Ga (Indic)

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Ga
Devanagari g.svg
Example glyphs
Bengali-Assamese Bengali Letter Ga.svg
Tibetan Tibetan Ga.svg
Thai
Malayalam
Sinhala
Ashoka Brahmi Brahmi g.svg
Devanagari Devanagari g.svg
Cognates
Hebrew ג
Greek Γ
Latin C, G, Ɣ
Cyrillic Г, Ґ
Properties
Phonemic representation /g//k/ B /kʰ/ C
IAST transliteration ga Ga
ISCII code point B5 (181)

^B In Khmer, Tai Viet, Tai Lü, Northern Thai and Tai Khün
^C In Thai and Lao

Ga is the third consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, ga is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg , which is probably derived from the Aramaic letter Gimel.svg (gimel, /g/) after having gone through the Gupta letter Gupta allahabad g.svg .

Contents

Āryabhaṭa numeration

Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The values of the different forms of ग are: [1]

Historic Ga

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoshthi, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Ga as found in standard Brahmi, Brahmi g.svg was a simple geometric shape, with slight variations toward the Gupta Gupta allahabad g.svg . The Tocharian Ga Tocharian letter ga.gif did not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form. The third form of ga, in Kharoshthi ( Bukva GA (nezalezhnii znak). Pis'mo kkharoshtkhi. Kharoshthi letter GA.svg ) was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.

Brahmi Ga

The Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg , Ga, is probably derived from the Aramaic Gimel Gimel.svg , and is thus related to the modern Latin G and C, and the Greek Gamma. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Ga can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period. [2] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi Ga historic forms
Ashoka
(3rd-1st c. BCE)
Girnar
(~150 BCE)
Kushana
(~150-250 CE)
Gujarat
(~250 CE)
Gupta
(~350 CE)
Brahmi g.svg Gupta girnar g.svg Gupta ashoka g.svg Gupta gujarat g.svg Gupta allahabad g.svg

Tocharian Ga

The Tocharian letter Tocharian letter ga.gif is derived from the Brahmi Brahmi g.svg , but does not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian Ga with vowel marks
GaGiGuGrGr̄GeGaiGoGau
Tocharian letter ga.gif Tocharian letter gaa.gif Tocharian letter gi.gif Tocharian letter gii.gif Tocharian letter gu.gif Tocharian letter guu.gif Tocharian letter gr.gif Tocharian letter ge.gif Tocharian letter gai.gif Tocharian letter go.gif Tocharian letter gau.gif Tocharian letter ga.gif

Kharoshthi Ga

The Kharoshthi letter Bukva GA (nezalezhnii znak). Pis'mo kkharoshtkhi. Kharoshthi letter GA.svg is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Gimel Gimel.svg , and is thus related to G and C, and Gamma, in addition to the Brahmi Ga.

Devanagari script

Ga () is the third consonant of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg , after having gone through the Gupta letter Gupta allahabad g.svg . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter ગ and the Modi letter 𑘐.

Devanagari Gga

Gga () is the character ग with an underbar to represent the voiced velar implosive [ ɠ ] that occurs in Sindhi. This underbar is distinct from the Devanagari stress sign anudātta . The underbar is fused to the stem of the letter while the anudātta is a stress accent applied to the entire syllable. This underbar used for Sindhi implosives does not exist as a separate character in Unicode. When the ु or ू vowel sign is applied to jja (ॻ), the ु and ू vowel signs are drawn beneath jja. When the उ ( ु) vowel sign or ऊ ( ू) vowel sign is applied to ja with an anudātta (ग॒), the उ ( ु) vowel sign or ऊ ( ू) vowel sign is first placed under ja (ग) and then the anudātta is placed underneath the उ ( ु) vowel sign or ऊ ( ू) vowel sign. [3]

Character Nameउ ( ु) vowel signऊ ( ू) vowel sign
ॻ (Implosive ga)ॻुॻू
ग॒ (Ga with anudātta)ग॒ुग॒ू

An example of a Sindhi word that uses gga (ॻ) is ॻुड़ु (ڳُڙُ), which is of the masculine grammatical gender and means jaggery. [4]

Devanagari Ġa

Ġa (ग़) is the character ग with a single dot underneath. It is used in Devanagari transcriptions of Urdu (غ) and other languages to denote the voiced velar fricative [ ɣ ].

Devanagari-using Languages

In all languages, ग is pronounced as [] or [ g ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Devanagari ग with vowel marks
GaGiGuGrGr̄GlGl̄GeGaiGoGauG
गागिगीगुगूगृगॄगॢगॣगेगैगोगौग्

Conjuncts with ग

Half form of Ga. Devanagari Ga half form.svg
Half form of Ga.

Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks. [5]

Ligature conjuncts of ग

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Devanagari are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra. Nepali and Marathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form Devanagari Eyelash Ra.svg for an initial "R" instead of repha.

  • Repha र্ (r) + ग (ga) gives the ligature rga: note

Devanagari Conjunct RGa.svg

  • Eyelash र্ (r) + ग (ga) gives the ligature rga:

Devanagari Conjunct Eyelash RGa.svg

  • ग্ (g) + rakar र (ra) gives the ligature gra:

Devanagari Conjunct GRa.svg

  • ग্ (g) + र্ (r) + य (ya) gives the ligature grya:

Devanagari Conjunct GRYa.svg

  • ग্ (g) + न (na) gives the ligature gna:

Devanagari Conjunct GNa.svg

  • ग্ (g) + न্ (n) + य (ya) gives the ligature gnya:

Devanagari Conjunct GNYa.svg

  • द্ (d) + ग (ga) gives the ligature dga:

Devanagari Conjunct DGa.svg

  • द্ (d) + ग্ (g) + rakar र (ra) gives the ligature dgra:

Devanagari Conjunct DGRa.svg

Stacked conjuncts of ग

Vertically stacked ligatures are the most common conjunct forms found in Devanagari text. Although the constituent characters may need to be stretched and moved slightly in order to stack neatly, stacked conjuncts can be broken down into recognizable base letters, or a letter and an otherwise standard ligature.

  • ब্ (b) + ग (ga) gives the ligature bga:

Devanagari Conjunct BGa.svg

  • छ্ (cʰ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature cʰga:

Devanagari Conjunct ChGa.svg

  • ड্ (ḍ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ḍga:

Devanagari Conjunct DdGa.svg

  • ढ্ (ḍʱ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ḍʱga:

Devanagari Conjunct DdhGa.svg

  • ग্ (g) + ज (ja) gives the ligature gja:

Devanagari Conjunct GJa.svg

  • ग্ (g) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature gjña:

Devanagari Conjunct GJNya.svg

  • ग্ (g) + ल (la) gives the ligature gla:

Devanagari Conjunct GLa.svg

  • ङ্ (ŋ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ŋga:

Devanagari Conjunct NgGa.svg

  • Repha र্ (r) + ङ্ (ŋ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature rŋga:

Devanagari Conjunct RNgGa.svg

  • ट্ (ṭ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ṭga:

Devanagari Conjunct TtGa.svg

  • ठ্ (ṭʰ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ṭʰga:

Devanagari Conjunct TthGa.svg

  • व্ (v) + ग (ga) gives the ligature vga:

Devanagari Conjunct VGa.svg

Bengali script

The Bengali script গ is derived from Siddhaṃ Siddham g.svg , and is marked by the lack of horizontal head line, and less geometric shape than its Devanagari counterpart, ग. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter গ will sometimes be transliterated as "go" instead of "ga". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, gives a reading of /go/. Like all Indic consonants, গ can be modified by marks to indicate another (or no) vowel than its inherent "a".

Bengali গ with vowel marks
gagigugrgr̄gegaigogaug
গাগিগীগুগূগৃগৄগেগৈগোগৌগ্

গ in Bengali-using languages

গ is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.

Conjuncts with গ

Bengali গ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures. [6]

Bengali Conjunct Dga.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gdha.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gdhra.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gdhya.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gla.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gma.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gna.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gnna.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gnya.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gra.svg

Bengali Conjunct Grya.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gva.svg

Bengali Conjunct Gya.svg

Bengali Conjunct Lga.svg

Bengali Conjunct NGga.svg

Bengali Conjunct NGgya.svg

Bengali Conjunct Rga.svg

Bengali Conjunct Rgya.svg

Gurmukhi script

Gagaa [gəgːɑ] () is the eighth letter of the Gurmukhi alphabet. Its name is [gəgːɑ] and is pronounced as /g/ when used in words. It is derived from the Laṇḍā letter ga, and ultimately from Brahmi ga. Gurmukhi gagaa does not have a special pairin or addha (reduced) form for making conjuncts, and in modern Punjabi texts do not take a half form or halant to indicate the bare consonant /g/, although Gurmukhi Sanskrit texts may use an explicit halant.

Gujarati Ga

Gujarati Ga. Gujarati letter Ga.svg
Gujarati Ga.

Ga () is the third consonant of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from Devanagari Ga Devanagari g.svg , and ultimately the Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg .

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ગ is pronounced as [] or [ g ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

GaGiGuGrGlGr̄Gl̄GeGaiGoGauG
Gujarati Ga Matras.svg
Gujarati Ga syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Conjuncts with ગ

Half form of Ga. Gujarati letter Ga half form.svg
Half form of Ga.

Gujarati ગ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari. True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra.

Gujarati conjunct RGa.svg

Gujarati conjunct GRa.svg

Gujarati conjunct GNa.svg

Gujarati conjunct DGa.svg

Telugu Ga

Telugu letter Ga.svg
Telugu subjoined Ga.svg
Telugu independent and subjoined Ga.

Ga () is a consonant of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg . It is closely related to the Kannada letter . Most Telugu consonants contain a v-shaped headstroke that is related to the horizontal headline found in other Indic scripts, although headstrokes do not connect adjacent letters in Telugu. The headstroke is normally lost when adding vowel matras. Telugu conjuncts are created by reducing trailing letters to a subjoined form that appears below the initial consonant of the conjunct. Many subjoined forms are created by dropping their headline, with many extending the end of the stroke of the main letter body to form an extended tail reaching up to the right of the preceding consonant. This subjoining of trailing letters to create conjuncts is in contrast to the leading half forms of Devanagari and Bengali letters. Ligature conjuncts are not a feature in Telugu, with the only non-standard construction being an alternate subjoined form of Ṣa (borrowed from Kannada) in the KṢa conjunct.

Malayalam Ga

Malayalam letter Ga Malayalam letter Ga.svg
Malayalam letter Ga

Ga () is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg , via the Grantha letter Grantha letter Ga.svg Ga. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Malayalam Ga matras: Ga, Ga, Gi, Gi, Gu, Gu, Gr, Gr, Gl, Gl, Ge, Ge, Gai, Go, Go, Gau, and G. Malayalam Ga matras.svg
Malayalam Ga matras: Ga, Gā, Gi, Gī, Gu, Gū, Gr̥, Gr̥̄, Gl̥, Gl̥̄, Ge, Gē, Gai, Go, Gō, Gau, and G.

Conjuncts of ഗ

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

Malayalam conjunct GGa.svg

Malayalam conjunct GGha.svg

Malayalam conjunct GDa.svg

Malayalam conjunct GNa.svg

Malayalam conjunct GMa.svg

Malayalam conjunct GRa.svg

Thai script

Kho khwai ()and kho khon () are the fourth and fifth letters of the Thai script. They fall under the low class of Thai consonants. In IPA, kho khwai and kho khon are pronounced as [kʰ] at the beginning of a syllable and are pronounced as [k̚] at the end of a syllable. The previous two letters of the alphabet, kho khai (ข) and kho khuat(ฃ), are also named kho, however, they all fall under the high class of Thai consonants. The next letter of the alphabet, kho ra-khang (ฆ), correspond to the Sanskrit letter ‘घ’. Unlike many Indic scripts, Thai consonants do not form conjunct ligatures, and use the pinthu an explicit virama with a dot shape—to indicate bare consonants.

Kho Khwai

In the acrophony of the Thai script, khwai (ควาย) means ‘water buffalo’. Kho khwai corresponds to the Sanskrit character ‘ग’.

Kho Khon

In the acrophony of the Thai script, khon (คน) means ‘person’. Kho khon (ฅ) represents the voiced velar fricative sound /ɣ/ that existed in Old Thai at the time the alphabet was created but no longer exists in Modern Thai. When the Thai script was developed, the voiceless velar fricative sound did not have a Sanskrit or Pali counterpart so the character kho khwai was slightly modified to create kho khon. During the Old Thai period, this sounds merged into the stop /ɡ/, and as a result the use of this letters became unstable. Although kho khon is now obsolete, it remains in dictionaries, preserving the traditional count of 44 letters in the Thai alphabet. When the first Thai typewriter was developed by Edwin Hunter McFarland in 1892, there was simply no space for all characters, thus kho khon was one of the two letters left out along with kho khuat. [7] Although kho khon does not appear in modern Thai orthography, some writers and publishers are trying to reintroduce its usage.

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Ke

, , and are the base characters "Ke", "Ki", "Ko" and "Ka" in the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. The bare consonant (K) is a small version of the A-series letter ᑲ, although the Western Cree letter ᐠ, derived from Pitman shorthand was the original bare consonant symbol for K. The character ᑫ is derived from a handwritten form of the Devanagari letter ग, without the headline or vertical stem, and the forms for different vowels are derived by mirroring. [8] [9] Unlike most writing systems without legacy computer encodings, complex Canadian syllabic letters are represented in Unicode with pre-composed characters, rather than with base characters and diacritical marks.

VariantE-seriesI-seriesO-seriesA-seriesOther
K + vowel
KeKiKoKaKay
Small-
-Ojibway KKwKCree K
K with long vowels-
-CreeKāi
K+ W- vowels
KweCree KweKwiCree KwiKwoCree KwoKwaCree KwaKway
K+ W- long vowels--
-KwīCree KwīKwōCree KwōKwāNaskapi KwāCree Kwā-
Q-
-QiQoQaQ
Q with long vowels-
-Qāi
Slavey K forms-
KeKiKoKa

Odia Ga

Odia letter Ga.svg
Odia subjoined Ga.svg
Odia independent and subjoined letter Ga.

Ga () is a consonant of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg , via the Siddhaṃ letter Siddham g.svg Ga. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Odia Ga with vowel matras
GaGiGuGr̥Gr̥̄Gl̥Gl̥̄GeGaiGoGauG
ଗାଗିଗୀଗୁଗୂଗୃଗୄଗୢଗୣଗେଗୈଗୋଗୌଗ୍

Conjuncts of ଗ

As is common in Indic scripts, Odia joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a small subjoined form of trailing consonants. Most consonants' subjoined forms are identical to the full form, just reduced in size, although a few drop the curved headline or have a subjoined form not directly related to the full form of the consonant. The second type of conjunct formation is through pure ligatures, where the constituent consonants are written together in a single graphic form. This ligature may be recognizable as being a combination of two characters or it can have a conjunct ligature unrelated to its constituent characters.

Odia conjunct NgGa.svg

Odia conjunct RGa.svg

Odia conjunct GRa.svg

Kaithi Ga

Kaithi Ga.svg
Kaithi Ga half form.svg
Kaithi consonant and half-form Ga.

Ga (𑂏) is a consonant of the Kaithi abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg , via the Siddhaṃ letter Siddham g.svg Ga. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Kaithi Ga with vowel matras
GaGiGuGeGaiGoGauG
𑂏𑂏𑂰𑂏𑂱𑂏𑂲𑂏𑂳𑂏𑂴𑂏𑂵𑂏𑂶𑂏𑂷𑂏𑂸𑂏𑂹

Conjuncts of 𑂏

As is common in Indic scripts, Kaithi joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a half form of preceding consonants, although several consonants use an explicit virama. Most half forms are derived from the full form by removing the vertical stem. As is common in most Indic scripts, conjucts of ra are indicated with a repha or rakar mark attached to the rest of the consonant cluster. In addition, there are a few vertical conjuncts that can be found in Kaithi writing, but true ligatures are not used in the modern Kaithi script.

Kaithi conjunct GRa.svg

Kaithi conjunct RGa.svg

Khmer Ko

្គ
IndependentSubscript
Khmer independent and subjoined letter Ko.

Ko () is a consonant of the Khmer abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg , via the Pallava letter Pallava Ga.svg Ga. Like in other Indic scripts, Khmer consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel. Actually, the sounds of the vowels are modified by the consonant; see the article on the Khmer writing system for details.

Khmer Ko with vowel matras
GaGiGuGr̥Gr̥̄Gl̥Gl̥̄GeGaiGoGauGẏGuaGoeGẏaGiaGaeG

Note: The vowels (other than vocalic liquids) are shown using the ALA-LC scheme. [10]

Pali and Sanskrit are written as abugidas with the lack of a vowel between consonants notated as consonants indicated by vertically stacking the consonants without their touching. For phonetically final consonants, the lack of a vowel is marked by virama.

The Khmer language works the same, except that a different method is used for the last consonant of a word. The final consonant in a consonant stack is indicated as having no implicit vowel by applying tôndôkhéad to it. By default, a consonant surmounted by robat is silent and lacks an inherent vowel. The yŭkôlpĭntŭ positively indicates the presence of a final implicit vowel, plus its automatic glottal stop. Otherwise, there is no final vowel, unless the word is of Pali or Sanskrit origin, in which case the spelling is ambiguous. Up until the start of the 20th century, the lack of a final vowel could be indicating by subscripting the consonant, as then done in Lao and in other non-Indic languages using the Tai Tham script.


Tai Tham Script

Lanna letter ga.svg
Lanna subscript ga.svg
Lanna letter ga.svg
Tai Tham independent (ᨣ), subjoined (◌᩠ᨣ) and modified letter Low Ka (ᨤ).

Low Ka () is a consonant of the Tai Tham abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Brahmi g.svg , via the Pallava letter Pallava Ga.svg Ga. The Tai Tham script was originally used to write Pali (the name 'Tham' is a local form of dharma), and faced the same limitations in writing Tai languages as Khmer had. The Thai solutions were adopted, with consonants being systematically modified by the addition of a tail to supply new consonants, mostly for fricatives. Low Ka was modified, yielding what for convenience we call Low Khha here. Both consonants are low consonants in the Tai alphabets. The two sounds, /ɡ/ and /ɣ/, subsequently merɡed in Lao as /kʰ/, and Low Khha is absent from the Lao variant of Tai Tham. The other Tai languages keep them separate, as /k/ and /x/.

Low Ka

Like in other Indic scripts, Tai Tham consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel.

Tai Tham Low Ka with vowel matras
Syllable typegagigư̄gu
Closed or openᨣᩤᨣᩮᨣᩯᨣᩮᩤ
gaigaưgaugō̹i
Openᨣᩱᨣᩲᨣᩮᩢᩤᨣᩮᩫᨣᩮᩫᩤ
gogagœ̄gō̹go̹
Openᨣᩰᩡᨣᩡᨣᩰᨣᩮᩬᩥᨣᩮᩦᨣᩰᩬᩡᨣᩰᩬ
Closedᨣᩰᩫᨣᩮᩥᨣᩮᩦ
gūagīagư̄a
Openᩅᩫᨿᩮᨣᩮᩢ᩠ᨿᨣᩮᩬᩥᩋᨣᩮᩬᩨᩋᨣᩮᩬᩨ
Closedᨿᨣᩮᩬᩥᨣᩮᩬᩨ

Notes:

  1. The transliteration scheme is an amalgamation of the ALA-LC schemes of Khmer [10] , Pali [11] and Lao [12] .
  2. Many of the matras include subscript wa ( Lanna subscript wa.svg ), subscript ya ( Lanna subscript ya.svg ), subscript a ( Lanna subscript a.svg ) or even the letter a ( Lanna Letter a.svg ) itself. Anusvara ( Lanna final w.svg ) and visarga ( Lanna visarga dc.svg ) are also used.
  3. In the relevant Tai languages, a short vowel in an open syllable includes an underlyinɡ ɡlottal stop.

Additional short vowels not shown above may be synthesised from the corresponding long vowel by appending visarga for open syllables (as shown for go) or applying mai sat ( Lanna final k.svg ) for closed syllables (as shown for go̹). Unlike the other languages, Lao instead replaces an ī or ư̄ glyph by the corresponding short vowel.

The lack of a vowel between consonants notated as consonants is indicated by vertically stacking the consonants, generally without their touching. The Brahmi style of writing final consonants small and low developed, as vestigially seen in Khmer and Lao, into using subscripting to indicate that a consonant had no vowel of its own. In theory this leaves it ambiguous as to whether a consonant precedes or follows the vowel, but ambiguous cases are rare. Finally, if there is no room for the consonant below, it may be left as an 'independent' consonant or. in some cases, written superscript. Occasionally the visible virama (ra haam) is used, but this may signify that the consonant so marked is silent. The vowel /a/ will be made explicit if the final consonant is notated by a letter and is included in the same stack as the initial consonant or is written in a stack just consisting of that consonant.

Low Ka can serve as the initial consonant of a stack, and several examples can be seen above. It can also occur as the final element of a consonant stack in words of Indic origin, both in the cluster gg of a Pali word ᨾᨣ᩠ᨣ magga 'road' and as the final consonant after apocation of the final vowel, e.g. ᨶᩣ᩠ᨣ nāg 'nāga'.

In writing systems that make use of tall aa, as the initial letter of an akshara the letter is followed by tall aa. as shown in the table of matras above. This is because the sequence of letter and round aa ᨣᩣ could formerly be very similar to the independent letter high ka ( Lanna letter ka.svg ). This rule is frequently neglected when a mark above would clearly disambiguate the two.

Low Khha

Like in other Indic scripts, Tai Tham consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel.

Tai Tham Low Khha with vowel matras
Syllable typeG̣aG̣āG̣iG̣īG̣ưG̣ư̄G̣uG̣ūG̣ēG̣ǣG̣ō
Closed or openᨤᩣᨤᩮᨤᩯᨤᩮᩣ
G̣aiG̣aưG̣auG̣ō̹i
Openᨤᩱᨤᩲᨤᩮᩢᩣᨤᩮᩫᩣ
G̣oG̣aG̣ōG̣œ̄G̣ō̹G̣o̹
Openᨤᩰᩡᨤᩡᨤᩰᨤᩮᩬᩥᨤᩰᩬᩡᨤᩰᩬ
Closedᨤᩰᩫᨤᩮᩥ
G̣ūaG̣īaG̣ư̄a
Openᩅᩫᨿᩮᨤᩮᩬᩥᩋᨤᩮᩬᩨᩋᨤᩮᩬᩨ
Closedᨿᨤᩮᩬᩥᨤᩮᩬᩨ

Notes:

  1. The transliteration scheme is an amalgamation of the ALA-LC schemes of Khmer [10] , Pali [13] and Lao [14] .
  2. Many of the matras include subscript wa ( Lanna subscript wa.svg ), subscript ya ( Lanna subscript ya.svg ), subscript a ( Lanna subscript a.svg ) or even the letter a ( Lanna Letter a.svg ) itself. Anusvara ( Lanna final w.svg ) and visarga ( Lanna visarga dc.svg ) are also used.
  3. In the relevant Tai languages, a short vowel in an open syllable includes an underlyinɡ ɡlottal stop.

This form occurs only as the initial consonant of a syllable. This letter combined in aksharas with the dependent vowel Ā uses round aa, as shown in the table of matras above, rather than tall aa.

Comparison of Ga

The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including Ga, are related as well.

Comparison of Ga in different scripts
Aramaic
Gimel.svg
Kharoṣṭhī
𐨒
Ashoka Brahmi
Brahmi g.svg
Kushana Brahmi [lower-alpha 1]
Gupta ashoka g.svg
Tocharian [lower-alpha 2]
Tocharian letter ga.gif
Gupta Brahmi
Gupta allahabad g.svg
Pallava
Pallava Ga.svg
Kadamba
-
Bhaiksuki
𑰐
Siddhaṃ
Siddham g.svg
Grantha
𑌗
Cham
Sinhala
Pyu /
Old Mon [lower-alpha 3]
-
Tibetan
Tibetan Ga.svg
Newa
𑐐
Ahom
𑜕
Malayalam
Telugu
Burmese
Lepcha
Ranjana
Ranjana g.svg
Saurashtra
Dives Akuru
𑤎
Kannada
Kayah Li
Limbu
Soyombo [lower-alpha 4]
𑩞
Khmer
Tamil
-
Chakma
𑄉
Tai Tham
 / 
Meitei Mayek
Gaudi
-
Thai
 / 
Lao
Tai Le
-
Marchen
𑱴
Tirhuta
𑒑
New Tai Lue
 / 
Tai Viet
 / 
Aksara Kawi
Aksara Kawi ga.svg
'Phags-pa
Odia
Sharada
𑆓
Rejang
Batak
Buginese
Zanabazar Square
𑨍
Bengali-Assamese
Bengali Letter Ga.svg
Takri
𑚌
Javanese
Balinese
Makasar
𑻡
Hangul [lower-alpha 5]
Northern Nagari
-
Dogri
𑠌
Laṇḍā
-
Sundanese
Baybayin
Modi
𑘐
Gujarati
Khojki
𑈊
Khudabadi
𑊼
Mahajani
𑅗
Tagbanwa
Devanagari
Devanagari g.svg
Nandinagari
𑦰
Kaithi
Kaithi Ga.svg
Gurmukhi
Multani
𑊆
Buhid
Canadian Syllabics [lower-alpha 6]
Soyombo [lower-alpha 7]
𑩞
Sylheti Nagari
Gunjala Gondi
𑵶
Masaram Gondi [lower-alpha 8]
𑴎
Hanuno'o
Notes
  1. The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms.
  2. Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession.
  3. Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script
  4. May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table)
  5. The Origin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida.
  6. Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas.
  7. May also be derived from Ranjana (see above)
  8. Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.

Character encodings of Ga

Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter Ga in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. Ga from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.

Character information
Preview Devanagari g.svg Bengali Letter Ga.svg
Unicode nameDEVANAGARI LETTER GABENGALI LETTER GATELUGU LETTER GAORIYA LETTER GAKANNADA LETTER GAMALAYALAM LETTER GAGUJARATI LETTER GAGURMUKHI LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 2327U+09172455U+09973095U+0C172839U+0B173223U+0C973351U+0D172711U+0A972583U+0A17
UTF-8 224 164 151E0 A4 97224 166 151E0 A6 97224 176 151E0 B0 97224 172 151E0 AC 97224 178 151E0 B2 97224 180 151E0 B4 97224 170 151E0 AA 97224 168 151E0 A8 97
Numeric character reference गगগগగగଗଗಗಗഗഗગગਗਗ
ISCII181B5181B5181B5181B5181B5181B5181B5181B5


Character information
Preview
Ashoka Brahmi g.svg
Kushana Gupta ashoka g.svg
Gupta Gupta allahabad g.svg
𐨒 Siddham g.svg 𑌗
Unicode nameBRAHMI LETTER GAKHAROSHTHI LETTER GASIDDHAM LETTER GAGRANTHA LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 69653U+1101568114U+10A1271056U+1159070423U+11317
UTF-8 240 145 128 149F0 91 80 95240 144 168 146F0 90 A8 92240 145 150 144F0 91 96 90240 145 140 151F0 91 8C 97
UTF-16 55300 56341D804 DC1555298 56850D802 DE1255301 56720D805 DD9055300 57111D804 DF17
Numeric character reference 𑀕𑀕𐨒𐨒𑖐𑖐𑌗𑌗


Character information
Preview Tibetan Ga.svg 𑨍𑐐𑰐𑆓
Unicode nameTIBETAN LETTER GATIBETAN SUBJOINED LETTER GAPHAGS-PA LETTER GAZANABAZAR SQUARE LETTER GANEWA LETTER GABHAIKSUKI LETTER GASHARADA LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 3906U+0F423986U+0F9243074U+A84272205U+11A0D70672U+1141072720U+11C1070035U+11193
UTF-8 224 189 130E0 BD 82224 190 146E0 BE 92234 161 130EA A1 82240 145 168 141F0 91 A8 8D240 145 144 144F0 91 90 90240 145 176 144F0 91 B0 90240 145 134 147F0 91 86 93
UTF-16 39060F4239860F9243074A84255302 56845D806 DE0D55301 56336D805 DC1055303 56336D807 DC1055300 56723D804 DD93
Numeric character reference གགྒྒꡂꡂ𑨍𑨍𑐐𑐐𑰐𑰐𑆓𑆓


Character information
Preview
Unicode nameMYANMAR LETTER GATAI THAM LETTER LOW KATAI THAM LETTER LOW KXANEW TAI LUE LETTER LOW KANEW TAI LUE LETTER LOW XA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 4098U+10026691U+1A236692U+1A246533U+19856534U+1986
UTF-8 225 128 130E1 80 82225 168 163E1 A8 A3225 168 164E1 A8 A4225 166 133E1 A6 85225 166 134E1 A6 86
Numeric character reference ဂဂᨣᨣᨤᨤᦅᦅᦆᦆ


Character information
Preview
Unicode nameKHMER LETTER KOLAO LETTER KHO TAMTHAI CHARACTER KHO KHWAITHAI CHARACTER KHO KHONTAI VIET LETTER LOW GOTAI VIET LETTER HIGH GO
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 6018U+17823716U+0E843588U+0E043589U+0E0543654U+AA8643655U+AA87
UTF-8 225 158 130E1 9E 82224 186 132E0 BA 84224 184 132E0 B8 84224 184 133E0 B8 85234 170 134EA AA 86234 170 135EA AA 87
Numeric character reference គគຄຄคคฅฅꪆꪆꪇꪇ


Character information
Preview𑄉𑜕𑤎
Unicode nameSINHALA LETTER ALPAPRAANA GAYANNAKAYAH LI LETTER GACHAKMA LETTER GAAAHOM LETTER GADIVES AKURU LETTER GASAURASHTRA LETTER GACHAM LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 3484U+0D9C43276U+A90C69897U+1110971445U+1171571950U+1190E43156U+A89443528U+AA08
UTF-8 224 182 156E0 B6 9C234 164 140EA A4 8C240 145 132 137F0 91 84 89240 145 156 149F0 91 9C 95240 145 164 142F0 91 A4 8E234 162 148EA A2 94234 168 136EA A8 88
UTF-16 34840D9C43276A90C55300 56585D804 DD0955301 57109D805 DF1555302 56590D806 DD0E43156A89443528AA08
Numeric character reference ගගꤌꤌ𑄉𑄉𑜕𑜕𑤎𑤎ꢔꢔꨈꨈ


Character information
Preview𑘐𑦰𑩞𑵶 Kaithi Ga.svg
Unicode nameMODI LETTER GANANDINAGARI LETTER GASOYOMBO LETTER GASYLOTI NAGRI LETTER GOGUNJALA GONDI LETTER GAKAITHI LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 71184U+1161072112U+119B072286U+11A5E43017U+A80973078U+11D7669775U+1108F
UTF-8 240 145 152 144F0 91 98 90240 145 166 176F0 91 A6 B0240 145 169 158F0 91 A9 9E234 160 137EA A0 89240 145 181 182F0 91 B5 B6240 145 130 143F0 91 82 8F
UTF-16 55301 56848D805 DE1055302 56752D806 DDB055302 56926D806 DE5E43017A80955303 56694D807 DD7655300 56463D804 DC8F
Numeric character reference 𑘐𑘐𑦰𑦰𑩞𑩞ꠉꠉ𑵶𑵶𑂏𑂏


Character information
Preview𑒑𑱴
Unicode nameTIRHUTA LETTER GALEPCHA LETTER GALIMBU LETTER GAMEETEI MAYEK LETTER GOKMARCHEN LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 70801U+114917171U+1C036403U+190343986U+ABD272820U+11C74
UTF-8 240 145 146 145F0 91 92 91225 176 131E1 B0 83225 164 131E1 A4 83234 175 146EA AF 92240 145 177 180F0 91 B1 B4
UTF-16 55301 56465D805 DC9171711C036403190343986ABD255303 56436D807 DC74
Numeric character reference 𑒑𑒑ᰃᰃᤃᤃꯒꯒ𑱴𑱴


Character information
Preview𑚌𑠌𑈊𑊼𑅗𑊆
Unicode nameTAKRI LETTER GADOGRA LETTER GAKHOJKI LETTER GAKHUDAWADI LETTER GAMAHAJANI LETTER GAMULTANI LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 71308U+1168C71692U+1180C70154U+1120A70332U+112BC69975U+1115770278U+11286
UTF-8 240 145 154 140F0 91 9A 8C240 145 160 140F0 91 A0 8C240 145 136 138F0 91 88 8A240 145 138 188F0 91 8A BC240 145 133 151F0 91 85 97240 145 138 134F0 91 8A 86
UTF-16 55301 56972D805 DE8C55302 56332D806 DC0C55300 56842D804 DE0A55300 57020D804 DEBC55300 56663D804 DD5755300 56966D804 DE86
Numeric character reference 𑚌𑚌𑠌𑠌𑈊𑈊𑊼𑊼𑅗𑅗𑊆𑊆


Character information
Preview𑻡
Unicode nameBALINESE LETTER GABATAK LETTER GABUGINESE LETTER GAJAVANESE LETTER GAMAKASAR LETTER GAREJANG LETTER GASUNDANESE LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 6933U+1B157118U+1BCE6657U+1A0143410U+A99273441U+11EE143313U+A9317052U+1B8C
UTF-8 225 172 149E1 AC 95225 175 142E1 AF 8E225 168 129E1 A8 81234 166 146EA A6 92240 145 187 161F0 91 BB A1234 164 177EA A4 B1225 174 140E1 AE 8C
UTF-16 69331B1571181BCE66571A0143410A99255303 57057D807 DEE143313A93170521B8C
Numeric character reference ᬕᬕᯎᯎᨁᨁꦒꦒ𑻡𑻡ꤱꤱᮌᮌ


Character information
Preview𑴎
Unicode nameTAGALOG LETTER GATAGBANWA LETTER GABUHID LETTER GAHANUNOO LETTER GAMASARAM GONDI LETTER GA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 5892U+17045988U+17645956U+17445924U+172472974U+11D0E
UTF-8 225 156 132E1 9C 84225 157 164E1 9D A4225 157 132E1 9D 84225 156 164E1 9C A4240 145 180 142F0 91 B4 8E
UTF-16 5892170459881764595617445924172455303 56590D807 DD0E
Numeric character reference ᜄᜄᝤᝤᝄᝄᜤᜤ𑴎𑴎
Character information
Preview
Unicode nameCANADIAN SYLLABICS KECANADIAN SYLLABICS KICANADIAN SYLLABICS KOCANADIAN SYLLABICS KACANADIAN SYLLABICS K
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode 5227U+146B5229U+146D5231U+146F5234U+14725251U+1483
UTF-8 225 145 171E1 91 AB225 145 173E1 91 AD225 145 175E1 91 AF225 145 178E1 91 B2225 146 131E1 92 83
Numeric character reference ᑫᑫᑭᑭᑯᑯᑲᑲᒃᒃ

See also

Related Research Articles

Ka is the first consonant of the Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, ka is derived from the Brāhmī letter , which is derived from the Aramaic ("K").

Kha is the second consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, kha is derived from the Brahmi letter , which is probably derived from the Aramaic ("Q").

Gha is the fourth consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, gha is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter , which is probably derived from the Aramaic ("H/X") after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Ṅa is the fifth consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, It is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Ta is the sixteenth consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, ta is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Ṭa is a consonant of Indic abugidas. It is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As with the other retroflex consonants, ṭa is absent from most scripts not used for a language of India.

Ṭha is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ṭha is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As with the other cerebral consonants, ṭha is not found in most scripts for Tai, Sino-Tibetan, and other non-Indic languages, except for a few scripts, which retain these letters for transcribing Sanskrit religious terms.

Ḍa is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ḍa is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As with the other cerebral consonants, ḍa is not found in most scripts for Tai, Sino-Tibetan, and other non-Indic languages, except for a few scripts, which retain these letters for transcribing Sanskrit religious terms.

Ḍha is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ḍha is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As with the other cerebral consonants, ḍha is not found in most scripts for Tai, Sino-Tibetan, and other non-Indic languages, except for a few scripts, which retain these letters for transcribing Sanskrit religious terms.

Ṇa is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ṇa is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As with the other cerebral consonants, ṇa is not found in most scripts for Tai, Sino-Tibetan, and other non-Indic languages, except for a few scripts, which retain these letters for transcribing Sanskrit religious terms.

Tha is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, tha is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Da is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Da is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Dha is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Dha is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Na is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Na is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Ba is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ba is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Ma is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ma is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Ya is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ya is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Ra is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ra is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . Most Indic scripts have differing forms of Ra when used in combination with other consonants, including subjoined and repha forms. Some of these are encoded in computer text as separate characters, while others are generated dynamically using conjunct shaping with a virama.

La is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, La is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

Śa or Sha is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Śa is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

References

  1. Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer . New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp.  447–450. ISBN   0-471-39340-1.
  2. Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838
  3. Everson, Michael (30 March 2005). "Proposal to add four characters for Sindhi to the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). Unicode.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  4. Lekhwani, Kanhaiyalal. 1987 (1909). An intensive course in Sindhi. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages; [New York]: Hippocrene Books. OCLC   18986594
  5. Pall, Peeter. "Microsoft Word - kblhi2" (PDF). Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  6. "The Bengali Alphabet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28.
  7. "The origins of the Thai typewriter". Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  8. Andrew Dalby (2004:139) Dictionary of Languages
  9. Some General Aspects of the Syllabics Orthography, Chris Harvey 2003
  10. 1 2 3 ALA-LC Romanization Tables, Khmer, rev. 2012.
  11. Pali (in various scripts) romanization table (ALA-LC)
  12. [https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/lao.pdf Lao romanization table (ALA-LC)
  13. Pali (in various scripts) romanization table (ALA-LC)
  14. [https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/lao.pdf Lao romanization table (ALA-LC)
^note Conjuncts are identified by IAST transliteration, except aspirated consonants are indicated with a superscript "h" to distinguish from an unaspirated cononant + Ha, and the use of the IPA "ŋ" and "ʃ" instead of the less dinstinctive "ṅ" and "ś".