Gurmukhi

The Gurmukhī script is generally believed to have roots in the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet^[11] by way of the Brahmi script,^[12] which developed further into the Northwestern group (Sharada-based), the Central group (Nagari-based) and the Eastern group (Siddhaṃ-based),^[13] as well as several prominent writing systems of Southeast Asia, in addition to scripts used historically in Central Asia for extinct languages like Saka and Tocharian.^[13] Gurmukhi is derived from Sharada in the Northwestern group, of which it is the only major surviving member,^[14] with full modern currency.^[15] Notable features include:

• It is an abugida in which all consonants have an inherent vowel, [ə]. Diacritics, which can appear above, below, before or after the consonant they are applied to, are used to change the inherent vowel.
• When they appear at the beginning of a syllable, vowels are written as independent letters.
• To form consonant clusters, Gurmukhi uniquely affixes subscript letters at the bottom of standard characters, rather than using the true conjunct symbols used by other scripts,^[15] which merge parts of each letter into a distinct character of its own.
• Punjabi is a tonal language with three tones. These are indicated in writing using the formerly voiced aspirated consonants (gh, dh, bh, etc.) and the intervocalic h.^[16]

Gurmukhi evolved in cultural and historical circumstances notably different from other regional scripts,^[14] for the purpose of recording scriptures of Sikhism, a far less Sanskritized cultural tradition than others of the subcontinent.^[14] This independence from the Sanskritic model allowed it the freedom to evolve unique orthographical features.^[14] These include:

• Three basic bearer vowels, integrated into the traditional Gurmukhi character set, using the vowel diacritics to write independent vowels, instead of distinctly separate characters for each of these vowels as in other scripts;^[16][18]
• a drastic reduction in the number and importance of conjunct characters^[16][19][1] (similar to Brahmi, the letters of which Gurmukhi letters have remained more similar to than those of Nagari have,^[20] and characteristic of Northwestern abugidas);^[15]
• a unique standard ordering of characters that somewhat diverges from the traditional vargiya, or Sanskritic, ordering of characters,^[16][21] including vowels and fricatives being placed in front;^[22][23]
• the recognition of Indo-Aryan phonological history through the omission of characters representing the sibilants [ʃ] and [ʂ],^[24] retaining only the letters representing sounds of the spoken language of the time;^[1] these sibilants were naturally lost in most modern Indo-Aryan languages, though such characters were often retained in their respective consonant inventories as placeholders and archaisms^[16] while being mispronounced.^[24] These sibilants were often variously reintroduced through later circumstances, as [ʃ] was to Gurmukhi,^[23] necessitating a new glyph;^[24]
• the development of distinct new letters for sounds better reflecting the vernacular language spoken during the time of its development (e.g. for [ɽ],^[25] and the sound shift that merged Sanskrit [ʂ] and /kʰ/ to Punjabi /kʰ/);
• a gemination diacritic, a unique feature among native subcontinental scripts,^[14] which serve to indicate the preserved Middle Indo-Aryan geminates distinctive of Punjabi;^[15][26]

and other features.

From the 10th century onwards, regional differences started to appear between the Sharada script used in Punjab, the Hill States (partly Himachal Pradesh) and Kashmir. Sharada proper was eventually restricted to very limited ceremonial use in Kashmir, as it grew increasingly unsuitable for writing the Kashmiri language.^[27] With the last known inscription dating to 1204 C.E., the early 13th century marks a milestone in the development of Sharada.^[27] The regional variety in Punjab continued to evolve from this stage through the 14th century; during this period it starts to appear in forms closely resembling Gurmukhī and other Landa scripts. By the 15th century, Sharada had evolved so considerably that epigraphists denote the script at this point by a special name, Dēvāśēṣa.^[27] Tarlochan Singh Bedi (1999) prefers the name prithamă gurmukhī, or Proto-Gurmukhī.

