Tibetan script: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|writing system used to write certain Tibetic languages}}
{{Short description|Tibetan writing system}}
{{Infobox writing system
{{Infobox writing system
|name=Tibetan
| name       = Tibetan
|type=[[Abugida]]
| type       = [[Abugida]]
|time=c. 650–present
| time       = {{Circa|620}}–present
|languages= {{hlist|list_style=line-height:1.3em;|[[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]]|[[Dzongkha]]|[[Ladakhi language|Ladakhi]]|[[Sikkimese language|Sikkimese]]|[[Balti language|Balti]]|[[Sherpa language|Sherpa]]|[[Jirel language|Jirel]]|[[Yolmo language|Yolmo]]|[[Tshangla language|Tshangla]]|[[Sanskrit]]}}
| languages   = {{hlist|list_style=line-height:1.3em;|[[Lhasa Tibetan|Tibetan]]|[[Dzongkha]]|[[Ladakhi language|Ladakhi]]|[[Sikkimese language|Sikkimese]]|[[Balti language|Balti]]|[[Sherpa language|Sherpa]]|[[Jirel language|Jirel]]|[[Yolmo language|Yolmo]]|[[Tshangla language|Tshangla]]|}}
|fam1=[[Proto-Sinaitic script]]
| fam1        = [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
|fam2=[[Phoenician alphabet]]
| fam2        = [[Proto-Sinaitic]]
|fam3=[[Aramaic alphabet]]
| fam3        = [[Phoenician script|Phoenician]]
|fam4=[[Brahmi script|Brāhmī]]
| fam4        = [[Aramaic script|Aramaic]]
|fam5=[[Gupta script|Gupta]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Daniels |first1=P.T. |title=Writing systems of major and minor languages |date=January 2008}}</ref><ref name="masica">{{cite book |last1=Masica |first1=Colin |title=The Indo-Aryan languages |date=1993 |page=143}}</ref>
| fam5        = [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]]
|sisters = [[Sharada script|Sharada]], [[Siddhaṃ script|Siddhaṃ]]
| fam6        = [[North India|Northern Brahmi]]
|children = * [[Meitei script|Meitei]]<ref name="Meithei" >{{cite book |last1=Chelliah |first1=Shobhana Lakshmi |title=A Grammar of Meithei |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Grammar_of_Meithei/noCHVvu0P8oC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |quote="Meithei Mayek is part of the Tibetan group of scripts,which originated from the Gupta Brahmi script" |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2011 |page=355 |isbn=9783110801118 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Singh |first1=Harimohon Thounaojam |title=The Evolution and Recent Development of the Meetei Mayek Script |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263852161 |publisher=Cambridge University Press India |page=28 |date=January 2011 }}</ref>
| fam7        = [[Gupta script|Gupta]]<ref>{{cite book | title = Language in South Asia |editor-last1 = Kachru |editor-first1 = Braj B. |editor-last2 = Kachru |editor-first2 = Yamuna |editor-last3 = Sridhar |editor-first3 = S. N. |chapter = Writing systems of major and minor languages |last1 = Daniels |first1 = Peter T. |pages = 285–308 |chapter-url = https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511619069.017 | date = January 2008|doi = 10.1017/CBO9780511619069.017 |isbn = 978-0-521-78653-9 }}</ref><ref name="masica">{{cite book |last1=Masica |first1=Colin |title=The Indo-Aryan languages |date=1993 |page=143}}</ref>
| sisters     = [[Meitei script|Meitei]],<ref name="Meithei" >{{cite book |last1=Chelliah |first1=Shobhana Lakshmi |title=A Grammar of Meithei |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noCHVvu0P8oC |quote="Meithei Mayek is part of the Tibetan group of scripts, which originated from the Gupta Brahmi script" |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2011 |page=355 |isbn=9783110801118 |access-date=2023-03-19 |archive-date=2023-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413062923/https://books.google.com/books?id=noCHVvu0P8oC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Singh |first1=Harimohon Thounaojam |title=The Evolution and Recent Development of the Meetei Mayek Script |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263852161 |publisher=Cambridge University Press India |page=28 |date=January 2011 }}</ref> [[Sharada script|Sharada]], [[Siddham script|Siddham]], [[Kalinga script|Kalinga]], [[Bhaiksuki script|Bhaiksuki]]
| children    =
* [[Lepcha script|Lepcha]]
* [[Lepcha script|Lepcha]]
* [[ʼPhags-pa script|ʼPhags-pa]]
* [[Khema script|Khema]]
* [[Phagspa script|Phagspa]]
* [[Marchen script|Marchen]]
* [[Marchen script|Marchen]]
|sample=Om Mani Padme Hum mantra.svg  
* [[Tamyig script|Tamyig]]
|caption=The [[mantra]] "[[Om mani padme hum]]"
| native_name = {{pb}}{{bo-textonly|བོད་ཡིག་}}
|imagesize = 250px
| sample     = Om Mani Padme Hum mantra.svg
|unicode=[https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0F00.pdf U+0F00&ndash;U+0FFF] [http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2022.pdf Final&nbsp;Accepted&nbsp;Script&nbsp;Proposal of the First Usable Edition (3.0)]
| caption     = The [[mantra]] "[[Om mani padme hum]]"
|iso15924=Tibt
| image_upright = 1.2
| unicode     = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0F00.pdf U+0F00&ndash;U+0FFF] [http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2022.pdf Final&nbsp;Accepted&nbsp;Script&nbsp;Proposal of the First Usable Edition (3.0)]
| iso15924   = Tibt
}}
}}
{{Contains special characters|Tibetan}}
{{Contains special characters|Tibetan}}
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{{Brahmic}}
{{Brahmic}}


The '''Tibetan script''' is a segmental writing system (''[[abugida]]'') of [[Brahmic scripts|Indic]] origin used to write certain [[Tibetic languages]], including [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]], [[Dzongkha]], [[Sikkimese language|Sikkimese]], [[Ladakhi language|Ladakhi]], [[Jirel]] and sometimes [[Balti language|Balti]]. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic languages in close cultural contact with Tibet, such as [[Thakali language|Thakali]].<ref>http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/kailash/pdf/kailash_09_01_02.pdf</ref> The printed form is called [[uchen script]] while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday writing is called [[umê script]]. This writing system is used across the [[Himalayas]], and [[Tibet]].
The '''Tibetan script''' is a segmental writing system, or ''[[abugida]]'', forming a part of the [[Brahmic scripts]], and used to write certain [[Tibetic languages]], including [[Lhasa Tibetan|Tibetan]], [[Dzongkha]], [[Sikkimese language|Sikkimese]], [[Ladakhi language|Ladakhi]], [[Jirel language|Jirel]] and [[Balti language|Balti]]. Its exact origins are a subject of research but is traditionally considered to be developed by [[Thonmi Sambhota]] for King [[Songtsen Gampo]].


The script is closely linked to a broad ethnic Tibetan identity, spanning across areas in [[India]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]] and [[Tibet]].<ref>Chamberlain 2008</ref> The Tibetan script is of [[Brahmic scripts|Brahmic]] origin from the [[Gupta script]] and is ancestral to scripts such as [[Meitei script|Meitei]],<ref name="Meithei" /> [[Lepcha script|Lepcha]],<ref name="daniels">Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright. ''The World's Writing Systems''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.</ref> [[Marchen script|Marchen]] and the multilingual [[ʼPhags-pa script]].<ref name="daniels" />
The Tibetan script has also been used for some non-Tibetic languages in close cultural contact with Tibet, such as [[Thakali language|Thakali]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Manzardo |first=Andrew E. |title=Impression Management and Economic Growth: The Case of the Thakalis of Dhaulagiri Zone |url=https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/kailash/pdf/kailash_09_01_02.pdf |journal=[[Kailash: A Journal of Himalayan Studies]] |access-date=2023-11-20 |archive-date=2023-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120023404/https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/kailash/pdf/kailash_09_01_02.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Nepali language|Nepali]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karmācārya |first=Mādhavalāla |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mpxjAAAAMAAJ&q=script |title=Results of the Nepal German Project on High Mountain Archaeology: Ten documents from Mustang in the Nepali language (1667-1975 A.D.) |date=2001 |publisher=VGH Wissenschaftsverlag |isbn=978-3-88280-061-6 |language=en}}</ref> The printed form is called [[uchen script]] while the hand-written form used in everyday writing is called [[umê script]]. This writing system is especially used across the [[Himalayan Region]].


==History==
==History==
The creation of the Tibetan alphabet is attributed to [[Thonmi Sambhota]] of the mid-7th century. Tradition holds that Thonmi Sambhota, a minister of [[Songtsen Gampo]] in the 7th century, was sent to [[India]] to study the art of writing, to find a system of writing suitable for the Tibetan language. Upon his return, he introduced an alphabet based on the [[Nāgarī script|Nagari]] that was used in [[Kashmir]] at the time. The script had 30 consonantal characters, of which 6 were created specifically to match Tibetan phonology.<ref>William Woodville Rockhill, {{Google books|avFDAQAAMAAJ|Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution|page=671}}, United States National Museum, page 671</ref> The origin is still debated however; other studies suggest that the Tibetan script was based on an adaption of the Indian Brahmi and Gupta scripts from Khotan, taught to Thonmi Sambhota in Kashmir.<ref>Berzin, Alexander. ''A Survey of Tibetan History - Reading Notes Taken by Alexander Berzin from Tsepon, W. D. Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1967: http://studybuddhism.com/web/en/archives/e-books/unpublished_manuscripts/survey_tibetan_history/chapter_1.html.</ref>
Little is known about the exact origins of Tibetan script.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The evolution of Tibetan typefaces: anatomy and historical development of Tibetan fonts |url=https://www.inalco.fr/en/evolution-tibetan-typefaces-anatomy-and-historical-development-tibetan-fonts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241129063152/https://www.inalco.fr/en/evolution-tibetan-typefaces-anatomy-and-historical-development-tibetan-fonts |archive-date=2024-11-29 |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales}}</ref> According to Tibetan [[historiography]], it was developed during the reign of King [[Songtsen Gampo]] by his minister Thonmi Sambhota, who was sent to India along with other scholars to study Buddhism along with Sanskrit and other brahmi languages.<ref>''Tibet: A Political History'', p. 12. 1967. Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.</ref><ref>''The White Annals'', pp. 70–73. Gedun Choephel, translated by Samten Norboo. 1978. Tibetan Library and Archives, [[Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh|Dharamsala]], H.P., India.</ref> They developed the Tibetan script from the [[Gupta script]]<ref>Claude Arpi, ''Glimpses on the Tibet History'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2016.</ref> while at the [[Pabonka Hermitage]].


Three orthographic standardisations were developed. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate the translation of [[Buddhist scriptures]], emerged during the early 9th century. Standard orthography has not altered since then, while the spoken language [[sound change|has changed]] by, for example, losing complex [[consonant cluster]]s. As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects and in particular in the [[Standard Tibetan]] of [[Lhasa]], there is a great divergence between current spelling (which still reflects the 9th-century spoken Tibetan) and current pronunciation. This divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of [[spelling reform]], to write Tibetan ''as it is pronounced''; for example, writing ''[[Kagyu]]'' instead of ''Bka'-rgyud''. In contrast, the pronunciation of the [[Balti language|Balti]], [[Ladakhi language|Ladakhi]] and [[Purgi language|Purigi]] languages adheres more closely to the original spelling. Purigi is the closest linguistic heir of Old Tibetan and therefore Purigi pronunciations adhered most closely to the Old Tibetan.
This occurred {{Circa|620}}, towards the beginning of Songtsen Gampo's  reign. There were 21 [[Sutra]] texts held by the King which were translated afterwards. In the first half of the 7th century, the Tibetan script was used for the codification of these sacred Buddhist texts,<ref>William Woodville Rockhill, {{Google books|avFDAQAAMAAJ|Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution|page=671}}, United States National Museum, page 671</ref><ref>Berzin, Alexander. ''A Survey of Tibetan History - Reading Notes Taken'' by Alexander Berzin from Tsepon, W. D. Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1967: http://studybuddhism.com/web/en/archives/e-books/unpublished_manuscripts/survey_tibetan_history/chapter_1.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617115552/http://studybuddhism.com/web/en/archives/e-books/unpublished_manuscripts/survey_tibetan_history/chapter_1.html |date=2016-06-17 }}.</ref> for written civil laws, and for a Tibetan Constitution.


