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Meitei script

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Meetei Mayek
ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ
Script type
abugida
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
RegionManipur
LanguagesMeitei language
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Mtei (337), ​Meitei Mayek (Meithei, Meetei)
Unicode
Unicode alias
Meetei Mayek
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
This article contains Meitei text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Meitei script.

The Meitei script, Meetei Mayek, is an abugida that was used for the Meitei language, one of the official languages of the Indian state of Manipur, until the eighteenth century, when it was replaced by the Bengali script. A few manuscripts survive. In the twentieth century, the script experienced a resurgence.

Since Meitei does not have voiced consonants, there are only fifteen consonant letters used for native words, plus three letters for pure vowels. Nine additional consonant letters inherited from the Indic languages are available for borrowings. There are seven vowel diacritics and a final consonant (/ŋ/) diacritic.

One of the unique feature of this script is the use of body parts in naming the letters. Every letter is named after a human body part in the Meitei language. For example, the first letter "kok" means "head"; the second letter "sam" means "hair"; the third letter "lai" means "forehead", and so on.

Unicode

The Meitei script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

Blocks

Main articles: Meetei Mayek (Unicode block) and Meetei Mayek Extensions (Unicode block)

The Unicode block for the Meitei script, called Meetei Mayek, is U+ABC0–U+ABFF.

Characters for historical orthographies are part of the Meetei Mayek Extensions block at U+AAE0–U+AAFF.

Meetei Mayek[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+ABCx ꯀ ꯁ ꯂ ꯃ ꯄ ꯅ ꯆ ꯇ ꯈ ꯉ ꯊ ꯋ ꯌ ꯍ ꯎ ꯏ
U+ABDx ꯐ ꯑ ꯒ ꯓ ꯔ ꯕ ꯖ ꯗ ꯘ ꯙ ꯚ ꯛ ꯜ ꯝ ꯞ ꯟ
U+ABEx ꯠ ꯡ ꯢ ꯣ ꯤ ꯥ ꯦ ꯧ ꯨ ꯩ ꯪ ꯫ ꯬ ꯭
U+ABFx ꯰ ꯱ ꯲ ꯳ ꯴ ꯵ ꯶ ꯷ ꯸ ꯹
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Meetei Mayek Extensions[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+AAEx ꫠ ꫡ ꫢ ꫣ ꫤ ꫥ ꫦ ꫧ ꫨ ꫩ ꫪ ꫫ ꫬ ꫭ ꫮ ꫯ
U+AAFx ꫰ ꫱ ꫲ ꫳ ꫴ ꫵ   ꫶  
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1997). A grammar of Meithei. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 0-19-564331-3.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). Early Meithei manuscripts. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 59–71). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). A glossary of 39 basic words in archaic and modern Meithei. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 189–190). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
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