Meanwhile, the mercantile scripts of Punjab known as the Laṇḍā scripts were normally not used for literary purposes. Laṇḍā means alphabet "without tail",^[15] implying that the script did not have vowel symbols. In Punjab, there were at least ten different scripts classified as Laṇḍā, Mahajani being the most popular. The Laṇḍā scripts were used for household and trade purposes.^[28] In contrast to Laṇḍā, the use of vowel diacritics was made obligatory in Gurmukhī for increased accuracy and precision, due to the difficulties involved in deciphering words without vowel signs.^[1][29]

The Sikh gurus adopted Proto-Gurmukhī to write the Guru Granth Sahib, the religious scriptures of the Sikhs. It was through its recording in Gurmukhi that knowledge of the pronunciation and grammar of the Old Punjabi language (c. 10th–16th century) was preserved for modern philologists.^[30] It has been described as being "tailor-made" to writing the Punjabi language as it existed in the 16th century.^[31]

The original Sikh scriptures and most of the historic Sikh literature have been written in the Gurmukhi script,^[32] for which the script is revered by Sikhs.^[31] Guru Angad is credited in the Sikh tradition with the creation and standardization of Gurmukhi script from earlier Śāradā-descended scripts native to the region.^[32] Whilst the creation of the Gurmukhi script is commonly attributed to the second guru of the Sikhs, Guru Angad, according to Mangat Bhardwaj the Gurmukhi script or its antecedents pre-date the development of Sikhism by several centuries.^[31] Sikh scholars themselves, such as Kahn Singh of Nabha (1930), G. B. Singh (1950), Piara Singh Padam (1954), and G. S. Sidhu (2004), have documented Gurmukhi prior to the arising of Sikhism.^[31] The glyphs and symbols employed in Gurmukhi pre-date Sikhism and it is more likely that Guru Angad standardized the pre-existing scripts around 1530–1535 to create the standard Gurmukhi script under the purview of Guru Nanak.^[31]

In the following epochs, Gurmukhī became the primary script for the literary writings of the Sikhs. Playing a significant role in Sikh faith and tradition, it expanded from its original use for Sikh scriptures and developed its own orthographical rules, spreading widely under the Sikh Empire and used by Sikh kings and chiefs of Punjab for administrative purposes.^[22] In seventeenth and eighteenth-century Punjab, the script was also employed to write scientific and poetic literature from both Sanskritic and Persian traditions in the Braj language.^[33] Helping to foster a distinct Sikh culture and contributing to the consolidation of the Sikh religion, expanding from its original role as the vehicle of Sikh religious literature, Gurmukhi became particularly important in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the Sikhs established political hegemony over Punjab and Kashmir.^[34] Also playing a major role in consolidating and standardizing the Punjabi language, it served as the main medium of literacy in Punjab and adjoining areas for centuries when the earliest schools were attached to gurdwaras.^[22]

In Jammu Division, Takri, which developed through the Dēvāśēṣa stage of Sharada from the 14th-18th centuries^[27] developed into Dogri,^[27] which was a "highly imperfect" script later consciously influenced in part by Gurmukhi during the late 19th century,^[35] possibly to provide it an air of authority by having it resemble scripts already established in official and literary capacities,^[36] though not displacing Takri.^[35]

The first natively produced grammars of the Punjabi language were written in the 1860s in Gurmukhi.^[37] The Singh Sabha Movement of the late 19th century, a movement to revitalize Sikh institutions which had declined during colonial rule after the fall of the Sikh Empire, also advocated for the usage of the Gurmukhi script for mass media, with print media publications and Punjabi-language newspapers established in the 1880s.^[38]

Official recognition of Gurmukhī was made a prerequisite by the Akali Dal for political partnership in the 1940s leading up to the 1947 partition, including in failed talks with the Muslim League.^[39] Later in the 1960s, after the struggle of the Punjabi Suba movement, the script was given the authority as the official state script of the Punjab, India,^[6][7] where it is used in all spheres of culture, arts, education, and administration, with a firmly established common and secular character,^[22] and is now the standard writing script for the Punjabi language in India.^[32]

