
* ''İKi'' = /iki/ = [[File:devnag iki.png]]
* etc.

==Family-specific features==
There are three principal families of abugida, distinguished by whether vowels are indicated by modifying consonants by ''diacritics, distortion,'' or ''orientation.''<ref>John D. Berry (2002:19) ''Language Culture Type''</ref>
*The oldest and largest is the [[Brahmic scripts|Brahmic]] family of India and Southeast Asia, in which vowels are marked with [[diacritic]]s and syllable-final consonants, when they occur, are indicated with [[Typographic ligature|ligatures]], diacritics, or with a special [[virama|vowel-canceling mark]].
*In the [[Geʽez script]], vowels are marked by modifying the shapes of the consonants, and one of the vowel-forms serves additionally to indicate final consonants.
*In [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]], vowels are marked by rotating or flipping the consonants, and final consonants are indicated with either special diacritics or superscript forms of the main initial consonants.

[[Lao script|Lao]] and [[Tāna]] have dependent vowels and a zero vowel sign, but no inherent vowel.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Feature!!North Indic!!South Indic!!Tāna!!Ethiopic!!Canadian Aboriginal
|-
|Vowel representation<br>after consonant||colspan="3"|Dependent sign (diacritic)<br>in distinct position per vowel||Fused diacritic||Rotate/reflect
|-
|Initial vowel<br>representation||Distinct inline<br>letter per vowel{{efn|group=exc|name=IVNI}}||colspan="2"|[[Glottal stop]] or [[zero consonant]]<br>plus dependent vowel{{efn|group=exc|name=IVSEA|Pali in the Burmese, Khmer and Tai Tham scripts uses independent vowels instead, and they are also used in loan words in the local languages. The Cham script also uses both independent vowels and glottal stop consonant plus dependent vowel.<ref name=Cham_Unicode_Proposal/> In all three cases, the glottal stop letter is the same as the independent vowel letter for the inherent vowel. Conversely, the [[Lontara]] script of [[Sulawesi]] uses zero consonant plus vowel.}}||Glottal stop<br>plus dependent||[[Zero consonant]]<br>plus dependent
|-
|[[Inherent vowel]]<br>(value of no vowel sign)||colspan="2"|{{IPA|[ə]}}, {{IPA|[ɔ]}}, {{IPA|[a]}}, or [[Bengali alphabet|{{IPA|[o]|cat=no}}]]{{efn|group=exc|name=INHSEA}}||No||{{IPA|[ɐ]<ref name=WWS_Ethiopic/>}}||N/A
|-
|[[Virama|Zero vowel sign]]<br>(sign for no value)||Often||Colspan="2"|Always used when<br>no final vowel{{efn|group=exc|name=VRMSEA}}||Ambiguous with ə ({{IPA|[ɨ]}})||Shrunk or separate letter{{efn|group=exc|name=VRMCAN}}
|-
|[[Conjunct consonant|Consonant cluster]]|| [[Devanagari#Conjunct consonants|Conjunct]]{{efn|group=exc|name=CLUNI}}||Stacked or separate{{clarify|reason="Does 'separate' allow modification to inidicate the formation of a conjunct?|date=January 2016}}{{efn|group=exc|name=CLUSI}}||colspan="3"|Separate
|-
|Final consonant (not sign)||colspan="2"|Inline{{efn|group=exc|name=FCI}}||colspan="2"|Inline||Inline
|-
|Distinct final sign||colspan="2"|Only for [[anusvara|ṃ]], [[visarga|ḥ]]{{efn|group=exc|name=DFVAR}}{{efn|group=exc|name=DFSI}}||colspan="2"|No||Only in [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics#Eastern and western syllabics|Western]]
|-
|Final sign position||Inline or top||Inline, top or occasionally bottom||colspan="2"|N/A||Raised or inline{{clarify|reason=In talk, there is the implication that signs can be lowered. Perhaps best to leave as 'Inline'.|date=January 2016}}
|-
|colspan="6"|
; Exceptions