New research and writings suggest that there were one or more Tibetan scripts in use prior to the introduction of the current script by [[Songtsen Gampo]] and [[Thonmi Sambhota]]. The Tunhong manuscripts ([[dunhuang manuscript]]) are key evidence for this hypothesis.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Phuntsok |first1=Thubten |title=བོད་ཀྱི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་སྤྱི་དོན་པདྨ་ར་གཱའི་ལྡེ་མིག "A General History of Tibet"}}</ref>
Earliest sources on Tibet, such as the [[Old Tibetan Chronicle]], do not mention any Thonmi Sambhota.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Roy Andrew |date=1963 |title=Thon-mi Sambhoṭa and His Grammatical Treatises |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/597167 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=83 |issue=4 |pages=485–502 |doi=10.2307/597167 |jstor=597167 |issn=0003-0279|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Scripts predating Songtsen Gampo might have existed but in any case do not appear to be widely used.<ref name=":0" /> Researchers postulate that Tibetan kings sought to develop a system of writing as their [[Tibetan Empire#History|territory expanded]]. The script resembling the version today was likely developed in the second half of the 11th century.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="zeisler 2006">{{cite book|chapter=Why Ladakhi must not be written – Being part of the Great Tradition Another kind of global thinking|first=Bettina |last=Zeisler|date=2006|title=Lesser-Known Languages of South Asia|editor1=Anju Saxena|editor2=Lars Borin|page=178}}</ref> New research and writings also suggest that there were one or more Tibetan scripts in use prior to the introduction of the script by [[Songtsen Gampo]] and [[Thonmi Sambhota]]. The incomplete [[Dunhuang manuscripts]] are their key evidence for their hypothesis,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Phuntsok |first1=Thubten |title=བོད་ཀྱི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་སྤྱི་དོན་པདྨ་ར་གཱའི་ལྡེ་མིག "A General History of Tibet"}}</ref> while the few discovered and recorded [[Old Tibetan Annals]] manuscripts date from 650 and therefore post-date the c.&nbsp;620 date of development of the original Tibetan script.
 
Three orthographic [[Standardization|standardisations]] were developed. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate the translation of [[Buddhist scriptures]] emerged during the early 9th century. Standard orthography has not been altered since then, while the spoken language [[sound change|has changed]] by, for example, losing complex [[consonant cluster]]s. As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects and in particular in the [[Standard Tibetan]] of [[Lhasa]], there is a great divergence between current spelling, which still reflects the 9th-century spoken Tibetan, and current pronunciation. This divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of [[spelling reform]], to write Tibetan ''as it is pronounced''; for example, writing ''[[Kagyu]]'' instead of ''Bka'-rgyud''.<ref name="i208">{{cite book | last=Gamble | first=R. | title=Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: The Third Karmapa and the Invention of a Tradition | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2018 | isbn=978-0-19-069078-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCRjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 | access-date=2024-05-12 | page=62}}</ref>
 
The nomadic [[Amdo Tibetan]] and the western dialects of the [[Ladakhi language]], as well as the [[Balti language]], come close to the [[Old Tibetan]] spellings.<ref name="zeisler 2006"/> Despite that, the grammar of these dialectical varieties has considerably changed. To write the modern varieties according to the orthography and grammar of [[Classical Tibetan]] would be similar to writing Sanskrit orthography.<ref name="zeisler 2006"/> However, many modern Buddhist practitioners in the Indian subcontinent have voiced the position that the classical orthography should not be altered even when used for lay purposes. This has become an obstacle for many modern Tibetic languages wishing to modernize or introduce a new spelling reform of Tibetan.<ref name="zeisler 2006"/>


==Description==
==Description==


===Basic alphabet===
=== Basic alphabet ===
In the Tibetan script, the [[syllable]]s are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a ''tsek'' (་); since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, this mark often functions almost as a space. Spaces are not used to divide words.<ref name="x832">{{cite book | last1=Chan | first1=A. | last2=Noble | first2=A. | title=Sounds in Translation: Intersections of Music, Technology and Society | publisher=ANU E Press | series=DOAB Directory of Open Access Books | year=2009 | isbn=978-1-921536-55-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5JFo7oajsMC&pg=PA146 | access-date=2024-05-12 | page=146}}</ref>


In the Tibetan script, the [[syllable]]s are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a ''tsek'' (་); since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, this mark often functions almost as a space. Spaces are not used to divide words.
The Tibetan alphabet has thirty letters, sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants.<ref name="daniels">Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright. ''The World's Writing Systems''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996,</ref> As in other [[Indic scripts]], each consonant letter assumes an [[inherent vowel]]; in the Tibetan script it is /a/. The letter {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} is also the base for dependent vowel marks.


The Tibetan alphabet has thirty basic letters, sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants.<ref name="daniels"/> As in other [[Indic scripts]], each consonant letter assumes an [[inherent vowel]]; in the Tibetan script it is /a/. The letter {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} is also the base for dependent vowel marks.
Although some Tibetan dialects are [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal]], the language had no tone at the time of the script's invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from [[Segment (linguistics)|segmental]] features, they can usually be correctly predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words.


Although some Tibetan dialects are [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal]], the language had no tone at the time of the script's invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from segmental features, they can usually be correctly predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:75%;"
 
|- align=center style="font-size:small;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:75%"
|-align=center style="font-size:small"
!
!
!style="background:beige;" colspan=2 | Unaspirated<br/>''high''
!style="background:beige;" colspan=2 | Unaspirated<br />''high''
!style="background:#d6f5d6;" colspan=2 | [[Aspirated consonant|Aspirated]]<br />''medium''
!style="background:#d6f5d6;" colspan=2 | [[Aspirated consonant|Aspirated]]<br />''medium''
!style="background:#ffcce6;" colspan=2 | [[Voiced]]<br/ >''low''
!style="background:#ffcce6;" colspan=2 | [[Voiced]]<br/ >''low''
!style="background:#99bbff;" colspan=2 | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]<br />''low''
!style="background:#99bbff;" colspan=2 | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]<br />''low''
|-align=center style="font-size:small"
|- align=center style="font-size:small;"
!
!
! Letter
! Letter
Line 63: Line 71:
! Letter
! Letter
! IPA
! IPA
|-align=center
|- align=center
| '''''[[Guttural]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} || {{IPA|/ka/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཁ}} || {{IPA|/kʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ག}} || {{IPA|/ɡa*/}}  ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ང}} || {{IPA|/ŋa/}}
| '''''[[Guttural]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} || {{IPA|/ka/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཁ}} || {{IPA|/kʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ག}}{{efn-lr|name=voiced|These voiced values are historical. They have been devoiced in modern Standard Tibetan.}} || {{IPA|/ɡa/}}  ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ང}} || {{IPA|/ŋa/}}
|-align=center
|- align=center
| '''''[[Palatal]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཅ}} || {{IPA|/tʃa/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཆ}} || {{IPA|/tʃʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཇ}} || {{IPA|/dʒa*/}} ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཉ}} ||  {{IPA|/ɲa/}}
| '''''[[Palatal]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཅ}} || {{IPA|/tʃa/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཆ}} || {{IPA|/tʃʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཇ}}{{efn-lr|name=voiced}} || {{IPA|/dʒa/}} ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཉ}} ||  {{IPA|/ɲa/}}
|-align=center
|- align=center
| rowspan="2" | '''''[[Dental consonant|Dental]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཏ}} || {{IPA|/ta/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཐ}} || {{IPA|/tʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ད}} || {{IPA|/da*/}} ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ན}} || {{IPA|/na/}}
| '''''[[Dental consonant|Dental]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཏ}} || {{IPA|/ta/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཐ}} || {{IPA|/tʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ད}}{{efn-lr|name=voiced}} || {{IPA|/da/}} ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ན}} || {{IPA|/na/}}
|- align="center"
|'''''[[Labial consonant|Labial]]'''''|| style="background:beige; font-size:24px;" | {{bo-textonly|པ}} || {{IPA|/pa/}}|| style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;" | {{bo-textonly|ཕ}} || {{IPA|/pʰa/}}|| style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;" | {{bo-textonly|བ}}{{efn-lr|name=voiced}}|| {{IPA|/ba/}}|| style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;" | {{bo-textonly|མ}} || {{IPA|/ma/}}
|- align="center"
|- align="center"
| style="background:beige; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཙ}}||{{IPA|/tsa/}}|| style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཚ}}||{{IPA|/tsʰa/}}|| style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཛ}}||{{IPA|/dza*/}}|| style="background:#EEEFE4; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཝ}}||{{IPA|/wa/}}
|'''''[[Dental consonant|Dental]]'''''
|-align=center
| style="background:beige; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཙ}}||{{IPA|/tsa/}}|| style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཚ}}||{{IPA|/tsʰa/}}|| style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཛ}}{{efn-lr|name=voiced}} ||{{IPA|/dza/}}|| style="background:#EEEFE4; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཝ}}||{{IPA|/wa/}}
| '''''[[Labial consonant|Labial]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|པ}} || {{IPA|/pa/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཕ}} || {{IPA|/pʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|བ}} || {{IPA|/ba*/}} ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|མ}} || {{IPA|/ma/}}
|- align=center
|-align=center
|style="background:#d9b3ff;" | '''''low''''' ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཞ}}{{efn-lr|name=voiced}} || {{IPA|/ʒa/}} ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཟ}}{{efn-lr|name=voiced}} || {{IPA|/za/}} ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|འ}} || {{IPA|/ɦa/}}<ref>{{cite journal
|style="background:#d9b3ff;" | '''''low''''' ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཞ}} || {{IPA|/ʒa*/}} ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཟ}} || {{IPA|/za*/}} ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|འ}} || {{IPA|/a/}} {{angle bracket|ʼa}} ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} ||  {{IPA|/ja/}}
|last        = Hill
|-align=center   
|first        = Nathan W.
|year        = 2005b
|title        = Once more on the letter འ
|journal      = Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
|volume      = 28
|issue        = 2
|pages        = 111–141
|doi = 10.32655/LTBA.28.2.04
|url          = http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/5632/1/once_more_on_the_letter.pdf
|access-date  = 2022-06-01
|archive-date = 2022-06-16
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220616054618/https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/5632/1/once_more_on_the_letter.pdf
|url-status  = live
}}; {{cite journal
|last        = Hill
|first        = Nathan W.
|year        = 2009
|title        = Tibetan <ḥ-> as a plain initial and its place in Old Tibetan phonology
|journal      = Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
|volume      = 32
|issue        = 1
|pages        = 115–140
|doi = 10.32655/LTBA.32.1.03
  |url          = http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/7625/1/04-Hill-Dialect-reflexes-of-Tib-v.pdf
|access-date  = 2022-06-01
|archive-date = 2022-06-01
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220601181159/https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/7625/1/04-Hill-Dialect-reflexes-of-Tib-v.pdf
|url-status  = live
}}</ref> {{angle bracket|ʼa}} ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} ||  {{IPA|/ja/}}
|- align=center   
|style="background:#b3ffff;" | '''''medium''''' ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ར}} || {{IPA|/ra/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ལ}} || {{IPA|/la/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཤ}} || {{IPA|/ʃa/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ས}} || {{IPA|/sa/}}
|style="background:#b3ffff;" | '''''medium''''' ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ར}} || {{IPA|/ra/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ལ}} || {{IPA|/la/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཤ}} || {{IPA|/ʃa/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ས}} || {{IPA|/sa/}}
|-align=center
|- align=center
|style="background:#ffffcc;" | '''''high''''' ||style="background:#ffffcc; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} || {{IPA|/ha/}} ||style="background:#ffffcc; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} || {{IPA|/a/}} {{angle bracket|ꞏa}}
|style="background:#ffffcc;" | '''''high''''' ||style="background:#ffffcc; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} || {{IPA|/ha/}} ||style="background:#ffffcc; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} || {{IPA|/a/}} {{angle bracket|ꞏa}}
|-
|align="center" colspan=9 style="font-size:88%" |* – Only in [[loanwords]]
|}
|}
{{notelist-lr}}


===Consonant clusters===
===Consonant clusters===
[[File:Tibetan syllable structure.svg|thumb|400px|Components of a Tibetan syllable]]
[[File:Tibetan map of the Kizil Caves (13th entury CE).jpg|thumb|Tibetan map of the [[Kizil Caves]], [[Tarim Basin]]. 13th century CE]]
[[File:Tibetan map of the Kizil Caves (13th entury CE).jpg|thumb|Tibetan map of the [[Kizil Caves]], [[Tarim Basin]]. 13th century CE]]
One aspect of the Tibetan script is that the consonants can be written either as radicals or they can be written in other forms, such as [[subscript and superscript]] forming [[consonant cluster]]s.
One aspect of the Tibetan script is that the consonants can be written either as radicals or they can be written in other forms, such as [[subscript and superscript]] forming [[consonant cluster]]s.