With technological advances introduced in the 1970s, including the computer and the offset press, Gurmukhī usage would flourish in news media.^[40] It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic, and is currently the 14th most used script in the world.^[41]

The prevalent view among Punjabi linguists is that as in the early stages the Gurmukhī letters were primarily used by the Guru's followers, gurmukhs (literally, those who face, or follow, the Guru); the script thus came to be known as gurmukhī, "the script of those guided by the Guru."^[14][42]

Although the word Gurmukhī has been commonly translated as "from the mouth of the Guru", the term used for the Punjabi script has somewhat different connotations. This usage of the term may have gained currency from the use of the script to record the utterances of the Sikh Gurus as scripture, which were often referred to as Gurmukhī, or from the mukhă (face, or mouth) of the Gurus. Consequently, the script that was used to write the resulting scripture may have also been designated with the same name.^[1]

The name for the Perso–Arabic alphabet for the Punjabi language, Shahmukhi, was modeled on the term Gurmukhī.^[43][44]

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The Gurmukhī alphabet contains thirty-five base letters (akkhară), traditionally arranged in seven rows of five letters each. The first three letters, or mātarā vāhakă ("vowel bearer"), are distinct because they form the basis for independent vowels and are not consonants, or vianjană, like the remaining letters are, and except for the second letter aiṛā^{[note 2]} are never used on their own;^[28] see § Vowel diacritics for further details. The pair of fricatives, or mūlă vargă ("base class"), share the row, which is followed by the next five sets of consonants, with the consonants in each row being homorganic, the rows arranged from the back (velars) to the front (labials) of the mouth, and the letters in the grid arranged by place and manner of articulation.^[45] The arrangement, or varṇămāllā,^[45] is completed with the antimă ṭollī, literally "ending group." The names of most of the consonants are based on their reduplicative phonetic values.^[22] The varṇămāllā is as follows:^[6]

The nasal letters ਙ ṅaṅṅā and ਞ ñaññā have become marginal as independent consonants in modern Gurmukhī.^{[46][note 3]} The sounds they represent occur most often as allophones of [n] in clusters with velars and palatals respectively.^[48]

The pronunciation of ਵ can vary allophonically between [[ʋ] ~ [β]] preceding front vowels, and [[w]] elsewhere.^[49][50]

The most characteristic feature of the Punjabi language is its tone system.^[6] The script has no separate symbol for tones, but they correspond to the tonal consonants that once represented voiced aspirates as well as older *h.^[6] To differentiate between consonants, the Punjabi tonal consonants of the fourth column, ਘ kà, ਝ cà, ਢ ṭà, ਧ tà, and ਭ pà, are often transliterated in the way of the voiced aspirate consonants gha, jha, ḍha, dha, and bha respectively, although Punjabi lacks these sounds.^[51] Tones in Punjabi can be either rising, neutral, or falling:^[6][52]

• When the tonal letter is in onset positions, as in the pronunciation of the names of the Gurmukhī letters, it produces the falling tone on the syllable nucleus, indicated by a grave accent (◌̀).
• When the tonal letter is in syllabic coda positions, the tone on the syllable nucleus is rising, indicated by an acute accent (◌́).
• When the tonal letter is in intervocalic positions, after a short vowel and before a long vowel, the following vowel has a falling tone.^[6][53] Between two short vowels, the tonal letter produces a rising tone on the preceding vowel.

The letters now always represent unaspirated consonants, and are unvoiced in onset positions and voiced elsewhere.^[6]

In addition to the 35 original letters, there are six supplementary consonants in official usage,^[6][9][10] referred to as the navīnă ṭollī^[9][10] or navīnă vargă, meaning "new group", created by placing a dot (bindī) at the foot (pairă) of the consonant to create pairĭ bindī consonants. These are not present in the Guru Granth Sahib or old texts. These are used most often for loanwords,^[6] though not exclusively,^{[note 4]} and their usage is not always obligatory.

