Sanskrit (saṃskṛtam संस्कृतम्) is a classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It has a position in India and Southeast Asia similar to that of Latin and Greek in Medieval Europe, and is a central part of Hindu tradition. Sanskrit is one of the 22 official languages of India. Sanskrit is taught in schools and households th ...

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• Sanskrit - History
• Sanskrit - Vedic Sanskrit
• Sanskrit - Classical Sanskrit
• Sanskrit - European Scholarship
• Sanskrit - Phonology and writing system
• Sanskrit - Vowels
• Sanskrit - Consonants
• Sanskrit - Phonology
• Sanskrit - Pitch
• Sanskrit - Sandhi
• Sanskrit - Script
• Sanskrit - Grammar
• Sanskrit - Grammatical tradition
• Sanskrit - Verbs
• Sanskrit - Verbs: Conjugation
• Sanskrit - Nominal inflection
• Sanskrit - Personal Pronouns and Determiners
• Sanskrit - Compounds
• Sanskrit - Syntax
• Sanskrit - Numerals
• Sanskrit - Influence
• Sanskrit - Modern-day India
• Sanskrit - Interactions with Sino-Tibetan languages
• Sanskrit - Western vogue for Sanskrit
• Sanskrit - Computational linguistics

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Classical Sanskrit distinguishes 48 sounds. Some of these, are, however, allophones. The number of phonemes is smaller, at about 35, see below. The sounds are traditionally listed in the order vowels, diphthongs, anusvara and visarga, stops and nasals (starting in the back of the mouth and moving forward), and finally the liquids and fricatives, written in IAST as follows (see the tables below for details): See also:

Sanskrit, Sanskrit - History, Sanskrit - Vedic Sanskrit, Sanskrit - Classical Sanskrit, Sanskrit - European Scholarship, Sanskrit - Phonology and writing system, Sanskrit - Vowels, Sanskrit - Consonants, Sanskrit - Phonology, Sanskrit - Pitch, Sanskrit - Script, Sanskrit - Grammar, Sanskrit - Grammatical tradition, Sanskrit - Verbs, Sanskrit - Verbs: Conjugation, Sanskrit - Nominal inflection, Sanskrit - Personal Pronouns and Determiners, Sanskrit - Compounds, Sanskrit - Syntax, Sanskrit - Numerals, Sanskrit - Influence, Sanskrit - Modern-day India, Sanskrit - Interactions with Sino-Tibetan languages, Sanskrit - Western vogue for Sanskrit, Sanskrit - Computational linguistics

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A writing system, also called a script, is a type of symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language. Writing system - General properties. Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that one must usually understand something of the associated language in order to successfully read and comprehend the text. Contrast this with other possible symbolic systems such as information signs, painting, maps, and mathematics, which do ...

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• Writing system - General properties
• Writing system - Basic terminology
• Writing system - History of writing systems
• Writing system - Types of writing system
• Writing system - Logographic writing systems
• Writing system - Syllabic writing systems
• Writing system - Alphabetic writing systems
• Writing system - Featural writing systems
• Writing system - Directionality

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Writing may refer to two activities: the inscribing of characters on a medium, with the intention of forming words and other constructs that represent language or record information, and the creation of material to be conveyed through written language. (There are some exceptions; for example, the use of a typewriter to record language is generally called typing, rather than writing.) Writing refers to both activities equally, and both activities may often occur simultaneously. Writing - Methods for recordin ...

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• Writing - Methods for recording information
• Writing - Tools
• Writing - Writing in Historical Cultures
• Writing - Mesopotamia
• Writing - Egypt
• Writing - Phoenician writing system and descendents
• Writing - China
• Writing - Indus Valley
• Writing - Elsewhere
• Writing - Creation of text or information
• Writing - Creativity
• Writing - Author
• Writing - Critiques

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At least in theory, in a phonemic writing system, a given symbol represents a single phoneme, and each phoneme is represented by a single symbol. This may differ from a phonetic orthography, which only requires that the spelling be unambiguously determined by the pronunciation, and the pronunciation unambiguously indicated by the spelling. Phonemic representation of a language is often described as 'broad transcription', while a phonetic rendering is called 'narrow'. A phonetic system would have more symbols or spelling conventions, since it ...

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Phoneme, Phoneme - Background and related ideas, Phoneme - Notation, Phoneme - Examples, Phoneme - Arguments against the phoneme, Phoneme - Restricted phonemes, Phoneme - Neutralization archiphoneme underspecification, Phoneme - Non-phonemes, Phoneme - Phonological extremes, Phoneme - Writing systems

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Tibetan is written with a Sanskrit-derived script. Wylie transliteration is the most common system of romanization used by Western scholars in rendering written Tibetan using the Latin alphabet (such as employed on much of this page). Among the initials, five – ག g, ད d, བ b, མ m, འ ' – are regarded as prefixes, and are called so for all purposes, though they belong sometimes to the stem. As a rule, none of these letters can be placed before any of the same organic class. The language is much ruled by laws of euphony, which have bee ...

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Tibetan language, Tibetan language - Registers, Tibetan language - Dialects, Tibetan language - Syntax, Tibetan language - Nouns, Tibetan language - Verbs, Tibetan language - Numerals, Tibetan language - Writing system, Tibetan language - Phonological history, Tibetan language - Phonology, Tibetan language - Studies, Tibetan language - Books

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Before there was writing, there was proto-writing. However few surviving examples exist, with some authorities questioning the inscriptions as early writing at all. Some believe them to be ideographic, early mnemonic devices of sorts, which may have been invented over time by creative prehistoric individuals. The two best known examples are: Old European Script, 6000 BC - 4000 BC Tărtăria inscriptions, 4500 BC Old European script is disputed as actual proto-writi ...

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Writing system, Writing system - General properties, Writing system - Basic terminology, Writing system - History of writing systems, Writing system - Types of writing system, Writing system - Logographic writing systems, Writing system - Syllabic writing systems, Writing system - Alphabetic writing systems, Writing system - Featural writing systems, Writing system - Directionality

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Different scripts are written in different directions. The early alphabet could be written in any direction: either horizontal (left-to-right or right-to-left) or vertical (up or down). It could also be written boustrophedon: starting horizontally in one direction, then turning at the end of the line and reversing direction. Egyptian hieroglyph is one such script, where the beginning of a line written horizontally was to be indicated by the direction ...

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Writing system, Writing system - General properties, Writing system - Basic terminology, Writing system - History of writing systems, Writing system - Types of writing system, Writing system - Logographic writing systems, Writing system - Syllabic writing systems, Writing system - Alphabetic writing systems, Writing system - Featural writing systems, Writing system - Directionality

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The oldest-known forms of writing were primarily logographic in nature, based on pictographic and ideographic elements. Most writing systems can be broadly divided into three categories: logographic, syllabic and alphabetic (or segmental); however, all three may be found in any given writing system in varying proportions, often making it difficult to categorise a system uniquely. The term complex system is sometimes used to describe those where the admixture makes classification problematic. See also: phonemic and phonetic orthography. See also:

Writing system, Writing system - General properties, Writing system - Basic terminology, Writing system - History of writing systems, Writing system - Types of writing system, Writing system - Logographic writing systems, Writing system - Syllabic writing systems, Writing system - Alphabetic writing systems, Writing system - Featural writing systems, Writing system - Directionality

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In logographic writing systems, glyphs represents words or morphemes (meaningful components of words, as in mean-ing-ful), rather than phonetic elements. Note that no logographic script is comprised solely of logograms. All contain graphemes which represent phonetic (sound-based) elements as well. These phonetic elements may be used on their own (to represent, for example, grammatical inflections or foreign words), or may serve as phonetic complements to a logogram (used to specify the sound of a logogram which might oth ...

