Gurmukhi script   

Origin

The Gurmukhi alphabet was devised during the 16th century by Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru, and popularised by Guru Angad, the second Sikh guru. It was modelled on the Landa alphabet. The name Gurmukhi means "from the mouth of the Guru".

Notable Features

• This is a syllabic alphabet in which all consonants have an inherent vowel. Diacritics, which can appear above, below, before or after the consonant they belong to, are used to change the inherent vowel.
• When they appear at the beginning of a syllable, vowels are written as independent letters.
• When certain consonants occur together, special conjunct symbols are used which combine the essential parts of each letter.
• Punjabi is a tonal language with three tones. These are indicated in writing using the voiced aspirates consonants (gh, dh, bh, etc) and the intervocal h.

Used to write:

Panjabi or Punjabi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 60 million people in Pakistan and the Indian state of Panjab. In Pakistan Panjabi is written with a version of the Arabic script known as Shahmukhi (see below).

Gurmukhi script (ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ)

Vowels and Vowel diacritics (Laga Matra)

Consonants (Vianjans)

Other symbols

Numerals

(شاہ مکھی) Shahmukhi script

Sample text in Punjabi (Gurmukhi alphabet)

Sample text in Punjabi (Shahmukhi alphabet)

Transliteration

Sārē insān āzād tē ḥuqūq tē ‘izzat dē liḥāẓ nāl barābar pædā næn. Oh ‘aqal samajh tē cangē mundē dī pachān tē aḥisās rakhadē ne is dasţē lohnān nūn ikk dūjē nāl bhā´īcārē wālā salūk karna cāhī dā æ.

Translation

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.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

  Punjabi language courses, dictionaries, etc.

Links

Free Gurmukhi fonts
http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/download.html
http://members.aol.com/hspannu/punjabi.html
http://www.chardikalaa.com/dlGur.htm

Learn to read Punjabi
http://www.ukindia.com/zpun01.htm

Online Punjabi-English dictionary
http://www.punjabidictionary.com

Online Punjabi Radio
http://www.punjabiradioonline.com
http://www.namdhari.faithweb.com/radio.htm
http://www.panjabradio.co.uk

Punjab Online - information about the Punjabi language, history, culture, etc (includes an online English <> Punjabi dictionary and language lessons)
http://www.punjabonline.com

Punjabilok - Punjabi news, history, language, etc
http://www.punjabilok.com/

Learn Shahmukhi in an easy way
http://www.apnaorg.com/shahmukhi/

Send email in Indian languages
http://www.rediff.com
http://www.sify.com

Other syllabic alphabets

Ahom, Balinese, Batak, Bengali, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Cham, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dhives Akuru, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Grantha, Gujarati, Gurmukhi (Punjabi), Hanuno'o, Hmong, Javanese, Kannada, Kharosthi, Khmer, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Malayalam, Manpuri, Modi, New Tai Lue, Oriya, Pallava, Phags-pa, Ranjana, Redjang, Sharda, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tocharian, Varang Kshiti

Home | News | Writing systems | Language learning | Articles | Phrases | Multilingual pages | Book store | Puzzles | Gallery | Songs | Links | FAQs | About this site | About the author | Contact | Blog | Forum