To understand how this works, one can look at the radical {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} /ka/ and see what happens when it becomes {{bo-textonly|ཀྲ}} /kra/ or {{bo-textonly|རྐ}} /rka/. In both cases, the symbol for {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} /ka/ is used, but when the {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/ is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript.  On the other hand, when the {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, it is added as a superscript.<ref name="daniels" /> {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/ actually changes form when it is above most other consonants; thus {{bo-textonly|རྐ}} rka.  However, an exception to this is the cluster {{bo-textonly|རྙ}} /rɲa/.  Similarly, the consonants {{bo-textonly|ཝ}} /wa/, {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, and {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants; thus {{bo-textonly|ཀྭ}} /kwa/; {{bo-textonly|ཀྲ}} /kra/; {{bo-textonly|ཀྱ}} /kja/.
To understand how this works, one can look at the radical {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} /ka/ and see what happens when it becomes {{bo-textonly|ཀྲ}} /kra/ or {{bo-textonly|རྐ}} /rka/ (pronounced /ka/). In both cases, the symbol for {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} /ka/ is used, but when the {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/ is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript.  On the other hand, when the {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, it is added as a superscript.<ref name="daniels" /> {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/ actually changes form when it is above most other consonants, thus {{bo-textonly|རྐ}} rka.  However, an exception to this is the cluster {{bo-textonly|རྙ}} /rɲa/.  Similarly, the consonants {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, and {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants, thus {{bo-textonly|ཀྲ}} /ʈ ~ ʈʂa/; {{bo-textonly|ཀྱ}} /ca/.


Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, or post-postscript positions. For instance, the consonants {{bo-textonly|ག}} /ʰka/, {{bo-textonly|ད}} /ʰta/, {{bo-textonly|བ}} /ʰpa/, {{bo-textonly|མ}} /ma/ and {{bo-textonly|འ}} /a/ can be used in the prescript position to the left of other radicals, while the position after a radical (the postscript position), can be held by the ten consonants {{bo-textonly|ག}} /ʰka/, {{bo-textonly|ན}} /na/, {{bo-textonly|བ}} /ʰpa/, {{bo-textonly|ད}} /ʰta/, {{bo-textonly|མ}} /ma/, {{bo-textonly|འ}} /a/, {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ང}} /ŋa/, {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/, and {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/. The third position, the post-postscript position is solely for the consonants {{bo-textonly|ད}} /ʰta/ and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/.<ref name="daniels" />
Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, or post-postscript positions. For instance, the consonants {{bo-textonly|ག}} /kʰa/, {{bo-textonly|ད}} /tʰa/, {{bo-textonly|བ}} /pʰa/, {{bo-textonly|མ}} /ma/ and {{bo-textonly|འ}} /a/ can be used in the prescript position to the left of other radicals, while the position after a radical (the postscript position), can be held by the ten consonants {{bo-textonly|ག}} /kʰa/, {{bo-textonly|ན}} /na/, {{bo-textonly|བ}} /pʰa/, {{bo-textonly|ད}} /tʰa/, {{bo-textonly|མ}} /ma/, {{bo-textonly|འ}} /a/, {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ང}} /ŋa/, {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/, and {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/. The third position, the post-postscript position is solely for the consonants {{bo-textonly|ད}} /tʰa/ and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/.<ref name="daniels" />


====Head letters====
====Head letters====
The superscript position above a radical is reserved for the consonants {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/.
The head ({{bo-textonly|མགོ}} in Tibetan, Wylie: ''mgo'') letter, or superscript, position above a radical is reserved for the consonants {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/.


*When {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/ are in superscript position with {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|ཅ}} /tʃa/, {{bo-textonly|ཏ}} /ta/, {{bo-textonly|པ}} /pa/ and {{bo-textonly|ཙ}} /tsa/, there are no changes in the sound. They look and sound like:
*When {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/ are in superscript position with {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|ཅ}} /t͡ʃa/, {{bo-textonly|ཏ}} /ta/, {{bo-textonly|པ}} /pa/ and {{bo-textonly|ཙ}} /t͡sa/, there are no changes to their sounds in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
**{{bo-textonly|རྐ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|རྟ}} /ta/, {{bo-textonly|རྤ}} /pa/, {{bo-textonly|རྩ}} /tsa/
**{{bo-textonly|རྐ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|རྟ}} /ta/, {{bo-textonly|རྤ}} /pa/, {{bo-textonly|རྩ}} /t͡sa/
**{{bo-textonly|ལྐ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|ལྕ}} /tʃa/, {{bo-textonly|ལྟ}} /ta/, {{bo-textonly|ལྤ}} /pa/,  
**{{bo-textonly|ལྐ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|ལྕ}} /t͡ʃa/, {{bo-textonly|ལྟ}} /ta/, {{bo-textonly|ལྤ}} /pa/,  
**{{bo-textonly|སྐ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|སྕ}} /tʃa/, {{bo-textonly|སྟ}} /ta/, {{bo-textonly|སྤ}} /pa/, {{bo-textonly|སྩ}} /tsa/
**{{bo-textonly|སྐ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|སྟ}} /ta/, {{bo-textonly|སྤ}} /pa/, {{bo-textonly|སྩ}} /t͡sa/
*When {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/ are in superscript position with {{bo-textonly|ག}} /ʰka/, {{bo-textonly|ཇ}} /ʰtʃa/, {{bo-textonly|ད}} /ʰta/, {{bo-textonly|བ}} /ʰpa/ and {{bo-textonly|ཛ}} /ʰtsa/, they lose their aspiration and become voiced. They look and sound like:
*When {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/ are in superscript position with {{bo-textonly|ག}} /kʰa/, {{bo-textonly|ཇ}} /t͡ʃʰa/, {{bo-textonly|ད}} /tʰa/, {{bo-textonly|བ}} /pʰa/ and {{bo-textonly|ཛ}} /t͡sʰa/, they lose their aspiration and become voiced in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
**{{bo-textonly|རྒ}} /ga/, {{bo-textonly|རྗ}} /d͡ʒa/, {{bo-textonly|རྡ}} /da/, {{bo-textonly|རྦ}} /ba/, {{bo-textonly|རྫ}} /dza/
**{{bo-textonly|རྒ}} /ga/, {{bo-textonly|རྗ}} /d͡ʒa/, {{bo-textonly|རྡ}} /da/, {{bo-textonly|རྦ}} /ba/, {{bo-textonly|རྫ}} /dza/
**{{bo-textonly|ལྒ}} /ga/, {{bo-textonly|ལྗ}} /d͡ʒa/, {{bo-textonly|ལྡ}} /da/, {{bo-textonly|ལྦ}} /ba/,  
**{{bo-textonly|ལྒ}} /ga/, {{bo-textonly|ལྗ}} /d͡ʒa/, {{bo-textonly|ལྡ}} /da/, {{bo-textonly|ལྦ}} /ba/,  
**{{bo-textonly|སྒ}} /ga/, {{bo-textonly|སྗ}} /d͡ʒa/, {{bo-textonly|སྡ}} /da/, {{bo-textonly|སྦ}} /ba/, {{bo-textonly|སྫ}} /dza/
**{{bo-textonly|སྒ}} /ga/, {{bo-textonly|སྡ}} /da/, {{bo-textonly|སྦ}} /ba/
*When {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/ are in superscript position with {{bo-textonly|ང}} /ŋa/, {{bo-textonly|ཉ}} /ɲa/, {{bo-textonly|ན}} /na/ and {{bo-textonly|མ}} /ma/, the nasal sound gets high. They look and sound like:
*When {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ས}} /sa/ are in superscript position with the nasal consonants {{bo-textonly|ང}} /ŋa/, {{bo-textonly|ཉ}} /ɲa/, {{bo-textonly|ན}} /na/ and {{bo-textonly|མ}} /ma/, they receive a high tone in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
**{{bo-textonly|རྔ}} /ŋa/, {{bo-textonly|རྙ}} /ɲa/, {{bo-textonly|རྣ}} /na/, {{bo-textonly|རྨ}} /ma/
**{{bo-textonly|རྔ}} /ŋa/, {{bo-textonly|རྙ}} /ɲa/, {{bo-textonly|རྣ}} /na/, {{bo-textonly|རྨ}} /ma/
**{{bo-textonly|ལྔ}} /ŋa/,  {{bo-textonly|ལྨ}} /ma/
**{{bo-textonly|ལྔ}} /ŋa/
**{{bo-textonly|སྔ}} /ŋa/, {{bo-textonly|སྙ}} /ɲa/, {{bo-textonly|སྣ}} /na/, {{bo-textonly|སྨ}} /ma/
**{{bo-textonly|སྔ}} /ŋa/, {{bo-textonly|སྙ}} /ɲa/, {{bo-textonly|སྣ}} /na/, {{bo-textonly|སྨ}} /ma/
*When {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/ is in superscript position with {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} /ha/, it becomes a [[Lateral consonant#Approximants|voiceless alveolar lateral approximant]] in Lhasa Tibetan:
**{{bo-textonly|ལྷ}} /l̥a/,


====Sub-joined letters====
====Sub-joined letters====
The subscript position under a radical is for the consonants {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} /ja/, {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ཝ}} /wa/.
The subscript position under a radical can only be occupied by the consonants {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} /ja/, {{bo-textonly|ར}} /ra/, {{bo-textonly|ལ}} /la/, and {{bo-textonly|ཝ}} /wa/.  In this position they are described as {{bo-textonly|བཏགས}} (Wylie: ''btags'', IPA: /taʔ/), in Tibetan meaning "hung on/affixed/appended", for example {{bo-textonly|བ་ཡ་བཏགས་བྱ}} (IPA: /pʰa.ja.taʔ.t͡ʃʰa/), except for {{bo-textonly|ཝ}}, which is simply read as it usually is and has no effect on the pronunciation of the consonant to which it is subjoined, for example {{bo-textonly|ཀ་ཝ་ཟུར་ཀྭ}} (IPA: /ka.wa.suː.ka/).


===Vowel marks===
===Vowel marks===


The [[vowel]]s used in the alphabet are {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} /a/, {{bo-textonly|ཨི}} /i/, {{bo-textonly|ཨུ}} /u/, {{bo-textonly|ཨེ}} /e/, and {{bo-textonly|ཨོ}} /o/. While the vowel /a/ is included in each consonant or radical, the other vowels are indicated by marks; thus  {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|ཀི}} /ki/, {{bo-textonly|ཀུ}} /ku/, {{bo-textonly|ཀེ}} /ke/, {{bo-textonly|ཀོ}} /ko/.  The vowels {{bo-textonly|ཨི}} /i/, {{bo-textonly|ཨེ}} /e/, and {{bo-textonly|ཨོ}} /o/ are placed above consonants as diacritics, while the vowel {{bo-textonly|ཨུ}} /u/ is placed underneath consonants.<ref name="daniels" /> [[Old Tibetan]] included a reversed form of the mark for /i/, the gigu 'verso', of uncertain meaning. There is no distinction between long and short vowels in written Tibetan, except in [[loanword]]s, especially transcribed from the [[Sanskrit]].
The [[vowel]]s used in the alphabet are {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} /a/, {{bo-textonly|ཨི}} /i/, {{bo-textonly|ཨུ}} /u/, {{bo-textonly|ཨེ}} /e/, and {{bo-textonly|ཨོ}} /o/. While the vowel /a/ is included in each consonant, the other vowels are indicated by marks; thus  {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} /ka/, {{bo-textonly|ཀི}} /ki/, {{bo-textonly|ཀུ}} /ku/, {{bo-textonly|ཀེ}} /ke/, {{bo-textonly|ཀོ}} /ko/.  The vowels {{bo-textonly|ཨི}} /i/, {{bo-textonly|ཨེ}} /e/, and {{bo-textonly|ཨོ}} /o/ are placed above consonants as diacritics, while the vowel {{bo-textonly|ཨུ}} /u/ is placed underneath consonants.<ref name="daniels" /> [[Old Tibetan]] included a reversed form of the mark for /i/, the gigu 'verso', of uncertain meaning. There is no distinction between long and short vowels in written Tibetan, except in [[loanword]]s (especially those borrowed from [[Sanskrit]]).


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
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|}
|}


===Numerals===
===Numerical digits===
{{main|Tibetan numerals}}
 
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
Line 147: Line 191:
|}
|}


===Modifiers===
===Punctuation marks===
 
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
|+
|+
|-
|-
! Symbol/<br/>Graphemes !! Name !! Function
! Symbol/<br />Graphemes !! Name !! Function
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༄}} || {{bo-textonly|ཡིག་མགོ་}}<br/>''[[yig mgo]]'' ||  marks beginning of text
| {{bo-textonly|༄༅། །}} || {{bo-textonly|ཡིག་མགོ}}<br />''[[yig mgo]]'' ||  marks beginning of a text, before a headline, front page of a [[pecha]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༈}} || {{bo-textonly|སྦྲུལ་ཤད་}}<br/>''sbrul shad'' || separates sections of meaning equivalent to topics and sub-topics
| {{bo-textonly|༃}} || {{bo-textonly|གཏེར་ཡིག་མགོ}}<br />''[[yig mgo|gter yig mgo]]'' || used in place of the ''[[yig mgo]]'' in [[Terma (religion)|terma]] texts
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༉}} || {{bo-textonly|བསྐུར་ཡིག་མགོ་}}<br/>''[[yig mgo|bskur yig mgo]]'' || list enumerator ([[Dzongkha]])
| {{bo-textonly|༁}} || {{bo-textonly|ཡིག་མགོ་ཨ་ཕྱེད}}<br />''[[yig mgo|yig mgo a phyed]]'' || used in place of the ''[[yig mgo]]'' in [[Terma (religion)|terma]] texts
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|་}} || {{bo-textonly|ཙེག་}}<br/>''tseg'' || [[morpheme]] [[delimiter]]
| {{bo-textonly|༆}} || {{bo-textonly|དཔེ་རྙིང་ཡིག་མགོ}}<br />''[[yig mgo|dpe rnying yig mgo]]'' || a variant of the ''[[yig mgo]]'' found in very old Tibetan texts
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|།}} || {{bo-textonly|ཚིག་གྲུབ་}}<br/>''tshig-grub'' || full stop (marks end of a section of text)
| {{bo-textonly|༉}} || {{bo-textonly|བསྐུར་ཡིག་མགོ}}<br />''[[yig mgo|bskur yig mgo]]'' || list enumerator ([[Dzongka]])
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༎}} || {{bo-textonly|དོན་ཚན་}}<br/>''don-tshan'' || full stop (marks end of a whole topic)
| {{bo-textonly|་}} || {{bo-textonly|ཚེག}}<br />''tseg'' || [[syllable]] [[delimiter]], also used as a spacer to [[Typographic alignment#Justified|justify]] text in [[pecha]]s
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༴}} || {{bo-textonly|བསྡུས་རྟགས་}}<br/>''bsdus rtags'' || repetition
| {{bo-textonly|།}} || {{bo-textonly|ཤད}}<br />''[[Danda|shad]]'' || [[full stop]], [[comma]], or [[semicolon]] (marks end of a sentence or clause, and originates from the [[danda]] of Indic scripts)
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༺}} || {{bo-textonly|གུག་རྟགས་གཡོན་}}<br/>''gug rtags g.yon''|| left bracket
| {{bo-textonly|། །}} || {{bo-textonly|ཉིས་ཤད}}<br />''nyis [[Danda|shad]]'' || marks end of a paragraph or topic (cp. [[pilcrow]])
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༻}} || {{bo-textonly|གུག་རྟགས་གཡས་}}<br/>''gug rtags g.yas'' || right bracket
| {{bo-textonly|༎ །།}} || {{bo-textonly|བཞི་ཤད}}<br />''bzhi [[Danda|shad]]'' || marks end of a chapter or entire section
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༼}} || {{bo-textonly|ཨང་ཁང་གཡོན་}}<br/>''ang khang g.yon'' || left bracket used for bracketing with a roof over
| {{bo-textonly|། །།}} || {{bo-textonly|གསུམ་ཤད}}<br />''gsum [[Danda|shad]]'' || same as ''bzhi [[Danda|shad]]'', but used when the preceding character is ཀ or ག
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༽}} || {{bo-textonly|ཨང་ཁང་གཡས་}}<br/>''ang khang g.yas'' || right bracket used for bracketing with a roof over
| {{bo-textonly|༑}} || {{bo-textonly|རིན་ཆེན་སྤུངས་ཤད}}<br />''rin chen spungs [[Danda|shad]]'' || replaces ''[[Danda|shad]]'' after single, [[Widows and orphans|orphaned]] syllables, indicating to the reader that the preceding syllable continues from text on the previous line
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༏}} || {{bo-textonly|ཚེག་ཤད}}<br />''tsheg [[Danda|shad]]'' || variant of ''rin chen spungs [[Danda|shad]]''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༐}} || {{bo-textonly|ཉིསཚེག་ཤད}}<br />''nyis tsheg [[Danda|shad]]'' || variant of ''rin chen spungs [[Danda|shad]]''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༈}} || {{bo-textonly|སྦྲུལ་ཤད}}<br />''sbrul [[Danda|shad]]'' || marks the start of a new text, often in a collection of texts, separates chapters, and surrounds inserted text
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༔}} || {{bo-textonly|གཏེར་ཤད}}<br />''[[Terma (religion)|gter]] [[Danda|shad]]'' || replaces ''[[Danda|shad]]'' and variants thereof in [[Terma (religion)|terma]] texts
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༒}} || {{bo-textonly|རྒྱ་གྲམ་ཤད}}<br />''rgya gram [[Danda|shad]]'' || sometimes used in place of the ''[[yig mgo]]'' in [[Terma (religion)|terma]] texts
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༸}} || {{bo-textonly|ཆེ་མགོ}}<br />''che mgo'' || literally, "big head"—used preceding a reference to the [[Dalai Lama]] or the name of another important [[lama]] or [[tulku]] that demands great respect
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༴}} || {{bo-textonly|བསྡུས་རྟགས}}<br />''bsdus rtags'' || repetition
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༓}} || {{bo-textonly|འཛུད་རྟགས་མེ་ལོང་ཅན}}<br />'''dzud rtags me long can'' || [[Caret (proofreading)|caret]] (indicates text insertion)
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༼}} || {{bo-textonly|ཨང་ཁང་གཡོན་འཁོར}}<br />''ang khang g.yon 'khor'' || left roof bracket
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༽}} || {{bo-textonly|ཨང་ཁང་གཡས་འཁོར}}<br />''ang khang g.yas 'khor'' || right roof bracket
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༺}} || {{bo-textonly|གུག་རྟགས་གཡོན}}<br />''gug rtags g.yon''|| left bracket
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|༻}} || {{bo-textonly|གུག་རྟགས་གཡས}}<br />''gug rtags g.yas'' || right bracket
|}
|}


==Extended use==
==Extended use==
[[File:Unknown Tibetan Sanskrit Text.jpg|thumb|250px|A text in Tibetan script suspected to be [[Sanskrit]] in content. From the personal artifact collection of Donald Weir.]]
[[File:Unknown Tibetan Sanskrit Text.jpg|thumb|250px|A bilingual text (Tibetan and [[Sanskrit]]) written in Tibetan script. From the personal artifact collection of Donald Weir.]]
The Tibetan alphabet, when used to write other languages such as [[Balti language|Balti]] and [[Sanskrit]], often has additional and/or modified [[graphemes]] taken from the basic Tibetan alphabet to represent different sounds.
The Tibetan alphabet, when used to write other languages such as [[Balti language|Balti]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Sanskrit]], often has additional and/or modified [[graphemes]] taken from the basic Tibetan alphabet to represent different sounds.


===Extended alphabet===
===Extended alphabet===
Line 187: Line 256:
|+
|+
|-
|-
! Letter !! Used in !! Romanization & IPA
! Letter !! Used in !! Romanization !! IPA !! Comments
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཫ}} || [[Balti language|Balti]] || qa || {{IPAslink|q|qa}} || reversed {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ka}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཬ}} || [[Balti language|Balti]] || ṛa || {{IPAslink|ɽ|ɽa}} || reversed {{bo-textonly|ར}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ra}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཁ༹}} || [[Balti language|Balti]] || xa || {{IPAslink|χ|χa}} || {{bo-textonly|ཁ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|kha}}) with ''tsa phru''
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཫ}} || [[Balti language|Balti]] || qa {{IPA|/qa/}} ([[/q/]])
| {{bo-textonly|ག༹}} || [[Balti language|Balti]] || ġa || {{IPAslink|ʁ|ʁa}} || {{bo-textonly|ག}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ga}}) with ''tsa phru''
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཬ}} || [[Balti language|Balti]] || ɽa {{IPA|/ɽa/}} ([[/ɽ/]])
| {{bo-textonly|ཕ༹}} || [[Chinese language|Chinese]] || fa || {{IPAslink|f|fa}} || {{bo-textonly|ཕ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|pha}}) with ''tsa phru''
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཁ༹}} || [[Balti language|Balti]] || xa {{IPA|/χa/}} ([[/χ/]])
| {{bo-textonly|བ༹}} || [[Chinese language|Chinese]] || va || {{IPAslink|v|va}} || {{bo-textonly|བ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ba}}) with ''tsa phru''
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ག༹}} || [[Balti language|Balti]] || ɣa {{IPA|/ʁa/}} ([[/ʁ/]])
| {{bo-textonly|གྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || gha || {{IPAslink|ɡʱ|ɡʱa}} || {{bo-textonly|ག}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ga}}) with subjoined {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ha}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|གྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || gha {{IPA|/ɡʱ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཛྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || dzha || {{IPAslink|d͡zʱ|d͡zʱa}} || {{bo-textonly|ཛ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|dza}}) with subjoined {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ha}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཛྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || jha {{IPA|/ɟʱ, d͡ʒʱ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཊ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṭa || {{IPAslink|ʈ|ʈa}} || reversed {{bo-textonly|ཏ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ta}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཊ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṭa {{IPA|/ʈ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཋ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṭha || {{IPAslink|ʈʰ|ʈʰa}} || reversed {{bo-textonly|ཐ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|tha}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཋ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṭha {{IPA|/ʈʰ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཌ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ḍa || {{IPAslink|ɖ|ɖa}} || reversed {{bo-textonly|ད}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|da}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཌ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ḍa {{IPA|/ɖ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཌྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ḍha || {{IPAslink|ɖʱ|ɖʱa}} || {{bo-textonly|ཌ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ḍa}}) with subjoined {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ha}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཌྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ḍha {{IPA|/ɖʱ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཎ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṇa || {{IPAslink|ɳ|ɳa}} || reversed {{bo-textonly|ན}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|na}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཎ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṇa {{IPA|/ɳ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|དྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || dha || {{IPAslink|dʱ|dʱa}} || {{bo-textonly|ད}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|da}}) with subjoined {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ha}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|དྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || dha {{IPA|/d̪ʱ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|བྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || bha || {{IPAslink|bʱ|bʱa}} || {{bo-textonly|བ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ba}}) with subjoined {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ha}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|བྷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || bha {{IPA|/bʱ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཥ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṣa || {{IPAslink|ʂ|ʂa}} || reversed {{bo-textonly|ཤ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|sha}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཥ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṣa {{IPA|/ʂ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཀྵ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || kṣa || {{IPA|/kʂa/}} || {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ka}}) with subjoined {{bo-textonly|ཥ}} ({{transliteration|Tibt|ṣa}})
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཀྵ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || kṣa {{IPA|/kʂ/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ྈྐ}} || ([[Vedic Sanskrit|Vedic]]) [[Sanskrit]] || xka || {{IPAslink|x|xka}} || {{lang|sa|[[jihvamuliya|jihvāmūlīya]]}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ྉྤ}} || ([[Vedic Sanskrit|Vedic]]) [[Sanskrit]] || fpa || {{IPAslink|ɸ|ɸpa}} || {{lang|sa|[[upadhmaniya|upadhmānīya]]}}
|}
|}
 
* The [[Sanskrit]] [[retroflex consonants]] {{transliteration|sa|[[Ṭa (Indic)|ṭa]]}}, {{transliteration|sa|[[Ṭha (Indic)|ṭha]]}}, {{transliteration|sa|[[Ḍa (Indic)|ḍa]]}}, {{transliteration|sa|[[Ḍha (Indic)|ḍha]]}}, {{transliteration|sa|[[Ṇa (Indic)|ṇa]]}} and {{transliteration|sa|[[Ṣa (Indic)|ṣa]]}} are represented by reversing {{bo-textonly|ཏ ཐ ད ན ཤ}} (ta, tha, da, na, sha).
*In [[Balti language|Balti]], consonants ka, ra are represented by reversing the letters {{bo-textonly|ཀ ར}} (ka, ra) to give {{bo-textonly|ཫ ཬ}} (qa, ɽa).
* It is a classical rule to transliterate Sanskrit {{transliteration|sa|[[Ca (Indic)|ca]]}}, {{transliteration|sa|[[Cha (Indic)|cha]]}}, {{transliteration|sa|[[Ja (Indic)|ja]]}}, {{transliteration|sa|[[Jha (Indic)|jha]]}}, to Tibetan {{bo-textonly|ཙ ཚ ཛ ཛྷ}} (tsa, tsha, dza, dzha), respectively. Nowadays, {{bo-textonly|ཅ ཆ ཇ ཇྷ}} (ca, cha, ja, jha) can also be used.
*The [[Sanskrit]] "[[retroflex consonants]]" ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ṇa, ṣa are represented in Tibetan by reversing the letters {{bo-textonly|ཏ ཐ ད ན ཤ}} (ta, tha, da, na, sha) to give {{bo-textonly|ཊ ཋ ཌ ཎ ཥ}} (Ta, Tha, Da, Na, Sa).
*It is a classical rule to transliterate Sanskrit ca, cha, ja, jha, to Tibetan {{bo-textonly|ཙ ཚ ཛ ཛྷ}} (tsa, tsha, dza, dzha), respectively. Nowadays, {{bo-textonly|ཅ ཆ ཇ ཇྷ}} (ca, cha, ja, jha) can also be used.


===Extended vowel marks and modifiers===
===Extended vowel marks and modifiers===
Line 238: Line 313:
| {{bo-textonly|ཱུ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ū {{IPA|/uː/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཱུ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ū {{IPA|/uː/}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཻ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ai {{IPA|/ai/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཻ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ai {{IPA|/ɐi̯/}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཽ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || au {{IPA|/au/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཽ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || au {{IPA|/ɐu̯/}}  
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ྲྀ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṛ /r̩/
| {{bo-textonly|ྲྀ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṛ {{IPA|/r̩/}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṝ {{IPA|/r̩ː/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཷ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṝ {{IPA|/r̩ː/}}
Line 250: Line 325:
| {{bo-textonly|ཹ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ḹ {{IPA|/l̩ː/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཹ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ḹ {{IPA|/l̩ː/}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཾ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || aṃ {{IPA|/◌̃/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཾ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ṃ {{IPA|/◌̃/}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ྃ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || aṃ {{IPA|/◌̃/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ྃ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || m̐ {{IPA|/◌̃/}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|ཿ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || aḥ {{IPA|/h/}}
| {{bo-textonly|ཿ}} || [[Sanskrit]] || ḥ {{IPA|/h/}}
|}
|}


Line 261: Line 336:
|+
|+
|-
|-
! Symbol/<br/>Graphemes !! Name !! Used in !! Function
! Symbol/<br />Graphemes !! Name !! Used in !! Function
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|྄}} || ''[[Virama|srog med]]'' || [[Sanskrit]] || ''suppresses the [[inherent vowel]] sound''
| {{bo-textonly|྄}} || ''srog med'' || [[Sanskrit]] || ''[[virama]]: suppresses the [[inherent vowel]] sound''
|- style="text-align:center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{bo-textonly|྅}} || ''[[Avagraha|paluta]]'' || [[Sanskrit]] || ''used for prolonging vowel sounds''
| {{bo-textonly|྅}} || ''paluta'' || [[Sanskrit]] || ''[[avagraha]]: used for prolonging vowel sounds''
|}
|}


==Romanization and transliteration==
=== Consonant clusters ===
In addition to the use of supplementary graphemes, the rules for constructing consonant clusters are amended, allowing any character to occupy the superscript or subscript position, negating the need for the prescript and postscript positions.


Romanization and transliteration of the Tibetan script is the representation of the Tibetan script in the [[Latin script]]. Multiple Romanization and transliteration systems have been created in recent years, but do not fully represent the true phonetic sound.<ref>See for instance [http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_bo.pdf] [http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom2_dz.pdf]</ref> While the [[Wylie transliteration]] system is widely used to Romanize [[Standard Tibetan]], others include the Library of Congress system and the IPA-based transliteration (Jacques 2012).
== Romanization and transliteration ==


Below is a table with Tibetan letters and different Romanization and transliteration system for each letter, listed below systems are: [[Wylie transliteration]] (W), [[Tibetan pinyin]] (TP), [[Dzongkha]] phonetic (DP), [[ALA-LC Romanization]] (A)<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/tibetan.pdf ALA-LC Romanization of Tibetan script (PDF)]</ref> and [[THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription]] (THL).
Romanization and transliteration of the Tibetan script is the representation of the Tibetan script in the [[Latin script]]. Multiple Romanization and transliteration systems have been created in recent years, but do not fully represent the true phonetic sound.{{NoteTag|See for instance [http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_bo.pdf] [http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom2_dz.pdf]}} While the [[Wylie transliteration]] system is widely used to Romanize [[Standard Tibetan]], others include the Library of Congress system and the IPA-based transliteration (Jacques 2012).
 
Below is a table with Tibetan letters and different Romanization and transliteration system for each letter, listed below systems are: Wylie transliteration (W), [[Tibetan pinyin]] (TP), [[Dzongkha]] phonetic (DP), [[ALA-LC Romanization]] (A)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/tibetan.pdf |title=ALA-LC Romanization of Tibetan script (PDF) |website=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2017-12-29 |archive-date=2018-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413080847/http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/tibetan.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription]] (THL).


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|-align=center style="font-size:small"
|-a lign=center style="font-size:small;"
! Letter
! Letter
! [[Wylie transliteration|W]]
! [[Wylie transliteration|W]]
Line 302: Line 380:
|-align=center
|-align=center
|{{bo-textonly|ཀ}} || ka || g || ka || ka || ka || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཁ}} || kha || k || kha || kha || kha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ག}} || ga* || k* || kha* || ga* || ga* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ང}} || nga || ng || nga || nga || nga
|{{bo-textonly|ཀ}} || ka || g || ka || ka || ka || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཁ}} || kha || k || kha || kha || kha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ག}} || ga* || k* || kha* || ga* || ga* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ང}} || nga || ng || nga || nga || nga
|-align=center
|- align=center
|{{bo-textonly|ཅ}} || ca || j || ca || ca || cha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཆ}} || cha || q || cha || cha || cha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཇ}} || ja* || q* || cha* || ja* || ja* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཉ}} ||  nya || ny || nya || nya || nya
|{{bo-textonly|ཅ}} || ca || j || ca || ca || cha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཆ}} || cha || q || cha || cha || cha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཇ}} || ja* || q* || cha* || ja* || ja* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཉ}} ||  nya || ny || nya || nya || nya
|-align=center
|-align=center
|{{bo-textonly|ཏ}} || ta || d || ta || ta || ta || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཐ}} || tha || t || tha || tha || ta || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ད}} || da* || t* || tha* || da* || da* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ན}} || na || n || na || na || na
|{{bo-textonly|ཏ}} || ta || d || ta || ta || ta || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཐ}} || tha || t || tha || tha || ta || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ད}} || da* || t* || tha* || da* || da* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ན}} || na || n || na || na || na
|-align=center
|- align=center
|{{bo-textonly|པ}} || pa || b || pa || pa || pa || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཕ}} || pha || p || pha || pha || pa || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|བ}} || ba* || p* || pha* || ba* || ba* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|མ}} || ma || m || ma || ma || ma
|{{bo-textonly|པ}} || pa || b || pa || pa || pa || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཕ}} || pha || p || pha || pha || pa || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|བ}} || ba* || p* || pha* || ba* || ba* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|མ}} || ma || m || ma || ma || ma
|-align=center
|-align=center
|{{bo-textonly|ཙ}} || tsa || z || tsa || tsa || tsa || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཚ}} || tsha || c || tsha || tsha || tsa || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཛ}} || dza* || c* || tsha* || dza* || dza* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཝ}} || wa || w || wa || wa || wa
|{{bo-textonly|ཙ}} || tsa || z || tsa || tsa || tsa || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཚ}} || tsha || c || tsha || tsha || tsa || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཛ}} || dza* || c* || tsha* || dza* || dza* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཝ}} || wa || w || wa || wa || wa
|-align=center
|- align=center
|{{bo-textonly|ཞ}} || zha* || x* || sha* || zha* || zha* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཟ}} || za* || s* || sa* || za* || za* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|འ}} || 'a || - || a || 'a || a || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} || ya || y || ya || ya || ya
|{{bo-textonly|ཞ}} || zha* || x* || sha* || zha* || zha* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཟ}} || za* || s* || sa* || za* || za* || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|འ}} || 'a || - || a || 'a || a || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} || ya || y || ya || ya || ya
|-align=center
|-align=center
|{{bo-textonly|ར}} || ra || r || ra || ra || ra || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ལ}} || la || l || la || la || la || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཤ}} || sha || x || sha || sha || sha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ས}} ||  sa || s || sa || sa || sa
|{{bo-textonly|ར}} || ra || r || ra || ra || ra || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ལ}} || la || l || la || la || la || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཤ}} || sha || x || sha || sha || sha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ས}} ||  sa || s || sa || sa || sa
|-align=center
|- align=center
|{{bo-textonly|ཧ}} || ha || h || ha || ha || ha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} || a || a || a || a || a || style="border-left:2px solid black;" colspan="12" | &nbsp;
|{{bo-textonly|ཧ}} || ha || h || ha || ha || ha || style="border-left:2px solid black;" | {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} || a || a || a || a || a || style="border-left:2px solid black;" colspan="12" | &nbsp;
|-
|-
|align="center" colspan=24 style="font-size:88%" |* – Only in [[loanwords]]
|align="center" colspan=24 style="font-size:88%;" |* – Only in [[loanwords]]
|}
|}


Line 325: Line 403:
The first version of Microsoft Windows to support the Tibetan keyboard layout is MS [[Windows Vista]]. The layout has been available in [[Linux]] since September 2007. In [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] 12.04, one can install Tibetan language support through Dash / Language Support / Install/Remove Languages, the input method can be turned on from Dash / Keyboard Layout, adding Tibetan keyboard layout. The layout applies the similar layout as in Microsoft Windows.
The first version of Microsoft Windows to support the Tibetan keyboard layout is MS [[Windows Vista]]. The layout has been available in [[Linux]] since September 2007. In [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] 12.04, one can install Tibetan language support through Dash / Language Support / Install/Remove Languages, the input method can be turned on from Dash / Keyboard Layout, adding Tibetan keyboard layout. The layout applies the similar layout as in Microsoft Windows.


[[Mac OS]]-X introduced Tibetan Unicode support with OS-X version 10.5 and later, now with three different keyboard layouts available: Tibetan-Wylie, Tibetan QWERTY and Tibetan-Otani.
[[Mac OS X]] introduced Tibetan Unicode support in version 10.5, now with three different keyboard layouts available: Tibetan-Wylie, Tibetan QWERTY and Tibetan-Otani.


===Dzongkha===
===Dzongkha===
Line 332: Line 410:
The Dzongkha keyboard layout scheme is designed as a simple means for inputting [[Dzongkha]] text on computers. This keyboard layout was standardized by the [[Dzongkha Development Commission]] (DDC) and the [[Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Bhutan|Department of Information Technology]] (DIT) of the [[Royal Government of Bhutan]] in 2000.
The Dzongkha keyboard layout scheme is designed as a simple means for inputting [[Dzongkha]] text on computers. This keyboard layout was standardized by the [[Dzongkha Development Commission]] (DDC) and the [[Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Bhutan|Department of Information Technology]] (DIT) of the [[Royal Government of Bhutan]] in 2000.


It was updated in 2009 to accommodate additional characters added to the [[Unicode]] & [[Universal Coded Character Set|ISO 10646]] standards since the initial version. Since the arrangement of keys essentially follows the usual order of the Dzongkha and Tibetan alphabet, the layout can be quickly learned by anyone familiar with this alphabet. Subjoined (combining) consonants are entered using the Shift key.
It was updated in 2009 to accommodate additional characters added to the [[Unicode]] and [[Universal Coded Character Set|ISO 10646]] standards since the initial version. Since the arrangement of keys essentially follows the usual order of the Dzongka and Tibetan alphabet, the layout can be quickly learned by anyone familiar with this alphabet. Subjoined (combining) consonants are entered using the Shift key.


The Dzongkha (dz) keyboard layout is included in Microsoft Windows, Android, and most distributions of Linux as part of [[XFree86]].
The Dzongka keyboard layout is included in Microsoft Windows, Android, and most distributions of Linux as part of [[XFree86]].


==Unicode==
==Unicode==
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{{Unicode chart Tibetan}}
{{Unicode chart Tibetan}}


==See also==
== See also ==
* [[Tibetan calligraphy]]
* [[Tibetan calligraphy]]
* [[Tibetan Braille]]
* [[Tibetan Braille]]
Line 353: Line 431:
* [[Wylie transliteration]]
* [[Wylie transliteration]]
* [[Tibetan pinyin]]
* [[Tibetan pinyin]]
* [[Roman Dzongkha]]
* [[THDL Simplified Phonetic Transcription]]
* [[THDL Simplified Phonetic Transcription]]
* [[Tise]], input method for Tibetan script
* [[Tise]], input method for Tibetan script
* [[Limbu script]]
* [[Limbu script]]


==Notes==
== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{NoteFoot}}
 
== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}


==References==
=== Sources ===
*Asher, R. E. ed.  ''The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics''.  Tarrytown, NY: Pergamon Press, 1994.  10 vol.
{{refbegin}}
*Beyer, Stephan V. (1993). ''The Classical Tibetan Language''. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
* Asher, R. E. ed.  ''The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics''.  Tarrytown, NY: Pergamon Press, 1994.  10 vol.
*Chamberlain, Bradford Lynn. 2008. Script Selection for Tibetan-related Languages in Multiscriptal Environments. ''International Journal of the Sociology of Language'' 192:117–132.
* Beyer, Stephan V. (1993). ''The Classical Tibetan Language''. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
*Csoma de Kőrös, Alexander. (1983). ''A Grammar of the Tibetan Language''. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
* Chamberlain, Bradford Lynn. 2008. Script Selection for Tibetan-related Languages in Multiscriptal Environments. ''International Journal of the Sociology of Language'' 192:117–132.
*Csoma de Kőrös, Alexander (1980–1982). ''Sanskrit-Tibetan-English Vocabulary''. 2 vols. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
* Csoma de Kőrös, Alexander. (1983). ''A Grammar of the Tibetan Language''. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
*Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright.  ''The World's Writing Systems''.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
* Csoma de Kőrös, Alexander (1980–1982). ''Sanskrit-Tibetan-English Vocabulary''. 2 vols. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
*Das, Sarat Chandra: "The Sacred and Ornamental Characters of Tibet". ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'', vol. 57 (1888), pp.&nbsp;41–48 and 9 plates.
* Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright.  ''The World's Writing Systems''.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
*Das, Sarat Chandra. (1996). ''An Introduction to the Grammar of the Tibetan Language''. Reprinted by Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
* Das, Sarat Chandra: "The Sacred and Ornamental Characters of Tibet". ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'', vol. 57 (1888), pp.&nbsp;41–48 and 9 plates.
*Jacques, Guillaume 2012. [https://www.academia.edu/2322359/A_new_transcription_system_for_Old_and_Classical_Tibetan A new transcription system for Old and Classical Tibetan], Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 35.3:89-96.  
* Das, Sarat Chandra. (1996). ''An Introduction to the Grammar of the Tibetan Language''. Reprinted by Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
*Jäschke, Heinrich August. (1989). ''Tibetan Grammar''. Corrected by Sunil Gupta. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
* Jacques, Guillaume 2012. [https://www.academia.edu/2322359/A_new_transcription_system_for_Old_and_Classical_Tibetan A new transcription system for Old and Classical Tibetan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809210141/http://www.academia.edu/2322359/A_new_transcription_system_for_Old_and_Classical_Tibetan |date=2017-08-09 }}, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 35.3:89-96.  
* Jäschke, Heinrich August. (1989). ''Tibetan Grammar''. Corrected by Sunil Gupta. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
{{refend}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [https://sites.google.com/site/chrisfynn2/home/tibetanscriptfonts/howtowritethetibetanscript  Tibetan Calligraphy]—Online guide for writing Tibetan script.
* [https://sites.google.com/site/chrisfynn2/home/tibetanscriptfonts/howtowritethetibetanscript  Tibetan Calligraphy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128174741/https://sites.google.com/site/chrisfynn2/home/tibetanscriptfonts/howtowritethetibetanscript |date=2013-01-28 }}—Online guide for writing Tibetan script.
* [https://sites.google.com/view/chrisfynn/home/tibetanscriptfonts/thetibetanwritingsystem Elements of the Tibetan writing system].
* [https://sites.google.com/view/chrisfynn/home/tibetanscriptfonts/thetibetanwritingsystem Elements of the Tibetan writing system].
* [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0F00.pdf Unicode area U0F00-U0FFF, Tibetan script (162KB)]
* [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0F00.pdf Unicode area U0F00-U0FFF, Tibetan script (162KB)]
* [http://www.thlib.org/tools/#wiki=/access/wiki/site/26a34146-33a6-48ce-001e-f16ce7908a6a/encoding%20model%20of%20the%20tibetan%20script%20in%20the%20ucs.html Encoding Model of the Tibetan Script in the UCS]
* [http://www.thlib.org/tools/#wiki=/access/wiki/site/26a34146-33a6-48ce-001e-f16ce7908a6a/encoding%20model%20of%20the%20tibetan%20script%20in%20the%20ucs.html Encoding Model of the Tibetan Script in the UCS]
* [http://www.digitaltibetan.org/index.php/Digital_Tibetan Digital Tibetan]—Online resource for the digitalization of Tibetan.
* [http://www.digitaltibetan.org/index.php/Digital_Tibetan Digital Tibetan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710141837/http://digitaltibetan.org/index.php/Digital_Tibetan |date=2017-07-10 }}—Online resource for the digitalization of Tibetan.
* [http://www.thlib.org/tools/#wiki=/access/wiki/site/26a34146-33a6-48ce-001e-f16ce7908a6a/home.html Tibetan Scripts, Fonts & Related Issues]—[[THDL]] articles on Unicode font issues; free cross-platform OpenType fonts—Unicode compatible.
* [http://www.thlib.org/tools/#wiki=/access/wiki/site/26a34146-33a6-48ce-001e-f16ce7908a6a/home.html Tibetan Scripts, Fonts & Related Issues]—[[THDL]] articles on Unicode font issues; free cross-platform OpenType fonts—Unicode compatible.
* [http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/free-tibetan/ Free Tibetan Fonts Project]
* [http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/free-tibetan/ Free Tibetan Fonts Project]

Latest revision as of 18:08, 28 March 2026


Tibetan
བོད་ཡིག་
The mantra "Om mani padme hum"
Script type
Time period
c. 620–present
Languages
Related scripts
Parent systems
Child systems
Sister systems
Meitei,[3][4] Sharada, Siddham, Kalinga, Bhaiksuki
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Tibt, , ​Tibetan
Unicode
Unicode alias
Template:ISO 15924 alias
U+0F00–U+0FFF Final Accepted Script Proposal of the First Usable Edition (3.0)
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Template:Alphabet

Brahmic scripts
The Brahmic script and its descendants
Northern Brahmic
Southern Brahmic

The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system, or abugida, forming a part of the Brahmic scripts, and used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. Its exact origins are a subject of research but is traditionally considered to be developed by Thonmi Sambhota for King Songtsen Gampo.

The Tibetan script has also been used for some non-Tibetic languages in close cultural contact with Tibet, such as Thakali[5] and Nepali.[6] The printed form is called uchen script while the hand-written form used in everyday writing is called umê script. This writing system is especially used across the Himalayan Region.

History[edit | edit source]

Little is known about the exact origins of Tibetan script.[7] According to Tibetan historiography, it was developed during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo by his minister Thonmi Sambhota, who was sent to India along with other scholars to study Buddhism along with Sanskrit and other brahmi languages.[8][9] They developed the Tibetan script from the Gupta script[10] while at the Pabonka Hermitage.

This occurred c. 620, towards the beginning of Songtsen Gampo's reign. There were 21 Sutra texts held by the King which were translated afterwards. In the first half of the 7th century, the Tibetan script was used for the codification of these sacred Buddhist texts,[11][12] for written civil laws, and for a Tibetan Constitution.

Earliest sources on Tibet, such as the Old Tibetan Chronicle, do not mention any Thonmi Sambhota.[13] Scripts predating Songtsen Gampo might have existed but in any case do not appear to be widely used.[13] Researchers postulate that Tibetan kings sought to develop a system of writing as their territory expanded. The script resembling the version today was likely developed in the second half of the 11th century.[13][14] New research and writings also suggest that there were one or more Tibetan scripts in use prior to the introduction of the script by Songtsen Gampo and Thonmi Sambhota. The incomplete Dunhuang manuscripts are their key evidence for their hypothesis,[15] while the few discovered and recorded Old Tibetan Annals manuscripts date from 650 and therefore post-date the c. 620 date of development of the original Tibetan script.

Three orthographic standardisations were developed. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate the translation of Buddhist scriptures emerged during the early 9th century. Standard orthography has not been altered since then, while the spoken language has changed by, for example, losing complex consonant clusters. As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects and in particular in the Standard Tibetan of Lhasa, there is a great divergence between current spelling, which still reflects the 9th-century spoken Tibetan, and current pronunciation. This divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of spelling reform, to write Tibetan as it is pronounced; for example, writing Kagyu instead of Bka'-rgyud.[16]

The nomadic Amdo Tibetan and the western dialects of the Ladakhi language, as well as the Balti language, come close to the Old Tibetan spellings.[14] Despite that, the grammar of these dialectical varieties has considerably changed. To write the modern varieties according to the orthography and grammar of Classical Tibetan would be similar to writing Sanskrit orthography.[14] However, many modern Buddhist practitioners in the Indian subcontinent have voiced the position that the classical orthography should not be altered even when used for lay purposes. This has become an obstacle for many modern Tibetic languages wishing to modernize or introduce a new spelling reform of Tibetan.[14]

Description[edit | edit source]

Basic alphabet[edit | edit source]

In the Tibetan script, the syllables are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a tsek (་); since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, this mark often functions almost as a space. Spaces are not used to divide words.[17]

The Tibetan alphabet has thirty letters, sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants.[18] As in other Indic scripts, each consonant letter assumes an inherent vowel; in the Tibetan script it is /a/. The letter ཨ is also the base for dependent vowel marks.

Although some Tibetan dialects are tonal, the language had no tone at the time of the script's invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from segmental features, they can usually be correctly predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words.

Unaspirated
high 		Aspirated
medium 		Voiced
low 		Nasal
low
Letter IPA Letter IPA Letter IPA Letter IPA
Guttural ཀ /ka/ ཁ /kʰa/ གTemplate:Efn-lr /ɡa/ ང /ŋa/
Palatal ཅ /tʃa/ ཆ /tʃʰa/ ཇTemplate:Efn-lr /dʒa/ ཉ /ɲa/
Dental ཏ /ta/ ཐ /tʰa/ དTemplate:Efn-lr /da/ ན /na/
Labial པ /pa/ ཕ /pʰa/ བTemplate:Efn-lr /ba/ མ /ma/
Dental ཙ /tsa/ ཚ /tsʰa/ ཛTemplate:Efn-lr /dza/ ཝ /wa/
low ཞTemplate:Efn-lr /ʒa/ ཟTemplate:Efn-lr /za/ འ /ɦa/[19] ⟨ʼa⟩ ཡ /ja/
medium ར /ra/ ལ /la/ ཤ /ʃa/ ས /sa/
high ཧ /ha/ ཨ /a/ ⟨ꞏa⟩

Consonant clusters[edit | edit source]

Components of a Tibetan syllable
Tibetan map of the Kizil Caves, Tarim Basin. 13th century CE

One aspect of the Tibetan script is that the consonants can be written either as radicals or they can be written in other forms, such as subscript and superscript forming consonant clusters.

To understand how this works, one can look at the radical ཀ /ka/ and see what happens when it becomes ཀྲ /kra/ or རྐ /rka/ (pronounced /ka/). In both cases, the symbol for ཀ /ka/ is used, but when the ར /ra/ is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript. On the other hand, when the ར /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, it is added as a superscript.[18] ར /ra/ actually changes form when it is above most other consonants, thus རྐ rka. However, an exception to this is the cluster རྙ /rɲa/. Similarly, the consonants ར /ra/, and ཡ /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants, thus ཀྲ /ʈ ~ ʈʂa/; ཀྱ /ca/.

Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, or post-postscript positions. For instance, the consonants ག /kʰa/, ད /tʰa/, བ /pʰa/, མ /ma/ and འ /a/ can be used in the prescript position to the left of other radicals, while the position after a radical (the postscript position), can be held by the ten consonants ག /kʰa/, ན /na/, བ /pʰa/, ད /tʰa/, མ /ma/, འ /a/, ར /ra/, ང /ŋa/, ས /sa/, and ལ /la/. The third position, the post-postscript position is solely for the consonants ད /tʰa/ and ས /sa/.[18]

Head letters[edit | edit source]

The head (མགོ in Tibetan, Wylie: mgo) letter, or superscript, position above a radical is reserved for the consonants ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/.

  • When ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/ are in superscript position with ཀ /ka/, ཅ /t͡ʃa/, ཏ /ta/, པ /pa/ and ཙ /t͡sa/, there are no changes to their sounds in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
    • རྐ /ka/, རྟ /ta/, རྤ /pa/, རྩ /t͡sa/
    • ལྐ /ka/, ལྕ /t͡ʃa/, ལྟ /ta/, ལྤ /pa/,
    • སྐ /ka/, སྟ /ta/, སྤ /pa/, སྩ /t͡sa/
  • When ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/ are in superscript position with ག /kʰa/, ཇ /t͡ʃʰa/, ད /tʰa/, བ /pʰa/ and ཛ /t͡sʰa/, they lose their aspiration and become voiced in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
    • རྒ /ga/, རྗ /d͡ʒa/, རྡ /da/, རྦ /ba/, རྫ /dza/
    • ལྒ /ga/, ལྗ /d͡ʒa/, ལྡ /da/, ལྦ /ba/,
    • སྒ /ga/, སྡ /da/, སྦ /ba/
  • When ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/ are in superscript position with the nasal consonants ང /ŋa/, ཉ /ɲa/, ན /na/ and མ /ma/, they receive a high tone in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
    • རྔ /ŋa/, རྙ /ɲa/, རྣ /na/, རྨ /ma/
    • ལྔ /ŋa/
    • སྔ /ŋa/, སྙ /ɲa/, སྣ /na/, སྨ /ma/
  • When ལ /la/ is in superscript position with ཧ /ha/, it becomes a voiceless alveolar lateral approximant in Lhasa Tibetan:
    • ལྷ /l̥a/,

Sub-joined letters[edit | edit source]

The subscript position under a radical can only be occupied by the consonants ཡ /ja/, ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ཝ /wa/. In this position they are described as བཏགས (Wylie: btags, IPA: /taʔ/), in Tibetan meaning "hung on/affixed/appended", for example བ་ཡ་བཏགས་བྱ (IPA: /pʰa.ja.taʔ.t͡ʃʰa/), except for ཝ, which is simply read as it usually is and has no effect on the pronunciation of the consonant to which it is subjoined, for example ཀ་ཝ་ཟུར་ཀྭ (IPA: /ka.wa.suː.ka/).

Vowel marks[edit | edit source]

The vowels used in the alphabet are ཨ /a/, ཨི /i/, ཨུ /u/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/. While the vowel /a/ is included in each consonant, the other vowels are indicated by marks; thus ཀ /ka/, ཀི /ki/, ཀུ /ku/, ཀེ /ke/, ཀོ /ko/. The vowels ཨི /i/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/ are placed above consonants as diacritics, while the vowel ཨུ /u/ is placed underneath consonants.[18] Old Tibetan included a reversed form of the mark for /i/, the gigu 'verso', of uncertain meaning. There is no distinction between long and short vowels in written Tibetan, except in loanwords (especially those borrowed from Sanskrit).

Vowel mark IPA Vowel mark IPA Vowel mark IPA Vowel mark IPA
ི /i/ ུ /u/ ེ /e/ ོ /o/

Numerical digits[edit | edit source]

Main article: Tibetan numerals
Tibetan numerals ༠ ༡ ༢ ༣ ༤ ༥ ༦ ༧ ༨ ༩
Devanagari numerals ० १ २ ३ ४ ५ ६ ७ ८ ९
Arabic numerals 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Tibetan fractions ༳ ༪ ༫ ༬ ༭ ༮ ༯ ༰ ༱ ༲
Arabic fractions -0.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5

Punctuation marks[edit | edit source]

Symbol/
Graphemes		 Name Function
༄༅། ། ཡིག་མགོ
yig mgo		 marks beginning of a text, before a headline, front page of a pecha
༃ གཏེར་ཡིག་མགོ
gter yig mgo		 used in place of the yig mgo in terma texts
༁ ཡིག་མགོ་ཨ་ཕྱེད
yig mgo a phyed		 used in place of the yig mgo in terma texts
༆ དཔེ་རྙིང་ཡིག་མགོ
dpe rnying yig mgo		 a variant of the yig mgo found in very old Tibetan texts
༉ བསྐུར་ཡིག་མགོ
bskur yig mgo		 list enumerator (Dzongka)
་ ཚེག
tseg		 syllable delimiter, also used as a spacer to justify text in pechas
། ཤད
shad		 full stop, comma, or semicolon (marks end of a sentence or clause, and originates from the danda of Indic scripts)
། ། ཉིས་ཤད
nyis shad		 marks end of a paragraph or topic (cp. pilcrow)
༎ །། བཞི་ཤད
bzhi shad		 marks end of a chapter or entire section
། །། གསུམ་ཤད
gsum shad		 same as bzhi shad, but used when the preceding character is ཀ or ག
༑ རིན་ཆེན་སྤུངས་ཤད
rin chen spungs shad		 replaces shad after single, orphaned syllables, indicating to the reader that the preceding syllable continues from text on the previous line
༏ ཚེག་ཤད
tsheg shad		 variant of rin chen spungs shad
༐ ཉིསཚེག་ཤད
nyis tsheg shad		 variant of rin chen spungs shad
༈ སྦྲུལ་ཤད
sbrul shad		 marks the start of a new text, often in a collection of texts, separates chapters, and surrounds inserted text
༔ གཏེར་ཤད
gter shad		 replaces shad and variants thereof in terma texts
༒ རྒྱ་གྲམ་ཤད
rgya gram shad		 sometimes used in place of the yig mgo in terma texts
༸ ཆེ་མགོ
che mgo		 literally, "big head"—used preceding a reference to the Dalai Lama or the name of another important lama or tulku that demands great respect
༴ བསྡུས་རྟགས
bsdus rtags		 repetition
༓ འཛུད་རྟགས་མེ་ལོང་ཅན
'dzud rtags me long can		 caret (indicates text insertion)
༼ ཨང་ཁང་གཡོན་འཁོར
ang khang g.yon 'khor		 left roof bracket
༽ ཨང་ཁང་གཡས་འཁོར
ang khang g.yas 'khor		 right roof bracket
༺ གུག་རྟགས་གཡོན
gug rtags g.yon		 left bracket
༻ གུག་རྟགས་གཡས
gug rtags g.yas		 right bracket

Extended use[edit | edit source]

A bilingual text (Tibetan and Sanskrit) written in Tibetan script. From the personal artifact collection of Donald Weir.

The Tibetan alphabet, when used to write other languages such as Balti, Chinese and Sanskrit, often has additional and/or modified graphemes taken from the basic Tibetan alphabet to represent different sounds.

Extended alphabet[edit | edit source]

Letter Used in Romanization IPA Comments
ཫ Balti qa /qa/ reversed ཀ (ka)
ཬ Balti ṛa /ɽa/ reversed ར (ra)
ཁ༹ Balti xa /χa/ ཁ (kha) with tsa phru
ག༹ Balti ġa /ʁa/ ག (ga) with tsa phru
ཕ༹ Chinese fa /fa/ ཕ (pha) with tsa phru
བ༹ Chinese va /va/ བ (ba) with tsa phru
གྷ Sanskrit gha /ɡʱa/ ག (ga) with subjoined ཧ (ha)
ཛྷ Sanskrit dzha /d͡zʱa/ ཛ (dza) with subjoined ཧ (ha)
ཊ Sanskrit ṭa /ʈa/ reversed ཏ (ta)
ཋ Sanskrit ṭha /ʈʰa/ reversed ཐ (tha)
ཌ Sanskrit ḍa /ɖa/ reversed ད (da)
ཌྷ Sanskrit ḍha /ɖʱa/ ཌ (ḍa) with subjoined ཧ (ha)
ཎ Sanskrit ṇa /ɳa/ reversed ན (na)
དྷ Sanskrit dha /dʱa/ ད (da) with subjoined ཧ (ha)
བྷ Sanskrit bha /bʱa/ བ (ba) with subjoined ཧ (ha)
ཥ Sanskrit ṣa /ʂa/ reversed ཤ (sha)
ཀྵ Sanskrit kṣa /kʂa/ ཀ (ka) with subjoined ཥ (ṣa)
ྈྐ (Vedic) Sanskrit xka /xka/ jihvāmūlīya
ྉྤ (Vedic) Sanskrit fpa /ɸpa/ upadhmānīya
  • The Sanskrit retroflex consonants ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa and ṣa are represented by reversing ཏ ཐ ད ན ཤ (ta, tha, da, na, sha).
  • It is a classical rule to transliterate Sanskrit ca, cha, ja, jha, to Tibetan ཙ ཚ ཛ ཛྷ (tsa, tsha, dza, dzha), respectively. Nowadays, ཅ ཆ ཇ ཇྷ (ca, cha, ja, jha) can also be used.

Extended vowel marks and modifiers[edit | edit source]

Vowel Mark Used in Romanization & IPA
ཱ Sanskrit ā /aː/
ཱི Sanskrit ī /iː/
ཱུ Sanskrit ū /uː/
ཻ Sanskrit ai /ɐi̯/
ཽ Sanskrit au /ɐu̯/
ྲྀ Sanskrit ṛ /r̩/
ཷ Sanskrit ṝ /r̩ː/
ླྀ Sanskrit ḷ /l̩/
ཹ Sanskrit ḹ /l̩ː/
ཾ Sanskrit ṃ /◌̃/
ྃ Sanskrit m̐ /◌̃/
ཿ Sanskrit ḥ /h/
Symbol/
Graphemes		 Name Used in Function
྄ srog med Sanskrit virama: suppresses the inherent vowel sound
྅ paluta Sanskrit avagraha: used for prolonging vowel sounds

Consonant clusters[edit | edit source]

In addition to the use of supplementary graphemes, the rules for constructing consonant clusters are amended, allowing any character to occupy the superscript or subscript position, negating the need for the prescript and postscript positions.

Romanization and transliteration[edit | edit source]

Romanization and transliteration of the Tibetan script is the representation of the Tibetan script in the Latin script. Multiple Romanization and transliteration systems have been created in recent years, but do not fully represent the true phonetic sound.[note 1] While the Wylie transliteration system is widely used to Romanize Standard Tibetan, others include the Library of Congress system and the IPA-based transliteration (Jacques 2012).

Below is a table with Tibetan letters and different Romanization and transliteration system for each letter, listed below systems are: Wylie transliteration (W), Tibetan pinyin (TP), Dzongkha phonetic (DP), ALA-LC Romanization (A)[20] and THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription (THL).

Letter W TP DP A THL Letter W TP DP A THL Letter W TP DP A THL Letter W TP DP A THL
ཀ ka g ka ka ka ཁ kha k kha kha kha ག ga* k* kha* ga* ga* ང nga ng nga nga nga
ཅ ca j ca ca cha ཆ cha q cha cha cha ཇ ja* q* cha* ja* ja* ཉ nya ny nya nya nya
ཏ ta d ta ta ta ཐ tha t tha tha ta ད da* t* tha* da* da* ན na n na na na
པ pa b pa pa pa ཕ pha p pha pha pa བ ba* p* pha* ba* ba* མ ma m ma ma ma
ཙ tsa z tsa tsa tsa ཚ tsha c tsha tsha tsa ཛ dza* c* tsha* dza* dza* ཝ wa w wa wa wa
ཞ zha* x* sha* zha* zha* ཟ za* s* sa* za* za* འ 'a - a 'a a ཡ ya y ya ya ya
ར ra r ra ra ra ལ la l la la la ཤ sha x sha sha sha ས sa s sa sa sa
ཧ ha h ha ha ha ཨ a a a a a  
* – Only in loanwords

Input method and keyboard layout[edit | edit source]

Tibetan[edit | edit source]

Tibetan keyboard layout

The first version of Microsoft Windows to support the Tibetan keyboard layout is MS Windows Vista. The layout has been available in Linux since September 2007. In Ubuntu 12.04, one can install Tibetan language support through Dash / Language Support / Install/Remove Languages, the input method can be turned on from Dash / Keyboard Layout, adding Tibetan keyboard layout. The layout applies the similar layout as in Microsoft Windows.

Mac OS X introduced Tibetan Unicode support in version 10.5, now with three different keyboard layouts available: Tibetan-Wylie, Tibetan QWERTY and Tibetan-Otani.

Dzongkha[edit | edit source]

Dzongkha keyboard layout
Main article: Dzongkha keyboard layout

The Dzongkha keyboard layout scheme is designed as a simple means for inputting Dzongkha text on computers. This keyboard layout was standardized by the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) and the Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2000.

It was updated in 2009 to accommodate additional characters added to the Unicode and ISO 10646 standards since the initial version. Since the arrangement of keys essentially follows the usual order of the Dzongka and Tibetan alphabet, the layout can be quickly learned by anyone familiar with this alphabet. Subjoined (combining) consonants are entered using the Shift key.

The Dzongka keyboard layout is included in Microsoft Windows, Android, and most distributions of Linux as part of XFree86.

Unicode[edit | edit source]

Main article: Tibetan (Unicode block)

Tibetan was originally one of the scripts in the first version of the Unicode Standard in 1991, in the Unicode block U+1000–U+104F. However, in 1993, in version 1.1, it was removed (the code points it took up would later be used for the Burmese script in version 3.0). The Tibetan script was re-added in July, 1996 with the release of version 2.0.

The Unicode block for Tibetan is U+0F00–U+0FFF. It includes letters, digits and various punctuation marks and special symbols used in religious texts:

Template:Unicode chart Tibetan

See also[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ See for instance [1] [2]

References[edit | edit source]

Citations[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Daniels, Peter T. (January 2008). "Writing systems of major and minor languages". In Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (eds.). Language in South Asia. pp. 285–308. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511619069.017. ISBN 978-0-521-78653-9.
  2. ↑ Masica, Colin (1993). The Indo-Aryan languages. p. 143.
  3. ↑ Chelliah, Shobhana Lakshmi (2011). A Grammar of Meithei. De Gruyter. p. 355. ISBN 9783110801118. Archived from the original on 2023-04-13. Retrieved 2023-03-19. Meithei Mayek is part of the Tibetan group of scripts, which originated from the Gupta Brahmi script
  4. ↑ Singh, Harimohon Thounaojam (January 2011), The Evolution and Recent Development of the Meetei Mayek Script, Cambridge University Press India, p. 28
  5. ↑ Manzardo, Andrew E. "Impression Management and Economic Growth: The Case of the Thakalis of Dhaulagiri Zone" (PDF). Kailash: A Journal of Himalayan Studies. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  6. ↑ Karmācārya, Mādhavalāla (2001). Results of the Nepal German Project on High Mountain Archaeology: Ten documents from Mustang in the Nepali language (1667-1975 A.D.). VGH Wissenschaftsverlag. ISBN 978-3-88280-061-6.
  7. ↑ "The evolution of Tibetan typefaces: anatomy and historical development of Tibetan fonts". Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales. Archived from the original on 2024-11-29. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
  8. ↑ Tibet: A Political History, p. 12. 1967. Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
  9. ↑ The White Annals, pp. 70–73. Gedun Choephel, translated by Samten Norboo. 1978. Tibetan Library and Archives, Dharamsala, H.P., India.
  10. ↑ Claude Arpi, Glimpses on the Tibet History, Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2016.
  11. ↑ William Woodville Rockhill, Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, p. 671, at Google Books, United States National Museum, page 671
  12. ↑ Berzin, Alexander. A Survey of Tibetan History - Reading Notes Taken by Alexander Berzin from Tsepon, W. D. Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1967: http://studybuddhism.com/web/en/archives/e-books/unpublished_manuscripts/survey_tibetan_history/chapter_1.html Archived 2016-06-17 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Miller, Roy Andrew (1963). "Thon-mi Sambhoṭa and His Grammatical Treatises". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 83 (4): 485–502. doi:10.2307/597167. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 597167.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Zeisler, Bettina (2006). "Why Ladakhi must not be written – Being part of the Great Tradition Another kind of global thinking". In Anju Saxena; Lars Borin (eds.). Lesser-Known Languages of South Asia. p. 178.
  15. ↑ Phuntsok, Thubten. བོད་ཀྱི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་སྤྱི་དོན་པདྨ་ར་གཱའི་ལྡེ་མིག "A General History of Tibet".
  16. ↑ Gamble, R. (2018). Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: The Third Karmapa and the Invention of a Tradition. Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-19-069078-6. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  17. ↑ Chan, A.; Noble, A. (2009). Sounds in Translation: Intersections of Music, Technology and Society. DOAB Directory of Open Access Books. ANU E Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-921536-55-7. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright. The World's Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996,
  19. ↑ Hill, Nathan W. (2005b). "Once more on the letter འ" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 28 (2): 111–141. doi:10.32655/LTBA.28.2.04. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-16. Retrieved 2022-06-01.; Hill, Nathan W. (2009). "Tibetan <ḥ-> as a plain initial and its place in Old Tibetan phonology" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 32 (1): 115–140. doi:10.32655/LTBA.32.1.03. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  20. ↑ "ALA-LC Romanization of Tibetan script (PDF)" (PDF). Library of Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2017-12-29.

Sources[edit | edit source]

  • Asher, R. E. ed. The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Tarrytown, NY: Pergamon Press, 1994. 10 vol.
  • Beyer, Stephan V. (1993). The Classical Tibetan Language. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
  • Chamberlain, Bradford Lynn. 2008. Script Selection for Tibetan-related Languages in Multiscriptal Environments. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 192:117–132.
  • Csoma de Kőrös, Alexander. (1983). A Grammar of the Tibetan Language. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
  • Csoma de Kőrös, Alexander (1980–1982). Sanskrit-Tibetan-English Vocabulary. 2 vols. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.
  • Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright. The World's Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
  • Das, Sarat Chandra: "The Sacred and Ornamental Characters of Tibet". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 57 (1888), pp. 41–48 and 9 plates.
  • Das, Sarat Chandra. (1996). An Introduction to the Grammar of the Tibetan Language. Reprinted by Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
  • Jacques, Guillaume 2012. A new transcription system for Old and Classical Tibetan Archived 2017-08-09 at the Wayback Machine, Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 35.3:89-96.
  • Jäschke, Heinrich August. (1989). Tibetan Grammar. Corrected by Sunil Gupta. Reprinted by Delhi: Sri Satguru.

External links[edit | edit source]

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