Balinese script

Consonants are called wianjana (ᬯ᭄ᬬᬜ᭄ᬚᬦ) or aksara wianjana (ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬯ᭄ᬬᬜ᭄ᬚᬦ). Balinese script has 33 consonants, of which only 18 called wreṣāstra (ᬯᬺᬱᬵᬲ᭄ᬢ᭄ᬭ) are used for writing basic vocabulary in Balinese language. The other 15, known as sualalita (ᬰ᭄ᬯᬮᬮᬶᬢ), are mainly used for writing Sanskrit and Kawi loanwords in Balinese language. The consonants can be arranged into Sanskrit order and hanacaraka traditional order.

The consonants can be arranged in hanacaraka traditional order. The sequence forms a poem of 4 verses narrating the myth of Aji Saka. However, the hanacaraka sequence only has the 18 consonants of aksara wreṣāstra (ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬯᬺᬱᬵᬲ᭄ᬢ᭄ᬭ) and exclude aksara sualalita (ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬰ᭄ᬯᬮᬮᬶᬢ). However, this table below include aksara sualalita as the current romanization have no diacritics for the consonants.

As other Brahmic scripts, consonants in Balinese script can be arranged into Tamil / Sanskrit order. Thus, Balinese script had been influenced by Kalvi / Shiksha. The table below uses the order.

Aksara Wianjana ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬯ᭄ᬬᬜ᭄ᬚᬦ Consonants
Warga (Place of articulation)	Pancawalimukha					Ardhasuara ᬅᬭ᭄ᬥᬲ᭄ᬯᬭ (Semivowels)	Ūṣma ᬊᬱ᭄ᬫ (Fricatives)	Wisarga ᬯᬶᬲᬭ᭄ᬕ (Glottal)
	Unvoiced		Voiced		Anunāsika ᬅᬦᬸᬦᬲᬶᬓ Nasal
	Alpaprāṇa ᬅᬮ᭄ᬧᬧ᭄ᬭᬵᬡ Unaspirated	Mahāprāṇa ᬫᬵᬳᬵᬧ᭄ᬭᬵᬡ Aspirated	Alpaprāṇa ᬅᬮ᭄ᬧᬧ᭄ᬭᬵᬡ Unaspirated	Mahāprāṇa ᬫᬵᬳᬵᬧ᭄ᬭᬵᬡ Aspirated
Kaṇṭhya ᬓᬡ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Guttural/Velar)	ᬓ [ka] ka Ka1	ᬔ [kʰa] kha Ka mahaprana	ᬕ [ɡa] ga Ga1	ᬖ [ɡʱa] gha Ga gora	ᬗ [ŋa] nga Nga1			ᬳ [ha] ha Ha12
Tālawya ᬢᬵᬮᬯ᭄ᬬ (Palatal)	ᬘ [tʃa] ca Ca murca1	ᬙ [tʃʰa] cha Ca laca3	ᬚ [dʒa] ja Ja1	ᬛ [dʒʱa] jha Ja jera	ᬜ [ɲa] nya Nya1	ᬬ [ja] ya Ya1	ᬰ [ɕa] śa ça Sa saga
Mūrdhanya ᬫᬹᬭ᭄ᬠᬜ (Retroflex)	ᬝ [ʈa] ṭa Ta latik	ᬞ [ʈʰa] ṭha Ta latik m.5	ᬟ [ɖa] ḍa Da murda a.4	ᬠ [ɖʱa] ḍha Da murda m.5	ᬡ [ɳa] ṇa Na rambat	ᬭ [ra] ra Ra1	ᬱ [ʂa] ṣa Sa sapa
Dantya ᬤᬦ᭄ᬢ᭄ᬬ (Dental)	ᬢ [t̪a] ta Ta1	ᬣ [t̪ʰa] tha Ta tawa	ᬤ [d̪a] da Da lindung1	ᬥ [d̪ʱa] dha Da madu	ᬦ [n̪a] na Na kojong1	ᬮ [l̪a] la La1	ᬲ [sa] sa Sa danti16
Oṣṭhya ᬑᬱ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Labial/Bilabial)	ᬧ [pa] pa Pa1	ᬨ [pʰa] pha Pa kapal	ᬩ [ba] ba Ba1	or ᬪ [bʱa] bha Ba kembang7	ᬫ [ma] ma Ma1	ᬯ [wa] wa Wa1

^1 Aksara wreṣāstra. They are, in traditional order: ha na ca ra ka / da ta sa wa la / ma ga ba nga / pa ja ya nya.
^2 The consonant ha is sometimes not pronounced. For example, ᬳᬸᬚᬦ᭄ hujan (lit. rain) is pronounced ujan.[6]
^3 The exact form of ca laca is unknown because only the appended (gantungan) form is left.[7] However, the independent form is included in Unicode.[8]
^4 alpaprana ^5 mahaprana
^6 Actually an alveolar consonant, but classified as dental by tradition
^7 The former of the two letter forms is more frequently used.

