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Sundanese script
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| Sundanese Script Aksara Sunda Baku ᮃᮊ᮪ᮞᮛ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Period | c. 14th–18th centuries (as Old Sundanese script) 1996-present (as Sundanese script) |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Sundanese |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Sister systems | |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Sund (362), Sundanese |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Sundanese |
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| Part of a series on | |
|---|---|
| |
| Writing systems used in Indonesia | |
| Abugida (Brahmic) | |
| Abjad | |
| Alphabet | |
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| Others | |
| Related | |
.svg){kind=small}
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| The Brahmi script and its descendants |
Standard Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Baku, ᮃᮊ᮪ᮞᮛ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ ᮘᮊᮥ) is a traditional writing system used by the Sundanese people to write the Sundanese language. It is based on the Old Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Kuno) which was used from the 14th to the 18th centuries.[1]
History
[edit]Old Sundanese was developed based on the Pallava script of India,[2] and was used from the 14th until the 18th centuries. The last manuscript written in Old Sundanese script was the Carita Waruga Guru.[2] From the 17th to the 19th centuries, Sundanese was mostly spoken and not written.[2] Javanese and Pegon scripts were used to write Sundanese during this period.[2] In 1996, the government of West Java announced a plan to introduce an official Sundanese script, and in October 1997, the Old Sundanese script was chosen and renamed to Aksara Sunda.[3]
Typology
[edit]The standardized script has 32 basic characters: seven vowels, 23 consonants, and thirteen phonetic diacritics (Sundanese: rarangkén). There are also numerals from zero to nine.
Consonants
[edit]Each consonant (Sundanese: aksara ngalagéna) carries an inherent vowel 'a', so that each consonant letter is pronounced as a syllable. The original eighteen consonants are ka-ga-nga, ca-ja-nya, ta-da-na, pa-ba-ma, ya-ra-la, wa-sa-ha.
An additional five consonants, fa-va-qa-xa-za have been added in order to improve the script as a tool for recording the development of the Sundanese language, especially regarding the adoption of foreign words and sounds. The new glyphs have been developed through re-use of letters found in the old Sundanese script. For example, the letters fa and va are variants of Old Sundanese pa; qa and xa are variants of Old Sundanese ka; and za is a variant of Old Sundanese ja.
There are two non-standard consonants, kha and sha, used for transcribing the Arabic consonants خ and ش.
ᮊ ka IPA: /ka/
|
ᮌ ga IPA: /ga/
|
ᮍ nga IPA: /ŋa/
|
ᮎ ca IPA: /t͜ɕa/
|
ᮏ ja IPA: /d͜ʑa/
|
ᮑ nya IPA: /ɲa/
|
ᮒ ta IPA: /ta/
|
ᮓ da IPA: /da/
|
ᮔ na IPA: /na/
|
ᮕ pa IPA: /pa/
|
ᮘ ba IPA: /ba/
|
ᮙ ma IPA: /ma/
|
ᮚ ya IPA: /ja/
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ᮛ ra IPA: /ra/
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ᮜ la IPA: /la/
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ᮝ wa IPA: /wa/
|
ᮞ sa IPA: /sa/
|
ᮠ ha IPA: /ha/
|
ᮖ fa IPA: /fa/
|
ᮋ qa IPA: /ka~qa/
|
ᮗ va IPA: /fa~va/
|
ᮟ xa IPA: /sa/, /ksa/
|
ᮐ za IPA: /za/
|
ᮮ kha IPA: /ħa/, /xa/
|
ᮯ sya IPA: /ɕa/, /ʃa/
|
Vowels
[edit]There are seven independent vowels, a, é, i, o, u, e, and eu, each of which has an independent form and a rarangkén or diacritic. A basic consonant-vowel syllable is formed by adding a vowel diacritic to a consonant. The vowel diacritic replaces the consonant's inherent 'a' or, in the case of the "killer stroke" (pamaéh) removes the vowel entirely, creating an isolated consonant.