The letter ਸ਼, already in use by the time of the earliest Punjabi grammars produced, along with ਜ਼ and ਲ਼,^[54] enabled the previously unmarked distinction of /s/ and the well-established phoneme /ʃ/, which is used even in native echo doublets e.g. rō̆ṭṭī-śō̆ṭṭī "stuff to eat"). The loansounds f, z, x, and ġ as distinct phonemes are less well-established,^[55][26] decreasing in that order and often dependent on exposure to Hindi-Urdu norms.^[48]

The character ਲ਼ (ḷa), the only character not representing a fricative consonant, was only recently officially added to the Gurmukhī alphabet.^[56] It was not a part of the traditional orthography, as the distinctive phonological difference between /lə/ and /ɭə/, while both native sounds,^[30] was not reflected in the script,^[25] and its inclusion is still not currently universal.^{[note 5]} Previous usage of another glyph to represent this sound, [ਲ੍ਰ], has also been attested.^[50] The letters ਲ਼ ḷa, like ਙ ṅ, ਞ ñ, ਣ ṇ, and ੜ ṛ, do not occur word-initially, except in some cases their names.^[47]

Other characters, like the more recent [ਕ਼] /qə/,^[56] are also on rare occasion used unofficially, chiefly for transliterating old writings in Persian and Urdu, the knowledge of which is less relevant in modern times.^{[note 6]}

Three "subscript" letters, called ਦੁੱਤ ਅੱਖਰ duttă akkhară ("joint letters") or ਪੈਰੀਂ ਅੱਖਰ pairī̃ akkhară ("letters at the feet") are utilised in modern Gurmukhī: forms of ਹ ha, ਰ ra, and ਵ va.^[22]

The subscript ਰ ra and ਵ va are used to make consonant clusters and behave similarly; subjoined ਹ ha introduces tone.

In addition to the three standard subscript letters, another subscript character representing the subjoined /j/, the ਯਕਸ਼ yakaśă or pairī̃ yayyā ( ੵ U+0A75), is utilized specifically in archaized sahaskritī-style writings in Sikh scripture, where it is found 268 times^[63] for word forms and inflections from older phases of Indo-Aryan,^[64] as in the examples ਰਖੵਾ /ɾəkʰːjaː/ "(to be) protected", ਮਿਥੵੰਤ /mɪt̪ʰjən̪t̪ə/ "deceiving", ਸੰਸਾਰਸੵ /sənsaːɾəsjə/ "of the world", ਭਿਖੵਾ /pɪ̀kʰːjaː/ "(act of) begging", etc. There is also a conjunct form of the letter yayyā, ਯ→੍ਯ,^[6] a later form,^[65] which functions similarly to the yakaśă, and is used exclusively for Sanskrit borrowings, and even then rarely. In addition, miniaturized versions of the letters ਚ, ਟ, ਤ, and ਨ are also found in limited use as subscript letters in Sikh scripture.

Only the subjoined /ɾə/ and /hə/ are commonly used;^[19] usage of the subjoined /ʋə/ and conjoined forms of /jə/, already rare, is increasingly scarce in modern contexts.

To express vowels (ਸੁਰ sură), Gurmukhī, as an abugida, makes use of obligatory diacritics called ਲਗਾਂ lagā̃.^[22] Gurmukhī is similar to Brahmi scripts in that all consonants are followed by an inherent schwa sound. This inherent vowel sound can be changed by using dependent vowel signs which attach to a bearing consonant.^[6] In some cases, dependent vowel signs cannot be used – at the beginning of a word or syllable^[6] for instance – and so an independent vowel character is used instead.

