| Shan script လိၵ်ႈတႆး | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Time period | c. 1407 CE—present |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Shan language |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Lik-Tai |
| Unicode | |
| |
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| The Brahmi script and its descendants |
The Shan alphabet is a Brahmic abugida, used for writing the Shan language, which was derived from the Burmese alphabet. [2] Due to its recent reforms, the Shan alphabet is more phonetic than other Burmese-derived alphabets.
 | This Section needs additional citations for verification .(September 2024) |
Around the 15th or 16th centuries, the Mon–Burmese script was borrowed and adapted to write a Tai language of northern Burma. This adaptation eventually resulted in the Shan alphabet, as well as the Tai Le script, Ahom script and Khamti script. [3] This group of scripts has been called the "Lik Tai" scripts or "Lik" scripts, and are used by various Tai peoples in northeastern India, northern Myanmar, southwestern Yunnan, and northwestern Laos. [4] According to the scholar Warthon, evidence suggests that the ancestral Lik-Tai script was borrowed from the Mon–Burmese script in the fifteenth century, most probably in the polity of Mong Mao. [5] However, it is believed that the Ahom people had already adopted their script before migrating to the Brahmaputra Valley in the 13th century. [6] Furthermore, The scholar Daniels describes a Lik Tai script featured on a 1407 Ming dynasty scroll, which shows greater similarity to the Ahom script than to the Lik Tho Ngok (Tai Le) script. [7]
Until the 1960s, Shan alphabet did not differentiate all vowels and diphthongs and had only one tone marker and a single form could represent up to 15 sounds. Only the well-trained were able to read Shan. The alphabet was reformed, making the modern alphabet easier to read with all tones indicated unambiguously.
The Shan alphabet is characterised by the circular letter forms of the Mon-Burmese script. It is an abugida, all letters having an inherent vowel /a/. Vowels are represented in the form of diacritics placed around the consonants. It is written left to right [2]
The representation of the vowels depends partly on whether the syllable has a final consonant. They are typically arranged in the manner below to show the logical relationships between the medial and the final forms and between the individual vowels and the vowel clusters they help form.
| Medial | ◌ a unmarked | ၢ aa IPA: ɑː | ိ i IPA: i | ဵ e IPA: e | ႅ ae IPA: æ | ု u IPA: u | ူ o IPA: o | ွ aw/o IPA: ɔ | ို eu IPA: ɯ | ိူ oe IPA: ə | ႂ wa IPA: ʷ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | ႃ aa IPA: ɑː | ီ ii IPA: iː | ေ e IPA: e | ႄ ae IPA: æ | ူ uu IPA: uː | ူဝ် o IPA: o | ေႃ aw/o IPA: ɔ | ိုဝ် eu IPA: ɯ | ိူဝ် oe IPA: ə | ||
ႆ ai IPA: ai | ၢႆ aai IPA: aːi | ုၺ် ui IPA: ui | ူၺ် ohi/uai IPA: oi | ွႆ oi/oy IPA: ɔi | ိုၺ် uei/uey IPA: ɨi | ိူၺ် oei/oey IPA: əi | |||||
ဝ် aw IPA: au | ၢဝ် aaw IPA: aːu | ိဝ် iu IPA: iu | ဵဝ် eo IPA: eu | ႅဝ် aeo IPA: æu | ႂ် aɨ IPA: aɯ |
The Shan alphabet is much less complex than those of related Tai-Kadai languages like Thai. Having been reformed recently, Shan lacks many of the historical spelling remnants in Thai and Burmese. Compared to the Thai alphabet, it lacks the notions of high-class, mid-class and low-class consonants, distinctions which help the Thai script to number 44 consonants. Shan has only 19 consonants.
The number of consonants in a textbook may vary: there are 19 universally accepted Shan consonants (ၵ ၶ င ၸ သ ၺ တ ထ ၼ ပ ၽ ၾ မ ယ ရ လ ဝ ႁ ဢ) and five more which represent sounds not found in Shan, g, z, b, d and th [θ]. These five (ၷ ၹ ၿ ၻ ႀ) are quite rare. In addition, most editors include a dummy consonant (ဢ) used in words with a vowel onset. A textbook may therefore present 18-24 consonants.
Like other Brahmi scripts, Shan consonants are typically arranged in rows based on place of articulation with columns based on aspiration and voicing.
ၵ ka IPA: ka | ၶ kha IPA: kʰa | င nga IPA: ŋa |
ၸ tsa IPA: t͡ɕa | သ sa IPA: sa | ၺ nya IPA: ɲa |
တ ta IPA: ta | ထ tha IPA: tʰa | ၼ na IPA: na |
ပ pa IPA: pa | ၽ pha IPA: pʰa | ၾ fa IPA: fa |
မ ma IPA: ma | ယ ya IPA: ja | ရ ra IPA: ra |
လ la IPA: la | ဝ wa IPA: wa | ႁ ha IPA: ha |
ဢ a IPA: ʔa |
ၷ gǎ IPA: /ɡa˨˦/ | ႀ xǎ IPA: /θa˨˦/ | ၻ dǎ IPA: /da˨˦/ | ၿ bǎ IPA: /ba˨˦/ |
မ် IPA: m | ၼ် IPA: n | င် IPA: ŋ | ပ် IPA: p | တ် IPA: t | ၵ် IPA: k | ျ IPA: ʃa | ြ IPA: pʰra |
The tones are indicated by tone markers at the end of the syllable. Shan tonal markers are mostly unambiguous and phonetic. In the absence of any marker, the default is the rising tone.
1 ◌ rising | 2 ႇ low | 3 ႈ mid-falling | 4 း high | 5 ႉ high-falling and creaky | 6 ႊ emphatic or middle |
While the reformed script originally used only four diacritic tone markers, equivalent to the five tones spoken in the southern dialect, the Lashio-based Shan Literature and Culture Association now, for a number of words, promotes the use of the 'yak khuen' (Shan : ယၵ်းၶိုၼ်ႈ) to denote the sixth tone as pronounced in the north.
There are differences between the numerals used by the Shan script in China and Myanmar. The numerals used by Shan in China are similar to the numbers in Tham script and Tai Le script in China and the numbers in Burmese, while the Shan numerals in Myanmar form their own system, similar to the Burmese Tai Le numerals.
| Burmese Shan and Tai Le | 0 ႐ | 1 ႑ | 2 ႒ | 3 ႓ | 4 ႔ | 5 ႕ | 6 ႖ | 7 ႗ | 8 ႘ | 9 ႙ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Shan and Tai Le | ᧐ | ᧑ | ᥨ | ၃ | ၄ | ၅ | ᧖ | ၇ | ᧘ | ᧙ |
There are three main punctuation marks in Shan script with an addition mark for letter reduplication, typically as shorthand.
၊ comma | ။ full stop | ႟ exclamation | ꧦ letter reduplication |
Below are charts with syllables showcasing how of Shan script vowels and consonants are combined.
ၵ + ◌◌ ၵ kǎ IPA: /ʔa˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ႃ ၵႃ kǎa IPA: /ʔaː˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ိ ၵိ kǐ IPA: /ʔi˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ီ ၵီ kǐi IPA: /ʔiː˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ေ ၵေ kǎe IPA: /ʔeː˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ႄ ၵႄ kě IPA: /ʔɛː˨˦/ |
ၵ + ◌ု ၵု kǔ IPA: /ʔu˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ ူ ၵူ kǔu IPA: /ʔuː˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ူဝ် ၵူဝ် kǒ IPA: /ʔoː˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ေႃ ၵေႃ kǎu IPA: /ʔɔː˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ိုဝ် ၵိုဝ် kǔe IPA: /ʔɯː˨˦/ | ၵ + ◌ိူဝ် ၵိူဝ် kǒe IPA: /ʔɤː˨˦/ |
ၵ + ႆ ၵႆ kǎi IPA: /ʔaj˨˦/ | ၵ + ၢႆ ၵၢႆ kǎai IPA: /ʔaːj˨˦/ | ၵ + ွႆ ၵွႆ kǎui IPA: /ʔɔj˨˦/ | ၵ + ုၺ် ၵုၺ် kǔi IPA: /ʔuj˨˦/ | ၵ + ူၺ် ၵူၺ် kǒi IPA: /ʔoj˨˦/ | ၵ + ိုၺ် ၵိုၺ် kǔei IPA: /ʔɯj˨˦/ | ၵ + ိူၺ် ၵိူၺ် kǒei IPA: /ʔɤj˨˦/ |
ၵ + ဝ် ၵဝ် kǎo IPA: /ʔaw˨˦/ | ၵ + ၢဝ် ၵၢဝ် kǎao IPA: /ʔaːw˨˦/ | ၵ + ိဝ် ၵိဝ် kǐo IPA: /ʔiw˨˦/ | ၵ + ဵဝ် ၵဵဝ် kǎei IPA: /ʔew˨˦/ | ၵ + ႅဝ် ၵႅဝ် kěo IPA: /ʔɛw˨˦/ | ၵ + ႂ် ၵႂ် ʼǎue IPA: /ʔaɰ˨˦/ |
ပႃ pǎa IPA: /paː˨˦/ | ပႃႇ pàa IPA: /paː˩/ | ပႃႈ pāa IPA: /paː˧˧˨/ | ပႃး páa IPA: /paː˥/ | ပႃႉ pâ̰a IPA: /paː˦˨ˀ/ | ပႃႊ pa᷈a IPA: /paː˧˦˧/ |
The Shan script has been encoded as a part of the Myanmar block with the release version of Unicode 3.0.
| Myanmar [1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+100x | က | ခ | ဂ | ဃ | င | စ | ဆ | ဇ | ဈ | ဉ | ည | ဋ | ဌ | ဍ | ဎ | ဏ |
| U+101x | တ | ထ | ဒ | ဓ | န | ပ | ဖ | ဗ | ဘ | မ | ယ | ရ | လ | ဝ | သ | ဟ |
| U+102x | ဠ | အ | ဢ | ဣ | ဤ | ဥ | ဦ | ဧ | ဨ | ဩ | ဪ | ါ | ာ | ိ | ီ | ု |
| U+103x | ူ | ေ | ဲ | ဳ | ဴ | ဵ | ံ | ့ | း | ္ | ် | ျ | ြ | ွ | ှ | ဿ |
| U+104x | ၀ | ၁ | ၂ | ၃ | ၄ | ၅ | ၆ | ၇ | ၈ | ၉ | ၊ | ။ | ၌ | ၍ | ၎ | ၏ |
| U+105x | ၐ | ၑ | ၒ | ၓ | ၔ | ၕ | ၖ | ၗ | ၘ | ၙ | ၚ | ၛ | ၜ | ၝ | ၞ | ၟ |
| U+106x | ၠ | ၡ | ၢ | ၣ | ၤ | ၥ | ၦ | ၧ | ၨ | ၩ | ၪ | ၫ | ၬ | ၭ | ၮ | ၯ |
| U+107x | ၰ | ၱ | ၲ | ၳ | ၴ | ၵ | ၶ | ၷ | ၸ | ၹ | ၺ | ၻ | ၼ | ၽ | ၾ | ၿ |
| U+108x | ႀ | ႁ | ႂ | ႃ | ႄ | ႅ | ႆ | ႇ | ႈ | ႉ | ႊ | ႋ | ႌ | ႍ | ႎ | ႏ |
| U+109x | ႐ | ႑ | ႒ | ႓ | ႔ | ႕ | ႖ | ႗ | ႘ | ႙ | ႚ | ႛ | ႜ | ႝ | ႞ | ႟ |
Notes
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An abjad, also abgad, is a writing system in which only consonants are represented, leaving the vowel sounds to be inferred by the reader. This contrasts with alphabets, which provide graphemes for both consonants and vowels. The term was introduced in 1990 by Peter T. Daniels. Other terms for the same concept include partial phonemic script, segmentally linear defective phonographic script, consonantary, consonant writing, and consonantal alphabet.
An abugida – sometimes also called alphasyllabary, neosyllabary, or pseudo-alphabet – is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is secondary, similar to a diacritical mark. This contrasts with a full alphabet, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent, partial, or optional – in less formal contexts, all three types of the script may be termed "alphabets". The terms also contrast them with a syllabary, in which a single symbol denotes the combination of one consonant and one vowel.
Thai, or Central Thai, is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai, Mon, Lao Wiang, Phuan people in Central Thailand and the vast majority of Thai Chinese enclaves throughout the country. It is the sole official language of Thailand.
The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India and are used by various languages in several language families in South, East and Southeast Asia: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Mongolic, Austroasiatic, Austronesian, and Tai. They were also the source of the dictionary order (gojūon) of Japanese kana.
The Thai script is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself has 44 consonant symbols, 16 vowel symbols that combine into at least 32 vowel forms, four tone diacritics, and other diacritics.
The Burmese alphabet is an abugida used for writing Burmese. It is ultimately adapted from a Brahmic script, either the Kadamba or Pallava alphabet of South India. The Burmese alphabet is also used for the liturgical languages of Pali and Sanskrit. In recent decades, other, related alphabets, such as Shan and modern Mon, have been restructured according to the standard of the Burmese alphabet
The Ahom script or Tai Ahom Script is an abugida that is used to write the Ahom language, a dormant Tai language undergoing revival spoken by the Ahom people till the late 18th-century, who established the Ahom kingdom and ruled the eastern part of the Brahmaputra valley between the 13th and the 18th centuries. The old Ahom language today survives in the numerous manuscripts written in this script currently in institutional and private possession.
The Shan language is the native language of the Shan people and is mostly spoken in Shan State, Myanmar. It is also spoken in pockets in other parts of Myanmar, in Northern Thailand, in Yunnan, in Laos, in Cambodia, in Vietnam and decreasingly in Assam and Meghalaya. Shan is a member of the Kra–Dai language family and is related to Thai. It has five tones, which do not correspond exactly to Thai tones, plus a sixth tone used for emphasis. The term Shan is also used for related Northwestern Tai languages, and it is called Tai Yai or Tai Long in other Tai languages. Standard Shan, which is also known as Tachileik Shan, is based on the dialect of the city of Tachileik.
Tai Lue or Xishuangbanna Dai is a Tai language of the Lu people, spoken by about 700,000 people in Southeast Asia. This includes 280,000 people in China (Yunnan), 200,000 in Burma, 134,000 in Laos, 83,000 in Thailand and 4,960 in Vietnam. The language is similar to other Tai languages and is closely related to Kham Mueang or Tai Yuan, which is also known as Northern Thai language. In Yunnan, it is spoken in all of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, as well as Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County in Pu'er City.
Tai Nuea or Tai Nüa, also called Dehong Tai and Chinese Shan, is one of the languages spoken by the Dai people in China, especially in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in the southwest of Yunnan Province. It is closely related to the other Tai languages and could be considered a dialect of Shan. It should not be confused with Tai Lü.
The Tai Le script, or Dehong Dai script, is a Brahmic script used to write the Tai Nüa language spoken by the Tai Nua people of south-central Yunnan, China. It is written in horizontal lines from left to right, with spaces only between clauses and sentences.
The Khamti language is a Southwestern Tai language spoken in Myanmar and India by the Khamti people. It is closely related to, and sometimes considered a dialect of, Shan.
New Tai Lue script, also known as Xishuangbanna Dai and Simplified Tai Lue, is an abugida used to write the Tai Lue language. Developed in China in the 1950s, New Tai Lue is based on the traditional Tai Tham alphabet developed c. 1200. The government of China promoted the alphabet for use as a replacement for the older script; teaching the script was not mandatory, however, and as a result many are illiterate in New Tai Lue. In addition, communities in Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam still use the Tai Tham alphabet.
Tai Tham script is an abugida writing system used mainly for a group of Southwestern Tai languages i.e., Northern Thai, Tai Lü, Khün and Lao; as well as the liturgical languages of Buddhism i.e., Pali and Sanskrit. It is historically known as Tua Tham. In Thailand and Myanmar, the script is often referred to as Lanna script in relation to the historical kingdom of Lan Na situating in the Northern region of modern day Thailand and a part of Shan state in Myanmar. Local people in Northern Thailand also call the script as Tua Mueang in parallel to Kam Mueang, a local name for Northern Thai language. In Laos and Isan region of Thailand, a variation of Tai Tham script, often dubbed Lao Tham, is also known by the locals as To Tham Lao or Yuan script. Tai Tham script is traditionally written on a dried palm leaf as a palm-leaf manuscript.
In orthography, a zero consonant, silent initial, or null-onset letter is a consonant letter that does not correspond to a consonant sound, but is required when a word or syllable starts with a vowel. Some abjads, abugidas, and alphabets have zero consonants, generally because they have an orthographic rule that all syllables must begin with a consonant letter, whereas the language they transcribe allows syllables to start with a vowel. In a few cases, such as Pahawh Hmong below, the lack of a consonant letter represents a specific consonant sound, so the lack of a consonant sound requires a distinct letter to disambiguate.
The Mon–Burmese script is an abugida that derives from the Pallava Grantha script of southern India and later of Southeast Asia. It is the basis of the alphabets used for modern Burmese, Mon, Shan, Rakhine, Jingpho and Karen.
The Leke script, previously known as Karen Chicken Scratch script, is an abugida used to write the Pwo Karen language and Sgaw language in Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand. It has 25 consonants, 17 vowels and 3 tones. The script also has a unique set of numerals and punctuation, such as a full stop (period) and a comma.
The Mon alphabet is a Brahmic abugida used for writing the Mon language. It is an example of the Mon-Burmese script, which derives from the Pallava Grantha script of southern India.
The Tai Viet script is a Brahmic script used by the Tai Dam people and various other Thai people in Vietnam and Thailand.