ᮃ a IPA: /a/
|
ᮆ é IPA: /ɛ/
|
ᮄ i IPA: /i/
|
ᮇ o IPA: /ɔ/
|
ᮅ u IPA: /u/
|
ᮈ e IPA: /ə/
|
ᮉ eu IPA: /ɤ/
|
|
◌ᮦ
|
◌ᮤ
|
◌ᮧ
|
◌ ᮥ
|
◌ ᮨ
|
◌ ᮩ
|
-◌᮪
| |
ᮊ ka IPA: /ka/
|
ᮊᮦ ké IPA: /kɛ/
|
ᮊᮤ ki IPA: /ki/
|
ᮊᮧ ko IPA: /kɔ/
|
ᮊᮥ ku IPA: /ku/
|
ᮊᮨ ke IPA: /kə/
|
ᮊᮩ keu IPA: /kɤ/
|
-ᮊ᮪ k IPA: /k/
|
Consonant diacritics
[edit]Additional diacritics are used to alter the consonants of a syllable.
◌ ᮁ adds a final /r/
|
◌ ᮀ adds a final /ŋ/
|
◌ᮢ inserts an /r/
|
◌ ᮣ inserts an /l/
|
◌ ᮡ inserts a /j/
|
◌ᮂ adds a final /h/
|
ᮊᮁ kar
|
ᮊᮀ kang
|
ᮊᮢ kra
|
ᮊᮣ kla
|
ᮊᮡ kya
|
ᮊᮂ kah
|
Numerals
[edit]In texts, numbers are written surrounded by dual pipes | ... |, for example, the year 2020 is written |᮲᮰᮲᮰|.
0 ᮰
|
1 ᮱
|
2 ᮲
|
3 ᮳
|
4 ᮴
|
5 ᮵
|
6 ᮶
|
7 ᮷
|
8 ᮸
|
9 ᮹
|
Punctuation
[edit]In modern usage, Latin punctuation is used. Old Sundanese, though, was written using its own set of punctuation symbols. Sequences such as ᳇᳇, ᳆᳀᳆, which contains a ᳀, bindu surya, 'sun sign', and ᳆᳁, which contains a ᳁, bindu panglong, 'half-moon sign', are used to mark liturgical texts. ᳅᳂᳅, which contains a ᳂, bindu purnama, 'full moon sign', denoted a historical text. ᳀ is also sometimes used as a full stop, with ᳂ acting as a comma. ᳃, bindu chakra, 'wheel sign' was also used as a comma.
The punctuation symbols resembling letters with stripes (᳆, da satanga, 'decorated da', ᳇, ba satanga, 'decorated ba', and ᳅, ka satanga, 'decorated ka') originated as versions of the letters ᮓ, da, ᮘ, ba, and one half of the letter ᮊ, ka. Another symbol of unclear meaning is the ᳄, leu satanga, 'decorated leu', based on the archaic syllable ᮼ, seu.[4]
Sample text
[edit]Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
ᮞᮊᮥᮙ᮪ᮔ ᮏᮜ᮪ᮙ ᮌᮥᮘᮢᮌ᮪ ᮊ ᮃᮜᮙ᮪ ᮓᮥᮑ ᮒᮦᮂ ᮞᮤᮕᮒ᮪ᮔ ᮙᮨᮁᮓᮤᮊ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮘᮧᮌ ᮙᮁᮒᮘᮒ᮪ ᮊᮒᮥᮒ᮪ ᮠᮊ᮪-ᮠᮊ᮪ ᮃᮔᮥ ᮞᮛᮥᮃ. ᮙᮛᮔᮦᮂᮔ ᮓᮤᮘᮦᮛᮦ ᮃᮊᮜ᮪ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮠᮒᮦ ᮔᮥᮛᮔᮤ, ᮎᮙ᮪ᮕᮥᮁ-ᮌᮅᮜ᮪ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮞᮞᮙᮔ ᮃᮚ ᮓᮤᮔ ᮞᮥᮙᮍᮨᮒ᮪ ᮓᮥᮓᮥᮜᮥᮛᮔ᮪.
Sakumna jalma gubrag ka alam dunya téh sipatna merdika jeung boga martabat katut hak-hak anu sarua. Maranéhna dibéré akal jeung haté nurani, campur-gaul jeung sasamana aya dina sumanget duduluran.
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
Unicode
[edit]Sundanese script was added to the Unicode Standard in April 2008 with the release of version 5.1. In version 6.3, the support of pasangan and some characters from Old Sundanese script were added.
