Limbu ᤕᤠᤰᤌᤢᤱ ᤐᤠᤴ
Script type	Abugida
Period	c. 1740–present
Direction	Left-to-right
Region	Nepal and Northeastern India
Languages	Limbu
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic alphabet Phoenician alphabet Aramaic alphabet Brāhmī Gupta Tibetan Lepcha Limbu
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Limb(336), ​Limbu
Unicode
Unicode alias	Limbu
Unicode range	U+1900–U+194F
This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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TheLimbu script (also Sirijanga script)^[1] is used to write theLimbu language. It is aBrahmic typeabugida.^[2]

The Limbu script was invented in the 18th century byLimbu monk and scholarTe-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe, in order to give the Limbu a distinct medium to commit their oral tradition to writing. He claimed that the script was used in late first millennium and that he had only rediscovered it, but no text from before the 18th century has been discovered. It was likely invented as an act of defiance.^[3]

TheLimbu language is one of the fewSino-Tibetan languages of the CentralHimalayas to possess their own scripts.^[4][5] The Limbu or Sirijunga script was devised during the period of Buddhist expansion inSikkim in the early 18th century whenLimbuwan still constituted part of Sikkimese territory. The Limbu script was probably composed at roughly the same time as theLepcha script which was created by the third King of Sikkim,Chakdor Namgyal (ca. 1700–1717). The Limbu script is ascribed to theLimbu hero,Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe.

The Limbu script is anabugida, which means that a basic letter represents both a consonant and an inherent, or default, vowel. InLimbu, the inherent vowel is/ɔ/, as inBengali–Assamese andOdia scripts. To start a syllable with a vowel, the appropriate vowel diacritic is added to the vowel-carrierᤀ. A vowel-carrier with no diacritic represents the sound/ɔ/.

Initial consonant clusters are written with small marks following the main consonant:

Final consonants after short vowels are written with another set of marks, except for some final consonants occurring only in loanwords. They follow the marks for consonant clusters, if any.

Long vowels without a following final consonant are written with a diacritic calledkemphreng⟨᤺⟩, for example,⟨ᤁ᤺⟩,/kɔː/.

There are two methods for writing long vowels with syllable-final consonants:

1. With akemphreng diacritic and the final consonant, such as⟨ᤁ᤺ᤰ⟩,/kɔːk/.
2. By replacing the final consonant with the corresponding full consonant and adding an underscore-like diacritic mark⟨᤻⟩. This indicates that the consonant has no following vowel and that the preceding vowel is lengthened, example,⟨ᤁᤁ᤻⟩,/kɔːk/. The same diacritic may be used to mark final consonants in loanwords that do not have final forms in Limbu, regardless of the length of the vowel.

The first method is widely used inSikkim; the second method is advocated by certain writers inNepal.^[2]

Glottalization is marked by a sign calledmukphreng⟨᤹ ⟩, for example,⟨ᤁ᤹ ⟩,/kɔʔ/.

ᤛᤧᤘᤠᤖᤥ᥄ ᤀᤠᤍᤠᤱᤒᤠ ᤜᤠᤍᤠᤱᤔᤠᤛᤣ ᤗᤠᤶᤎᤡᤱᤃᤥ ᤗᤠᤶᤎᤰ ᤕᤠᤰᤌᤢᤱᤐᤠᤴ ᤖᤧ ᤘᤡᤁᤡᤐᤡᤍᤡᤕᤠ ᤀᤥ ॥ᤛᤧᤘᤠᤖᤥ᥄ ᤀᤠᤍᤠᤏᤠᤒᤠ ᤀᤠᤍᤠᤏᤠᤔ ᤀᤠᤛᤧ ᤗᤠᤶᤎ ᤀᤡᤏᤠᤃ ᤗᤠᤶᤎᤠᤁᤠ ᤕᤠᤰᤌᤢᤱ ᤐᤠᤏᤠ ᤖᤧ ᤘᤡᤁᤡᤐᤧᤍᤤ ᤀ।ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢ ᤓᤠᤙᤠᤁᤥ ᤘᤡᤁᤡᤐᤡ᤺ᤍᤡᤕᤠᤔᤠ ᤛᤫᤠᤃᤋ ᤇ।ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢ ᤓᤠᤛᤠᤁᤨ ᤘᤡᤁᤡᤐᤡᤍᤡᤕᤠ ᤀᤜᤡᤗᤧ ᤀᤡᤴᤁᤢᤒᤧᤛᤠᤏᤠ (ᤐᤠᤖᤣᤰᤙᤠᤏ ᤘᤡᤁᤡ) ᤀᤷᤌᤠᤳ ᤁᤨᤁᤨᤔᤠ ᤇᤠ।ᤕᤛᤗᤠᤀᤡ᤺ ᤀᤃᤠᤍᤡ ᤒᤎᤠᤀᤢᤏᤠᤁᤠ ᤗᤠᤃᤡ ᤁᤠᤶᤋᤡᤔᤠ ᥈ ᤛᤠᤕᤠ ᤗᤧᤰ ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢ ᤓᤠᤙᤠᤔᤠ ᤜᤢᤏᤠ ᤈᤠᤖᤥᤖᤣ ᤇᤠ।ᤋᤩᤛᤁᤠᤖᤏ ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢ ᤓᤠᤙᤠᤔᤠ ᤗᤧᤂᤠᤜᤠᤖᤢ ᤗᤧᤰᤏᤠ ᤛᤢᤖᤢᤃᤠᤷᤏᤠ ᤛᤠᤒᤤ ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢᤓᤠᤙᤡ ᤔᤡᤳᤖᤜᤠᤖᤢᤔᤠ ᤜᤠᤷᤍᤡᤰ ᤀᤠᤏᤢᤖᤨᤎ ᤇᤠ।

Three additional letters were used in early versions of the modern script:^[2]

• ᤉ /d͡ʑʱɔ/
• ᤊ /ɲɔ/
• ᤚ /ʂɔ/

Two ligatures were used for Nepali consonant conjuncts:^[6]

• ᤝ jña (forDevanagariज्ञ)
• ᤞ tra (for Devanagariत्र)

Nineteenth-century texts used a smallanusvara (ᤲ) to marknasalization. This was used interchangeably withᤱ /ŋ/.

The sign᥀ was used for the exclamatory particleᤗᤥ (/lo/).^[2]

The main punctuation mark used in Limbu is the Devanagari doubledanda (॥).^[2] It has its own exclamation mark (᥄) and question mark (᥅).

Limbu script was added to theUnicode Standard in April, 2003 with the release of version 4.0.

The Unicode block for Limbu is U+1900–U+194F:

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• Writing systems of Nepal

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