Gurmukhi

Template:Short description Template:Cleanup lang Template:Contains special characters Gurmukhī (Template:Langx , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official script of the Punjabi language.

The primary scripture of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, is written in Gurmukhī, in various dialects and languages often subsumed under the generic title Sant Bhasha or "saint language", in addition to other languages like Persian and various phases of Indo-Aryan languages.

Modern Gurmukhī has thirty-five original letters, hence its common alternative term paintī or "the thirty-five", plus six additional consonants, nine vowel diacritics, two diacritics for nasal sounds, one diacritic that geminates consonants and three subscript characters.

History and development

Antecedents

The Gurmukhī script is generally believed to have roots in the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet by way of the Brahmi script, which developed further into the Northwestern group (Sharada-based), the Central group (Nagari-based) and the Eastern group (Siddhaṃ-based), as well as several prominent writing systems of Southeast Asia, in addition to scripts used historically in Central Asia for extinct languages like Saka and Tocharian. Gurmukhi is derived from Sharada in the Northwestern group, of which it is the only major surviving member, with full modern currency. Notable features include:

• It is an abugida in which all consonants have an inherent vowel, Template:IPAblink. Diacritics, which can appear above, below, before or after the consonant they are applied to, are used to change the inherent vowel.
• When they appear at the beginning of a syllable, vowels are written as independent letters.
• To form consonant clusters, Gurmukhi uniquely affixes subscript letters at the bottom of standard characters, rather than using the true conjunct symbols used by other scripts, which merge parts of each letter into a distinct character of its own.
• Punjabi is a tonal language with three tones. These are indicated in writing using the formerly voiced aspirated consonants (gh, dh, bh, etc.) and the intervocalic h.

Phoenician	𐤀	𐤁		𐤂	𐤃		𐤄	𐤅	𐤆				𐤇		𐤈		𐤉	𐤊		𐤋	𐤌	𐤍				𐤎	𐤏	𐤐		𐤑	𐤒		𐤓	𐤔	𐤕
Aramaic	𐡀	𐡁		𐡂	𐡃		𐡄	𐡅	𐡆				𐡇		𐡈		𐡉	𐡊		𐡋	𐡌	𐡍				𐡎	𐡏	𐡐		𐡑	𐡒		𐡓	𐡔	𐡕
Brahmi	𑀅	𑀩	𑀪	𑀕	𑀥	𑀠	𑀏	𑀯	𑀤	𑀟	𑀚	𑀛	𑀳	𑀖	𑀣	𑀞	𑀬	𑀓	𑀘	𑀮	𑀫	𑀦	𑀗	𑀜	𑀡	𑀰	𑀑	𑀧	𑀨	𑀲	𑀔	𑀙	𑀭	𑀱	𑀢	𑀝
Gurmukhi	ਅ	ਬ	ਭ	ਗ	ਧ	ਢ	ੲ	ਵ	ਦ	ਡ	ਜ	ਝ	ਹ	ਘ	ਥ	ਠ	ਯ	ਕ	ਚ	ਲ	ਮ	ਨ	ਙ	ਞ	ਣ	(ਸ਼)	ੳ	ਪ	ਫ	ਸ	ਖ	ਛ	ਰ	ਖ	ਤ	ਟ
IAST	a	ba	bha	ga	dha	ḍha	ē	va	da	ḍa	ja	jha	ha	gha	tha	ṭha	ya	ka	ca	la	ma	na	ṅa	ña	ṇa	śa*	ō	pa	pha	sa	kha	cha	ra	ṣa*	ta	ṭa
Greek	Α	Β		Γ	Δ		Ε	Ϝ	Ζ				Η		Θ		Ι	Κ		Λ	Μ	Ν				Ξ	Ο	Π		Ϻ	Ϙ		Ρ	Σ	Τ
Possible derivation of Gurmukhi from earlier writing systems.Template:Refn The Greek alphabet, also descended from Phoenician, is included for comparison.