Blocks
[edit]The Unicode block for Sundanese is U+1B80–U+1BBF. The Unicode block for Sundanese Supplement is U+1CC0–U+1CCF.
| Sundanese[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+1B8x | ᮀ | ᮁ | ᮂ | ᮃ | ᮄ | ᮅ | ᮆ | ᮇ | ᮈ | ᮉ | ᮊ | ᮋ | ᮌ | ᮍ | ᮎ | ᮏ |
| U+1B9x | ᮐ | ᮑ | ᮒ | ᮓ | ᮔ | ᮕ | ᮖ | ᮗ | ᮘ | ᮙ | ᮚ | ᮛ | ᮜ | ᮝ | ᮞ | ᮟ |
| U+1BAx | ᮠ | ᮡ | ᮢ | ᮣ | ᮤ | ᮥ | ᮦ | ᮧ | ᮨ | ᮩ | ᮪ | ᮫ | ᮬ | ᮭ | ᮮ | ᮯ |
| U+1BBx | ᮰ | ᮱ | ᮲ | ᮳ | ᮴ | ᮵ | ᮶ | ᮷ | ᮸ | ᮹ | ᮺ | ᮻ | ᮼ | ᮽ | ᮾ | ᮿ |
Notes
| ||||||||||||||||
| Sundanese Supplement[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+1CCx | ᳀ | ᳁ | ᳂ | ᳃ | ᳄ | ᳅ | ᳆ | ᳇ | ||||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
Gallery
[edit]-
A Sundanese lontar manuscript written in Sundanese script. -
The first page of a manuscript containing the Old Sundanese Carita Waruga Guru, written in Old Sundanese script.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Rosidi, Ajip (2010). Mengenang hidup orang lain: sejumlah obituari (in Indonesian). Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia. ISBN 9789799102225.
- ^ a b c d Ekadjati, Edi S. (September 2003). "Sundanese Manuscripts: Their Existence, Functions, and Contents" (PDF). Journal of the Centre for Documentation & Area-transcultural Studies. 2: 123–134.
- ^ "Sundanese". Atlas of Endangered Alphabets: Indigenous and minority writing systems, and the people who are trying to save them. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
- ^ EVERSON, Michael. Proposal for encoding additional Sundanese characters for Old Sundanese in the UCS. Available at [1]. September 5th, 2009.
External links
[edit]- Kairaga - Comprehensive information site regarding Sundanese font developing effort
- Sundanese - Latin Online Transliteration and Sundanese Unicode Font
- Sundanese Keyboard - ᮘᮞ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ (basa sunda) Keyboard at branah.com
| Development |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing system | |||||
| Dialects |
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| Related topics | |||||
Sundanese script
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
The Sundanese script, known as Aksara Sunda, is an abugida writing system traditionally used to write the Sundanese language spoken by approximately 34 million people (2024) in West Java, Indonesia.[1][2] It features an inherent vowel sound of /a/ attached to consonants, which can be modified or suppressed using diacritics and marks, and is written from left to right without stacking consonants in its modern form.[3]
Originating from the ancient Brahmi script via the Pallava script of South India, the script evolved into its Old Sundanese form (Aksara Sunda Kuno) during the 14th to 18th centuries in the Sunda Kingdom, primarily for inscribing stone monuments, copper plates, and palm-leaf manuscripts.[1][4] Key historical examples include the Batutulis inscription from 1533 CE, which commemorates King Sri Baduga Maharaja, and the Kebantenan copper plates detailing royal decrees from the 15th century.[4] The Old Sundanese script incorporated rounded and angular variants, with features like pasangan (subjoined consonants) for clusters and pamepet marks for schwa sounds, reflecting pre-Islamic Hindu-Buddhist influences in West Java.[4][3]
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the script declined with the rise of Arabic and Latin scripts under Islamic and colonial influences, but it experienced a revival leading to the standardization of the modern form, Sunda Baku, in 1996 by the Indonesian government.[1] This contemporary version simplifies Old Sundanese elements, adding characters like KHA and SYA for loanwords from Arabic and Sanskrit, and consists of 32 basic letters, 13 vowel diacritics, and dedicated digits and punctuation.[1][3] Today, Aksara Sunda is taught in schools, featured on public signage in regions like Bandung, and supported in Unicode since version 6.0 (2010), coexisting with the Latin alphabet for the Sundanese language.[1][3]
This core inventory supports the basic syllabic structure of Sundanese, where each letter inherently includes the vowel /a/, pronounced as [ə] or depending on context.[3]
To accommodate loanwords, particularly from Arabic, Dutch, and English, seven additional consonants were incorporated into the modern script: qa, fa, va, za, xa, kha, and sya. These extend the phonetic range for non-native sounds, as shown below:
Like the core consonants, these additional letters carry the inherent /a/ vowel and follow the same orthographic principles.[3]
All 25 consonants in the Sundanese script include an inherent /a/ vowel, forming a CV (consonant-vowel) syllable by default; this can be modified by vowel diacritics such as those for /i/, /u/, or /ə/. To form consonant clusters or indicate word-final consonants without a following vowel, the pamaeh sign (᮪, U+1BAA) is applied to suppress the inherent /a/, resulting in a pure consonant sound (e.g., ᮊ᮪ for /k/). Clusters are typically written sequentially with pamaeh between consonants (e.g., ᮊ᮪ᮜ for /kl/), without stacked or ligated forms, maintaining a linear appearance. Final consonants at the end of syllables or words also use pamaeh to denote the absence of /a/, distinguishing them from open syllables. This system ensures clarity in reading while preserving the script's abugida nature.[3][18]
In contemporary usage, these numerals integrate with the left-to-right flow of the script, often delimited by a vertical line (|) in compound numbers for readability, such as ᮹᮹᮹ for 999.[3]
Modern Sundanese texts predominantly adopt Latin-derived punctuation marks, including the period (.) for sentence ends, comma (,) for pauses, question mark (?) for inquiries, and exclamation mark (!) for emphasis, which are placed after the relevant syllable or word without altering the script's baseline alignment.[3] Traditional and liturgical writings, however, employ a suite of bindu (dot) punctuation symbols from the Sundanese Supplement block (U+1CC0–U+1CCF) to denote structural and semantic divisions. These include ᳀ (U+1CC0, bindu surya or "sun dot") as a full stop or section closer, ᳂ (U+1CC2, bindu purnama or "full moon dot") as a comma or verse ender, and ᳃ (U+1CC3, bindu cakra or "wheel dot") for phrase separation. Combinations such as ᳆᳀᳆ (incorporating U+1CC6 bindu da satanga) signal religious content, while ᳅᳂᳅ mark historical passages, ensuring no line breaks within these sequences.[20][3]
Archaism markers in the Sundanese script preserve elements from Old Sundanese orthography, particularly in historical manuscripts and stylistic revivals. The pepet vowel (/ə/, diacritic ◌ᮨ U+1BA8, Sundanese Vowel Sign Pepet) is used in modern script for the schwa sound. Final consonant markers, such as ᮾ (U+1BBE, letter final k) and ᮿ (U+1BBF, letter final m), suppress the inherent vowel in loanwords or ancient forms, differing from modern pamaeh (᮪, U+1BAA) by forming visible conjuncts in historical contexts.[20] Additionally, ᮽ (U+1BBD, letter archaic i) represents an obsolete vowel variant, used sparingly to evoke classical style without disrupting contemporary readability. These markers integrate below or after base characters, maintaining the script's abugida structure while signaling stylistic antiquity.[21]
Historical Development
Origins from Ancient Scripts
The Sundanese script traces its origins to the ancient Brahmic family of writing systems, which originated in India and spread through cultural and trade exchanges to Southeast Asia beginning in the early centuries CE. Specifically, it derives from the Pallava script, a southern variant of Brahmi attested from the 4th to 9th centuries CE in South India, where it was employed for inscribing Sanskrit and Tamil texts under the Pallava dynasty. This script's adaptation in the Sunda region of West Java reflects broader Indian influences, including the transmission of religious, literary, and administrative practices via maritime routes connecting the Indian subcontinent to the Indonesian archipelago. Elements of the related Kawi script, an Old Javanese derivative of Pallava used for Sanskrit and local languages on Java, also contributed to early forms in Sunda, facilitating the writing of sacred and royal texts.