Independent vowels are constructed using the three vowel-bearing characters:^[6] ੳ ūṛā , ਅ aiṛā, and ੲ īṛī.^[23] With the exception of aiṛā (which in isolation represents the vowel [ə]), the bearer vowels are never used without additional vowel diacritics.^[28]

Vowels are always pronounced after the consonant they are attached to. Thus, siā̀rī is always written to the left, but pronounced after the character on the right.^[28] When constructing the independent vowel for [oː], ūṛā takes an irregular form instead of using the usual hōṛā.^[22][23]

Gurmukhī orthography prefers vowel sequences over the use of semivowels ("y" or "w") intervocally and in syllable nuclei,^[66] as in the words ਦਿਸਾਇਆ disāiā "caused to be visible" rather than disāyā, ਦਿਆਰ diāră "cedar" rather than dyāră, and ਸੁਆਦ suādă "taste" rather than swādă,^[49] permitting vowels in hiatus.^[67]

In terms of tone orthography, the short vowels [ɪ] and [ʊ], when paired with [h] to yield /ɪh/ and /ʊh/, represent [é] and [ó] with high tones respectively, e.g. ਕਿਹੜਾ kihṛā (Punjabi pronunciation: [kéɽaː]) 'which?' ਦੁਹਰਾ duhrā (Punjabi pronunciation: [d̪óɾaː]) "repeat, reiterate, double."^[6] The compounding of [əɦ] with [ɪ] or [ʊ] yield [ɛ́ː] and [ɔ́ː] respectively, e.g. ਮਹਿੰਗਾ mahingā (Punjabi pronunciation: [mɛ́ːŋgaː]) "expensive", ਵਹੁਟੀ vahuṭṭī (Punjabi pronunciation: [wɔ́ʈːiː]) "bride."^[6]

The diacritics for gemination and nasalization are together referred to as ਲਗਾਖਰ lagākkhară ("applied letters").

The diacritic ਅੱਧਕ áddakă ( ੱ ) indicates that the following consonant is geminated,^[19][6] and is placed above the consonant preceding the geminated one.^[22] Consonant length is distinctive in the Punjabi language and the use of this diacritic can change the meaning of a word, as below:

It has not been standardized to be written in all instances of gemination;^[66] there is a strong tendency, especially in rural dialects, to also geminate consonants following a long vowel (/a:/, /e:/, /i:/, /o:/, /u:/, /ɛ:/, /ɔː/, which triggers shortening in these vowels) in the penult of a word, e.g. ਔਖਾ aukkhā "difficult", ਕੀਤੀ kī̆ttī "did", ਪੋਤਾ pō̆ttā "grandson", ਪੰਜਾਬੀ panjā̆bbī "Punjabi", ਹਾਕ hākă "call, shout", but plural ਹਾਕਾਂ hā̆kkā̃.^{[note 8]} Except in this case, where this unmarked gemination is often etymologically rooted in archaic forms,^[68] and has become phonotactically regular,^[69] the usage of the áddakă is obligatory.

It is also sometimes used to indicate second-syllable stress, e.g. ਬੱਚਾ ba'cā, "save".^[66]

The diacritics ਟਿੱਪੀ ṭippī ( ੰ ) and ਬਿੰਦੀ bindī ( ਂ ) are used for producing a nasal phoneme depending on the following obstruent or a nasal vowel at the end of a word.^[19] All short vowels are nasalized using ṭippī and all long vowels are nasalized using bindī except for dulaiṅkaṛă ( ੂ ), which uses ṭippī instead.

Older texts may follow other conventions.

The ਹਲੰਤ halantă, or ਹਲੰਦ halandă, ( ੍ U+0A4D) character is not used when writing Punjabi in Gurmukhī. However, it may occasionally be used in Sanskritised text or in dictionaries for extra phonetic information. When it is used, it represents the suppression of the inherent vowel.

