View source for Ol Chiki script

{{Short description|Alphabetic script for Santal people}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox writing system
| name        = {{ubl
  | Ol Chiki
  | {{lang|sat|ᱚᱞ ᱪᱤᱠᱤ}}
  }}
| sample      = Ol Chiki.svg
| imagesize   = 180px
| languages   = [[Santali language]]
| type        = Alphabet
| time        = 1925–present
| creator     = [[Raghunath Murmu]]
| unicode     = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1C50.pdf U+1C50–U+1C7F]
| iso15924    = Olck
}}
{{Contains special characters
| special    = uncommon [[Unicode]] characters
| fix        = Help:Multilingual support#Ol Chiki
| image      = Replacement character.svg
| link       = Specials (Unicode block)#Replacement character
| alt        = <?>
| compact    = yes
}}
{{Writing systems in India}}

The '''Ol Chiki''' ({{lang|sat|ᱚᱞ ᱪᱤᱠᱤ}}) script, also known as '''Ol Chemetʼ''' ({{lang|sat|ᱚᱞ ᱪᱮᱢᱮᱫ}}, {{Transliteration|sat|ol}} {{gloss|writing}}, {{Transliteration|sat|chemetʼ}} {{gloss|learning}}), '''Ol Ciki''', '''Ol''', and sometimes as the '''Santali alphabet''' is the official writing system for [[Santali language|Santali]], an [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]] language recognized as an official regional language in [[India]].  It was invented by [[Pandit]] [[Raghunath Murmu]] in 1925. It has 30 letters, the design of which is intended to evoke natural shapes. The script is written from left to right, and has two styles (the print ''Chapa'' style and cursive ''Usara'' style). Unicode does not maintain a distinction between these two, as is typical for print and cursive variants of a script. In both styles, the script is [[Unicameral alphabet|unicameral]] (that is, it does not have separate sets of uppercase and lowercase letters).

{{Blockquote|text=The shapes of the letters are not arbitrary, but reflect the names for the letters, which are words, usually the names of objects or actions representing conventionalized form in the pictorial shape of the characters.|sign=Norman Zide|source=A portal for Santals<ref name="portal"/>}}

==History==
The Ol Chiki script was created in 1925 by [[Raghunath Murmu]] for the [[Santali language]], and publicized first in 1939 at a [[Mayurbhanj State]] exhibition.<ref name="Hembram">{{cite book|last1=Hembram|first1=Phatik Chandra|title=Santhali, a Natural Language|date=2002|publisher=U. Hembram|page=165|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XIlkAAAAMAAJ|language=en}}</ref> Unlike most Indic scripts, Ol Chiki is not an [[abugida]], but is a true alphabet: giving the [[vowels]] equal representation with the [[consonants]].

[[File:Raghunath Murmu portrait.png|thumb|[[Raghunath Murmu]], Creator of Ol Chiki script]]

Before the invention of Ol Chiki script, Santali was written in Bangla, Devanagari, Kalinga and [[Santali Latin alphabet|Latin]] script. However, Santali is not an [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] language and Indic scripts did not have letters for all of Santal's [[phonemes]], especially its [[stop consonant]]s and [[vowels]], which make it difficult to write the language accurately in an unmodified Indic script.

For example, when missionary and linguist [[Paul Olaf Bodding]], a Norwegian, studied the Santali language and needed to decide how to transcribe it (in producing his widely followed and widely respected reference books such as ''A Santal Dictionary''), he decided to transcribe Santhali in the Roman alphabet: despite his observation that Roman script lacks many of the advantages of the Indic scripts, he concluded that the Indic scripts could not adequately serve the Santali language because the Indic scripts lack a way to indicate important features of Santali pronunciation (such as [[glottalization]], combined glottalization and [[nasalization]], and [[checked plosive]]s, which can be more easily represented in the Roman alphabet through the use of diacritics.<ref name="A Glimpse of Santali Grammar page 05">{{cite book |last1=Hembram |first1=Baghrai Charan |url=https://bharatavani.in/bharatavani/santali/book?post_category=book&id=A%20Glimpes%20of%20Santali%20Grammar |title=A Glimpse of Santali Grammar |date=2012 |publisher=Noha Trust Bahalda Mayurbhanj odisha |page=05 |language=en |access-date=2022-06-23 |archive-date=2022-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930123205/https://bharatavani.in/bharatavani/santali/book?post_category=book&id=A%20Glimpes%20of%20Santali%20Grammar |url-status=live }}</ref>

The phonology of the Santali language had also been similarly analyzed by various other authors, including [[Byomkes Chakrabarti]] in ''Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali'' and Baghrai Charan Hembram in ''A Glimpse of Santali Grammar''. However, the Ol Chiki alphabet is considered (by many Santali) to be even more appropriate for the language, because its letter-shapes are derived from the sounds of common Santali words and other frequent Santali morphemes:{{efn|smallest unit of meaningful speech sound|name=morphe}} nouns, demonstratives, adjectives, and verb roots in the Santali language.<ref name="A Glimpse of Santali Grammar, page 01">{{cite book |last1=Hembram |first1=Baghrai Charan |url=https://bharatavani.in/bharatavani/santali/book?post_category=book&id=A%20Glimpes%20of%20Santali%20Grammar |title=A Glimpse of Santali Grammar |date=2012 |publisher=Noha Trust Bahalda Mayurbhanj odisha |page=01 |language=en}}</ref> 
In other words, each Santali letter's name is, or is derived from, a common word or other element of the Santali language, and each letter's shape is derive from a simple drawing of the meaning of that word or other element. For example, the Santali letter “ol” (representing the sound /l/) is written with a shape originally derived from a simplified outline drawing of a hand holding a pen, because the name of this letter is also the Santali word for “writing.”

== Print and cursive styles ==
[[File:Ol chiki cursive.png|thumb|The image shows Ol Chiki Chapa/print and Usara/cursive styles, with the ''chapa'' style of each letter written in the first row, and the corresponding ''usara'' style in the second row]]
The existence of these two styles of Ol Chiki was mentioned by the script's creator: Guru Gonke Pandit Raghunath Murmu (also known as Pandit Murmu) in his book ''Ol Chemed''<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Samal |first=A. P. Subhakanta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e4NtEAAAQBAJ&dq=Ol+Chemed&pg=PA73 |title=PERSONALITIES OF ODISHA |date=2022-01-14 |publisher=Shubhdristi Publication |isbn=978-93-5593-204-4 |language=en |access-date=2022-06-22 |archive-date=2023-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926064427/https://books.google.com/books?id=e4NtEAAAQBAJ&dq=Ol+Chemed&pg=PA73 |url-status=live }}</ref> which explains and teaches the Ol Chiki script.{{efn|The process is described in '' Ol Chemed (A Santali Primer)'', and also in his book ''Ronod (A Santali Grammar in Santali)'', in his description of Ol Chiki's ''chapa'' and ''usara'' styles.}} ''Chhapa'' (Santali for 'print') is used for publication, while ''usaraà'' (Santali for 'quick') is used for handwriting.

=== ''Chhapa'' hand ===
Ol Chiki ''chhapa'', or print style, is the more common style for digital fonts, and is used in the printing of books and newspapers.

=== ''Usaraà''  hand ===
''Usaraà'' or ''usaraà ol'' is the cursive style, and is largely limited to pen and paper, though there are digital ''usaraà'' typefaces. Differences include the diacritic ''ahad'', which in print style is used with {{large|ᱜ}}, {{large|ᱡ}}, {{large|ᱦ}}, {{large|ᱫ}}, and {{large|ᱵ}}, all of which can form ligatures with {{large|ᱽ}} in cursive.<ref name="L205243"/> Further, cursive ''usaraà'' seldom uses several letter-shapes which are formed by combining the letter {{large|ᱦ}} and the four semi-consonants {{large|ᱜ}}, {{large|ᱡ}}, {{large|ᱫ}}, and {{large|ᱵ}} with ''ahad''; instead, these are generally written in a shorter form, as {{large|ᱷ}}.

==Letters==
The values of the Ol Chiki letters are as follows:

<!--  style="text-align: center;" -->
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! rowspan=2 | Letter !! rowspan=2 | Name !! rowspan=2 | [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]<ref name="WWS"/> !! colspan=5 | Transliteration !! rowspan=2 | Shape<ref name="portal">{{cite web | title = Ol Chiki Script | work = A portal for Santals | date = 2002 | url = http://wesanthals.tripod.com/id45.html | access-date = 2017-09-12 | archive-date = 2018-08-08 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180808214416/http://wesanthals.tripod.com/id45.html | url-status = live }}</ref> 
|-
! [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]]<ref name="ALALC">{{cite web | title = Santali (in Ol script) | work = [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]] Romanization Tables | publisher = [[Library of Congress]] | url = https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/santali.pdf | access-date = 2017-09-12 | archive-date = 2018-12-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181204005842/https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/santali.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> !! [[Norman Zide|Zide]]<ref name="WWS">{{cite book | title=The World's Writing Systems | year=1996 | editor1-first=Peter T. | editor1-last=Daniels | editor1-link=Peter T. Daniels | editor2-last=Bright | editor2-first=William | editor2-link=William Bright | author-first=Norman | author-last=Zide | author-link=Norman Zide | publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc | isbn=978-0195079937 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937/page/614 614-615] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937/page/614 }}</ref> !! [[Devanagari|Deva.]]<ref name="L205243"/> !! [[Bengali alphabet|Beng.]]<ref name="L205243"/> !! [[Odia alphabet|Odia]]<ref name="L205243"/>
|-
| {{huge|ᱚ}} || la || /ɔ/ || a || ọ || {{large|अ}} || {{large|অ}} || {{large|ଅ}} || align=left | burning fire
|-
| {{huge|ᱛ}} || at || /t/  || t || t || {{large|त}} || {{large|ত}} || {{large|ତ୍}} || align=left | the Earth
|-
| {{huge|ᱜ}} || ag || /kʼ/, /g/ || g || kʼ || {{large|ग}} || {{large|গ}} || {{large|ଗ୍}} || align=left | vomiting mouth, which produces the same sound as the name of the letter
|-
| {{huge|ᱝ}} || ang || /ŋ/ || ṃ || ṅ || {{large|ं}} || {{large|ং}} || {{large|ଂ}} || align=left | blowing air
|-
| {{huge|ᱞ}} || al || /l/ || l || l || {{large|ल}} || {{large|ল}} || {{large|ଲ୍}} || align=left | writing
|-
| {{huge|ᱟ}} || laa || /a/ || ā || a || {{large|आ}} || {{large|আ}} || {{large|ଆ}} || align=left | working in the field with a spade
|-
| {{huge|ᱠ}} || aak || /k/ || k || k || {{large|क}} || {{large|ক}} || {{large|କ୍}} || align=left | bird (sound of a swan)
|-
| {{huge|ᱡ}} || aaj || /cʼ/, /ɟ/ || j || cʼ || {{large|ज}} || {{large|জ}} || {{large|ଜ୍}} || align=left | person pointing towards a third person with the right hand (saying “he”)
|-
| {{huge|ᱢ}} || aam || /m/ || m || m || {{large|म}} || {{large|ম}} || {{large|ମ୍}} || align=left | person pointing towards a second person with the left hand (saying “you”)
|-
| {{huge|ᱣ}} || aaw || /w/, /v/ || w || w || {{large|व}} || {{large|ওয়}} || {{large|ୱ୍}} || align=left | opening lips
|-
| {{huge|ᱤ}} || li || /i/ || i || i || {{large|इ}} || {{large|ই}} || {{large|ଇ}} || align=left | bending tree
|-
| {{huge|ᱥ}} || is || /s/ || s || s || {{large|स}} || {{large|স}} || {{large|ସ୍}} || align=left | plow
|-
| {{huge|ᱦ}} || ih || /ʔ/, /h/ || ẖ || h || {{large|ह}} || {{large|হ}} || {{large|ହ୍}} || align=left | hands up
|-
| {{huge|ᱧ}} || iny || /ɲ/ || ñ || ñ || {{large|ञ}} || {{large|ঞ}} || {{large|ଞ୍}} || align=left | person pointing towards himself/herself with the left hand
|-
| {{huge|ᱨ}} || ir || /r/ || r || r || {{large|र}} || {{large|র}} || {{large|ର୍}} || align=left | sickle used for cutting or reaping
|-
| {{huge|ᱩ}} || lu || /u/ || u || u || {{large|उ}} || {{large|উ}} || {{large|ଉ}} || align=left | vessel used for preparing food
|-
| {{huge|ᱪ}} || uch || /c/ || c || c || {{large|च}} || {{large|চ}} || {{large|ଚ୍}} || align=left | peak of a mountain which is usually high
|-
| {{huge|ᱫ}} || ud || /tʼ/, /d/ || d || tʼ || {{large|द}} || {{large|দ}} || {{large|ଦ୍}} || align=left | mushroom or umbrella
|-
| {{huge|ᱬ}} || unn || /ɳ/ || ṇ || ṇ || {{large|ण}} || {{large|ণ}} || {{large|ଣ୍}} || align=left | picture of a flying bee (which Is described by Santali speakers as making this sound)
|-
| {{huge|ᱭ}} || uy || /j/ || y || y || {{large|य}} || {{large|য়}} || {{large|ୟ୍}} || align=left | a man bending towards the ground to cut something
|-
| {{huge|ᱮ}} || le || /e/ || e || e || {{large|ए}} || {{large|এ}} || {{large|ଏ}} || align=left | overflowing rivers changing course
|-
| {{huge|ᱯ}} || ep || /p/ || p || p || {{large|प}} || {{large|প}} || {{large|ପ୍}} || align=left | person receiving with both hands
|-
| {{huge|ᱰ}} || edd || /ɖ/ || ḍ || ḍ || {{large|ड}} || {{large|ড}} || {{large|ଡ୍}} || align=left | a man with two legs stretching towards his chest and mouth
|-
| {{huge|ᱱ}} || en || /n/ || n || n || {{large|न}} || {{large|ন}} || {{large|ନ୍}} || align=left | threshing grains with two legs
|-
| {{huge|ᱲ}} || err || /ɽ/ || ṛ || ṛ || {{large|ड़}} || {{large|ড়}} || {{large|ଡ଼୍}} || align=left | a path that turns to avoid an obstruction or a danger
|-
| {{huge|ᱳ}} || lo || /o/ || o || o || {{large|ओ}} || {{large|ও}} || {{large|ଓ}} || align=left | a mouth when sounding this letter
|-
| {{huge|ᱴ}} || ott || /ʈ/ || ṭ || ṭ || {{large|ट}} || {{large|ট}} || {{large|ଟ୍}} || align=left | camel hump
|-
| {{huge|ᱵ}} || ob || /pʼ/, /b/ || b || pʼ || {{large|ब}} || {{large|ব}} || {{large|ବ୍}} || align=left | curly hair
|-
| {{huge|ᱶ}} || ov || /w̃/ || ṅ || w̃ || {{large|ङ}} || {{large|ঙ}} || {{large|ଙ୍}} || align=left | nasalized
|-
| {{huge|ᱷ}} || oh || /ʰ/ || h || ([[Consonant|C]])h || {{large|ह}} || {{large|হ}} || {{large|ହ୍}} || align=left | a man throwing something with one hand
|}

Aspirated consonants are written as digraphs with the letter {{large|ᱷ}}:<ref name="TUS"/><ref name="L205243">{{cite web | url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2005/05243r-n2984-ol-chiki.pdf | title=L2/05-243R: Final proposal to encode the Ol Chiki script in the UCS | date=2005-09-05 | first=Michael | last=Everson | author-link=Michael Everson | access-date=2019-09-19 | archive-date=2015-07-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731015502/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2005/05243r-n2984-ol-chiki.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref> {{large|ᱛᱷ}} /tʰ/, {{large|ᱜᱷ}} /gʱ/, {{large|ᱠᱷ}} /kʰ/, {{large|ᱡᱷ}} /jʱ/, {{large|ᱪᱷ}} /cʰ/, {{large|ᱫᱷ}} /dʱ/, {{large|ᱯᱷ}} /pʰ/, {{large|ᱰᱷ}} /ɖʱ/, {{large|ᱲᱷ}} /ɽʱ/, {{large|ᱴᱷ}} /ʈʰ/, and {{large|ᱵᱷ}} /bʱ/.

== Other marks ==
Ol Chiki employs several marks which are placed after the letter they modify (there are no combining characters):
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Mark !! Name !! Description
|-
| align=center | {{huge|ᱹ}} || găhlă ṭuḍăg || This baseline dot is used to extend three vowel letters for the Santal Parganas dialect of Santali:<ref name="TUS">{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode13.0.0/ch13.pdf#G29195|title=The Unicode Standard, Chapter 13.10: Ol Chiki|publisher=Unicode Consortium|date=March 2020|access-date=2020-03-21|archive-date=2020-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705122344/http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode13.0.0/ch13.pdf#G29195|url-status=live}}</ref>  {{large|ᱚᱹ}} ŏ /ɔ/, {{large|ᱟᱹ}} ă /ə/, and {{large|ᱮᱹ}} ĕ /ɛ/. The phonetic difference between {{large|ᱚ}} and {{large|ᱚᱹ}} is not clearly defined and there may be only a marginal phonemic difference between the two. {{large|ᱚᱹ}} is rarely used.  ALA-LC transliterates {{large|ᱟᱹ}} as "ạ̄".<ref name="ALALC"/>
|-
| align=center | {{huge|ᱸ}} || mũ ṭuḍăg || This raised dot indicates [[nasalization]] of the preceding vowel: {{large|ᱚᱸ}} /ɔ̃/, {{large|ᱟᱸ}} /ã/, {{large|ᱤᱸ}} /ĩ/, {{large|ᱩᱸ}} /ũ/, {{large|ᱮᱸ}} /ẽ/, and {{large|ᱳᱸ}} /õ/.  ALA-LC transliteration uses "m̐" after the affected vowel.<ref name="ALALC"/>
|-
| align=center | {{huge|ᱺ}} || mũ găhlă ṭuḍăg || This colon-like mark is used to mark a nasalized extended vowel.  It is a combination of ''mũ ṭuḍăg'' and ''găhlă ṭuḍăg'': {{large|ᱚᱺ}} /ɔ̃/, {{large|ᱟᱺ}} /ə̃/, and {{large|ᱮᱺ}} /ɛ̃/.
|-
| align=center | {{huge|ᱻ}} || relā || This tilde-like mark indicates the prolongation of any oral or nasalized vowel. Compare {{large|ᱮ}} /e/ with {{large|ᱮᱻ}} /eː/. It comes after the ''găhlă ṭuḍăg'' for extended vowels: {{large|ᱮᱹᱻ}} /ɛː/. It is omitted in ALA-LC transliteration.<ref name="ALALC"/>
|-
| align=center | {{huge|ᱽ}} || ahad || This special letter indicates the deglottalization of a consonant in the word-final position. It preserves the [[Morphophonology|morphophonemic]] relationship between the [[Glottalization|glottalized]] ([[Ejective consonant|ejective]]) and [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]] equivalents of consonants.<ref name="TUS"/> For example, {{large|ᱜ}} represents a voiced /g/ when word initial but an ejective /kʼ/ when in the word-final position.  A voiced /g/ in the word-final position is written as {{large|ᱜᱽ}}. The ''ahad'' is used with {{large|ᱜ}}, {{large|ᱡ}}, {{large|ᱦ}}, {{large|ᱫ}}, and {{large|ᱵ}} which can form cursive ligatures with {{large|ᱽ}} in handwriting (but not usually in printed text).<ref name="L205243"/>  ALA-LC transliteration uses an apostrophe (ʼ) to represent an ''ahad''.<ref name="ALALC"/>
|-
| align=center | {{huge|ᱼ}} || phārkā || This hyphen-like mark serves as a glottal protector (the opposite function as the ''ahad''.) It preserves the ejective sound, even in the word-initial position. Compare {{large|ᱜᱚ}} /gɔ/ with {{large|ᱜᱼᱚ}} /kʼɔ/. The ''phārkā'' is only used with {{large|ᱜ}}, {{large|ᱡ}}, {{large|ᱫ}}, and {{large|ᱵ}}. It is omitted in ALA-LC transliteration.<ref name="ALALC"/>
|}

== Numerals ==
Ol Chiki has its own numerals:
{| style="text-align: center;"
|-
! Hindu-Arabic numerals !! 0 !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9
|-
| '''Ol Chiki''' || {{large|᱐}} || {{large|᱑}} || {{large|᱒}} || {{large|᱓}} || {{large|᱔}} || {{large|᱕}} || {{large|᱖}} || {{large|᱗}} || {{large|᱘}} || {{large|᱙}}
|}

== Punctuation ==
Some Western-style punctuation marks are used with Ol Chiki: the comma (,), exclamation mark (!), question mark (?), and quotation marks (“ and ”).

The period/fullstop (.) is not used, because it is visually confusible with the găhlă ṭuḍăg mark (ᱹ).;<ref name="L205243"/> therefore, instead of periods, the script uses single or two ''Ol Chiki'' short [[danda]]s:
* {{large|᱾}} (mucăd) marks a minor break
* {{large|᱿}} (double mucăd) marks a major break

==Computing==

=== Unicode ===

{{Main|Ol Chiki (Unicode block)}}

Ol Chiki script was added to the [[Unicode]] Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1.

The Unicode block for Ol Chiki is U+1C50–U+1C7F:
{{Unicode chart Ol Chiki}}

=== Fonts ===

* Google's [[Noto fonts|Noto]] Sans Ol Chiki.<ref>{{cite web |title=Noto Sans Ol Chiki |url=https://www.google.com/get/noto/#sans-olck |website=Google Noto Fonts |access-date=5 June 2020 |archive-date=8 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108130144/https://www.google.com/get/noto/#sans-olck |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Microsoft]]'s font family [[Nirmala UI]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Nirmala UI font family - Typography |url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/font-list/nirmala-ui |website=docs.microsoft.com |access-date=5 June 2020 |language=en-us}}</ref>

== Mixing the two letter styles ==
Although Ol Chiki (Chapa) and Ol Chiki (Usara) are normally never mixed, and the original inventor never mentioned mixing these letter styles, there have been some works that mix both forms, using them like English capital and small letters. However, this innovation is yet to be accepted officially.<ref name=":0">{{Cite press release |last=Ajanta HC |location=Mumbai |date=2021-08-11 |title=Ol Chiki Lower Case Letters Invented by Sudip Iglesias Murmu |url=https://www.prlog.org/12881008-ol-chiki-lower-case-letters-invented-by-sudip-iglesias-murmu.html |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=PRLog |archive-date=2021-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122214040/https://www.prlog.org/12881008-ol-chiki-lower-case-letters-invented-by-sudip-iglesias-murmu.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== The invention of a lower case for Ol Chiki  ===
Since 2017, Santali graphic designer, typographer, and film producer Sudip Iglesias Murmu has been working on design principles to provide a lowercase alphabet form for Ol Chiki, which would permit Ol Chiki writing and keyboarding to use a two-case, or bicameral, format (Using both uppercase and lowercase), as is done in many other written languages, including the Roman-alphabet languages such as English (all of which were once unicameral scripts, but evolved into a bicameral stage over time). As the development of a lowercase form is contributed to developing a standardized cursive form (in those writing systems which use one), the evolution of lowercase is likely to allow standardizing cursive to the point of making it type able alongside more rigid "block" printed letterforms forms So far, only Ol Chiki (Chapa) letters are used in keyboarding, typesetting, and publishing (in effect, producing capitals-only text for the entirety of all printed or keyboarded documents). In writing quickly by hand, Ol Chiki (Usara) is used: but, despite Ol Usara's potential for reaching high speed, the circulation of Ol Usara documents is negligible, and Ol Usara is yet to receive Unicode standardization, thus leaving it still neglected.

In hopes to remedy this situation and to harmonize the two scripts, Sudip Iglesias Murmu has innovated by creating a series of lowercase letters, which he has integrated with the already existing font of Ol Chiki. According to him, providing lowercase letters increases the efficiency of keyboarding, both for Ol Chiki (Chapa) and for Ol Chiki (Usara), and allows keyboarding to reach the same speed that can be obtained when typing Santali in Roman-alphabet letters, which are likewise case-sensitive. However, his work is yet to be accepted officially.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2021-08-09 |title=Ol Chiki moulded into perfection by invention of lowercase letters - Ajanta Heritage & Culture |url=https://ajantahc.com/ol-chiki-moulded-into-perfection-by-invention-of-lowercase-letters |access-date=2022-06-02 |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526232715/https://ajantahc.com/ol-chiki-moulded-into-perfection-by-invention-of-lowercase-letters |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Byomkes Chakrabarti]] (a Bengali research worker on ethnic languages)
* [[Santali Latin alphabet]]
* [[Turia Chand Baskey]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{notelist}}
{{list of writing systems}}

[[Category:Alphabets]]
[[Category:Santhal]]
[[Category:Munda scripts]]
[[Category:1925 introductions]]
[[Category:Santali language]]
[[Category:Constructed scripts]]