Devanāgarī

History

Origin

Like the near total of the Indian writings, the devanāgarī goes down from the writing Brâhmî, more precisely from the writing gupta.

One recalls the origins of the devanāgarī around the 12th century, probably like a modification of the siddham. It replaced little by little the writing sharda in most of the north of India.

The devanāgarī is now one of most employed the writings India, being mainly used to write the Hindî, language by far the most spoken in India. The Hindi written in devanāgarī is also an official language of India, it is the same for the Nepalese writes in devanāgarī, “language of the nation” of the Nepal. This writing is also used to write inter alia the Marâthî and the Sindhi. Traditionally, in the north of India, it is with it that one wrote the Sanskrit;

nāgarī (नागरी): female of (नागर) will nāgara, townsman.

This word thus qualifies this writing of “town divine”. The name can also be shortened in nāgarī .

General characteristics

The devanāgarī is written horizontally, from left to right, does not make distinction between capital letters and tiny. It is recognizable with the continuous horizontal bar under which the characters are attached. This bar briefly stops for certain characters open in top. It is also stopped between the words in the modern languages but can in the case of cover several words with sharp in Sanskrit the Sandhi . In the manuscript writing, it is traced after having written a word in entirety.

It now uses the same punctuation marks as the Latin alphabet, except sometimes for the ends of worms and sentences in the traditional writing. There exist alternatives for certain characters.

It is an almost phonetic writing, where a symbol always represents same the Phonème, even if there exist some variations of a language or a Dialecte with the other. The basic unit - called will akshara (Sanskrit अक्षर will akṣara , meaning “letter, character”) - made up either of grouping of one or more Consonne S consecutive is possibly followed of a Voyelle, or of a vowel alone. When a vowel follows a consonant, it is represented by a sign Diacritique attached to this consonant. When several consonants are followed, they are represented by a binding. The will akshara constitutes often, but not always, a Syllabe of a word ; The same text in Latin transcription

Sabhī manuṣyõ KB gaurav aur adhikārõ ke mamle mẽ janmajāt svatantrātā aur samāntā prāpt hai. Unhẽ buddhi aur antrātmā kī den hai aur parspar unhẽ bhaīcāre ke bhāv bartāv karnā cāhiye.

; Translation

All the human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and must act the ones towards the others in a spirit of fraternity.

The alphasyllabaire

The writing devanāgarī differentiates in a fundamental way the vowels of the consonants in operation from their representation.

Vowels

A Voyelle can be returned by two different signs according to whether it follows a consonant (dependant form) or not (independent form):

in the first case, the dependant vowel is represented by a diacritic - called Matra (मात्रा) - which can be on the right dependant, on the left, in lower part or with the top of the consonant after which it is marked;
in the second case, the independent vowel is a will akshara with whole share.

The vowels and are not written with the usual Matras when they follow an isolated र. An often adopted solution is to use the will anusvāra when the akshara is surmounted by no sign, the candrabindu in the contrary case. When the anusvāra is placed on a vowel using a Matra , it is placed on the right this one. The name candrabindu comes from will candra “the moon” and bindu “not” (अनुनासिक).

Other diacritics

The devanāgarī has other diacritics placing itself after a vowel:

Consonants

When a Consonne neither is directly preceded nor directly followed by another consonant, it is represented by a basic symbol (full form). In this case it marked is followed implicit vowel ə , or sometimes marked without vowel of the whole in certain cases in languages like the Hindi.

If the consonant is followed diacritic Sanskrit virama (विराम), no vowel is marked.

The devanāgarī distinguishes the occlusive consonants aspired from those which are not it, and the dental consonants of the rétroflexes.

When a word is finished by a akshara surmounted of a anusvāra which is not used for nasaliser a vowel, this will anusvāra represents म्. For example ग्रामं = ग्रामम्.

Foreign consonants

To transcribe sounds not-natives of the devanāgarī, certain consonants are subscribed of a point called nukta .

Combinations

When several consonants are marked of sharp (without intermediate vowel), the devanāgarī uses combinations of consonants which gather several symbols of consonants forming a binding. It can be either a simple graphic compression of the consonants attached between them, or a entirely new Glyphe. It can be supplemented of a traditional vowel in the form of Matra which applies to the whole of the combination created.

Abbréviation of the second consonant

In some cases, it is the second consonant of the combination which is atrophied, the first keeping its initial form. Thus when द is the first consonant of a combination, the second in general comes to be stuck in bottom on its left after having lost its danda . Although bordered of a danda , श can take a special form - itself bordered of a danda - when it is the first of a combination and that the second consonant is व, र, च or न, the second consonant then coming to stick itself in bottom on its left. However the usual form with a simple absence of the danda also can recontrer.

The case of र

The consonant र takes very particular forms in the combinations.

If it follows a consonant provided with a danda in its full form, र is generally represented in the form of an oblique segment hung in bottom on the left of the danda . When this preceding consonant does not comprise a danda , र is represented in the form of a segment or two oblique segments joints by the top and attaches under the preceding consonant in full form (or more rarely by a candrabindu (खड़ीपाई) or purna virama (पूर्णविराम) ||align=" left" |mark the end of worms in poetry or in a religious text, or the end of a sentence |- | ॥ || double danda ||align=" left" | mark of end of paragraph or a stanza in poetry |- | ॰ || ||align=" left" | symbol of abbreviation placed after a will akshara , the devanāgarī has its own symbols for those:

They are borrowed from the brahmî.

Alternatives

In addition to light esthetic differences in certain cases, the devanāgarī knows important variations in the representation of the symbols अ, आ, ओ, औ, ण and झ.

Collating sequence

Just as the Latin alphabet follows the alphabetical order, the devanāgarī follows an order, in particular used in the Dictionnaire S.

There is initially the will anusvāra or the candrabindu , then the vowels in the order अ, आ, इ, ई, उ, ऊ, ऋ, ॠ, ऌ, ॡ, ए, ऐ, ओ, औ, and finally the consonants in the order क, ख, ङ, ग, घ, च, छ, ज, झ, ञ, ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण, त, थ, द, ध, न, प, फ, ब, भ, म, य, र, ल, व, श, ष, स, ह. The presence of a nukta under a consonant does not affect its classification.

References

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