Zanabazar square script

Zanabazar's square script
𑨢𑨆𑨏𑨳𑨋𑨆𑨬𑨳‎
Zanabazar's square script; 𑨢𑨆𑨏𑨳𑨋𑨆𑨬𑨳‎
Script type	Abugida
Creator	Zanabazar
Time period	unknown
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Mongolian, Tibetan, Sanskrit
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brahmi Gupta Tibetan Phagspa Zanabazar's square script; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Zanb (339), Zanabazar Square (Zanabazarin Dörböljin Useg, Xewtee Dörböljin Bicig, Horizontal Square Script)
Unicode
Unicode alias	Zanabazar Square
Unicode range	U+11A00–U+11A4F Zanabazar Square;

Zanabazar's square script is a horizontal Mongolian square script (Mongolian: Хэвтээ Дөрвөлжин бичиг, romanized: Hevtee Dörvöljin bichig or Хэвтээ Дөрвөлжин Үсэг, Hevtee Dörvöljin Üseg),^[1] an abugida developed by the monk and scholar Zanabazar based on the Tibetan alphabet to write Mongolian. It can also be used to write Tibetan language and Sanskrit as a geometric typeface.^[2]^[3]

It was re-discovered in 1801 and the script's applications during its using period are not known, read left to right, and employed vowel diacritics above and below the consonant letters.^[1]

Letters[edit]

Vowels[edit]

The Zanabazar Square script is an abugida. Consonant represent a syllable with an inherent vowel /a/. The vowel can be changed by adding a diacritic to the consonant. Only the vowel /a/ is written as an independent letter; other independent vowels, for example those at the start of a word which can't be attached to a consonant, are written by adding the appropriate diacritic to the letter ⟨𑨀‎⟩. A length mark indicates that the vowel sound is long and a candrabindu ⟨◌𑨵‎⟩ indicates that it is nasalised.^[4] The final consonant mark ⟨◌𑨳‎⟩ functions as a virama, or "killer stroke" that removes the inherent vowel, leaving an isolated consonant. When transcribing Sanskrit or Tibetan, a different virama, ⟨◌ 𑨴‎⟩ is used. Two additional diacritics are used for Sanskrit transcription, the anusvara ⟨◌𑨸‎⟩, which adds nasalisation and the visarga ⟨◌𑨹‎⟩, which adds aspiration.

Vowels, diacritics, and examples
diacritics		◌ 𑨁‎ i	◌ 𑨂‎ ue	◌ 𑨃‎ u	◌ 𑨄‎ e	◌ 𑨅‎ oe	◌𑨆‎ o	◌𑨇‎ ai or i	◌𑨈‎ au or u	◌𑨉‎ i ^{[note 1]}	◌𑨊‎ -	◌𑨵‎	◌𑨳‎ -	◌ 𑨴‎ - ^{[note 2]}	◌𑨸‎ ṃ ^{[note 1]}	◌𑨹‎ ḥ ^{[note 1]}
independent vowels	𑨀‎ a	𑨀𑨁‎ i	𑨀𑨂‎ ue	𑨀𑨃‎ u	𑨀𑨄‎ e	𑨀𑨅‎ oe	𑨀𑨆‎ o	𑨀𑨇‎ ai or i	𑨀𑨈‎ au or u	𑨀𑨉‎ i	𑨀𑨊‎ ā	𑨀𑨵‎ ã			𑨀𑨸‎ aṃ	𑨀𑨹‎ aḥ
consonant ⟨𑨋‎⟩ + diacritic	𑨋‎ ka	𑨋𑨁‎ ki	𑨋𑨂‎ kue	𑨋𑨃‎ ku	𑨋𑨄‎ ke	𑨋𑨅‎ koe	𑨋𑨆‎ ko	𑨋𑨇‎ kai or ki	𑨋𑨈‎ kau or ku	𑨋𑨉‎ ki	𑨋𑨊‎ k	𑨋𑨵‎ kã	𑨋𑨳‎ k	𑨋𑨴‎ k	𑨋𑨸‎ kaṃ	𑨋𑨹‎ kaḥ

^ ^a ^b ^c Used in Sanskrit transcription.
^ Used in Sanskrit and Tibetan transcription.

Consonants[edit]

The Zanabazar script includes twenty basic consonants used for writing Mongolian, and twenty additional consonants that are used for transcribing Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and other languages.^[4]

Basic consonants for Mongolian
𑨍‎ ga	𑨋‎ ka	𑨏‎ nga	𑨒‎ ja	𑨐‎ ca	𑨓‎ nya	𑨛‎ da	𑨚‎ tha	𑨝‎ na	𑨠‎ ba ^{[note 1]}
𑨞‎ pa	𑨢‎ ma	𑨪‎ ya	𑨫‎ ra	𑨭‎ va	𑨬‎ la	𑨮‎ sha	𑨰‎ sa	𑨱‎ ha	𑨲‎ kssa

^ Sometimes substituted for non-initial va.