{{notelist|group=exc|refs=
<!-- Notes that include formal references must be defined at a referring point, not here! -->
{{efn|group=exc|name=IVNI|Tibetan, [[Róng]] and [[Kharoṣṭhī]] use the glottal stop or zero consonant plus dependent vowel.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=INHSEA|Lao has no inherent vowel – it is an alphasyllabary but not an abugida. There is also a Thai-script Pali orthography which has no inherent vowel.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=VRMSEA|The Thai, Lao, Tai Viet, Tai Tham and Khmer scripts often or always use the plain letter for word-final consonants, and normally do not use a zero vowel sign. However, the Thai script regularly uses it for Pali and Sanskrit.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=VRMCAN|Deviations include omissions{{citation needed|reason=Sole evidence is discussion on Qalam|date=January 2016}} and systematic use of i-forms{{citation needed|reason=Sole evidence is a claim in the talk page|date=January 2016}}.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=CLUNI|Often separate and unmodified as a result of [[Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages|syncope]]. Also, as a legitimate font fall-back, can occur as side-by-side consonants modified only by the inclusion of a virama.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=CLUSI|Tamil and Lao have conjuncts formed from straightforward ligation of side by side consonants. Burmese and Tai Tham have a few conjuncts.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=FCI|Tibetan and Khmer occasionally and Tai Tham regularly write final consonants below the rest of the akshara. This practice is the origin of the Lao letter ຽ U+0EBD LAO SEMIVOWEL SIGN NYO, and a similar sign may be found in Javanese. Tai Tham may also write several final consonants above the rest of the akshara. The Rónɡ script writes final consonants above the rest of the akshara, except that final /ŋ/ ''precedes'' the rest. The Philippine scripts do not represent final consonants.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=DFVAR|The symbol for ṃ represents the sound for /m/ or /ŋ/ in some languages, and the symbol for ḥ may represent a ɡlottal stop or even /k/. Not all scripts have these symbols.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=DFSI|Tai Tham has superscript and subscript signs for final /k/. Javanese and related scripts have a superscript symbol for final /r/, though it is ultimately related to the normal letter for /r/.}}
}}

|-
|}

===Indic (Brahmic)===
{{see also|Brahmic scripts}}

Indic scripts originated in [[India]] and spread to [[Southeast Asia]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]], [[Tibet]], [[Mongolia]], and [[Russia]]. All surviving Indic scripts are descendants of the [[Brahmi alphabet]]. Today they are used in most languages of [[South Asia]] (although replaced by [[Perso-Arabic]] in [[Urdu]], [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], and some other languages of [[Pakistan]] and [[India]]), mainland [[Southeast Asia]] ([[Myanmar]], [[Thailand]], [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]], and [[Vietnam]]), [[Tibet]] ([[Tibetan script|Tibetan]]), the [[Indonesia]]n archipelago ([[Javanese script|Javanese]], [[Balinese script|Balinese]], [[Sundanese script|Sundanese]], [[Batak script|Batak]], [[Lontara script|Lontara]], [[Rejang alphabet|Rejang]], [[Ulu scripts|Rencong]], [[Makasar script|Makasar]], etc.), [[Philippines]] ([[Baybayin script|Baybayin]], [[Buhid script|Buhid]], [[Hanunuo script|Hanunuo]], [[Kulitan script|Kulitan]], and [[Tagbanwa script|Aborlan Tagbanwa]]), and [[Malaysia]] ([[Ulu scripts|Rencong]]).

The primary division is between North Indic scripts, used in Northern India, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia, and Russia, and Southern Indic scripts, used in [[South India]], [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Southeast Asia]]. South Indic letter forms are more rounded than North Indic forms, though [[Odia script|Odia]], [[Golmol script|Golmol]] and [[Litumol script|Litumol]] are rounded. Most North Indic scripts' full letters incorporate a horizontal line at the top, except in [[Gujarati script|Gujarati]] and Odia; South Indic scripts do not.

Indic scripts indicate vowels through dependent vowel signs (diacritics) around the consonants, often including a sign that explicitly indicates the lack of a vowel. If a consonant has no vowel sign, this indicates a default vowel. Vowel diacritics may appear above, below, to the left of, to the right of, or around the consonant.