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List of writing systems, List of writing systems - Pictographic/ideographic writing systems, List of writing systems - Logographic writing systems, List of writing systems - Consonant-based logographies, List of writing systems - Syllable-based logographies, List of writing systems - Syllabaries, List of writing systems - Part syllabic part alphabetic scripts, List of writing systems - Segmental scripts, List of writing systems - Abjads, List of writing systems - True alphabets, List of writing systems - Abugidas, List of writing systems - Undeciphered systems thought to be writing, List of writing systems - Undeciphered manuscripts

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The Japanese writing system allows for transmitting information that is usually communicated in other languages by using different words or by adding extra descriptive words. For example, kanji watashi or watakushi 私 "I" is often used in formal writing and by both sexes. Hiragana watashi わたし tends to be used by females in informal writing such as a diary or a letter to a friend. Katakana watashi ワタシ is used only rarely. Rōmaj ...

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Japanese writing system, Japanese writing system - Usage of scripts, Japanese writing system - Choice of script, Japanese writing system - Direction of writing, Japanese writing system - Early writing system, Japanese writing system - Written language reforms, Japanese writing system - Meiji period, Japanese writing system - Pre-WWII, Japanese writing system - Post-WWII, Japanese writing system - Nuances of the writing system, Japanese writing system - Romanization, Japanese writing system - Lettering styles, Japanese writing system - Variant writing systems

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Ideographic scripts (in which graphemes are ideograms representing concepts or ideas, rather than a specific word in a language), and pictographic scripts (in which the graphemes are iconic pictures) are not thought to be able to express all that can be communicated by language. That is, no full writing system can be completely pictographic or ideographic; it must be able to refer directly to a language in order to faithfully represent that language. Hieroglyphs were commonly thought to be ideographic before they w ...

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List of writing systems, List of writing systems - Pictographic/ideographic writing systems, List of writing systems - Logographic writing systems, List of writing systems - Consonant-based logographies, List of writing systems - Syllable-based logographies, List of writing systems - Syllabaries, List of writing systems - Part syllabic part alphabetic scripts, List of writing systems - Segmental scripts, List of writing systems - Abjads, List of writing systems - True alphabets, List of writing systems - Abugidas, List of writing systems - Undeciphered systems thought to be writing, List of writing systems - Undeciphered manuscripts

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Sound changes between Proto-Indo-Iranian and Vedic Sanskrit include loss of the voiced sibilant z. Vedic Sanskrit had a labial fricative [f], called upadhmaniya, and a velar fricative [x], called See also:

Vedic Sanskrit, Vedic Sanskrit - History, Vedic Sanskrit - Phonology, Vedic Sanskrit - Grammar

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Tamil is atrocioulsy non-phonetic - the language itself could be read as dhamizh or thamizh in the native script. Tamil is subject to well-defined rules of elision and euphony. The present script used to write Tamil text is believed to have evolved from the Brahmi script of the Ashoka era. Later, a southern variant of the Brahmi script evolved into the Grantha script, which was used to write both Sanskrit and Tamil texts. Between the 6th and 10th centuries, a new script called vettezhuthu (meaning letters that are cut) evolved ...

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Tamil language, Tamil language - History, Tamil language - Classification, Tamil language - Geographic distribution, Tamil language - Legal status, Tamil language - Spoken and literary variants, Tamil language - Dialects, Tamil language - Writing system, Tamil language - Sounds, Tamil language - Vowels, Tamil language - Consonants, Tamil language - Special character, Tamil language - Phonology, Tamil language - Grammar, Tamil language - Parts of speech, Tamil language - Sentence structure, Tamil language - Vocabulary, Tamil language - Examples

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The Korean language was originally written using "Hanja", or Chinese characters; it is now mainly written in Hangul, the Korean alphabet, optionally mixing in Hanja to write Sino-Korean words. South Korea still teaches 1800 Hanja characters to its children, while the North has abolished the use of hanja decades ago. Hangul consists of 24 letters — 14 consonants and 10 vowels that are written in syllabic blocks of 2 to 5 components. Unlike the Chinese writing system (including Japanese Kanji), Hangul is not an ideographic system. ...

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Korean language, Korean language - Names, Korean language - Classification and related languages, Korean language - Geographic distribution, Korean language - Dialects, Korean language - Sounds, Korean language - Consonants, Korean language - Vowels, Korean language - Monophthongs, Korean language - Diphthongs and glides, Korean language - Phonology, Korean language - Phonological constraints, Korean language - Vowel harmony, Korean language - Grammar, Korean language - Speech levels and honorifics, Korean language - Honorifics, Korean language - Speech levels, Korean language - Vocabulary, Korean language - Writing system, Korean language - Differences in the language between North Korea and South Korea, Korean language - Pronunciation, Korean language - Spelling, Korean language - Spelling and pronunciation, Korean language - Grammar, Korean language - Vocabulary, Korean language - Others

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The study of writing systems has developed along partially independent lines in the examination of individual scripts, and as such the terminology employed differs somewhat from field to field. The generic term text may be used to refer to an individual product of a writing system. The act of composing a text may be referred to as writing, and the act of interpreting the text as reading. In the study of writing systems, orthography refers to the method and rules of observed writing structure (literal meaning, "correct writing"), and in particular for alphabet ...

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Writing system, Writing system - General properties, Writing system - Basic terminology, Writing system - History of writing systems, Writing system - Types of writing system, Writing system - Logographic writing systems, Writing system - Syllabic writing systems, Writing system - Alphabetic writing systems, Writing system - Featural writing systems, Writing system - Directionality

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Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that one must usually understand something of the associated language in order to successfully read and comprehend the text. Contrast this with other possible symbolic systems such as information signs, painting, maps, and mathematics, which do not necessarily depend upon prior knowledge of a given language in order to extract their meaning. Every human community possesses language, a feature regarded by many as an innate and defining condition of ...

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Writing system, Writing system - General properties, Writing system - Basic terminology, Writing system - History of writing systems, Writing system - Types of writing system, Writing system - Logographic writing systems, Writing system - Syllabic writing systems, Writing system - Alphabetic writing systems, Writing system - Featural writing systems, Writing system - Directionality

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For more information see also Hungarian alphabet. Hungarian is written using a variant of the Latin alphabet, and has a phonemic orthography, i.e. pronunciation can generally be predicted from the written language. In addition to the standard letters of the Latin alphabet, Hungarian uses several additional letters. These include letters with acute accents (á,é,í,ó,ú) which represent long vowels, with umlauts (ö and ü) and their long counterparts ő and ű. Sometimes ô or õ is u ...

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Hungarian language, Hungarian language - Classification, Hungarian language - Sound correspondences, Hungarian language - Geographic distribution, Hungarian language - Official status, Hungarian language - Dialects, Hungarian language - Phonology, Hungarian language - Grammar, Hungarian language - Lexicon, Hungarian language - Word formation, Hungarian language - Noteworthy lexical items, Hungarian language - Writing system, Hungarian language - Name order, Hungarian language - Examples, Hungarian language - Reactions, Hungarian language - Sir John Bowring, Hungarian language - Marc Martin, Hungarian language - Controversy over origins

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The current Japanese writing system can be traced back to the 4th century AD, when the written Chinese language was introduced to Japan. Although several kinds of supposedly earlier writing called kamiyo moji (神代文字, lit. 'writing of the gods' age') have been found, some vaguely pictographic, some runic in appearance, and some very close to Korean Hangul, none have been conclusively proven to be genuine, and no definitive evidence of any native Japanese writing system that predates the introduction of Chinese is known to exist. Som ...

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Japanese writing system, Japanese writing system - Usage of scripts, Japanese writing system - Choice of script, Japanese writing system - Direction of writing, Japanese writing system - Early writing system, Japanese writing system - Written language reforms, Japanese writing system - Meiji period, Japanese writing system - Pre-WWII, Japanese writing system - Post-WWII, Japanese writing system - Nuances of the writing system, Japanese writing system - Romanization, Japanese writing system - Lettering styles, Japanese writing system - Variant writing systems

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