Gurmukhi evolved in cultural and historical circumstances notably different from other regional scripts, for the purpose of recording scriptures of Sikhism, a far less Sanskritized cultural tradition than others of the subcontinent. This independence from the Sanskritic model allowed it the freedom to evolve unique orthographical features. These include:

• Three basic bearer vowels, integrated into the traditional Gurmukhi character set, using the vowel diacritics to write independent vowels, instead of distinctly separate characters for each of these vowels as in other scripts;
• a drastic reduction in the number and importance of conjunct characters (similar to Brahmi, the letters of which Gurmukhi letters have remained more similar to than those of Nagari have, and characteristic of Northwestern abugidas);
• a unique standard ordering of characters that somewhat diverges from the traditional , or Sanskritic, ordering of characters, including vowels and fricatives being placed in front;
• the recognition of Indo-Aryan phonological history through the omission of characters representing the sibilants Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, retaining only the letters representing sounds of the spoken language of the time; these sibilants were naturally lost in most modern Indo-Aryan languages, though such characters were often retained in their respective consonant inventories as placeholders and archaisms while being mispronounced. These sibilants were often variously reintroduced through later circumstances, as Template:IPAblink was to Gurmukhi, necessitating a new glyph;
• the development of distinct new letters for sounds better reflecting the vernacular language spoken during the time of its development (e.g. for Template:IPAblink, and the sound shift that merged Sanskrit Template:IPAblink and /kʰ/ to Punjabi /kʰ/);
• a gemination diacritic, a unique feature among native subcontinental scripts, which serve to indicate the preserved Middle Indo-Aryan geminates distinctive of Punjabi;

and other features.

File:Historical geographical distribution of Sharada.png

Historical geographical distribution of Sharada script

From the 10th century onwards, regional differences started to appear between the Sharada script used in Punjab, the Hill States (partly Himachal Pradesh) and Kashmir. Sharada proper was eventually restricted to very limited ceremonial use in Kashmir, as it grew increasingly unsuitable for writing the Kashmiri language. With the last known inscription dating to 1204 C.E., the early 13th century marks a milestone in the development of Sharada. The regional variety in Punjab continued to evolve from this stage through the 14th century; during this period it starts to appear in forms closely resembling Gurmukhī and other Landa scripts. By the 15th century, Sharada had evolved so considerably that epigraphists denote the script at this point by a special name, . Tarlochan Singh Bedi (1999) prefers the name , or Proto-Gurmukhī.

File:A sample of a mediaeval, handwritten Gurmukhi document.png

A sample of a mediaeval, handwritten Gurmukhi document

Meanwhile, the mercantile scripts of Punjab known as the Laṇḍā scripts were normally not used for literary purposes. means alphabet "without tail", implying that the script did not have vowel symbols. In Punjab, there were at least ten different scripts classified as , Mahajani being the most popular. The scripts were used for household and trade purposes. In contrast to , the use of vowel diacritics was made obligatory in Gurmukhī for increased accuracy and precision, due to the difficulties involved in deciphering words without vowel signs.

The Sikh gurus adopted Proto-Gurmukhī to write the Guru Granth Sahib, the religious scriptures of the Sikhs. It was through its recording in Gurmukhi that knowledge of the pronunciation and grammar of the Old Punjabi language (c. 10th–16th century) was preserved for modern philologists. It has been described as being "tailor-made" to writing the Punjabi language as it existed in the 16th century.

Sikhism

The original Sikh scriptures and most of the historic Sikh literature have been written in the Gurmukhi script, for which the script is revered by Sikhs. Guru Angad is credited in the Sikh tradition with the creation and standardization of Gurmukhi script from earlier Śāradā-descended scripts native to the region. Whilst the creation of the Gurmukhi script is commonly attributed to the second guru of the Sikhs, Guru Angad, according to Mangat Bhardwaj the Gurmukhi script or its antecedents pre-date the development of Sikhism by several centuries. Sikh scholars themselves, such as Kahn Singh of Nabha (1930), G. B. Singh (1950), Piara Singh Padam (1954), and G. S. Sidhu (2004), have documented Gurmukhi prior to the arising of Sikhism. The glyphs and symbols employed in Gurmukhi pre-date Sikhism and it is more likely that Guru Angad standardized the pre-existing scripts around 1530–1535 to create the standard Gurmukhi script under the purview of Guru Nanak.

In the following epochs, Gurmukhī became the primary script for the literary writings of the Sikhs. Playing a significant role in Sikh faith and tradition, it expanded from its original use for Sikh scriptures and developed its own orthographical rules, spreading widely under the Sikh Empire and used by Sikh kings and chiefs of Punjab for administrative purposes. In seventeenth and eighteenth-century Punjab, the script was also employed to write scientific and poetic literature from both Sanskritic and Persian traditions in the Braj language. Helping to foster a distinct Sikh culture and contributing to the consolidation of the Sikh religion, expanding from its original role as the vehicle of Sikh religious literature, Gurmukhi became particularly important in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the Sikhs established political hegemony over Punjab and Kashmir. Also playing a major role in consolidating and standardizing the Punjabi language, it served as the main medium of literacy in Punjab and adjoining areas for centuries when the earliest schools were attached to gurdwaras.