The most widely used Indic script is [[Devanagari]], shared by [[Hindi]], [[Bihari languages|Bihari]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Nepali language|Nepali]], and often [[Sanskrit]]. A basic letter such as [[Devanagari ka|क]] in Hindi represents a syllable with the default vowel, in this case ''ka'' ({{IPA|[kə]}}). In some languages, including Hindi, it becomes a final closing consonant at the end of a word, in this case ''k''. The inherent vowel may be changed by adding vowel marks ([[diacritic]]s), producing syllables such as कि ''ki'', कु ''ku'', के ''ke'', को ''ko''.

[[Image:Rigveda MS2097.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A 19th-century manuscript in the [[Devanagari script]]]]
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Diacritic placement in Brahmic abugidas
! position
! syllable
! pronunciation
! base form
! script
|-
| above || के || {{IPA|/keː/}} || rowspan=4 | क {{IPA|/k(a)/}} || rowspan=4 | [[Devanagari]]
|-
| below || कु || {{IPA|/ku/}}
|-
| left || कि || {{IPA|/ki/}}
|-
| right || को || {{IPA|/koː/}}
|-
| around || கௌ || {{IPA|/kau̯/}} || rowspan="2" | க {{IPA|/ka/}} || rowspan="2" | [[Tamil script|Tamil]]
|-
|within
|கி
|/ki/
|-
| surround || កៀ || {{IPA|/kie/}} || ក {{IPA|/kɑː/}} || [[Khmer alphabet|Khmer]]
|-
| within || ಕಿ || {{IPA|/ki/}} || ಕ {{IPA|/ka/}} || [[Kannada alphabet|Kannada]]
|-
| within || కి|| {{IPA|/ki/}} || క {{IPA|/ka/}} || [[Telugu alphabet|Telugu]]
|-
| below and extend<br>to the right || ꦏꦾ || {{IPA|/kja/}} || rowspan="2" | ꦏ {{IPA|/ka/}} || rowspan="2" | [[Javanese script|Javanese]]
|-
| below and extend<br>to the left || ꦏꦿꦸ || {{IPA|/kru/}}
|}

In many Brahmic scripts, a syllable beginning with a cluster is treated as a single character for purposes of vowel marking, so a vowel marker like ि ''-i,'' falling before the character it modifies, may appear several positions before the place where it is pronounced. For example, the game [[cricket]] in [[Hindi]] is क्रिकेट {{transliteration|hi|ISO|krikeṭ}}; the diacritic for {{IPA|/i/}} appears before the [[consonant cluster]] {{IPA|/kr/}}, not before the {{IPA|/r/}}. A more unusual example is seen in the [[Batak alphabet]]: the syllable ''bim'' is written ''ba-ma-i-(virama)''. That is, the vowel diacritic and virama are both written after the consonants for the whole syllable.

In many abugidas, there is also a diacritic to suppress the inherent vowel, yielding the bare consonant. In Devanagari, प् is ''p'', and फ् is ''ph''. This is called the ''[[virāma]]'' or ''halantam'' in Sanskrit. It may be used to form [[consonant cluster]]s or to indicate that a consonant occurs at the end of a word. Thus in Sanskrit, a default vowel consonant such as फ does not take on a final consonant sound. Instead, it keeps its vowel. For writing two consonants without a vowel in between, instead of using diacritics on the first consonant to remove its vowel, another common method of special [[conjunct]] forms is used in which two or more consonant characters are merged to express a cluster, as in Devanagari's अप्फ ''appha''. (Some fonts display this as प् followed by फ, rather than forming a conjunct. This expedient is used by [[ISCII]] and South Asian scripts of [[Unicode]].) Thus a closed syllable such as ''phaṣ'' requires two ''aksharas'' to write: फष् ''phaṣ''.

The [[Róng]] script used for the [[Lepcha language]] goes further than other Indic abugidas, in that a single ''akshara'' can represent a closed syllable: Not only the vowel but any final consonant is indicated by a diacritic. For example, the syllable [sok] would be written as something like s̥̽, here with an underring representing {{IPA|/o/}} and an overcross representing the diacritic for final {{IPA|/k/}}. Most other Indic abugidas can indicate only a very limited set of final consonants with diacritics, such as {{IPA|/ŋ/}} or {{IPA|/r/}}, if they can indicate any at all.