[5][6][7] The earliest evidence of script use in the Sunda region dates to the 5th century CE, predating the distinct Old Sundanese script that emerged around the 14th century, and consists primarily of stone inscriptions from the Tarumanagara kingdom, an early Indianized polity in western Java. These inscriptions, such as the Ciaruteun, Tugu, and Kebon Kopi stones, were carved in Pallava-derived characters to record royal achievements, hydraulic engineering projects, and Sanskrit verses praising rulers like King Purnawarman, who reigned circa 395–434 CE. Discovered near modern-day Bogor and Jakarta, these artifacts demonstrate the script's initial application for commemorative and administrative purposes in a context of Hindu-Buddhist cultural integration. While palm-leaf manuscripts represent later developments in the region from the 14th century onward, the 5th–8th century stone epigraphy provides the foundational archaeological record of Brahmic script adaptation among the Sundanese people.[5][8][9] This early adoption highlights the Sunda region's role as a conduit for Indian cultural exchange, where Pallava script facilitated the dissemination of Sanskrit literature and Shaivite iconography, as seen in the inscriptions' poetic allusions to the Hindu god Vishnu and ritual donations. By the 8th–14th centuries, ongoing interactions with neighboring Javanese kingdoms further refined these forms, laying the groundwork for localized evolutions while maintaining core Brahmic principles of abugida structure—consonant-based syllables with optional vowel diacritics.[10][11]Evolution of Old Sundanese
The Old Sundanese script, known as Aksara Sunda Kuno, emerged in the 14th century in West Java, particularly within the Sunda Kingdom of Pajajaran, where it served as the primary writing system for the Old Sundanese language in literary and religious contexts.[9] Its development marked a maturation of earlier script influences, with the oldest known example appearing in the Kawali inscription, reflecting adaptations for documenting historical chronicles, philosophical treatises, and spiritual narratives.[12] This script bridged ancient Indic derivations, such as those from the Pallava tradition, to a localized form suited to Sundanese phonology and cultural expression.[9] Key features of the Old Sundanese script included around 20 basic consonant letters, 6 independent vowel letters, and various diacritics that modified sounds, enabling precise representation of the language's structure.[13][9] These elements were inscribed primarily on palm leaves (lontar or gebang), using tools like a knife (pangot) and ink from blackened candlenut oil, which influenced the script's fluid, cursive style.[9] Manuscripts such as Carita Parahyangan, composed around the late 16th century, and Carita Waruga Guru, dated to the early 18th century with the latest known copy from 1803, exemplify its application in preserving epic tales of kingship, cosmology, and moral teachings.[9] These texts, often spanning religious and historical themes, highlight the script's role in Hindu-Buddhist literature central to the Sunda Kingdom's intellectual and spiritual life.[14] In the cultural sphere of the Pajajaran Kingdom, the script facilitated the transcription of Hindu-Buddhist works, including philosophical and political documents that reinforced royal legitimacy and communal identity.[9] Orthographic variations were prominent, featuring ligatures to combine consonants efficiently and archaic markers such as tassels or curls to denote long vowels, which added expressiveness but varied by scribe and material—palm leaves often yielded more elongated forms compared to bamboo or stone.[9] These adaptations, including split characters for sounds like k and g, distinguished Old Sundanese from contemporaneous Javanese scripts while maintaining Indic roots.[13] The script's prominence waned from the 16th century onward due to the spread of Islamic influence, which introduced the Arabic-based Pegon script for religious and administrative purposes, gradually supplanting Old Sundanese in daily use.[9] By the 19th and 20th centuries, colonial pressures and the adoption of the Latin alphabet for education and governance accelerated its decline, confining it largely to historical manuscripts and ritual contexts within Sundanese communities.[9] Despite this, the script's legacy endures in preserved lontar collections, offering insights into pre-Islamic Sundanese worldview.[14]Modern Standardization and Revival
