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Shahmukhi شاہ مُکھی | |
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Script type | |
Time period | 13th century–present |
Direction | Right-to-left script |
Region | Punjab, Hazara, Azad Kashmir |
Languages | Punjabi (incl. dialects and varieties) |
Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Unicode | |
Shahmukhi alphabet |
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ا ب پ ت ٹ ث ج چ ح خ د ڈ ذ ر ڑ ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ک گ ل ࣇ م ن ݨ (ں) و ه (ھ) ء ی ے |
Extended Perso-Arabic script |
Shahmukhi (Punjabi: شاہ مُکھی, pronounced [ʃäː(ɦ)˦.mʊ.kʰiː], lit. 'from the king's mouth') is the right-to-left alphabet, developed from the Perso-Arabic script, used for the Punjabi language varieties, predominantly in Pakistan. [1][2][3][4] It is generally written in the Nastaʿlīq calligraphic hand.[3][4][5] Shahmukhi is one of the two standard scripts used for Punjabi, the other being Gurmukhi used officially in India.[3][6][4]
Most of the classical Punjabi literature has been produced in Shahmukhi; used by major Muslim writers including Baba Farid, Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah, Sultan Bahu, and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, among others.
Shahmukhi is written from right to left, while Gurmukhi is written from left to right.[7] Shahmukhi has 36 primary letters with some other additional letters.[8][4]
Before the advent of Shahmukhi, writing systems were not popular for the Old Punjabi varieties.[citation needed]
The name 'Shahmukhi' is a recent coinage, imitating its counterpart 'Gurmukhi'.[9] However, the writing of Punjabi in the Perso-Arabic script is well-attested from the 13th century onwards with the first major works produced by Baba Farid.[10] According to Dhavan, Punjabi began to adopt the script as a "side effect" of educational practices in Mughal-era Punjab, when Punjabi Muslims learned the Persian language in order to participate in Mughal society. Educational materials taught Persian to Punjabi speakers by using Punjabi written in Persian's alphabet, which was a novel innovation. This was one of the first attempts at standardising the Punjabi language; prior to this, Punjabi was primarily a spoken language, not formally taught in schools.[11]
Shackle suggests that the Gurmukhi script was not favoured by Punjabi Muslims due to its religious (Sikh) connotations.[10]
Shahmukhi script is a modified version of the Arabic script's Persian alphabet. It is identical to the Urdu alphabet, but contains additional letters representing the Punjabi phonology. For writing Saraiki, an extended Shahmukhi is used that includes 4 additional letters for the implosive consonants (ٻ, ڄ, ݙ, ڳ).[12]
Like Urdu, Shahmukhi also has diacritics, which are implied - a convention retained from the original Arabic script, to express short vowels.[4][13]
Name | Symbol | Usage | IPA | Notes | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Short vowels | |||||
Zabar | ◌َ | a | [ə] | Written above a letter | |
Zer | ◌ِ | i | [ɪ] | Written below a letter | |
Pesh | ◌ُ | u | [ʊ] | Written above a letter | |
Nūn Ġunna | ◌٘ | ṉ | [◌̃], [ŋ] | Nasal vowel diacritic | ‘مُون٘ہہ’ (‘face’) |
Tashdīd | ◌ّ | Geminate | [ː] | Doubles a consonant - goes above the letter being prolonged | ‘کّ’ ('kk') |
Loan diacritics | |||||
Khaṛī Zabar | ◌ٰ | á | [äː] | Used in certain Arabic loanwords only | ‘عیسیٰ’ (‘Jesus’) |
Zabar Tanwīn | ◌ً | an | [ən] | ‘فوراً’ (‘Immediately’) | |
Other diacritics | |||||
Hamza | ◌ٔ | varied | Indicates a diphthong between two vowels, examples such as: ‘ئ’, ‘ۓ’, ‘ؤ‘, and أ , not written as a separate diacritic |
No. | Name[14] | IPA | Final glyph | Medial glyph | Initial glyph | Isolated glyph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | الف | alif | /äː/, /ə/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/ | ـا | ـا | ا | ا |
2 | بے | bē | /b/ | ـب | ـبـ | بـ | ب |
3 | پے | pē | /p/ | ـپ | ـپـ | پـ | پ |