Additional consonants for other languages
𑨌‎ kha	𑨎‎ gha	𑨑‎ cha	𑨔‎ tta	𑨕‎ ttha	𑨖‎ dda	𑨗‎ ddha	𑨘‎ nna	𑨙‎ ta	𑨜‎ dha
𑨟‎ pha	𑨡‎ bha	𑨣‎ tsa	𑨤‎ tsha	𑨥‎ dza	𑨦‎ dzha	𑨧‎ zha	𑨨‎ za	𑨩‎ -a	𑨯‎ ssa

Tibetan consonant clusters[edit]

The following diacritics are used for transcribing Tibetan consonant clusters.

Clusters letters and examples
diacritic	𑨺‎ r-	◌𑨻‎ -ya	◌𑨼‎ -ra	◌𑨽‎ -la	◌𑨾‎ -va
consonant ⟨𑨋⟩ + diacritic	𑨺𑨋‎ rka	𑨋𑨻‎ kya	𑨋𑨼‎ kra	𑨋𑨽‎ kla	𑨋𑨾‎ kva

Other characters[edit]

Head marks are similar to Tibetan yig mgo, and may be used to mark the beginning of a text, page, or section. They may be decorated with a candra, ⟨◌ 𑨶‎⟩ or ⟨◌ 𑨶‎⟩

Head marks
𑨿𑩀 𑨿 𑨶𑩀 𑨿 𑨷𑩀‎ single-line	𑩅𑩆‎ double-line

Punctuation
𑩁‎ tsheg	𑩂‎ shad	𑩃‎ double shad	𑩄‎ long tsheg

Unicode[edit]

"Zanabazar Square" has been included in the Unicode Standard since the release of Unicode version 10.0 in June 2017. The Zanabazar Square block contains 72 characters.^[5]

The Unicode block for Zanabazar Square is U+11A00–U+11A4F:

Zanabazar Square^[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+11A0x	𑨀‎	𑨁‎	𑨂‎	𑨃‎	𑨄‎	𑨅‎	𑨆‎	𑨇‎	𑨈‎	𑨉‎	𑨊‎	𑨋‎	𑨌‎	𑨍‎	𑨎‎	𑨏‎
U+11A1x	𑨐‎	𑨑‎	𑨒‎	𑨓‎	𑨔‎	𑨕‎	𑨖‎	𑨗‎	𑨘‎	𑨙‎	𑨚‎	𑨛‎	𑨜‎	𑨝‎	𑨞‎	𑨟‎
U+11A2x	𑨠‎	𑨡‎	𑨢‎	𑨣‎	𑨤‎	𑨥‎	𑨦‎	𑨧‎	𑨨‎	𑨩‎	𑨪‎	𑨫‎	𑨬‎	𑨭‎	𑨮‎	𑨯‎
U+11A3x	𑨰‎	𑨱‎	𑨲‎	𑨳‎	𑨴‎	𑨵‎	𑨶‎	𑨷‎	𑨸‎	𑨹‎	𑨺‎	𑨻‎	𑨼‎	𑨽‎	𑨾‎	𑨿‎
U+11A4x	𑩀‎	𑩁‎	𑩂‎	𑩃‎	𑩄‎	𑩅‎	𑩆‎	𑩇‎
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Pandey, Anshuman (2015-12-03). "L2/15-337: Proposal to Encode the Zanabazar Square Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.
^ Shagdarsürüng, Tseveliin (2001). ""Study of Mongolian Scripts (Graphic Study or Grammatology). Enl."". Bibliotheca Mongolica: Monograph 1.
^ Bareja-Starzyńska, Agata; Byambaa Ragchaa (2012). ""Notes on the Pre-existences of the First Khalkha Jetsundampa Zanabazar according to His Biography Written in the Horizontal Square Script."". Rocznik Orientalistyczny 1.
^ ^a ^b "Mongolian Horizontal Square Script". www.omniglot.com. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
^ "Unicode 10.0.0". Unicode Consortium. June 20, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017.

External links[edit]

BabelStone Fonts for Zanabazar

[sansk-5] Used in Sanskrit transcription.

[st-6] Used in Sanskrit and Tibetan transcription.

[ba-7] Sometimes substituted for non-initial va.

[unicode-1] Pandey, Anshuman (2015-12-03). "L2/15-337: Proposal to Encode the Zanabazar Square Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.

[2] Shagdarsürüng, Tseveliin (2001). ""Study of Mongolian Scripts (Graphic Study or Grammatology). Enl."". Bibliotheca Mongolica: Monograph 1.

[3] Bareja-Starzyńska, Agata; Byambaa Ragchaa (2012). ""Notes on the Pre-existences of the First Khalkha Jetsundampa Zanabazar according to His Biography Written in the Horizontal Square Script."". Rocznik Orientalistyczny 1.

[omniglot-4] "Mongolian Horizontal Square Script". www.omniglot.com. Retrieved 7 May 2024.

[8] "Unicode 10.0.0". Unicode Consortium. June 20, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017.

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