Limbu script

Limbu ᤕᤰᤌᤢᤱ ᤐᤠᤴ
Script type	Abugida
Time period	c. 1740–present
Direction	Left-to-right
Region	Nepal and Northeastern India
Languages	Limbu
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic alphabet [a] Phoenician alphabet [a] Aramaic alphabet [a] Brāhmī Gupta Tibetan Lepcha Limbu
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Limb (336), ​Limbu
Unicode
Unicode alias	Limbu
Unicode range	U+1900–U+194F
[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon.

The Limbu script (also Sirijanga script) is used to write the Limbu language. It is a Brahmic type abugida.

History

According to traditional histories, the Limbu script was first invented in the late 9th century by Limbu King Sirijunga Hang and then fell out of use, only to be reintroduced in the 18th century by Limbu scholar Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe as during that time the teaching of the Limbu script was outlawed in Limbuwan and Sikkim.

Accounts with Sirijunga

The Limbu language is one of the few Sino-Tibetan languages of the Central Himalayas to possess their own scripts. (Sprigg 1959: 590), (Sprigg 1959: 591-592 & MS: 1-4) tells us that the Limbu or Sirijunga script was devised during the period of Buddhist expansion in Sikkim in the early 18th century when Limbuwan still constituted part of Sikkimese territory. The Limbu script was probably composed at roughly the same time as the Lepcha script which was created by the third King of Sikkim, Chakdor Namgyal (ca. 1700–1717). The Limbu script is ascribed to the Limbu hero, Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe.

Structure

The Limbu script. Gray letters are obsolete.

As an abugida, a basic letter represents both a consonant and an inherent, or default, vowel. In Limbu, the inherent vowel is /ɔ/.

Consonants

Letter	ᤁ	ᤂ	ᤃ	ᤄ	ᤅ
Transcription	ko	kho	go	gho	ngo
IPA	/kɔ/	/kʰɔ/	/ɡɔ/	/ɡʱɔ/	/ŋɔ/
Letter	ᤆ	ᤇ	ᤈ	ᤉ	ᤊ
Transcription	co	cho	jo	jho	nyo
IPA	/t͡ɕɔ/	/t͡ɕʰɔ/	/d͡ʑɔ/	/d͡ʑʱɔ/	/ɲɔ/
Letter	ᤋ	ᤌ	ᤍ	ᤎ	ᤏ
Transcription	to	tho	do	dho	no
IPA	/tɔ/	/tʰɔ/	/dɔ/	/dʱɔ/	/nɔ/
Letter	ᤐ	ᤑ	ᤒ	ᤓ	ᤔ
Transcription	po	pho	bo	bho	mo
IPA	/pɔ/	/pʰɔ/	/bɔ/	/bʱɔ/	/mɔ/
Letter	ᤕ	ᤖ	ᤗ	ᤘ
Transcription	yo	ro	lo	wo
IPA	/jɔ/	/rɔ/	/lɔ/	/wɔ/
Letter	ᤙ	ᤚ	ᤛ	ᤜ
Transcription	sho	sso	so	ho
IPA	/ʃɔ/	/ʂɔ/	/sɔ/	/ɦɔ/

Note: The letters ᤊ, and ᤚ are obsolete.

To change the inherent vowel, a diacritic is added:

Dependent vowel signs

Transcription	-a	-i	-u	-ee	-ai	-oo	-au	-e	-o
IPA	/a/	/i/	/u/	/e/	/ai/	/o/	/au/	/ɛ/	/ɔ/
Diacritic	ᤠ	ᤡ	ᤢ	ᤣ	ᤤ	ᤥ	ᤦ	ᤧ	ᤨ
Example using ᤁ	ᤁᤠ /ka/	ᤁᤡ /ki/	ᤁᤢ /ku/	ᤁᤣ /ke/	ᤁᤤ /kai/	ᤁᤥ /ko/	ᤁᤦ /kau/	ᤁᤧ /kɛ/	ᤁᤨ /kɔ/

ᤁᤨ /kɔ/ represents the same syllable as ᤁ /kɔ/. Some writers avoid this diacritic above this text… ᤨ, considering it redundant.

Syllable-initial vowels use the vowel-carrier ᤀ with the appropriate dependent vowel sign. Used by itself, ᤀ represents syllable-initial /ɔ/.

Initial consonant clusters are written with small marks following the main consonant:

Subjoined consonants

Transcription	-y-	-r-	-w-
IPA	/j/	/r/	/w/
Diacritic	ᤩ	ᤪ	ᤫ
Example using ᤁ	ᤁᤩ /kjɔ/	ᤁᤪ /krɔ/	ᤁᤫ /kwɔ/

Final consonants after short vowels are written with another set of marks, except for some final consonants occurring only in loanwords. They follow the marks for consonant clusters, if any.

Final consonants

Transcription	-k	-ng	-t	-n	-p	-m	-r	-l
IPA	/k/	/ŋ/	/t/	/n/	/p/	/m/	/r/	/l/
Diacritic	ᤰ	ᤱ	ᤳ	ᤴ	ᤵ	ᤶ	ᤷ	ᤸ
Example using ᤁ	ᤁᤰ /kɔk/	ᤁᤱ /kɔŋ/	ᤁᤳ /kɔt/	ᤁᤴ /kɔn/	ᤁᤵ /kɔp/	ᤁᤶ /kɔm/	ᤁᤷ /kɔr/	ᤁᤸ /kɔl/

Long vowels without a following final consonant are written with a diacritic called kemphreng (᤺). For example, ᤁ᤺ /kɔː/.

There are two methods for writing long vowels with syllable-final consonants:

1. Use the kemphreng diacritic and the final consonant, such as ᤁ᤺ᤰ /kɔːk/.
2. Replace the final consonant with the corresponding full consonant and add an underscore-like diacritic mark. This indicates that the consonant is final (vowel-less) and that the preceding vowel is lengthened. For example: ᤁᤁ᤻ /kɔːk/. This same diacritic may be used to mark final consonants in loanwords that do not have final forms in Limbu, regardless of the length of the vowel.

The first method is widely used in Sikkim; the second method is advocated by certain writers in Nepal.

Glottalization is marked by a sign called mukphreng (᤹). For example, ᤁ᤹ /kɔʔ/.

Sample text from Limbu Wikipedia

ᤛᤧᤘᤠᤖᤥ᥄ ᤀᤠᤍᤠᤱᤒᤠ ᤜᤠᤍᤠᤱᤔᤠᤛᤣ ᤗᤠᤶᤎᤡᤱᤃᤥ ᤗᤠᤶᤎᤰ ᤕᤠᤰᤌᤢᤱᤐᤠᤴ ᤖᤧ ᤘᤡᤁᤡᤐᤡᤍᤡᤕᤠ ᤀᤥ ॥ ᤛᤧᤘᤠᤖᤥ᥄ ᤀᤠᤍᤠᤏᤠᤒᤠ ᤀᤠᤍᤠᤏᤠᤔ ᤀᤠᤛᤧ ᤗᤠᤶᤎ ᤀᤡᤏᤠᤃ ᤗᤠᤶᤎᤠᤁᤠ ᤕᤠᤰᤌᤢᤱ ᤐᤠᤏᤠ ᤖᤧ ᤘᤡᤁᤡᤐᤧᤍᤤ ᤀ। ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢ ᤓᤠᤙᤠᤁᤥ ᤘᤡᤁᤡᤐᤡ᤺ᤍᤡᤕᤠᤔᤠ ᤛᤫᤠᤃᤋ ᤇ। ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢ ᤓᤠᤛᤠᤁᤨ ᤘᤡᤁᤡᤐᤡᤍᤡᤕᤠ ᤀᤜᤡᤗᤧ ᤀᤡᤴᤁᤢᤒᤧᤛᤠᤏᤠ (ᤐᤠᤖᤣᤰᤙᤠᤏ ᤘᤡᤁᤡ) ᤀᤷᤌᤠᤳ ᤁᤨᤁᤨᤔᤠ ᤇᤠ। ᤕᤛᤗᤠᤀᤡ᤺ ᤀᤃᤠᤍᤡ ᤒᤎᤠᤀᤢᤏᤠᤁᤠ ᤗᤠᤃᤡ ᤁᤠᤶᤋᤡᤔᤠ ᥈ ᤛᤠᤕᤠ ᤗᤧᤰ ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢ ᤓᤠᤙᤠᤔᤠ ᤜᤢᤏᤠ ᤈᤠᤖᤥᤖᤣ ᤇᤠ। ᤋᤩᤛᤁᤠᤖᤏ ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢ ᤓᤠᤙᤠᤔᤠ ᤗᤧᤂᤠᤜᤠᤖᤢ ᤗᤧᤰᤏᤠ ᤛᤢᤖᤢᤃᤠᤷᤏᤠ ᤛᤠᤒᤤ ᤗᤡᤶᤒᤢᤓᤠᤙᤡ ᤔᤡᤳᤖᤜᤠᤖᤢᤔᤠ ᤜᤠᤷᤍᤡᤰ ᤀᤠᤏᤢᤖᤨᤎ ᤇᤠ।

Obsolete characters

Three additional letters were used in early versions of the modern script:

• ᤉ /d͡ʑʱɔ/
• ᤊ /ɲɔ/
• ᤚ /ʂɔ/

Two ligatures were used for Nepali consonant conjuncts:

• ᤝ jña (for Devanagari ज्ञ)
• ᤞ tra (for Devanagari त्र)

Nineteenth-century texts used a small anusvara (ᤲ) to mark nasalization. This was used interchangeably with ᤱ /ŋ/.

The sign ᥀ was used for the exclamatory particle ᤗᤥ (/lo/).

Punctuation

The main punctuation mark used in Limbu is the Devanagari double danda (॥). It has its own exclamation mark (᥄) and question mark (᥅).

Digits

Limbu has its own set of digits:

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
᥆	᥇	᥈	᥉	᥊	᥋	᥌	᥍	᥎	᥏

Unicode

Main article: Limbu (Unicode block)

Limbu script was added to the Unicode Standard in April, 2003 with the release of version 4.0.

The Unicode block for Limbu is U+1900–U+194F:

Limbu[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+190x

ᤀ

ᤁ

ᤂ

ᤃ

ᤄ

ᤅ

ᤆ

ᤇ

ᤈ

ᤉ

ᤊ

ᤋ

ᤌ

ᤍ

ᤎ

ᤏ

U+191x

ᤐ

ᤑ

ᤒ

ᤓ

ᤔ

ᤕ

ᤖ

ᤗ

ᤘ

ᤙ

ᤚ

ᤛ

ᤜ

ᤝ

ᤞ

U+192x

ᤠ

ᤡ

ᤢ

ᤣ

ᤤ

ᤥ

ᤦ

ᤧ

ᤨ

ᤩ

ᤪ

ᤫ

U+193x

ᤰ

ᤱ

ᤲ

ᤳ

ᤴ

ᤵ

ᤶ

ᤷ

ᤸ

᤹

᤺

᤻

U+194x

᥀

᥄

᥅

᥆

᥇

᥈

᥉

᥊

᥋

᥌

᥍

᥎

᥏

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points