Sinhala alphabet ( Sinhala. සිංහල අක්ෂර මාලාව , Siṁhala Akṣara Mālāva) - Sinhala alphabet . It is used by the Sinhalese people, who primarily inhabit Sri Lanka , as well as the worship languages of Pali and Sanskrit . Sinhala writing, which is a variation of Indian writing , came from Brahmi and is closely associated with the Grantha and Kadamba ( English Kadamba alphabet ).
| Sinhala letter | |
|---|---|
| Type of letter | abugida |
| Languages | Sinhala , sometimes Pali and Sanskrit |
| Territory | Sri Lanka |
| Period | ~ from the 9th century e. |
| Letter direction | from left to right |
| Signs | 50 |
| Origin | brahmi
|
| Related | Tamil |
| Unicode range | U + 0D80 ... U + 0DFF |
| ISO 15924 | Sinh |
 | This page or section contains text in Asian languages. If you do not have the required fonts , some characters may not display correctly. |
Sinhala writing contains two alphabets: basic and extended. The basic alphabet, called śuddha siṃhala ( Sinhala ශුද්ධ සිංහල ) or eḷu hōḍiya ( Sinhala එළු හෝඩිය ), displays the phoneme's native language. To display the Sanskrit and Pali phonemes, an extended set of letters is used, called miśra siṃhala ( Sinhala මිශ්ර සිංහල ).
The basic alphabet consists of 33 letters, of which 12 are vowels and 21 are consonants. The expanded alphabet contains 54 letters: 18 vowels and 36 consonants.
Features
The text is written from left to right. Sinhala letter is an abugid , that is, each consonant has an integral vowel, which can be changed or deleted using special additional characters. In the absence of additional characters, the sound a is used .
Most of the letters of the Sinhala alphabet have a rounded, ornate shape, straight lines almost never occur. The reason is that in ancient times Sinhala texts were written on dry palm leaves , and straight lines would lead to a section of the sheet along the veins.
The basic set of letters forms the alphabet śuddha siṃhala ( Sinhala ශුද්ධ සිංහල ), which is part of the alphabet miśra siṃhala ( Sinhala ск සිංහල ). This set has all the necessary letters for writing the classic Sinhala texts described in Sidatsan̆garā (1300). The classical Sinhala language is called Eḷu , therefore the alphabet is called Eḷu hōdiya ( Sinhala. හෝඩිය ).
History and Use
Sinhala is derived from Brahmi . It originates from North India around the 3rd century BC. e., but also has traces of the influence of the writings of South India, especially the early granthi .
Pottery of the VI century BC was found in the city of Anuradhapura e. with writings in prakrit dating back to the 2nd century BC. e.
By the 9th century AD e. Sinhala literature appeared, for example, some Buddhist texts written in Pali .
Today, the alphabet is used by approximately 16 million people in a variety of situations and contexts, for example, in newspapers, television programs, government documents, textbooks.
Letters
Symbols that indicate sounds that are absent in the spoken Sinhala language are highlighted in gray. These characters are used when writing words borrowed from other languages ( Sanskrit , Pali , English ).
Vowels
| # | Letter | IPA | Title | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one. | අ | a , ə | Ayanna | The most novice letter of the alphabet, the section “Ayanna” in the dictionary takes about 10 percent of the volume. From the graphic elements of the letter, one can distinguish the getai element ( Sinhala knot ) present in most Sinhala letters, located in the upper left corner and from which the spelling of the letter begins. Ayanna can stand only at the beginning of a word, since the sound [ a ] is the inherent sound of all consonants of the alphabet and is not indicated inside the word. | |
| 2. | ආ | a ː , a | Dirga ayanna | In the middle of the word is conveyed by the diacritical sign of elapilla . | |
| 3. | ඇ | ɛ | Ayanna | In the middle of the word, it is conveyed by the diacritical sign of edapilla . | |
| four. | ඈ | ɛ ː | Dirga ayanna | In the middle of the word is conveyed by the diacritical sign of dig edapill . | |
| five. | ඉ | i | Iyanna | It is written only at the beginning of the word, in the middle of the word is transmitted by the diacritic mark of ispilla . | |
| 6. | ඊ | i ː | Dirga Iyanna | In the middle of the word is transmitted the diacritical sign of dig ispilla . | |
| 7. | උ | u | Uyanna | In the middle of the word is conveyed by the diacritical papilla . In spelling rules, it has features: with the majority of consonants (including nayana and hayana ), the vowel is indicated by papilla, (mu, muu), which changes shape with consonants: kayanna , gayannaya , melted (e.g. , ku, kuu), as well as Ryanna ( , ru, ruu) and Layanna ( , lu, luu). | |
| eight. | ඌ | u ː | Dyrga Uyanna | At the beginning of the word is written Uianna with the sign of Gayanukitt , in the middle of the word is transmitted by the diacritic sign of Dig Papill . In spelling rules, it has features: with the majority of consonants (including nayann and hyayana ), the vowel uyuyan is indicated by dig papilla, (mu, muu), which changes shape with consonants: kayanna , gayannaya , melted (e.g. , ku, kuu), as well as Ryanna ( , ru, ruu) and Layanna ( , lu, luu). | |
| 9. | ඍ | r i , r u | Iruyanna | IAST - Ṛ, at the beginning of the word it is read as "ir", in the middle - "ri". In Pali is not used, comes from Sanskrit . Inside the word is conveyed by the interline diacritic of getapill . In the Old Sinhala language, the obsolete letter can be found long Iruyanna - dirga Iruyanna . | |
| ten. | ඎ | r i ː , r u ː | Dirga Iruyanna | IAST - Ṝ, at the beginning of the word it is read as "ir", in the middle - "ri". In Pali is not used, comes from Sanskrit . Inside the word is conveyed by the intra-line diacritical sign of the dig getapilla (double getapilla). | |
| eleven. | ඏ | l i | Iluianna | ||
| 12. | ඐ | l i ː | Dirga Iluianna | ||
| 13. | එ | e | Eyianna | At the beginning of the word Ayyanna is written, in the middle of the word it is written using the combo sign (sing. කොම්බුව). | |
| 14. | ඒ | e ː | Dyrga Eyyanna | At the beginning of the word Ayyanna is written with the sign of viram (sing. Allyakun), in the middle of the word is written with the help of the sign kombuva and viram (allakun). | |
| 15. | ඓ | aj | Ayanna | Indicates the diphthong "Ay", at the beginning of the word is written kombuva and ayyanna , in the middle of the word is written a combination of kombu deca (double kombuva). | |
| sixteen. | ඔ | o | Oyanna | At the beginning of the word is written oyana , in the middle of the word is written a combination of combo ha elapilla ( ) | |
| 17. | ඕ | o ː | Dyrga Oyanna | At the beginning of the word is written oyanna with viram ( Sinhala allyakun ), in the middle of the word is written a combination of combo ha hallelapilla ( ) | |
| 18. | ඖ | ɑ w | Aujanna | It occurs in words dating back to Sanskrit. At the beginning of the word is written “oyanna ha gayanukitta”, in the middle of the word is written “kombuva ha gayanukitta”. | |
Consonants
| # | Letter | IPA | Title | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nineteen. | ක | k a | Alpaprana Kayanna ( kayanna ) | Vowel: ක, කා, කැ, කෑ, කි, කී, කු, කූ, කෘ, කෙ, කේ, කෛ, කො, කෝ, කෞ, ක්. | |
| 20. | ඛ | k a | Mahaprana Kayanna ( kayanna button accordion ) | ||
| 21. | ග | ɡ a | Alpaprana Gayanna ( hayannah ) | ||
| 22. | ඝ | ɡ a | Mahaprana Gayanna | Denotes aspirated voiced velar explosive consonant. Refers to uncommon letters. Vowel: ඝ, ඝා, ඝැ, ඝෑ, ඝි, ඝී, ඝු, ඝූ, ඝෙ, ඝේ, ඝෛ, ඝො, ඝෝ, ඝෞ, ඝ්. | |
| 23. | ඞ | ŋ a | Kantaja Nasikaya | It is a positional version of the phoneme “n” and is not used on its own, in consonant combinations, instead of cantage nasikai with allyakun (viram), anusvara is used. The ligature of sanyaka gayanna is used to transmit the nga combination . | |
| 24. | ච | t͡ʃ a | Chayanna ( alpaprana tea ) | Deaf postalveolar affricate . Akshara-sankhya - 6 (six). | |
| 25. | ඡ | t͡ʃ a | Mahapran Tea | Aspirational deaf postalveolar affricate . Akshara-sankhya - 7 (seven). | |
| 26. | ජ | d͡ʒ a | Jayanna (ja, ja) | Voiced postalveolar affricate . Akshara-sankhya - 8 (eight). Vowel: ජ, ජා, ජැ, ජෑ, ජි, ජී, ජු, ජූ, ජෙ, ජේ, ජෛ, ජො, ජෝ, ජෞ, ජ්. | |
| 27. | ඣ | d͡ʒ a | Mahaprana Jayannah ( jha ) | Voiced postalveolar respiratory affricate. Refers to rarely used letters. | |
| 28. | ඤ | ɲ a | Taluja Nasikaya ( nya ) | Indicates palatal nasal consonant . By frequency, it refers to rare letters. Another type of letter is Taluja Sanyoga Nasikaya . | |
| 29. | ඥ | ɡ n a | Taluja Sanyoga Nasikaya | By origin can be attributed to the ligatures. At the beginning of the word, like nasikaya taludzha , it means the palatal nasal consonant (nya), in the middle of the word it can denote the lignature “wrath”. The lignature of “wrath” etymologically dates back to the Sanskrit ligature of “jna”. By frequency, it refers to rare letters. | |
| thirty. | ට | ʈ a | Alpaprana Tayanna Murdhaja | Denotes cerebral (retroflex, Sanskrit. Murdhanya) anterior pagan deaf explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 1 (one). In the dictionary, there are very few words beginning with melted, these are mainly borrowings from European languages (taxi, telephone, etc.). In the Sinhala alphabet, murddhaja tayanna is associated with the word taka - rattle to scare away birds. Vowels: ට, ටා, ටැ, ටෑ ටි, ටී, ටු, ටූ, ටෙ, ටේ, ටෛ, ටො, ටෝ, ටෞ, ට්. Ta (te) - the end of sampradana, the dative case . | |
| 31. | ඨ | ʈ a | Mahaprana tayanna Murdhaja ( that ) | Denotes cerebral (retroflex, Sanskrit. Murdhanya) respiratory anterolanguage deaf deaf explosive consonant. IAST - ṭh. Akshara-sankhya - 2 (two). There is only one word in Belkovich’s Sinhala dictionary starting with mahaprana tayanna murdhaja. Vowel: ඨ, ඨා, ඨැ, ඨෑ, ඨි, ඨී, ඨු, ඨූ, ඨෙ, ඨේ, ඨෛ, ඨො, ඨෝ, ඨෞ, ඨ්. The letter "ඨ" is depicted on the Wikipedia logo . | |