In Jammu Division, Takri, which developed through the stage of Sharada from the 14th-18th centuries developed into Dogri, which was a "highly imperfect" script later consciously influenced in part by Gurmukhi during the late 19th century, possibly to provide it an air of authority by having it resemble scripts already established in official and literary capacities, though not displacing Takri.

File:Photograph of a pathasala class held at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, 1908.jpg

Photograph of a pathasala class held at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, 1908. Pinned on the tree, there is a poster of the thirty-five glyphs of the Gurmukhi script, known in Punjabi as the painti akhri.

The first natively produced grammars of the Punjabi language were written in the 1860s in Gurmukhi. The Singh Sabha Movement of the late 19th century, a movement to revitalize Sikh institutions which had declined during colonial rule after the fall of the Sikh Empire, also advocated for the usage of the Gurmukhi script for mass media, with print media publications and Punjabi-language newspapers established in the 1880s.

Modern times

Official recognition of Gurmukhī was made a prerequisite by the Akali Dal for political partnership in the 1940s leading up to the 1947 partition, including in failed talks with the Muslim League. Later in the 1960s, after the struggle of the Punjabi Suba movement, the script was given the authority as the official state script of the Punjab, India, where it is used in all spheres of culture, arts, education, and administration, with a firmly established common and secular character, and is now the standard writing script for the Punjabi language in India.

With technological advances introduced in the 1970s, including the computer and the offset press, Gurmukhī usage would flourish in news media. It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic, and is currently the 14th most used script in the world.

Etymology

File:Fresco artwork from Pothi-Mala, Guru Harsahai, Punjab 113.jpg

18th century fresco of a woman writing in Gurmukhī from Pothimala, Guru Harsahai, Punjab.

The prevalent view among Punjabi linguists is that as in the early stages the Gurmukhī letters were primarily used by the Guru's followers, gurmukhs (literally, those who face, or follow, the Guru); the script thus came to be known as , "the script of those guided by the Guru."

Although the word has been commonly translated as "from the mouth of the Guru", the term used for the Punjabi script has somewhat different connotations. This usage of the term may have gained currency from the use of the script to record the utterances of the Sikh Gurus as scripture, which were often referred to as , or from the (face, or mouth) of the Gurus. Consequently, the script that was used to write the resulting scripture may have also been designated with the same name.

The name for the Perso–Arabic alphabet for the Punjabi language, Shahmukhi, was modeled on the term .

Characters

Letters

Template:Contains special characters The alphabet contains thirty-five base letters (), traditionally arranged in seven rows of five letters each. The first three letters, or ("vowel bearer"), are distinct because they form the basis for independent vowels and are not consonants, or , like the remaining letters are, and except for the second letter Template:Refn The pair of fricatives, or ("base class"), share the row, which is followed by the next five sets of consonants, with the consonants in each row being homorganic, the rows arranged from the back (velars) to the front (labials) of the mouth, and the letters in the grid arranged by place and manner of articulation. The arrangement, or , is completed with the , literally "ending group." The names of most of the consonants are based on their reduplicative phonetic values. The is as follows:

