Gurmukhi alphabet - Definition and Overview

The Gurmukhi (ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ) script, derived from the Landa alphabet and standardised by Guru Angad Dev in the 16th century, was designed to write the Punjabi language (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ). The word Gurmukhi literally means "from the Mouth of the Guru". Gurmukhi is a form of alphabet called an abugida, as each consonant has an inherent vowel (a), that can be changed using vowel signs.

Modern Gurmukhi has 41 consonants (vianjans), 9 vowel symbols (laga or matras), 2 symbols for nasal sounds, 1 symbol which duplicates the sound of any consonant, 3 subjoined forms of the consonants Ra, Ha and Va, and 1 post-base form of Ya.

The whole of the Guru Granth Sahib's 1430 pages are written in this script.

Consonants

The Gurmukhi (or Punjabi) alphabet contains thirty-five distinct letters. These are:

The first three letters are unique because they form the basis for vowels. Apart from Era, these characters are never used on their own. See the section on vowels for further details.

In addition to these, there are six consonants created by placing a dot (bindi) at the foot (pair) of the consonant:

Vowels

Gurmukhi follows similar concepts to other Brahmi scripts and as such, all consonants are followed by an inherent ‘a’ sound (unless at the end of a word when the ‘a’ is usually dropped). This inherent vowel sound can be changed by using dependent vowel signs which attach to a baring consonant. In some cases, dependent vowel signs cannot be used – at the beginning of a word or syllable for instance – and so an independent vowel character is used instead.

Dependent Vowels

Dotted circles represent the barer consonant. Vowels are always pronounced after the consonant they are attached to. Thus, Sihari is always written to the left, but pronounced after the character on the right.

Independent Vowels

Vowel Examples

ਆਲੂ – aaluu – potato ਦਿਲ – dil – heart

Gurmukhi in Unicode

The Unicode range for Gurmukhi is U+0A00 ... U+0A7F.

External Links:

• Punjabi Computing Resource Centre (http://guca.sourceforge.net/)
• Saab - A free Unicode 4.0 OpenType Gurmukhi font (http://guca.sourceforge.net/typography/fonts/saab/)
• Punjabi Pseudo Text Generator (http://www.zenofliving.ca/bhupinder/punjabi.php/)
• Free online Diaspora Punjabi (Gurmukhi) lessons (http://www.5abi.com/5ratan/)
• Learn Gurmukhi - Sound and Graphics (http://www.punjabonline.com/servlet/library.language?Action=Main)
• omniglot.com (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/gurmuki.htm)
• - Test for Unicode support in Web browsers (http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/gurmukhi.html)
• Unicode script chart for Gurmukhi (PDF file) (http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0A00.pdf)