Sundanese script

Sundanese Script Aksara Sunda Baku ᮃᮊ᮪ᮞᮛ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ
Script type	Abugida
Time period	c. 14th–18th centuries (as Old Sundanese script) 1996-present (as Sundanese script)
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Sundanese
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brahmi script Pallava Old Kawi Old Sundanese Sundanese Script
Sister systems	Balinese Batak script Baybayin scripts Javanese script Lontara script Makasar script Rencong script Rejang script
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Sund (362), ​Sundanese
Unicode
Unicode alias	Sundanese
Unicode range	U+1B80–U+1BBF Sundanese U+1CC0–U+1CCF Sundanese Supplement
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 Sundanese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Sundanese characters.

Standard Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Baku, ᮃᮊ᮪ᮞᮛ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ ᮘᮊᮥ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (Aksara Sunda Kuno) which was used by the ancient Sundanese from the 14th to the 18th centuries.^[1]

History

Old Sundanese was developed based on the Pallava script of India,^[2] and was used from the 14th until the 18th centuries. The last manuscript written in Old Sundanese script was Carita Waruga Guru.^[2] From the 17th to the 19th centuries, Sundanese was mostly spoken and not written.^[2] Javanese and Pegon scripts were used to write Sundanese during this period.^[2] In 1996, the government of West Java announced a plan to introduce an official Sundanese script, and in October 1997, the Old Sundanese script was chosen and renamed to Aksara Sunda.^[3]

Typology

The standardized script has 32 basic characters-- seven vowels, 23 consonants, and thirteen phonetic diacriticals (Sundanese: rarangkén). There are also numerals from zero to nine.

Consonants

Each consonant (Sundanese: aksara ngalagéna) carries an inherent vowel 'a', so the each consonant letter is pronounced as a syllable. The original eighteen consonants are ka-ga-nga, ca-ja-nya, ta-da-na, pa-ba-ma, ya-ra-la, wa-sa-ha.

An additional five consonants,fa-va-qa-xa-za have been added in order to improve the script as a tool for recording the development of the Sundanese language, especially regarding the adoption of foreign words and sounds. The new glyphs have been developed through re-use of letter found in the old Sundanese script. For example, the letters fa and va are variants of Old Sundanese pa; qa and xa are variants of Old Sundanese ka, and za is a variant of Old Sundanese ja.

There are two non-standard consonants, kha and sha, used for transcribing the Arabic consonants خ and ش.

Vowels

There are seven independent vowels, a, é, i, o, u, e, and eu, each of which has an independent form and a rarangkén or diacritic. A basic consonant-vowel syllable is formed by adding a vowel diacritic to a consonant. The vowel diacritic replaces the consonant's inherent 'a' or, in the case of the "killer stroke" (pamaéh) removes the vowel entirely, creating an isolated consonant.

Consonant diacritics

Additional diacritics are used to alter the consonants of a syllable.

Numerals

In texts, numbers are written surrounded by dual pipes | ... |, for example, the year 2020 is written |᮲᮰᮲᮰|.

Punctuation

In modern usage, Latin punctuation is used. Old Sundanese, though, was written using its own set of punctuation symbols. Sequences such as ᳇᳇, ᳆᳀᳆, which contains a ᳀, bindu surya, 'sun sign', and ᳆᳁, which contains a ᳁, bindu panglong, 'half-moon sign', are used to mark liturgical texts. ᳅᳂᳅, which contains a ᳂, bindu purnama, 'full moon sign', denoted a historical text. ᳀ is also sometimes used as a full stop, with ᳂ acting as a comma. ᳃, bindu chakra, 'wheel sign' was also used as a comma.

The punctuation symbols resembling letters with stripes (᳆, da satanga, 'decorated da', ᳇, ba satanga, 'decorated ba', and ᳅, ka satanga, 'decorated ka') originated as versions of the letters ᮓ, da, ᮘ, ba, and one half of the letter ᮊ, ka. Another symbol of unclear meaning is the ᳄, leu satanga, 'decorated leu', based on the archaic syllable ᮼ, seu.^[4]

Sample text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

ᮞᮊᮥᮙ᮪ᮔ ᮏᮜ᮪ᮙ ᮌᮥᮘᮢᮌ᮪ ᮊ ᮃᮜᮙ᮪ ᮓᮥᮑ ᮒᮦᮂ ᮞᮤᮕᮒ᮪ᮔ ᮙᮨᮁᮓᮤᮊ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮘᮧᮌ ᮙᮁᮒᮘᮒ᮪ ᮊᮒᮥᮒ᮪ ᮠᮊ᮪-ᮠᮊ᮪ ᮃᮔᮥ ᮞᮛᮥᮃ. ᮙᮛᮔᮦᮂᮔ ᮓᮤᮘᮦᮛᮦ ᮃᮊᮜ᮪ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮠᮒᮦ ᮔᮥᮛᮔᮤ, ᮎᮙ᮪ᮕᮥᮁ-ᮌᮅᮜ᮪ ᮏᮩᮀ ᮞᮞᮙᮔ ᮃᮚ ᮓᮤᮔ ᮞᮥᮙᮍᮨᮒ᮪ ᮓᮥᮓᮥᮜᮥᮛᮔ᮪.

Sakumna jalma gubrag ka alam dunya téh sipatna merdika jeung boga martabat katut hak-hak anu sarua. Maranéhna dibéré akal jeung haté nurani, campur-gaul jeung sasamana aya dina sumanget duduluran.

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Unicode

Sundanese script was added to the Unicode Standard in April 2008 with the release of version 5.1. In version 6.3, the support of pasangan and some characters from Old Sundanese script were added.

Blocks

The Unicode block for Sundanese is U+1B80–U+1BBF. The Unicode block for Sundanese Supplement is U+1CC0–U+1CCF.

Gallery

• 
  A Sundanese lontar manuscript written in the Sundanese script.
• 
  The first page from manuscript of Carita Waruga Guru which use the Old Sundanese script and the Old Sundanese language.

See also

• Sundanese language
• Old Sundanese language
• Buda script

References

External links

• Sundanese Unicode Table
• Kairaga - Comprehensive information site regarding Sundanese font developing effort
• Sundanese - Latin Online Transliteration and Sundanese Unicode Font
• Sundanese Keyboard - ᮘᮞ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ (basa sunda) Keyboard at branah.com
• Sundanese font app