Group Name (Articulation) ↓		Name		Sound [IPA]	Name		Sound [IPA]	Name		Sound [IPA]	Name		Sound [IPA]	Name		Sound [IPA]
(Vowels)	(Fricatives)	ੳTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[uːɽaː]	–	ਅTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ɛːɽaː]	a Template:IPAblink	ੲTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[iːɽiː]	–	ਸTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[səsːaː]	sa Template:IPAblink	ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ɦaːɦaː]	ha Template:IPAblink
Occlusives →		Tenuis			Aspirates			Voiced Stops			Tonal			Nasals
(Velars)		ਕTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[kəkːaː]	ka Template:IPAblink	ਖTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[kʰəkʰːaː]	kha Template:IPAblink	ਗTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[gəgːaː]	ga Template:IPAblink	ਘTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[kə̀gːaː]	gha [ kə̀ ]	ਙTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ŋəŋːaː]	ṅa Template:IPAblink
(Affricates/Palatals)		ਚTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[t͡ʃət͡ʃːaː]	ca Template:IPAblink	ਛTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[t͡ʃʰət͡ʃʰːaː]	cha Template:IPAblink	ਜTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[d͡ʒəd͡ʒːaː]	ja Template:IPAblink	ਝTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[t͡ʃə̀d͡ʒːaː]	jha [ t͡ʃə̀ ]	ਞTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ɲəɲːaː]	ña Template:IPAblink
(Retroflexes)		ਟTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ʈɛŋkaː]	ṭa Template:IPAblink	ਠTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ʈʰəʈʰːaː]	ṭha Template:IPAblink	ਡTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ɖə'ɖːaː]	ḍa Template:IPAblink	ਢTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ʈə̀ɖːaː]	ḍa [ ʈə̀ ]	ਣTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[naːɳaː]	ṇa Template:IPAblink
(Dentals)		ਤTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[t̪ət̪ːaː]	ta Template:IPAblink	ਥTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[t̪ʰət̪ʰːaː]	tha Template:IPAblink	ਦTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[d̪əd̪ːaː]	da Template:IPAblink	ਧTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[t̪ə̀d̪ːaː]	dha [ t̪ə̀ ]	ਨTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[nənːaː]	na Template:IPAblink
(Labials)		ਪTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[pəpːaː]	pa Template:IPAblink	ਫTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[pʰəpʰːaː]	pha Template:IPAblink	ਬTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[bəbːaː]	ba Template:IPAblink	ਭTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[pə̀bːaː]	bha [ pə̀ ]	ਮTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[məmːaː]	ma Template:IPAblink
Approximants and liquids
(Sonorants)		ਯTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[jəjːaː]	ya Template:IPAblink	ਰTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ɾaːɾaː]	ra Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink	ਲTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ləlːaː]	la Template:IPAblink	ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	[ʋaːʋaː]	va Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink	ੜTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk		ṛa Template:IPAblink

The nasal letters ਙTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk and ਞTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk have become marginal as independent consonants in modern Gurmukhī.Template:Refn The sounds they represent occur most often as allophones of [] in clusters with velars and palatals respectively.

The pronunciation of ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk can vary allophonically between preceding front vowels, and elsewhere.

The most characteristic feature of the Punjabi language is its tone system. The script has no separate symbol for tones, but they correspond to the tonal consonants that once represented voiced aspirates as well as older *h. To differentiate between consonants, the Punjabi tonal consonants of the fourth column, ਘTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk kà, ਝTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk cà, ਢTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ṭà, ਧTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk tà, and ਭTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk pà, are often transliterated in the way of the voiced aspirate consonants gha, jha, ḍha, dha, and bha respectively, although Punjabi lacks these sounds. Tones in Punjabi can be either rising, neutral, or falling:

• When the tonal letter is in onset positions, as in the pronunciation of the names of the Gurmukhī letters, it produces the falling tone on the syllable nucleus, indicated by a grave accent (◌̀Template:Script/doc/id-unk).
• When the tonal letter is in syllabic coda positions, the tone on the syllable nucleus is rising, indicated by an acute accent (◌́Template:Script/doc/id-unk).
• When the tonal letter is in intervocalic positions, after a short vowel and before a long vowel, the following vowel has a falling tone. Between two short vowels, the tonal letter produces a rising tone on the preceding vowel.

The letters now always represent unaspirated consonants, and are unvoiced in onset positions and voiced elsewhere.

Supplementary letters

In addition to the 35 original letters, there are six supplementary consonants in official usage, referred to as the or , meaning "new group", created by placing a dot () at the foot () of the consonant to create pairĭ bindī consonants. These are not present in the Guru Granth Sahib or old texts. These are used most often for loanwords, though not exclusively,Template:Refn and their usage is not always obligatory.

Letter	ਸ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk	ਖ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk	ਗ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk	ਜ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk	ਫ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk	ਲ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk
Name [IPA]
Sound [IPA]	śa Template:IPAblink	xa Template:IPAblink	ġa Template:IPAblink	za Template:IPAblink	fa Template:IPAblink	ḷa Template:IPAblink

The letter ਸ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk, already in use by the time of the earliest Punjabi grammars produced, along with ਜ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk and ਲ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk, enabled the previously unmarked distinction of /Template:IPAblink/ and the well-established phoneme /Template:IPAblink/, which is used even in native echo doublets e.g. "stuff to eat"). The loansounds Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, and Template:IPAblink as distinct phonemes are less well-established, decreasing in that order and often dependent on exposure to Hindi-Urdu norms.

The character ਲ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk (ḷa), the only character not representing a fricative consonant, was only recently officially added to the Gurmukhī alphabet. It was not a part of the traditional orthography, as the distinctive phonological difference between /lə/ and /ɭə/, while both native sounds, was not reflected in the script, and its inclusion is still not currently universal.Template:Refn Previous usage of another glyph to represent this sound, [ਲ੍ਰTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk], has also been attested. The letters ਲ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk ḷa, like ਙTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ṅ, ਞTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ñ, ਣTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ṇ, and ੜTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ṛ, do not occur word-initially, except in some cases, like in the letters' names.

Other characters, like the more recent [ਕ਼Template:Script/doc/id-unk] //, are also on rare occasion used unofficially, chiefly for transliterating old writings in Persian and Urdu, the knowledge of which is less relevant in modern times.Template:Refn

Subscript letters

Three "subscript" letters, called ("joint letters") or ("letters at the feet") are utilised in modern Gurmukhī: forms of ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ha, ਰTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ra, and ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk va.

The subscript ਰTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ra and ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk va are used to make consonant clusters and behave similarly; subjoined ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ha introduces tone.

Subscript letter	Name, original form	Usage
੍ਰTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਰTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk→ ੍ਰTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	For example, the letter ਪTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk (pa) with a regular ਰTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk (ra) following it would yield the word /pəɾə̆/ ("but"), but with a subjoined {{script|Guru|ਰ would appear as ਪ੍ਰ-Template:Script/doc/id-unk (/prə-/), resulting in a consonant cluster, as in the word (/pɾəbə́n̪d̪əkə̆/, "managerial, administrative"), as opposed to /pəɾᵊbə́n̪d̪əkə̆/, the Punjabi form of the word used in natural speech in less formal settings (the Punjabi reflex for Sanskrit /pɾə-/ is /pəɾ-/) . This subscript letter is commonly used in Punjabi for personal names, some native dialectal words, loanwords from other languages like English and Sanskrit, etc.
੍ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	pairī̃ vāvā ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk→ ੍ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	Used occasionally in Gurbani (Sikh religious scriptures) but rare in modern usage, it is largely confined to creating the cluster /sʋə-/ in words borrowed from Sanskrit, the reflex of which in Punjabi is /sʊ-/, e.g. Sanskrit /s̪ʋɐ́p.n̪ɐ/→Punjabi /sʊpə̆na:/, "dream", cf. Hindi-Urdu /səpna:/. For example, ਸTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk with a subscript ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk would produce ਸ੍ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk (sʋə-) as in the Sanskrit word (/sʋəɾᵊgə/, "heaven"), but followed by a regular ਵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk would yield - (səʋ-) as in the common word (/səʋəɾᵊgə̆/, "heaven"), borrowed earlier from Sanskrit but subsequently changed. The natural Punjabi reflex, /sʊɾᵊgə̆/, is also used in everyday speech.
੍ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	pairī̃ hāhā ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk→ ੍ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	The most common subscript, this character does not create consonant clusters, but serves as part of Punjabi's characteristic tone system, indicating a tone. It behaves the same way in its use as the regular ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk (ha) does in non-word-initial positions. The regular ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk is pronounced in stressed positions (as in āhō "yes" and a few other common words), word-initially in monosyllabic words, and usually in other word-initial positions,Template:Refn but not in other positions, where it instead changes the tone of the applicable adjacent vowel. The difference in usage is that the regular ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk is used after vowels, and the subscript version is used when there is no vowel, and is attached to consonants. For example, the regular ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk is used after vowels as in (transcribed as (), "rain"). The subjoined ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk (ha) acts the same way but instead is used under consonants: ਚTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk (ca) followed by ੜTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk (ṛa) yields (), but not until the rising tone is introduced via a subscript ਹTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk (ha) does it properly spell the word (, "climb"). This character's function is similar to that of the character (ੑ U+0A51), which occurs in older texts and indicates a rising tone.

In addition to the three standard subscript letters, another subscript character representing the subjoined /Template:IPAlink/, the or ( ੵTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk U+0A75), is utilized specifically in archaized -style writings in Sikh scripture, where it is found 268 times for word forms and inflections from older phases of Indo-Aryan, as in the examples

• // "(to be) protected"
• // "deceiving"
• // "of the world"
• // "(act of) begging", etc.

There is also a conjunct form of the letter , ਯTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk→੍ਯ, a later form, which functions similarly to the , and is used exclusively for Sanskrit borrowings, and even then rarely. In addition, miniaturized versions of the letters ਚTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk, ਟTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk, ਤTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk, and ਨTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk are also found in limited use as subscript letters in Sikh scripture.

Only the subjoined /ɾə/ and /hə/ are commonly used; usage of the subjoined /ʋə/ and conjoined forms of /jə/, already rare, is increasingly scarce in modern contexts.

Vowel diacritics

Vowel diacritics, with dotted circles representing the bearer consonant

Vowel			Transcription		IPA	Closest English equivalent
Ind.	Dep.	with /k/	Name	Usage
ਅTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	(none)	ਕTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	mukḁ̆tā	a	Template:IPAblink	like a in about
ਆTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਾTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕਾTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	kannā	ā	Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink	like a in car
ਇTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਿTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕਿTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	siā̀rī	i	Template:IPAblink	like i in it
ਈTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ੀTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕੀTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	biā̀rī	ī	Template:IPAblink	like i in litre
ਉTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ੁTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕੁTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	auṅkaṛă	u	Template:IPAblink	like u in put
ਊTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ੂTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕੂTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	dulaiṅkaṛă	ū	Template:IPAblink	like u in spruce
ਏTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ੇTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕੇTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	lā̃/lāvā̃ /	ē	Template:IPAblink	like e in Chile
ਐTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ੈTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕੈTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	dulāvā̃	ai	Template:IPAblink~[]	like e in sell
ਓTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ੋTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕੋTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	hōṛā	ō	Template:IPAblink	like o in more
ਔTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ੌTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	ਕੌTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk	kanauṛā	au	Template:IPAblink~[]	like o in off

To express vowels (Template:Langx), Gurmukhī, as an abugida, makes use of obligatory diacritics called Template:Langx. Gurmukhī is similar to Brahmi scripts in that all consonants are followed by an inherent schwa sound. This inherent vowel sound can be changed by using dependent vowel signs which attach to a bearing consonant. In some cases, dependent vowel signs cannot be used – at the beginning of a word or syllable for instance – and so an independent vowel character is used instead.

Independent vowels are constructed using the three vowel-bearing characters: ੳTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk , ਅTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk aiṛā, and ੲTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk īṛī. With the exception of aiṛā (which in isolation represents the vowel Template:IPAblink), the bearer vowels are never used without additional vowel diacritics.

Vowels are always pronounced after the consonant they are attached to. Thus, siā̀rī is always written to the left, but pronounced after the character on the right. When constructing the independent vowel for Template:IPAblink, ūṛā takes an irregular form instead of using the usual hōṛā.

Orthography

Gurmukhī orthography prefers vowel sequences over the use of semivowels ("y" or "w") intervocally and in syllable nuclei, as in the words:

• Template:Langx "caused to be visible" rather than
• Template:Langx "cedar" rather than dyāră
• Template:Langx "taste" rather than , permitting vowels in hiatus.

In terms of tone orthography, the short vowels Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, when paired with Template:IPAblink to yield /Template:IPAlinkTemplate:IPAlink/ and /Template:IPAlinkTemplate:IPAlink/, represent Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink with high tones respectively, e.g:

• Template:Langx () 'which?'
• Template:Langx () "repeat, reiterate, double."

The compounding of [əɦ] with [ɪ] or [ʊ] yield [ɛ́ː] and [ɔ́ː] respectively, e.g:

• Template:Langx () "expensive"
• Template:Langx () "bride."

Other signs

The diacritics for gemination and nasalization are together referred to as Template:Langx ("applied letters").

Gemination

The diacritic ( ੱTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ) indicates that the following consonant is geminated, and is placed above the consonant preceding the geminated one. Consonant length is distinctive in the Punjabi language, and the use of this diacritic can change the meaning of a word, as below:

Without áddakă	Transliteration	Meaning	With áddakă	Transliteration	Meaning
	dasă	ten		dassĭ	tell (verb)
	patā	aware of/address		pattā	leaf
	bújăṇā	to burn out, be extinguished		bújjăṇā	to think through, figure out, solve
	kalā	art		kallā	alone (colloquialism)

It has not been standardized to be written in all instances of gemination; there is a strong tendency, especially in rural dialects, to also geminate consonants following a long vowel (/a:/, /e:/, /i:/, /o:/, /u:/, /ɛ:/, /ɔː/, which triggers shortening in these vowels) in the penult of a word, e.g. aukkhā "difficult", kī̆ttī "did", pō̆ttā "grandson", panjā̆bbī "Punjabi", hākă "call, shout", but plural hā̆kkā̃.Template:Refn Except in this case, where this unmarked gemination is often etymologically rooted in archaic forms, and has become phonotactically regular, the usage of the áddakă is obligatory.

It is also sometimes used to indicate second-syllable stress, e.g. ba'cā, "save".

Nasalisation

The diacritics ṭippī ( ੰ ) and bindī ( ਂ ) are used for producing a nasal phoneme depending on the following obstruent or a nasal vowel at the end of a word. All short vowels are nasalized using ṭippī and all long vowels are nasalized using bindī except for dulaiṅkaṛă ( ੂ ), which uses ṭippī instead.

Diacritic usage	Result	Examples (IPA)
Ṭippī on short vowel (/ə/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/), or dependent long vowel /u:/, before a non-nasal consonant	Adds nasal consonant at same place of articulation as following consonant (/ns/, /n̪t̪/, /ɳɖ/, /mb/, /ŋg/, /nt͡ʃ/ etc.)	/ɦənsə̆/ "goose" /ən̪t̪ə̆/ "end" /gə́ɳɖə̆/ "knot" /əmbə̆/ "mango" /sɪŋgə̆/ "horn, antler" /kʊɲd͡ʒiː/ "key" /guːɲd͡ʒə̆/ "rumble, echo" /luːmbᵊɽiː/ "fox"
Bindī over long vowel (/a:/, /e:/, /i:/, /o:/, independent /u:/, /ɛ:/, /ɔː/) before a non-nasal consonant not including /h/	Adds nasal consonant at same place of articulation as following consonant (/ns/, /n̪t̪/, /ɳɖ/, /mb/, /ŋg/, /nt͡ʃ/ etc.). May also secondarily nasalize the vowel	/kaːnsiː/ "bronze" /keːn̯d̯əɾə̆/ "center, core, headquarters" /gʊáːɳɖiː/ "neighbor" /pɔ̀ːŋkə̆/ "bark, rave" /sáːɲd͡ʒə̆/ "commonality"
Ṭippī over consonants with dependent long vowel /u:/ at open syllable at end of word or ending in /ɦ/	Vowel nasalization	/t̪ũː/ "you" /saːnũː/ "to us" /mũːɦ/ "mouth"
Ṭippī on short vowel before nasal consonant (/n̪/ or /m/)	Gemination of nasal consonant Ṭippī is used to geminate nasal consonants instead of áddakă	/ɪn̪:a:/ "this much" /kəm:ə̆/ "work"
Bindī over long vowel (/a:/, /e:/, /i:/, /o:/, /u:/, /ɛ:/, /ɔː/), at open syllable at end of word, or ending in /ɦ/	Vowel nasalization	/bã́h/ "arm" /mɛ̃ː/ "I, me" /əsĩː/ "we" /t̪õː/ "from" /sɪ.ũː/ "sew"

Older texts may follow other conventions.

Vowel suppression

File:Manuscript folio scribed by Guru Arjan Dev showcasing the original 35 letters (paintī) of the Gurmukhi script.png

Adi Granth folio scribed by Guru Arjan with the original 35 letters (paintī) plus vowel, nasalization, and punctuation diacritics of the Gurmukhī script at the top and right side of the page

The halantă, or halandă, ( ੍ U+0A4D) character is not used when writing Punjabi in Gurmukhī. However, it may occasionally be used in Sanskritised text or in dictionaries for extra phonetic information. When it is used, it represents the suppression of the inherent vowel.

The effect of this is shown below:

ਕ –

ਕ੍ –

Punctuation

The ḍaṇḍī (।) is used in Gurmukhī to mark the end of a sentence. A doubled ḍaṇḍī, or doḍaṇḍī (॥) marks the end of a verse.

The visarga symbol (ਃ U+0A03) is used very occasionally in Gurmukhī. It can represent an abbreviation, as the period is used in English, though the period for abbreviation, like commas, exclamation points, and other Western punctuation, is freely used in modern Gurmukhī.

Numerals

Gurmukhī has its own set of digits, or aṅgăṛē, which function exactly as in other versions of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. These are used extensively in older texts. In modern contexts, they are sometimes replaced by standard Western Arabic numerals.

Numeral	੦	੧	੨	੩	੪	੫	੬	੭	੮	੯
Number	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Name
Transliteration	sunnă	ikkă	dō	tinnă*	cāră	panjă	chē	sattă	aṭṭhă	na͠u
IPA

*In some Punjabi dialects, the word for three is trai ().

Glyphs

A combined character.

, a Sikh symbol (encoded as a single character in Unicode at U+0A74, ੴTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk)

The scriptural symbol for the Sikh term (ੴTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk U+0A74) is formed from ੧Template:Script/doc/id-unk ("1") and ਓTemplate:Script/doc/id-unk ("ō").

Palaeography

Vowels

The length of the kannā diacritic, used to indicate the ā vowel, in historical manuscripts is often considered when roughly estimating their ages. In earlier Gurmukhī texts, the is often indicated by a "mere dot." As the orthographic tradition developed, the kannā became a longer mark that starts at the top of the line where the words are connected and moving down to cover the top half of the letter space. Shorter kannā marks are indicative of a work dating to an earlier period.

Spacing

File:Photograph of folios (likely from a Sikh scripture) written Larivar (scriptio continua) Gurmukhi script.jpg

Photograph of folios written in laṛīvāră (scriptio continua) Gurmukhī script

Before the 1970s, Gurbani and other Sikh scriptures were written in the traditional scriptio continua method of writing the Gurmukhī script known as , where there were no spacing between words in the texts. This is opposed to the comparatively more recent method of writing in Gurmukhī known as , or "verse perforation," which breaks the words by inserting spacing between them.

First line of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Mul Mantar, in (continuous form) and (spaced form):

:

:

Transliteration:

Styles

Various historical styles and fonts, or Template:Langx, of Gurmukhī script have evolved and been identified. A list of some of them is as follows:

1. purātana ("old") style
2. ardha śikastā ("half-broken") style
3. śikastā ("broken") style (including Anandpur Lipi)
4. Kaśmīrī style
5. Damdamī style

Unicode

Gurmukhī script was added to the Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

Many sites still use proprietary fonts that convert Latin ASCII codes to Gurmukhī glyphs.

The Unicode block for Gurmukhī is U+0A00–U+0A7F:

Gurmukhi[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+0A0x

ਁ

ਂ

ਃ

ਅ

ਆ

ਇ

ਈ

ਉ

ਊ

ਏ

U+0A1x

ਐ

ਓ

ਔ

ਕ

ਖ

ਗ

ਘ

ਙ

ਚ

ਛ

ਜ

ਝ

ਞ

ਟ

U+0A2x

ਠ

ਡ

ਢ

ਣ

ਤ

ਥ

ਦ

ਧ

ਨ

ਪ

ਫ

ਬ

ਭ

ਮ

ਯ

U+0A3x

ਰ

ਲ

ਲ਼

ਵ

ਸ਼

ਸ

ਹ

਼

ਾ

ਿ

U+0A4x

ੀ

ੁ

ੂ

ੇ

ੈ

ੋ

ੌ

੍

U+0A5x

ੑ

ਖ਼

ਗ਼

ਜ਼

ੜ

ਫ਼

U+0A6x

੦

੧

੨

੩

੪

੫

੬

੭

੮

੯

U+0A7x

ੰ

ੱ

ੲ

ੳ

ੴ

ੵ

੶

Notes 1.^ Template:Unicode version 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Digitization

Manuscripts

File:Рукопись гурмукхи.PNG

Gurmukhī can be digitally rendered in a variety of fonts. The Dukandar (shopkeeper) font, left, is meant to resemble informal Punjabi handwriting.

Panjab Digital Library has taken up digitization of all available manuscripts of Gurmukhī Script. The script has been in formal use since the 1500s, and a lot of literature written within this time period is still traceable. Panjab Digital Library has digitized over 45 million pages from different manuscripts and most of them are available online.

Internet domain names

Punjabi University Patiala has developed label generation rules for validating international domain names for internet in Gurmukhī.

See also

• Punjabi Braille
• Shahmukhi alphabet

Sources

• .

Further reading

The following Punjabi-language publications have been written on the origins of the Gurmukhī script:

• Alternative link
• Ishar Singh Tãgh Gurmukhi Lipi da Vigyamulak Adhiyan. Patiala: Jodh Singh Karamjit Singh.
• Kala Singh Bedi Lipi da Vikas. Patiala: Punjabi University, 1995.
• Alternative link
• Prem Parkash Singh "Gurmukhi di Utpati." Khoj Patrika, Patiala: Punjabi University.
• Pritam Singh "Gurmukhi Lipi." Khoj Patrika. p. 110, vol.36, 1992. Patiala: Punjabi University.
• Sohan Singh Galautra. Punjab dian Lipiã.
• Tarlochan Singh Bedi Gurmukhi Lipi da Janam te Vikas. Patiala: Punjabi University, 1999.

External links

• Unicode script chart for Gurmukhi (PDF file)
• Gurmukhi Typewriter Online
• Online Shahmukhi - Gurmukhi and Gurmukhi - Shahmukhi text Conversion tool
• Online Punjabi Dictionary in both Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi