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The Balinese alphabet or Carakan descended ultimately from the from Brahmi script of ancient India by way of the Pallava and Old Kawi scripts. The oldest known inscriptions in the Balinese alphabet date from the 11th century AD, but they are thought to be reproductions of texts originally written on palm leaves at an earlier date.
The Balinese alphabet is still used to this day, although very few people are familiar with it and it is mainly used for religious works. Generally a version of the Latin alphabet is used instead, though what little Balinese printed material exists in the Latin alphabet consists mainly of school books, religious works and a few books of stories. Balinese children are taught to read and write Balinese in the Latin alphabet at primary school, though few read or write it in later life.
Balinese (Basa Bali), an Austronesian language spoken by about 3 million people mainly on the Indonesian island of Bali and in western part of the neighbouring island of Lombok. Balinese is also spoken in Nusapenida, Java and Sulawesi.
The appended forms (Pangangge Akśara) are shown in red.
There consonants are used for writing words from the Kawi (Old Javanese) language.
The final consonants are shown in red.
These symbols are used at the ends of syllables to add a consonant sound or to mute the inherent vowel.
The Balinese font used on this page was created by Jason Glavy
Akeh akśarane, 47, luir ipun: akśara suara, 14, akśara wianjana, 33, akśara suara punika talĕr dados pangangge suara, tur madrĕwe suara kakalih, kawāśt,anin: suara hrĕswa miwah dīrgha
There are many letters of the alphabet, 47, consisting of 14 vowels, 33 consonants. Those vowels also can be used as sounds, and they have two, called short vowels and long vowels.
Sami manusane sane nyruwadi wantah merdeka tur maduwe kautamaan lan hak-hak sane pateh. Sami kalugrain papineh lan idep tur mangdane pada masawitra melarapan semangat pakulawargaan.
Listen to a recording of this text by Ali Qchienk
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)
Free Balinese fonts
http://www.babadbali.com/aksarabali/balisimbar.htm
Information about the Balinese alphabet (in Indonesian and English)
http://www.babadbali.com/aksarabali.htm
http://www.babadbali.com/aksarabali/alphabet-c.htm
Information about the Balinese language
http://www.balivision.com/Article_Resources/TheBaliniseLanguage.asp
http://www.balitouring.com/bali_articles/balinesean.htm
http://www.coralreeffish.com/balinese.htm
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Other languages written with the Latin alphabet
Ahom, Balinese, Batak, Bengali, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Cham, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dhives Akuru, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Grantha, 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, Shan, Sharda, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tocharian, Varang Kshiti
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