Balinese script

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Balinese abugida
Type Abugida - originated from Kavi script
Languages Bali
Time period c. 1000 CE to the present
Parent systems Proto-Canaanite alphabet
 → Phoenician alphabet
  → Aramaic alphabet
   → Brahmi alphabet
    → Pallava
     → Old Kawi
      → Balinese abugida
Sister systems Batak
Baybayin
Buhid
Hanunó'o
Javanese
Rejang
Tagbanwa
ISO 15924 Bali
The Brahmic script and its descendants

Brahmi

The Balinese script is an abugida that was used to write the Balinese language, an Austronesian language spoken by about three million people on the Indonesian island of Bali. The use of the Balinese alphabet has mostly been replaced by the Roman alphabet, and very few people are familiar with it. It is mostly used for religious writings.

The Balinese script was probably derived from Pallava and Old Kawi alphabets, which ultimately were derived from the Brahmi alphabet, the root of almost all the Indic and Southeast Asian abugidas.

Like most abugidas, each letter has an inherent vowel of /a/. Other vowels are indicated by using diacritics, which can appear above, below, to the left, or to the right of the consonant.

Image:Hanacaraka-bali.png
Basic signs of the Balinese script

[edit] External links

fr:Alphabet balinais

nl:Balinees alfabet fi:Balilaiset aakkoset de:Balinesische Schrift

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