Assamese script

Infobox Writing system
type=abugida
name=Assamese
languages=Assamese languageThe Assamese script (অসমীয়া আখৰ "Ôxômiya Akhôr") [The name "unicode|ăcãmăkṣara" first appears in Ahom coins and copperplates where the name denoted the Ahom script Harvcol|Bora|1981|pp=11-12] is a variant of the Eastern Nagari script also used for Bengali and Bishnupriya Manipuri. The Eastern Nagari script belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts and has a continuous history of development from Nagari script, a precursor of Devanagari. By the 17th century three styles of Assamese script could be identified ("baminiya", "kaitheli" and "garhgaya") [Harvcol|Bora|1981|p=53] which gave way to the standard script which followed the typeset script. The present standard is identical to the Bengali script except for two letters.

Buranjis were written during Ahom dynasties in Assamese language using assamese script. Earliest form of evidence Assamese script is found in the Charyapada, the Buddhist songs. They are supposed to be composed within a time-frame of four hundred years from 8th century A.D. to 12th century A.D. In 14th century Madhava Kandali used Assamese script to compose the famous Kotha Ramayana which is first translation of Ramayana in a regional Indian language after Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit. Later, Srimanta Sankardeva used it in the 15th and 16th centuries to compose his oeuvre in Assamese and Brajavali the language of the Bhakti poems (Borgeets) and Dramas (Ankiya naat).

Ahom king Chakradwaj Singha, (1663-1670 AD) was the first ruler who started issuing assamese coins for his kingdom (see figure for a sample coin). Similar script with minor differences are used to write Bengali (Bengali script), Manipuri and Sylheti language.

Assamese symbols

Vowels

The script presently has a total of 11 vowel letters, used to represent the eight main vowel sounds of Assamese, along with a number of vowel diphthongs. All of these are used in both Assamese and Bengali, the two main languages using the script. Some of the vowel letters have different sounds depending on the word, and a number of vowel distinctions preserved in the writing system are not pronounced as such in modern spoken Assamese or Bengali. For example, the Assamese script has two symbols for the vowel sound [i] and two symbols for the vowel sound [u] . This redundancy stems from the time when this script was used to write Sanskrit, a language that had a short [i] and a long [iː] , and a short [u] and a long [uː] . These letters are preserved in the Assamese script with their traditional names of "hôrswô i" (lit. 'short i') and "dirghô i" (lit. 'long i'), etc., despite the fact that they are no longer pronounced differently in ordinary speech.

Vowel signs can be used in conjunction with consonants to modify the pronunciation of the consonant (here exemplified by ক, kô). When no vowel is written, the vowel 'অ' (ô or o) is often assumed. To specifically denote the absence of a vowel, (্) may be written underneath the consonant.

Notes

References

* cite book
last=Bora
first=Mahendra
title=The Evolution of Assamese Script
publisher=Assam Sahitya Sabha
date=1981
location=Jorhat, Assam
* cite web
title=Assamese writing System
url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/assamese.htm
accessdate=2007-12-17
* cite news
title=Antiques reveal script link - Inscriptions on 3 copper plates open new line of research
publisher=The Telegraph (Kolkata)
date=2006-01-25
url=http://208.223.222.112/1060125/asp/northeast/story_5761957.asp
accessdate=2007-12-17

External links

* [http://www.assam.org/assam/language/alphabets.html Assamese alphabet]
* [https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no17118.htm Madhava Kandali Ramayana]