In the 19th century, the Sundanese script experienced a period of decline as Dutch colonial authorities promoted the Latin alphabet, known as Aksara Walanda, for education and administration in the Dutch East Indies, leading to over 200 Sundanese publications in Roman script by the late 1800s.[15] Sundanese intellectuals, influenced by colonial polyglossia policies, began early efforts to preserve and revive the traditional script amid this dominance, though widespread adoption remained limited until the 20th century.[16] These revival initiatives culminated in the official standardization of the modern Sundanese script, known as Aksara Sunda Baku or Official Sundanese, in 1996, derived from the historical Old Sundanese form used in the Sunda Kingdom from the 14th to 18th centuries.[1] The standardized script consists of 23 consonant letters and 7 independent vowels, simplifying earlier Brahmic-style conjuncts by using the sign PAMAAEH to suppress inherent vowels and incorporating explicit medial forms for clusters.[1] To accommodate phonetic influences from Arabic and English, the script was expanded with supplemental consonants such as FA, VA, and ZA—variants of PA, PA, and JA respectively—allowing representation of loan sounds not native to traditional Sundanese.[1] Following the 1996 adoption, the script's inclusion in Unicode version 5.1 in March 2008, covering the block U+1B80–U+1BBF, facilitated digital implementation, broader educational use in schools, and its appearance on official signage in West Java, significantly advancing its contemporary revival.[17]Script Typology
Consonant Letters
The modern Sundanese script, standardized in 1996, employs 25 consonant letters as its foundational elements, each representing a consonant sound combined with an inherent vowel /a/. These letters are derived from the Brahmic family and adapted for the Sundanese language spoken primarily in West Java, Indonesia. The consonants are written from left to right, with no inherent cursive joining, and their forms are relatively uniform in size and shape.[18][3] Of the 25 consonants, 18 form the core set inherited from the Old Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Kuno), covering the primary phonemes of indigenous Sundanese words. These include letters for velar, palatal, dental, bilabial, and other sounds, as detailed in the following table:| Letter | Name | Phonetic Value (IPA) | Unicode | Glyph |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᮊ | ka | /k/ | U+1B8A | ᮊ |
| ᮌ | ga | /ɡ/ | U+1B8C | ᮌ |
| ᮍ | nga | /ŋ/ | U+1B8D | ᮍ |
| ᮎ | ca | /t͡ʃ/ | U+1B8E | ᮎ |
| ᮏ | ja | /d͡ʒ/ | U+1B8F | ᮏ |
| ᮑ | nya | /ɲ/ | U+1B91 | ᮑ |
| ᮒ | ta | /t/ | U+1B92 | ᮒ |
| ᮓ | da | /d/ | U+1B93 | ᮓ |
| ᮔ | na | /n/ | U+1B94 | ᮔ |
| ᮕ | pa | /p/ | U+1B95 | ᮕ |
| ᮘ | ba | /b/ | U+1B98 | ᮘ |
| ᮙ | ma | /m/ | U+1B99 | ᮙ |
| ᮚ | ya | /j/ | U+1B9A | ᮚ |
| ᮛ | ra | /r/ | U+1B9B | ᮛ |
| ᮜ | la | /l/ | U+1B9C | ᮜ |
| ᮝ | wa | /w/ | U+1B9D | ᮝ |
| ᮞ | sa | /s/ | U+1B9E | ᮞ |
| ᮠ | ha | /h/ | U+1BA0 | ᮠ |
| Letter | Name | Phonetic Value (IPA) | Unicode | Glyph |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᮋ | qa | /q/ | U+1B8B | ᮋ |
| ᮖ | fa | /f/ | U+1B96 | ᮖ |
| ᮗ | va | /v/ | U+1B97 | ᮗ |
| ᮐ | za | /z/ | U+1B90 | ᮐ |
| ᮟ | xa | /x/ | U+1B9F | ᮟ |
| ᮮ | kha | /kʰ/ | U+1BAE | ᮮ |
| ᮯ | sya | /ɕ/ | U+1BAF | ᮯ |
Vowel Signs and Diacritics
The Sundanese script, as an abugida, represents vowels either through independent letters when vowels occur in isolation or syllable-initially without a preceding consonant, or via diacritics attached to consonant bases to modify their inherent /a/ vowel. There are seven independent vowel letters corresponding to the language's seven vowel phonemes: a (/a/, ᮃ U+1B83), i (/i/, ᮄ U+1B84), u (/u/, ᮅ U+1B85), é (/ɛ/, ᮆ U+1B86), o (/ɔ/, ᮇ U+1B87), eu (/ɨ/, ᮉ U+1B89), and e (/ə/, ᮈ U+1B88).[3][19] These forms derive from the script's Brahmic heritage, adapted for Sundanese phonology during its standardization in the early 20th century.[3] A key distinction in the vowel system, unique to Sundanese among Western Austronesian languages, lies between the open-mid front vowel é (/ɛ/) and the mid central schwa e (/ə/), which serves as a reduced vowel in unstressed positions.[3] This contrast is maintained in both independent forms (é as ᮆ, e as ᮈ) and diacritics, ensuring precise representation of the language's seven-vowel inventory without merger, as confirmed in orthographic standards.[19] The eu vowel (/ɨ/), a close central unrounded sound, further highlights the script's sensitivity to non-peripheral vowels atypical in related scripts.[3] When vowels follow consonants, six diacritic signs (vowel killers or matras) replace the inherent /a/, as there is no explicit diacritic for /a/ itself. These are: i (◌ᮤ U+1BA4), u (◌ᮥ U+1BA5), é (◌ᮦ U+1BA6), o (◌ᮧ U+1BA7), eu (◌ᮩ U+1BA9), and e (◌ᮨ U+1BA8).[3][19] For instance, the base consonant ka (ᮊ U+1B8A) combines with the i-diacritic to form ki (ᮊᮤ), while keu appears as ᮊᮩ; positions vary (pre-, post-, or subscript) to avoid visual overlap with the angular, compact letter shapes.[3] Orthographic rules dictate that diacritics attach directly to the preceding consonant, forming aksara units, with the pamaeh (◌᮪ U+1BAA) used separately to suppress vowels entirely for consonant clusters or finals.[3] The cecak telu sign (◌ᮀ U+1B80) marks syllable-final /ŋ/. Sundanese features nasal harmony, where nasality spreads phonetically rightward from a nasal consonant to subsequent vowels and sonorants until blocked by obstruents; this phonological process is not explicitly marked in the orthography beyond the nasal consonants themselves (e.g., /maŋan/ 'to eat' as ᮙᮀᮔ). No vowel harmony system operates in Sundanese, distinguishing it from languages like Turkish, but the nasal process ensures cohesive syllable nasalization phonetically.[3] The panglayar marker (◌ᮁ U+1B81), a diacritic resembling a rightward curl, specifically indicates a syllable-final /r/ on a base consonant, marking it as non-initial to avoid confusion with full /r/ letters or clusters; for example, car is written ᮎᮁ (c with panglayar).[3][19] This rule applies only to final positions, preserving the script's phonetic fidelity without altering vowel signs directly, though it interacts with them in complex syllables.[3] These elements collectively enable the script's efficient encoding of Sundanese's vowel-rich morphology.[3]| Vowel Phoneme | Independent Form (Unicode) | Diacritic Form (Unicode) | Example Aksara (with k base ᮊ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| a (/a/) | ᮃ (U+1B83) | (inherent, no diacritic) | ᮊ (ka) |
| i (/i/) | ᮄ (U+1B84) | ◌ᮤ (U+1BA4) | ᮊᮤ (ki) |
| u (/u/) | ᮅ (U+1B85) | ◌ᮥ (U+1BA5) | ᮊᮥ (ku) |
| é (/ɛ/) | ᮆ (U+1B86) | ◌ᮦ (U+1BA6) | ᮊᮦ (ké) |
| o (/ɔ/) | ᮇ (U+1B87) | ◌ᮧ (U+1BA7) | ᮊᮧ (ko) |
| eu (/ɨ/) | ᮉ (U+1B89) | ◌ᮩ (U+1BA9) | ᮊᮩ (keu) |
| e (/ə/) | ᮈ (U+1B88) | ◌ᮨ (U+1BA8) | ᮊᮨ (ke) |
Numerals, Punctuation, and Archaism Markers
The Sundanese script features a dedicated set of ten numerals ranging from 0 to 9, adapted from the Brahmic tradition through the evolution of Old Sundanese forms. These digits are visually distinct from Latin numerals and are employed in traditional manuscripts, educational materials, and cultural texts to denote quantities within Sundanese-language contexts. Encoded in the Unicode Sundanese block (U+1BB0–U+1BB9), they include ᮰ for zero, ᮱ for one, ᮲ for two, ᮳ for three, ᮴ for four, ᮵ for five, ᮶ for six, ᮷ for seven, ᮸ for eight, and ᮹ for nine.[1]| Digit | Value | Unicode Code Point |
|---|---|---|
| ᮰ | 0 | U+1BB0 |
| ᮱ | 1 | U+1BB1 |
| ᮲ | 2 | U+1BB2 |
| ᮳ | 3 | U+1BB3 |
| ᮴ | 4 | U+1BB4 |
| ᮵ | 5 | U+1BB5 |
| ᮶ | 6 | U+1BB6 |
| ᮷ | 7 | U+1BB7 |
| ᮸ | 8 | U+1BB8 |
| ᮹ | 9 | U+1BB9 |