Śa (Indic)

The Brahmi letter , Sha, is probably derived from the Aramaic Shin , and is thus related to the modern Latin S and Greek Sigma.[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Sha can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi Sha historic forms

Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)
	No sample

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , and has an alternate Fremdzeichen form used in conjuncts and as an alternate representation of Shä.

Tocharian Sha with vowel marks

Sha	Shā	Shi	Shī	Shu	Shū	Shr	Shr̄	She	Shai	Sho	Shau	Shä	Fremdzeichen

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Shin , and is thus related to S and Sigma, in addition to the Brahmi Sha.[2]

In all languages, श is pronounced as [ʃə] or [ʃ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Half form of Śa.

Half form of Ribbon Śa.

Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. Śa is unique in having an alternate form, sometimes called "Ribbon Śa", that appears as both a half form in horizontal and as an element in vertical conjuncts. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.[4]

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Devanagari are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra. Nepali and Marathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form for an initial "R" instead of repha.

• Repha र্ (r) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature rʃa: ^note

• Eyelash र্ (r) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature rʃa:

• श্ (ʃ) + न (na) gives the ligature ʃna:

• श্ (ʃ) + rakar र (ra) gives the ligature ʃra:

Vertically stacked ligatures are the most common conjunct forms found in Devanagari text. Although the constituent characters may need to be stretched and moved slightly in order to stack neatly, stacked conjuncts can be broken down into recognizable base letters, or a letter and an otherwise standard ligature.

• छ্ (cʰ) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature cʰʃa:

• ढ্ (ḍʱ) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature ḍʱʃa:

• ड্ (ḍ) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature ḍʃa:

• द্ (d) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature dʃa:

• ज্ (j) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature jʃa:

• ङ্ (ŋ) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature ŋʃa:

• श্ (ʃ) + ब (ba) gives the ligature ʃba:

• श্ (ʃ) + च (ca) gives the ligature ʃca:

• श্ (ʃ) + ज (ja) gives the ligature ʃja:

• श্ (ʃ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ʃjña:

• श্ (ʃ) + ल (la) gives the ligature ʃla:

• श্ (ʃ) + ळ (ḷa) gives the ligature ʃḷa:

• श্ (ʃ) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ʃña:

• श্ (ʃ) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature ʃʃa:

• श্ (ʃ) + व (va) gives the ligature ʃva:

• ठ্ (ṭʰ) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature ṭʰʃa:

• ट্ (ṭ) + श (ʃa) gives the ligature ṭʃa:

শ is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.

Bengali শ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures.[5]

• র্ (r) + শ (ʃa) gives the ligature rʃa, with the repha prefix:

• র্ (r) + শ্ (ʃ) + ব (va) gives the ligature rʃva, with the repha prefix and va phala suffix:

• র্ (r) + শ্ (ʃ) + য (ya) gives the ligature rʃya, with the ya phala suffix:

• শ্ (ʃ) + চ (ca) gives the ligature ʃca:

• শ্ (ʃ) + ছ (cʰa) gives the ligature ʃcʰa:

• শ্ (ʃ) + ল (la) gives the ligature ʃla:

• শ্ (ʃ) + ম (ma) gives the ligature ʃma:

• শ্ (ʃ) + ন (na) gives the ligature ʃna:

• শ্ (ʃ) + র (ra) gives the ligature ʃra, with the ra phala suffix:

• শ্ (ʃ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ʃva, with the va phala suffix:

• শ্ (ʃ) + য (ya) gives the ligature ʃya, with the ya phala suffix:

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, શ is pronounced as [ʃə] or [ʃ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Śa	Śā	Śi	Śī	Śu	Śū	Śr	Śl	Śr̄	Śl̄	Śĕ	Śe	Śai	Śŏ	Śo	Śau	Ś
Gujarati Śa syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Half form of Śa.

Gujarati શ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari. True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra.

• ર્ (r) + શ (ʃa) gives the ligature RŚa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + ર (ra) gives the ligature ŚRa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + ચ (ca) gives the ligature ŚCa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + ન (na) gives the ligature ŚNa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + લ (la) gives the ligature ŚLa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + વ (va) gives the ligature ŚVa:

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

• ശ് (ʃ) + ന (na) gives the ligature ʃna:

• ശ് (ʃ) + മ (ma) gives the ligature ʃma:

• ശ് (ʃ) + ശ (ʃa) gives the ligature ʃʃa:

As is common in Indic scripts, Kaithi joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a half form of preceding consonants, although several consonants use an explicit virama. Most half forms are derived from the full form by removing the vertical stem. As is common in most Indic scripts, conjucts of ra are indicated with a repha or rakar mark attached to the rest of the consonant cluster. In addition, there are a few vertical conjuncts that can be found in Kaithi writing, but true ligatures are not used in the modern Kaithi script.

• 𑂩୍ (r) + 𑂬 (ʃa) gives the ligature rʃa: