Lepcha script
Lepcha ᰛᰩᰵ | ||
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Script type | ||
Time period | c. 1700–present | |
Direction | Left-to-right Unicode range | U+1C00–U+1C4F |
The theorised Semitic origins of the Brahmi script are not universally agreed upon. | ||
Brahmic scripts |
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The Brahmi script and its descendants |
The Lepcha script, or Róng script, is an abugida used by the Lepcha people to write the Lepcha language. Unusually for an abugida, syllable-final consonants are written as diacritics.
History
Lepcha is derived from the
Typology
Lepcha is now written horizontally, but the changes in the direction of writing have resulted in a metamorphosis of the eight syllable-final consonants from conjuncts (
As in most other Brahmic scripts, the short vowel /-a/ is not written; other vowels are written with diacritics before (/-i, -o/), after (/-ā, -u/), or under (/-e/) the initial consonant. The length mark, however, is written over the initial, as well as any final consonant diacritic, and fuses with /-o/ and /-u/. (When fused as /-ō/, however, it lies below any final consonant.) Initial vowels do not have separate letters, but are written with the vowel diacritics on an &-shaped zero-consonant letter.
There are postposed diacritics for medial /-y-/ and /-r-/, which may be combined (krya). For medial /-l-/, however, there are seven dedicated conjunct letters. That is, there is a special letter for /kla/ which does not resemble the letter for /ka/. (Only /gla/ is written with a straightforward diacritic.)
One of the final letters, /-ŋ/, is an exception to these patterns. First, unlike the other finals, final /-ŋ/ is written to the left of the initial consonant rather than on top, occurring even before preposed vowels. That is, /kiŋ/ is written "ngki". Second, there is no inherent vowel before /-ŋ/; even short /-a-/ must be written, with a diacritic unique to this situation. (It appears to be the diacritic for long /-ā/ rotated 180° around the consonant letter.) That is, /kaŋ/ is written "ngka", rather than "" as would be expected from the general pattern.
Structure
As an abugida, a basic letter represents both a consonant followed by an inherent vowel. In Lepcha, the inherent vowel is /a/. To start a syllable with a vowel, the appropriate vowel diacritic is added to the vowel-carrier ᰣ. A vowel-carrier with no diacritic represents the sound /a/.
Consonants
ᰀ ka IPA: /ka/
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ᰂ kha IPA: /kʰa/
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ᰃ ga IPA: /ga/
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ᰅ nga IPA: /ŋa/
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ᰆ ca IPA: /ca/
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ᰇ cha IPA: /cʰa/
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ᰈ ja IPA: /dʒa/
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ᰉ nya IPA: /nja/
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ᰊ ta IPA: /ta/
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ᰋ tha IPA: /tʰa/
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ᰌ da IPA: /da/
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ᰍ na IPA: /na/
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ᰎ pa IPA: /pa/
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ᰐ pha IPA: /pʰa/
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ᰑ fa IPA: /fa/
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ᰓ ba IPA: /ba/
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ᰕ ma IPA: /ma/
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ᰗ tsa IPA: /tˢa/
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ᰘ tsha IPA: /tʃa/
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ᰙ za IPA: /za/
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ᰚ ya IPA: /ja/
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ᰛ ra IPA: /ra/
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ᰜ la IPA: /la/
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ᰝ ha IPA: /ha/
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ᰟ va IPA: /va/
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ᰡ sha IPA: /ʃa/
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ᰠ sa IPA: /sa/
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ᰢ wa IPA: /ua/
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ᰁ kla IPA: /kla/
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ᰄ gla IPA: /gla/
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ᰞ hla IPA: /hla/
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ᱍ tta IPA: /ʈa/
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ᱎ ttha IPA: /ʈʰa/
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ᱏ dda IPA: /ɖa/
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ᰏ pla IPA: /pla/
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ᰒ fla IPA: /fla/
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ᰔ bla IPA: /bla/
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ᰖ mla IPA: /mla/
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A consonant cluster can be formed by adding one of the subjoiners to a base letter.
y subjoiner ᰤ y
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ᰜ + ◌ ᰤ ᰜᰤ lya
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r subjoiner ᰥ r
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ᰜ + ◌ ᰥ ᰜ ᰥ la
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ᰭ k
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ᰮ m
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ᰯ l
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ᰰ n
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ᰱ p
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ᰲ r
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ᰳ t
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ᰴ ng
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ᰵ ng
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ᰜᰭ lak
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ᰜᰮ lam
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ᰜᰯ lal
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ᰜᰰ lan
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ᰜᰱ lap
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ᰜᰲ lar
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ᰜᰳ lat
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ᰜᰫᰴ lang
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ᰜᰫ ᰵ lúng
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Vowels
ᰶ â IPA: /ə/
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ᰦ á IPA: /a/
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ᰧ i IPA: /i/
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ᰧ ᰶ í IPA: /i/
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ᰨ o IPA: /o/
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ᰩ ó IPA: /ɔ/
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ᰪ u IPA: /ɯ/
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ᰫ ú IPA: /u/
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ᰬ e/ä IPA: /e~ɛ/
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ᰣ
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ᰣᰶ
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ᰣᰦ
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ᰣᰧ
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ᰣᰧᰶ
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ᰣᰨ
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ᰣᰩ
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ᰣᰪ
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ᰣᰫ
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ᰣᰬ
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ᰜ la
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ᰜᰶ lâ
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ᰜᰦ lá
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ᰜᰧ li
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ᰜᰧᰶ lí
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ᰜᰨ lo
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ᰜᰩ ló
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ᰜᰪ lu
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ᰜᰫ lú
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ᰜᰬ le
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- ^ The transcription 'e' is used in this article.
Numerals
0 ᱀
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1 ᱁
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2 ᱂
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3 ᱃
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4 ᱄
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5 ᱅
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6 ᱆
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7 ᱇
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8 ᱈
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9 ᱉
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Unicode
Lepcha script was added to the Unicode Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1.
The Unicode block for Lepcha is U+1C00–U+1C4F:
Lepcha[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+1C0x | ᰀ | ᰁ | ᰂ | ᰃ | ᰄ | ᰅ | ᰆ | ᰇ | ᰈ | ᰉ | ᰊ | ᰋ | ᰌ | ᰍ | ᰎ | ᰏ |
U+1C1x | ᰐ | ᰑ | ᰒ | ᰓ | ᰔ | ᰕ | ᰖ | ᰗ | ᰘ | ᰙ | ᰚ | ᰛ | ᰜ | ᰝ | ᰞ | ᰟ |
U+1C2x | ᰠ | ᰡ | ᰢ | ᰣ | ᰤ | ᰥ | ᰦ | ᰧ | ᰨ | ᰩ | ᰪ | ᰫ | ᰬ | ᰭ | ᰮ | ᰯ |
U+1C3x | ᰰ | ᰱ | ᰲ | ᰳ | ᰴ | ᰵ | ᰶ | ᰷ | ᰻ | ᰼ | ᰽ | ᰾ | ᰿ | |||
U+1C4x | ᱀ | ᱁ | ᱂ | ᱃ | ᱄ | ᱅ | ᱆ | ᱇ | ᱈ | ᱉ | ᱍ | ᱎ | ᱏ | |||
Notes |
References
- Leonard van der Kuijp, The Tibetan Script and Derivatives, in Daniels and Bright, The World's Writing Systems, 1996.
External links
- Lepcha script at Omniglot.com
- Róng Kít - A free Lepcha Unicode Kit including fonts and keyboard files (Win/Mac/Linux), published by the Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC)
- Noto Sans Lepcha - A free Lepcha Unicode font that harmonizes with other fonts of the Noto font family
- Mingzat - A Lepcha Unicode font by SIL, based on Jason Glavy’s JG Lepcha
- JG Lepcha - A free and well designed but non-Unicode compliant font by Jason Glavy.