The effect of this is shown below:

ਕ – kə

ਕ੍ – k

The ਡੰਡੀ ḍaṇḍī (।) is used in Gurmukhī to mark the end of a sentence.^[28] A doubled ḍaṇḍī, or ਦੋਡੰਡੀ doḍaṇḍī (॥) marks the end of a verse.^[70]

The visarga symbol (ਃ U+0A03) is used very occasionally in Gurmukhī. It can represent an abbreviation, as the period is used in English, though the period for abbreviation, like commas, exclamation points, and other Western punctuation, is freely used in modern Gurmukhī.^[70][28]

Gurmukhī has its own set of digits, or ਅੰਗੜੇ aṅgăṛē, which function exactly as in other versions of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. These are used extensively in older texts. In modern contexts, they are sometimes replaced by standard Western Arabic numerals.^[66]

*In some Punjabi dialects, the word for three is ਤ੍ਰੈ trai (Punjabi pronunciation: [t̪ɾɛː]).^[71]

The scriptural symbol for the Sikh term ਇੱਕੁ ਓਅੰਕਾਰੁ ikku ōaṅkāru (ੴ U+0A74) is formed from ੧ ("1") and ਓ ("ō").

The length of the kannā diacritic, used to indicate the ā vowel, in historical manuscripts is often considered when roughly estimating their ages. In earlier Gurmukhī texts, the is often indicated by a "mere dot."^[73] As the orthographic tradition developed, the kannā became a longer mark that starts at the top of the line where the words are connected and moving down to cover the top half of the letter space.^[73] Shorter kannā marks are indicative of a work dating to an earlier period.^[73]

Before the 1970s, Gurbani and other Sikh scriptures were written in the traditional scriptio continua method of writing the Gurmukhī script known as ਲੜੀਵਾਰ laṛīvāră, where there were no spacing between words in the texts. This is opposed to the comparatively more recent method of writing in Gurmukhī known as ਪਦ ਛੇਦ padă chēdă, or "verse perforation," which breaks the words by inserting spacing between them.^[74][75][76]

First line of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Mul Mantar, in laṛīvāră (continuous form) and padă chēdă (spaced form):^[77]

laṛīvāră: ੴਸਤਿਨਾਮੁਕਰਤਾਪੁਰਖੁਨਿਰਭਉਨਿਰਵੈਰੁਅਕਾਲਮੂਰਤਿਅਜੂਨੀਸੈਭੰਗੁਰਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ॥

padă chēdă: ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥

Transliteration: ikku ōaṅkāru sati nāmu karatā purakhu nirapàu niravairu akāla mūrati ajūnī saipàṅ gura prasādi

Proto-Gurmukhī writing dated to c. 1470–1490 from the tomb of Rae Feroze in Hathur, Ludhiana, Punjab.^[78]

A transcription of a Goindwal pothī, or produced text excerpt of Sikh scripture or auxiliary writings, carried out by Sahansar Ram, Guru Amar Das' grandson, c. late 16th century. It showcases an early form of the Gurmukhi script with affinities to other Laṇḍā scripts.

Various historical styles and fonts, or ਸ਼ੈਲੀ śailī, of Gurmukhī script have evolved and been identified. A list of some of them is as follows:^[79]

1. purātana ("old") style
2. ardha śikastā ("half-broken") style
3. śikastā ("broken") style (including Anandpur Lipi)
4. Kaśmīrī style
5. Damdamī style

Gurmukhī script was added to the Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

Many sites still use proprietary fonts that convert Latin ASCII codes to Gurmukhī glyphs.

The Unicode block for Gurmukhī is U+0A00–U+0A7F:

Panjab Digital Library^[80] has taken up digitization of all available manuscripts of Gurmukhī Script. The script has been in formal use since the 1500s, and a lot of literature written within this time period is still traceable. Panjab Digital Library has digitized over 45 million pages from different manuscripts and most of them are available online.

Punjabi University Patiala has developed label generation rules for validating international domain names for internet in Gurmukhī.^[81]

• Punjabi Braille
• Shahmukhi alphabet