| 32. | ඩ | ɖ a | Murdhaja Dayanna ( yes ) | Denotes cerebral (retroflex, Sanskrit. Murdhan) anterolinguistic voiced explosive consonant. IAST - Ḍ ḍ. Akshara-sankhya - 3 (three). In terms of frequency, murdhaja dayana is a rare letter. Vowel: ඩ, ඩා, ඩැ, ඩෑ, ඩි, ඩී, ඩු, ඩූ, ඩෙ, ඩේ, ඩෛ, ඩො, ඩෝ, ඩෞ. | |
| 33. | ඪ | ɖ a | Mahaprana Dayanna Murdhaja ( dha ) | Denotes cerebral (retroflex, Sanskrit. Murdhanya) respiratory anterior lingual voiced explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 4 (four). By frequency, it refers to rare letters. | |
| 34. | ණ | ɳ a | Murdhaja Nayanna ( on ) | Before other cerebral letters, it indicates a retro-reflex nasal consonant , in other cases it conveys an anterolinguistic nasal consonant . IAST - ṇ. Akshara-sankhya - 5 (five). Vocabulary sequence of vowels: ණ, ණා, ණැ, ණෑ, ණි, ණී, ණු, ණූ, ණෙ, ණේ, ණෛ, ණො, ණෝ, ණෞ, ණ්. For nouns ending in murdhaja nayannu, when a plural is formed , the vowel sound “A” goes to “U”. Example: a fly - a person, a fly - a person. | |
| 35. | ත | t̪ a | Tayanna ( that ) | Denotes a deaf alveolar explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 6 (six). In the Sinhala alphabet is associated with the word taru (Russian stars ). | |
| 36. | ථ | t̪ a | Mahaprana is melted ( tha ) | Denotes aspirated deaf alveolar explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 7 (seven). By frequency, it refers to rare letters. | |
| 37. | ද | d̪ a | Dayanna ( yes ) | Denotes voiced alveolar explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 8 (eight). In the Sinhala alphabet is associated with the word dara (Russian firewood ). | |
| 38. | ධ | d̪ a | Mahaprana Dayanna ( dha ) | Denotes aspirated voiced alveolar explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 9 (nine). | |
| 39. | න | n a | Dantaja Nayanna ( on ) | Denotes the pre-lingual nasal consonant / n /. Vowel: න, නා, නැ, නෑ, නි, නී, නු, නූ, නෙ, නේ, නෛ, නො, නෝ, නෞ, න්. The classical grammar of the Sinhala language Sidatsangarava (Sing. සිදත්සඟරාව) this letter is classified as divine ( devakshara ). | |
| 40. | ප | p a | Soldered ( pa ) | Deaf labial explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 1 (one). | |
| 41. | ඵ | p a | Mahaprana soldered | Inhalable deaf labial labial explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 2 (two). | |
| 42. | බ | b a | Button accordion | Voiced labial labial explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 3 (three). It is graphically close to the letter mahaprana Kayanna , the homoglyphy “kha-ba” is characteristic of Sinhala and Gujarati . | |
| 43. | භ | b a | Mahaprana button accordion ( bha ) | Indicates the aspirated voiced labial labial explosive consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 4 (four). | |
| 44. | ම | m a | Mayanna ( ma ) | Labial nasal consonant. Akshara-sankhya - 5 (five). | |
| 45. | ය | j a | Yayanna ( ya ) | Denotes a palatal approximant . Akshara-sankhya - 1 (one). | |
| 46. | ර | r a | Ryanna | Denotes alveolar trembling consonant. In spelling rules, some features are associated with the spelled. So, spelling is unsuitable with the sign of adaptapil has two uses. The standard position of edapilly is the vowel letter vowel: (ru, ruu). The higher position of the edapilli relative to the line is the vowel of the letter ayann : (re, ree). In ligatures , depending on the location of the syllables, the shape of its sign changes. In front of the consonant is depicted a superscript contact sign of rephay : . After the consonant is represented by the subscript contact sign of the crayfish : . | |
| 47. | ල | l a | Layanna (dantaja laianna ) | Akshara-sankhya - 3 (three). | |
| 48. | ව | ʋ a | Sculpted ( wah ) | Akshara-sankhya - 4 (four). | |
| 49. | ශ | s a | Taluja Sayanna ( schA ) | Denotes a deaf postalveolar sibilant [ʃ]. In Pali is not used. Akshara-sankhya - 5 (five). | |
| 50. | ෂ | s a | Murdhaja Sayanna ( sha ) | Denotes a dull retro-reflex hissing consonant [ʂ]. In Pali is not used. In frequency, it is rarer than Taluja Sayanna . Akshara-sankhya - 6 (five). | |
| 51. | ස | s a | Dantaja Sayanna ( dental sa ) | Akshara-sankhya - 7 (seven). | |
| 52. | හ | h a | Hayannah ( ha ) | Akshara-sankhya - 8 (eight). | |
| 53. | ළ | ɭ a | Muddhaja layanna ( cerebral la ) | In colloquial language, it has no differences from simple bark (dental), the use of murddhaj bark in written language is determined by the spelling tradition. The dictionary has a small number of words starting with this letter. In spelling rules, it has features: with the vowel, the outline of the muddhaji of the layana changes form: (lu, luu) | |
| 54. | ෆ | f a | Muddhaja layanna ( cerebral la ) | The modern additional letter of the Sinhala alphabet , deaf deaf spirant / f /, is used to transcribe and transmit foreign words, it can be found in the Sinhala-English transcription of the dictionary of Gunapala Malalasekar . | |
Unicode Encoding
| Sinhala letter Official Unicode Consortium Symbol Table ( PDF ) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | one | 2 | 3 | four | five | 6 | 7 | eight | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U + 0D8x | ං | ඃ | අ | ආ | ඇ | ඈ | ඉ | ඊ | උ | ඌ | ඍ | ඎ | ඏ | |||
| U + 0D9x | ඐ | එ | ඒ | ඓ | ඔ | ඕ | ඖ | ක | ඛ | ග | ඝ | ඞ | ඟ | |||
| U + 0DAx | ච | ඡ | ජ | ඣ | ඤ | ඥ | ඦ | ට | ඨ | ඩ | ඪ | ණ | ඬ | ත | ථ | ද |
| U + 0DBx | ධ | න | ඳ | ප | ඵ | බ | භ | ම | ඹ | ය | ර | ල | ||||
| U + 0DCx | ව | ශ | ෂ | ස | හ | ළ | ෆ | ් | ා | |||||||
| U + 0DDx | ැ | ෑ | ි | ී | ු | ූ | ෘ | ෙ | ේ | ෛ | ො | ෝ | ෞ | ෟ | ||
| U + 0DEx | ෦ | ෧ | ෨ | ෩ | ෪ | ෫ | ෬ | ෭ | ෮ | ෯ | ||||||
| U + 0DFx | ෲ | ෳ | ෴ | |||||||||||||
Computer Support
In fact, Sinhala font support is less developed than, for example, Devanagari support. A common problem is the drawing of diacritics, which are written before the consonant, or characters that can take various forms.
Windows XP does not include Sinhala support, unlike Tamil or Hindi . In addition to installing the Iskoola Pota font , you need to update the usp10.dll library. As of 2010-09-21, usp10.dll v1.626.7600.20796 is compatible with Windows XP-SP3. In IEv8, you must enable compatibility mode to display Sinhala text correctly. Sinhala Enabling Pack for XP is required for text input / editing.
All versions of Windows Vista come with Sinhala font support and do not require the installation of additional fonts.
On GNU / Linux , the SCIM input method switch allows you to use the Sinhala font in applications such as terminals or browsers .
See also
- Indian writing
- Indo-European languages
Literature
- Sinhala-Russian dictionary. A. A. Belkovich Moscow - 1970
- Self-taught Sinhala language. Belkovich A.A. Moscow. 1977
Links
- Guide for Using Sinhala Writing on Sinhala Wikipedia
- Simon Ager. Sinhala alphabet, pronunciation and language (htm). Omniglot . Date of treatment October 18, 2017.