4 | تے | tē | /t/ | ـت | ـتـ | تـ | ت |
5 | ٹے | ṭē | /ʈ/ | ـٹ | ـٹـ | ٹـ | ٹ |
6 | ثے | s̱ē | /s/ | ـث | ـثـ | ثـ | ث |
7 | جيم | jīm | /d͡ʒ/ | ـج | ـجـ | جـ | ج |
8 | چے | cē | /t͡ʃ/ | ـچ | ـچـ | چـ | چ |
9 | وڈّی حے | waḍḍi ḥē | /ɦ/ | ـح | ـحـ | حـ | ح |
10 | خے | k͟hē | /x/ | ـخ | ـخـ | خـ | خ |
11 | دال | dāl | /d/ | ـد | ـد | د | د |
12 | ڈال | ḍāl | /ɖ/ | ـڈ | ـڈ | ڈ | ڈ |
13 | ذال | ẕāl | /z/ | ـذ | ـذ | ذ | ذ |
14 | رے | rē | /r/ | ـر | ـر | ر | ر |
15 | ڑے | ṛē | /ɽ/ | ـڑ | ـڑ | ڑ | ڑ |
16 | زے | zē | /z/ | ـز | ـز | ز | ز |
17 | ژے | žē | /ʒ/ | ـژ | ـژ | ژ | ژ |
18 | سین | sīn | /s/ | ـس | ـسـ | سـ | س |
19 | شین | shīn | /ʃ/ | ـش | ـشـ | شـ | ش |
20 | صاد | ṣwād | /s/ | ـص | ـصـ | صـ | ص |
21 | ضاد | ẓwād | /z/ | ـض | ـضـ | ضـ | ض |
22 | طوئیں | t̤oʼēṉ | /t/ | ـط | ـطـ | طـ | ط |
23 | ظوئیں | z̤oʼēṉ | /z/ | ـظ | ـظـ | ظـ | ظ |
24 | عین | ʻain | /∅/, /äː/, /ə/, /eː/, /oː/, | ـع | ـعـ | عـ | ع |
25 | غین | ġain | /ɣ/ | ـغ | ـغـ | غـ | غ |
26 | فے | fē | /f/ | ـف | ـفـ | فـ | ف |
27 | قاف | qāf | /q/ | ـق | ـقـ | قـ | ق |
28 | کاف | kāf | /k/ | ـک | ـکـ | کـ | ک |
29 | گاف | gāf | /ɡ/ | ـگ | ـگـ | گـ | گ |
30 | لام | lām | /l/ | ـل | ـلـ | لـ | ل |
31[15] | اڑلام | ḷām | /ɭ/ | ـلؕ | ـلؕـ | لؕـ | لؕ |
32 | میم | mīm | /m/ | ـم | ـمـ | مـ | م |
33 | نون | nūn | /n, ɲ/ | ـن | ـنـ | نـ | ن |
34[15] | اڑنون | ṇūn | /ɳ/ | ـݨ | ـݨـ | ݨـ | |
35 | نون غنّہ | nūn ġunnah | /◌̃, ŋ/ | ـں | ـن٘ـ | ن٘ـ | ں
(ن٘) |
36 | واؤ | vāʼo | /ʋ, uː, ʊ, oː, ɔː/ | ـو | ـو | و | و |
37 | نکی ہے گول ہے |
nikkī hē gol hē |
/ɦ, ɑː, e:/ | ـہ | ـہـ | ہـ | ہ |
38 | دو چشمی ہے | do-cashmī hē | /ʰ/ or /ʱ/ | ـھ | ـھـ | ھ | ھ |
39 | ہمزہ | hamzah | /ʔ/, /∅/ | ء | ء | ء | ء |
40 | چھوٹی يے | choṭī yē | /j, iː/ | ـی | ـیـ | یـ | ی |
41 | وڈّی يے | waḍḍi yē | /ɛː, eː/ | ـے | N/A | N/A | ے |
No Punjabi words begin with ں, ھ, or ے. Words which begin with ڑ are exceedingly rare, but some have been documented in Shahmukhi dictionaries such as Iqbal Salahuddin's Waddi Punjabi Lughat.[16] The digraphs of aspirated consonants are as follows. In addition, ل and لؕ form ligatures with ا: لا (ـلا) and لؕا (ـلؕا).
No. | Digraph[17] | Transcription[17] | IPA | Example |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | بھ | bh | [bʱ] | بھاری |
2 | پھ | ph | [pʰ] | پھل |
3 | تھ | th | [t̪ʰ] | تھم |
4 | ٹھ | ṭh | [ʈʰ] | ٹھیس |
5 | جھ | jh | [d͡ʒʱ] | جھاڑی |
6 | چھ | ch | [t͡ʃʰ] | چھوکرا |
7 | دھ | dh | [d̪ʱ] | دھوبی |
8 | ڈھ | ḍh | [ɖʱ] | ڈھول |
9 | رھ | rh | [ɾʰ] | بارھویں |
10 | ڑھ | ṛh | [ɽʰ] | کڑھنا |
11 | کھ | kh | [kʰ] | کھولنا |
12 | گھ | gh | [ɡʱ] | گھبراہٹ |
13 | لھ | lh | [lʰ] | کولھ |
14 | مھ | mh | [mʰ] | ڈمھ |
15 | نھ | nh | [nʰ] | چنھاں |
16 | وھ | wh | [ʋʰ] | وھایا |
17 | یھ | yh | [jʰ] | یھاوا[18] |
Final | Middle | Initial | |
---|---|---|---|
ـہ | ـَ | اَ | |
یٰ | ـَا | آ | |
N/A | ـِ | اِ | |
ـِى | ـِيـ | اِی | |
ـے | ـيـ | اے | |
ـَے | ـَيـ | اَے | |
N/A | ـُ | اُ | |
ـُو | اُو | ||
ـو | او | ||
ـَو | اَو |
Shahmukhi has more letters than its Persian base and related Urdu alphabet, to represent the special sounds that are only in Punjabi, which already have additional letters added to the Arabic base itself to represent sounds not present in Arabic. Characters added which differ from Persian but not Urdu include: ٹ to represent /ʈ/, ڈ to represent /ɖ/, ڑ to represent /ɽ/, ں to represent /◌̃/, and ے to represent /ɛ:/ or /e:/. Furthermore, a separate do-cashmi-he letter, ھ, exists to denote a /ʰ/ or a /ʱ/, this letter is mainly used as part of the multitude of digraphs, detailed above. Characters added which differ from Urdu include: لؕ to represent /ɭ/ and ݨ to represent /ɳ/. These characters, however are rarely used.
The letter ژ is pronounced 'j' in French or as vision in English and the letter ع is often transliterated in many ways due to its changing sound in various Arabic and Persian words.
It is an ancient Arabic writing tradition (carried on in Persian, Urdu and Shahmukhi) to omit the diacritics (except the Hamza) in ordinary writing and to depend on the context to interpret a word.