| Saraiki alphabet |
|---|
| آابٻپتٹثجڄچحخدڈݙذرڑزژسشصضطظعغفقکگڳلمن (ں)ݨوہھیے |
ExtendedPerso-Arabic script |
Saraiki has two main systems for writing, which are the Multani Script and Perso-Arabic script. Saraiki can also be written in Devanagari, though this is very uncommon in daily life.
Multani is a Brahmic script originating in the Multan region of Punjab. The script was used for routine writing and commercial activities. Multani is one of fourLanda scripts whose usage was extended beyond the mercantile domain and formalized for literary activity and printing; the others beingGurmukhi,Khojki andKhudabadi. Although Multani is now obsolete, it is a historical script in which written and printed records exist.
Traders or bookkeepers wrote in a script known asLangdi, although use of this script has been significantly reduced in recent times. Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Multani Script in ISO/IEC 10646 was submitted by Anshuman Pandey, on 26-04-2011.[1] Saraiki Unicode has been approved in 2005.[2]
The most common writing system for Saraiki today isShahmukhi, based on thePerso-Arabic script. It is non-standardized and is generally written with an extension to the standard Shahmukhi alphabet. Saraiki has a 43-letter alphabet which include four letters that are not used in standard Shahmukhi.[3] Another difference the Saraiki alphabet has with standard Shahmukhi is the disuse of the already uncommonLam with tah above which is present in the standard form.
| Letter | Name of Letter | Transcription | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| ا | alif | ā, a, e, ē, o, i, u | /a/,/ə/,/e/,/ɛ/,/o/,/ɪ/,/ʊ/ |
| ب | be | b | /b/ |
| ٻ | ɓe | ɓ/bb | /ɓ/ |
| پ | pe | p | /p/ |
| ت | te | t | /t/ |
| ٹ | ṭe | ṭ | /ʈ/ |
| ث | se | (s) | /s/ |
| ج | jīm | j | /d͡ʒ/ |
| ڄ | ʄe | ʄ/jj | /ʄ/ |
| چ | ce | c | /t͡ʃ/ |
| ح | baṛī he | (h) | /ɦ/ |
| خ | xe | x | /x/ |
| د | dāl | d | /d/ |
| ڈ | ḍāl | ḍ | /ɖ/ |
| ݙ | ɗāl | ɗ/dd | /ᶑ/ |
| ذ | zāl | (z) | /z/ |
| ر | re | r | /r/ |
| ڑ | ṛe | ṛ | /ɽ/ |
| ز | ze | z | /z/ |
| ژ | že | ž/(š) | /ʒ/ |
| س | sīn | s | /s/ |
| ش | šīn | š | /ʃ/ |
| ص | svād | (s) | /s/ |
| ض | zvād | (z) | /z/ |
| ط | to'e | (t) | /t/ |
| ظ | zo'e | (z) | /z/ |
| ع | ‘ain | (‘/'), (a), (e), (ē), (o), (i), (u) | /∅/,/ə/,/e/,/ɛ/,/o/,/ɪ/,/ʊ/ |
| غ | ǧain | ǧ | /ɣ/ |
| ف | fe | f | /f/ |
| ق | qāf | q | /q/ |
| ک | kāf | k | /k/ |
| گ | gāf | g | /g/ |
| ڳ | ɠāf | ɠ/gg | /ɠ/ |
| ل | lām | l | /l/ |
| م | mīm | m | /m/ |
| ن | nūn | n | /n/ |
| ں | nūn ǧunnā | _̃ | /◌̃/ |
| ݨ | ṇūn | ṇ | /ɳ/ |
| و | vāv | v | /v/ |
| ہ | coṭī he | h | /ɦ/ |
| ھ | do cašmī he | _h | /◌ʰ/,/◌ʱ/ |
| ی | coṭī ye | y, ī | /j/,/i/ |
| ے | baṛī ye | e, ē | /e/,/ɛ/ |
Saraiki has 4 additional glyphs that are not present in its parent alphabet of standard Shahmukhi.ٻ represents theVoiced bilabial implosive,ڄ represents theVoiced palatal implosive,ڳ represents theVoiced velar implosive, andݙ represents theVoiced retroflex implosive. 3 out of the 4 implosive consonants (ٻ,ڄ,ڳ) are shared with theSindhi alphabet, and ݙ was proposed in 2002[4] to differentiate from ڏ of Sindhi.
Saraiki also lacks the phoneme/ʒ/, and therefore, employs other phonemes such as/ʃ/ to represent the letterژ. Due to this,ژ is only used in loanwords.
LikeStandard Punjabi inShahmukhi, Saraiki also uses theEastern Arabic numerals:
| Hindu–Arabic | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saraiki | ۰ | ۱ | ۲ | ۳ | ۴ | ۵ | ۶ | ۷ | ۸ | ۹ |
The romanization is often termed "transliteration" but that is not strictly correct, astransliteration is the direct representation ofletters by using foreign symbols, but most systems for romanizing Arabic are actuallytranscription systems that represent thesound of the language. For example, the above renderingmunāẓaratu l-ḥurūfi l-ʻarabīyah of theArabic:مناظرة الحروف العربية is a transcription, indicating the pronunciation; an example of transliteration would bemnaẓrḧ alḥrwf alʻrbyḧ.
For Saraiki, all letters and symbols are used in Saraiki in Latin script.[5]
TheDevanagari andGurmukhi scripts, written from left to right, were used byHindus andSikhs respectively around southernPunjab. Though not used in present-day Pakistan, there are still emigrant speakers in India who know the Devanagari or Gurmukhi scripts for Saraiki.[6]
Devanagari has support for all the 4 Saraiki implosive consonants: ॻ (ڳ), ॼ (ڄ), ॾ (ݙ) and ॿ (ٻ), which were actually introduced to write Sindhi. In Gurmukhi, these are approximated bygemination ligatures.