===Ethiopic===
[[Image:Ethiopic genesis (ch. 29, v. 11-16), 15th century (The S.S. Teacher's Edition-The Holy Bible - Plate XII, 1).jpg|thumb|The Geʽez script, an abugida of [[Eritrea]] and [[Ethiopia]]]]
In [[Geʽez script]], ''fidels'' (individual "letters" of the script) have diacritics that are fused with the consonants to the point that they must be considered modifications of the form of the letters. Children learn each modification separately, as in a syllabary; nonetheless, the graphic similarities between syllables with the same consonant are readily apparent, unlike in a true [[syllabary]].

Though now an abugida, the Geʽez script, until the advent of [[Christianity]] (c. AD [[350]]), was what would now be termed an ''[[abjad]]''. In the Geʽez script (or ''fidel''), the letter's base form (also called ''fidel'') may be altered. For example, ሀ ''hä'' {{IPA|[hə]}} (base form), ሁ ''hu'' (with a right-side diacritic that does not alter the letter), ሂ ''hi'' (with a subdiacritic that compresses the consonant, so it is the same height), ህ ''hə'' {{IPA|[hɨ]}} or {{IPA|[h]}} (where the letter is modified with a kink in the left arm).

===Canadian Aboriginal syllabics===
<!--[[Image:Lci.gif]] an inscription of [[Old Kawi]] found in the [[Philippines]]-->

In the family known as [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]], which was inspired by [[Devanagari script]], vowels are indicated by changing the orientation of the [[syllabogram]]. Each vowel has a consistent orientation; for example, [[Inuktitut]] ᐱ ''pi'', ᐳ ''pu'', ᐸ ''pa''; ᑎ ''ti'', ᑐ ''tu'', ᑕ ''ta''. Although a vowel is inherent in each, all rotations have equal status and none can be identified as basic. Bare consonants are indicated either by separate diacritics or by superscript versions of the ''aksharas''; there is no vowel-killer mark.

== Borderline cases ==

===Vowelled abjads===
Abjads are typically written without indication of many vowels, but in some contexts, such as teaching materials or [[scripture]]s, [[Arabic]] and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] are written with full indication of vowels via diacritic marks (''[[harakat]]'', ''[[niqqud]]''), making them effectively alphasyllabaries.

<!-- Not best place to mention Thaana since not an abjad
[[Thaana]] is similar, with all vowels marked with diacritics, and no inherent vowel. However, the absence of a vowel is also marked with a diacritic, as in many Indic abugidas. Thaana developed among a population that was already literate in an Indic abugida.
-->
The Arabic scripts used for [[Sorani Kurdish|Kurdish]] in Iraq and for [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]] in [[Xinjiang]], China, as well as the Hebrew script of [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], are fully vowelled, but because the vowels are written with full letters rather than diacritics (with the exception of distinguishing between /a/ and /o/ in the latter) and there are no inherent vowels, these are considered alphabets, not abugidas.

The Arabic script used for [[Azerbaijani Alphabet#Azerbaijani Arabic alphabet|South Azerbaijani]] generally writes the vowel /æ/ (written as ə in North Azerbaijani) as a diacritic but all other vowels as full letters (like Kurdish and Uyghur). This means that when no vowel diacritics are present (most of the time), it technically has an inherent vowel. But like the Phagspa and Meroitic scripts, whose status as abugidas is controversial (see below), all other vowels are written in-line. Additionally, the practice of explicitly writing all-but-one vowel does not apply to loanwords from Arabic and Persian, so the script does not have an inherent vowel for Arabic and Persian words. The inconsistency of its vowel notation makes it difficult to categorize.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.azeri.org/Azeri/az_arabic/azturk_standard.pdf|website=azeri.org|title=Standard Azeri|access-date=7 May 2023}}</ref>

===Phagspa===
The imperial Mongol script called [['Phags-pa script|Phagspa]] was derived from the Tibetan abugida, but all vowels are written in-line rather than as diacritics. However, it retains the features of having an inherent vowel /a/ and having distinct initial vowel letters.

===Pahawh===
[[Pahawh Hmong]] is a non-segmental script that indicates [[syllable onset]]s and [[syllable rime|rime]]s, such as consonant clusters and vowels with final consonants. Thus it is not segmental and cannot be considered an abugida. It superficially resembles an abugida with the roles of consonant and vowel reversed. Most syllables are written with two letters in the order rime–onset (typically vowel-consonant) even though they are pronounced as onset-rime (consonant-vowel), rather like the position of the {{IPA|/i/}} vowel in Devanagari, which is written before the consonant. Pahawh is also unusual in that, while an inherent rime {{IPA|/āu/}} (with mid tone) is unwritten, it also has an inherent onset {{IPA|/k/}}. For the syllable {{IPA|/kau/}}, which requires that one of the inherent sounds be overt, it is {{IPA|/au/}} that is written. Thus the rime (vowel) is basic to the system.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

===Meroitic===
Drawing a dividing line between abugidas and other [[segment (linguistics)|segmental]] scripts can be difficult. For example, the [[Meroitic script]] of ancient [[Sudan]] does not indicate an inherent ''a'' (one symbol stood for both ''m'' and ''ma,'' for example) and is thus similar to Brahmic family of abugidas. But other vowels were indicated with full letters, not diacritics or modification, so the system is essentially an alphabet that does not bother to write the most common vowel.

===Shorthand===
Several systems of [[shorthand]] use diacritics for vowels, but do not have an inherent vowel, and are thus more similar to [[Thaana]] and [[Kurdish alphabet|Kurdish script]] than to Brahmic scripts. The [[Gabelsberger shorthand]] system and its derivatives modify the ''following'' consonant to represent vowels. The [[Pollard script]], which was based on shorthand, also uses diacritics for vowels; the placements of the vowel relative to the consonant indicate [[tone (linguistics)|tone]]. [[Pitman shorthand]] uses straight strokes and quarter-circle marks in different orientations as the principal "alphabet" of consonants; vowels are shown as light and heavy dots, dashes, and other marks in one of three possible positions to indicate the various vowel-sounds. To increase writing speed, Pitman has rules for "vowel indication"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitmanshorthand.homestead.com|title=The Joy of Pitman Shorthand|website=pitmanshorthand.homestead.com}}</ref> using the positioning or choice of consonant signs so that writing vowel-marks can be dispensed with.

== Development ==
As the term ''alphasyllabary'' suggests, abugidas have been considered<ref>{{cite journal | last=Bright | first=William | title=A Matter of Typology: Alphasyllabaries and Abugidas | journal=Written Language and Literacy | date=1999 | url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/4818937.pdf | access-date=2024-08-06 | page=65}}</ref> an intermediate step between alphabets and [[syllabary|syllabaries]]. Historically, abugidas appear to have evolved from [[abjad]]s (vowelless alphabets).{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} They contrast with syllabaries, where there is a distinct symbol for each syllable or consonant-vowel combination, and where these have no systematic similarity to each other, and typically develop directly from [[logogram|logographic scripts]]. Compare the examples above to sets of syllables in the Japanese [[hiragana]] syllabary: か ''ka'', き ''ki'', く ''ku'', け ''ke'', こ ''ko'' have nothing in common to indicate ''k''; while ら ''ra'', り ''ri'', る ''ru'', れ ''re'', ろ ''ro'' have neither anything in common for ''r'' nor anything to indicate that they have the same vowels as the ''k'' set.

Most Indian and Indochinese abugidas appear to have developed from abjads with the [[Kharoṣṭhī]] and [[Brāhmī script]]s; the abjad in question is usually considered the [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] one, but while the link between Aramaic and Kharosthi is more or less undisputed, this is not so with Brahmi. The Kharosthi family does not survive today, but Brahmi's descendants include most of the modern scripts of [[South Asia|South]] and [[Southeast Asia]].

The Geʽez script derives from a different abjad, the [[Sabaean language#Script|Sabean script]] of [[Yemen]]; the advent of vowels coincided with the introduction or adoption of Christianity about AD 350.<ref name="WWS_Ethiopic" /> The Ethiopic script is the elaboration of an abjad.

The [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics#History|Cree syllabary]] was invented with full knowledge of the Devanagari system.

The [[Meroitic script]] was developed from [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], in which various schemes of "group writing"<ref name=Hoch_Semitic/> were used to show vowels.

== List of abugidas ==
{{See also|List of writing systems}}
{{Div col}}
*[[Brahmic family]], descended from [[Brāhmī script|Brāhmī]] ({{Circa|4th century BC}})
**[[Ahom alphabet|Ahom]]
**[[Assamese alphabet|Assamese]]
**[[Balinese alphabet|Balinese]]
**[[Batak script|Batak]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Toba Batak language|Toba]] and other [[Batak (Indonesia)|Batak]] languages
**[[Baybayin]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Ilocano language|Ilocano]], [[Pangasinan language|Pangasinan]], [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], [[Bikol languages]], [[Visayan languages]], and possibly other [[Philippine languages]]
**[[Bengali alphabet|Bengali]]<ref>{{cite web |title=ScriptSource – Bengali (Bangla) |url=https://www.scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Beng |website=scriptsource.org |access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref>{{spaced ndash}}[[Bengali language|Bengali]]
**[[Bhaiksuki alphabet|Bhaiksuki]]
**[[Brāhmī script|Brahmi]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Sanskrit]], [[Prakrit]]
**[[Buhid alphabet|Buhid]]
**[[Burmese alphabet|Burmese]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Karen languages]], [[Mon language|Mon]], and [[Shan language|Shan]]
**[[Chakma alphabet|Chakma]]
**[[Cham alphabet|Cham]]
**[[Devanagari]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Hindi]], Sanskrit, [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Nepali language|Nepali]], [[Konkani language|Konkani]] and other languages of northern India
**[[Maldivian writing systems|Dhives Akuru]]
**[[Grantha alphabet|Grantha]]{{spaced ndash}}Sanskrit
**[[Gujarati script|Gujarati]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Gujarati language|Gujarāti]], [[Kachchi language|Kachchi]]
**[[Gurmukhi script]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
**[[Hanunó'o alphabet|Hanunó’o]]
**[[Javanese alphabet|Javanese]]
**Kaganga{{spaced ndash}}[[Lampung script|Lampung]], [[Rencong alphabet|Rencong]], [[Rejang alphabet|Rejang]]
**[[Kaithi]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Bhojpuri language|Bhojpuri]] and other languages of northern and eastern India
**[[Kannada script|Kannada]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Kannada]], [[Tulu language|Tulu]], [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Kodava language|Kodava]]
**[[Kalinga script]]
**[[Kawi script|Kawi]]
**[[Khmer alphabet|Khmer]]
**[[Khojki]]
**[[Saka language|Khotanese]]
**[[Khudabadi script|Khudawadi]]
**[[Kolezhuthu]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Malayalam]]
**[[Kulitan alphabet|Kulitan]]
**[[Lao alphabet|Lao]]
**[[Leke script|Leke]]
**[[Lepcha alphabet|Lepcha]]
**[[Limbu alphabet|Limbu]]
**[[Lontara alphabet|Lontara']]{{spaced ndash}}[[Buginese language|Buginese]], [[Makassar language|Makassar]], and [[Mandar language|Mandar]]
**[[Mahajani]]
**[[Malayalam script|Malayalam]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Malayalam]]
**[[Malayanma]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Malayalam]]
**[[Marchen script|Marchen]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Zhang-Zhung language|Zhang-Zhung]]
**[[Meithei script|Meetei Mayek]]
**[[Modi alphabet|Modi]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Marathi language|Marathi]]
**[[Multani alphabet|Multani]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Saraiki language|Saraiki]]
**[[Nandinagari]]{{spaced ndash}}Sanskrit
**[[Nepal script|Newar]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Nepal Bhasa]], Sanskrit
**[[New Tai Lue alphabet|New Tai Lue]]
**[[Odia script|Odia]]
**[[Pallava script]]{{spaced ndash}}Tamil, Sanskrit, various [[Prakrit]]s
**[[Phagspa script|Phags-pa]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Mongolian language|Mongolian]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], and other languages of the Yuan dynasty [[Mongol Empire]]
**[[Ranjana script|Ranjana]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Nepal Bhasa]], Sanskrit
**[[Śāradā script|Sharada]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Sanskrit]]
**[[Siddham script|Siddham]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Sanskrit]]
**[[Sinhala script|Sinhala]]
**[[Saurashtra alphabet|Sourashtra]]
**[[Soyombo script|Soyombo]]
**[[Sundanese script|Sundanese]]
**[[Sylheti Nagri]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Sylheti language]]
**[[Tagbanwa script|Tagbanwa]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Palawan languages]]
**[[Tai Dam language|Tai Dam]]
**[[Tai Le alphabet|Tai Le]]
**[[Tai Tham script|Tai Tham]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Khün language|Khün]], and [[Northern Thai language|Northern Thai]]
**[[Takri alphabet|Takri]]
**[[Tamil script|Tamil]]
**[[Telugu script|Telugu]]
**[[Thai alphabet|Thai]]
**[[Tibetan alphabet|Tibetan]]
**[[Tigalari alphabet|Tigalari]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Sanskrit]], [[Tulu language|Tulu]]
**[[Tirhuta]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Maithili language|Maithili]]
**[[Tocharian script|Tocharian]]
**[[Vatteluttu]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Malayalam]]
**[[Zanabazar square script|Zanabazar Square]]
**[[Zhang-Zhung language|Zhang zhung]] scripts
*[[Kharoṣṭhī]], from the 3rd century BC
*[[Meroitic alphabet|Meroitic]]
*[[Geʽez script]], from the 4th century AD
*[[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]]
**[[Cree syllabics|Cree]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics|Ojibwe syllabics]]
**[[Blackfoot language#Syllabic writing system|Blackfoot syllabics]]
**[[Carrier syllabics]]
**[[Inuktitut syllabics]]
*[[Pollard script]]
*[[Pitman shorthand]]
*[[Xiao'erjing]]
*[[Ditema tsa Dinoko]]

=== Fictional ===
*[[Tengwar]]
*Ihathvé Sabethired<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/ihavsabeired.htm|title=Ihathvé Sabethired|website=omniglot.com}}</ref>

===Abugida-like scripts===
*[[Meroitic script|Meroitic]] (an alphabet with an inherent vowel) – [[Meroitic language|Meroitic]], [[Old Nubian]] (possibly)
*[[Thaana]] (abugida with no inherent vowel)
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Cham_Unicode_Proposal>{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Everson |author-link=Michael Everson |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06257-n3120-cham.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06257-n3120-cham.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Proposal for encoding the Cham script in the BMP of the UCS|date=2006-08-06 |publisher=Unicode Consortium}}</ref>

<ref name=Tai_Tham_Unicode_Proposal>{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Everson |author-link=Michael Everson |author2=Hosken, Martin |url=http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3121.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3121.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Proposal for encoding the Lanna script in the BMP of the UCS |date=2006-08-06 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |work=Working Group Document}}</ref>

<ref name=TUS_Khmer_VC>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode8.0.0/ch16.pdf#G43687 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode8.0.0/ch16.pdf#G43687 |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=The Unicode Standard, Version 8.0 |date=August 2015 | at=Section 16.4 Khmer, Subscript Consonants}}</ref>

<ref name=WWS_glossary>Glossary of Daniels & Bright (1996) ''The World's Writing Systems''</ref>
<ref name=WWS_Insular_SEA>Joel C. Kuipers & Ray McDermott, "Insular Southeast Asian Scripts". In Daniels & Bright (1996) ''The World's Writing Systems''</ref>
<ref name=WWS_Ethiopic>Getatchew Haile, "Ethiopic Writing". In Daniels & Bright (1996) ''The World's Writing Systems''</ref>
<ref name=Bright>{{cite journal |last=Bright |first=William |year=2000 |title=A Matter of Typology: Alphasyllabaries and Abugidas |journal=Studies in the Linguistic Sciences |volume=30 |number=1 |pages=63–71 |hdl=2142/9638 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name=Hoch_Semitic>James Hoch (1994) ''Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Periods''</ref>
}}

{{Writing systems |expanded=Abugidas}}
{{list of writing systems}}

[[Category:Abugida writing systems| ]]
[[Category:1990s neologisms]]