Vowels, called suara (ᬲ᭄ᬯᬭ) or aksara suara (ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬲ᭄ᬯᬭ), can be written as independent letters when vowels appear in initial position. They are described in the following list:

Aksara suara ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬲ᭄ᬯᬭ Vowels
Warga (Place of articulation)	Aksara suara hŗeşua ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬲ᭄ᬯᬭᬳᬺᬱ᭄ᬯ (Short vowels)					Aksara suara dirgha ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬲ᭄ᬯᬭᬤᬷᬭ᭄ᬖ (Long vowels)
	Balinese script	Balinese script	Latin Transliteration	IPA	Name	Name	Balinese script	Balinese script	Latin Transliteration	IPA
Kaṇṭhya ᬓᬡ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Guttural)		ᬅ	a	[a]	A kara			ᬆ	ā	[ɑː]
Tālawya ᬢᬵᬮᬯ᭄ᬬ (Palatal)		ᬇ	i	[i]	I kara			ᬈ	ī	[iː]
Mūrdhanya ᬫᬹᬭ᭄ᬠᬜ (Retroflex)		ᬋ	ṛ	[ɹ̩]	Ra repa			ᬌ	ṝ	[ɹ̩ː]
Dantya ᬤᬦ᭄ᬢ᭄ᬬ (Dental)		ᬍ	ḷ	[l̩]	La lenga			ᬎ	ḹ	[l̩ː]
Oṣṭhya ᬑᬱ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Labial)		ᬉ	u	[u]	U kara			ᬊ	ū	[uː]
Kaṇṭha-Tālawya ᬓᬡ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬᬢᬵᬮᬯ᭄ᬬ (Palato-guttural)		ᬏ	e	[e] [ɛ]	E kara	Airsanya		ᬐ	ai	[aːi]
Kaṇṭha-Oṣṭhya ᬓᬡ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬᬑᬱ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Labio-guttural)		ᬑ	o	[o] [ɔ]	O kara			ᬒ	au	[aːu]

Gantungan (ᬕᬦ᭄ᬢᬸᬗᬦ᭄) (appended letters) and gempelan (ᬕᬾᬫ᭄ᬧᬾᬮᬦ᭄) (attached letters) should be used to represent the consonant cluster, as zero vowel signs (adeg-adeg) are not used in the middle of sentences in general. Thus, as other members of the Brahmic family (Javanese), the consonant cluster is written cursively. Each consonant letter has a corresponding either gantungan or gempelan (for pa, pha, sa and ṣa only) form, and the presence of gantungan and gempelan eliminates the inherent vowel [a] of the letter it is appended to. For example, if the letter na (ᬦ) is appended with gantungan da (◌᭄ᬤ), the pronunciation becomes nda (ᬦ᭄ᬤ).

Gantungan or gempelan can be applied with pangangge (diacritic) to a letter. However, attaching two or more gantungan to one letter is forbidden; this condition is known as tumpuk telu (three layers). Adeg-adeg may be used in the middle of a sentence to avoid such situation. For example, tamblang with consonant cluster mbl is written as ᬢᬫ᭄‌ᬩ᭄ᬮᬂ.[9]

The forms of gantungan and gempelan are as follows:

Gantungan Gempelan ᬕᬦ᭄ᬢᬸᬗᬦ᭄ ᬕᬾᬫ᭄ᬧᬾᬮᬦ᭄
Warga (Place of articulation)	Pancawalimukha					Ardhasuara ᬅᬭ᭄ᬥᬲ᭄ᬯᬭ (Semivowels)	Ūṣma ᬊᬱ᭄ᬫ (Fricatives)	Wisarga ᬯᬶᬲᬭ᭄ᬕ (Glottal)
	Unvoiced		Voiced		Anunāsika ᬅᬦᬸᬦᬲᬶᬓ Nasal
	Alpaprāṇa ᬅᬮ᭄ᬧᬧ᭄ᬭᬵᬡ Unaspirated	Mahāprāṇa ᬫᬵᬳᬵᬧ᭄ᬭᬵᬡ Aspirated	Alpaprāṇa ᬅᬮ᭄ᬧᬧ᭄ᬭᬵᬡ Unaspirated	Mahāprāṇa ᬫᬵᬳᬵᬧ᭄ᬭᬵᬡ Aspirated
Kaṇṭhya ᬓᬡ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Guttural)	◌᭄ᬓ Ka	◌᭄ᬔ Ka mahaprana	◌᭄ᬕ Ga	◌᭄ᬖ Ga gora	◌᭄ᬗ Nga			◌᭄ᬳ Ha
Tālawya ᬢᬵᬮᬯ᭄ᬬ (Palatal)	◌᭄ᬘ Ca murca	◌᭄ᬙ Ca laca	◌᭄ᬚ Ja	◌᭄ᬛ Ja jera	◌᭄ᬜ Nya	◌᭄ᬬ Ya	◌᭄ᬰ Sa saga
Mūrdhanya ᬫᬹᬭ᭄ᬠᬜ (Retroflex)	◌᭄ᬝ Ta latik	◌᭄ᬞ Ta latik m.	◌᭄ᬟ Da madu a.	◌᭄ᬠ Da madu m.	◌᭄ᬡ Na rambat	◌᭄ᬭ Ra	◌᭄ᬱ Sa sapa
Dantya ᬤᬦ᭄ᬢ᭄ᬬ (Dental)	◌᭄ᬢ Ta	◌᭄ᬣ Ta tawa	◌᭄ᬤ Da lindung	◌᭄ᬥ Da madu	◌᭄ᬦ Na kojong	◌᭄ᬮ La	◌᭄ᬲ Sa danti
Oṣṭhya ᬑᬱ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Labial)	◌᭄ᬧ Pa	◌᭄ᬨ Pa kapal	◌᭄ᬩ Ba	◌᭄ᬪ Ba kembang	◌᭄ᬫ Ma	◌᭄ᬯ Wa

Pangangge suara (ᬧᬗ᭢‌ᬗ᭄ᬕᬲ᭄ᬯᬭ) change the inherited vowel of a consonant letter. For example, the letter ᬦ (na) with ulu (◌ᬶ) becomes ni (ᬦᬶ); ka (ᬓ) with suku (◌ᬸ) becomes ku (ᬓᬸ). The diacritics in this category are summarized in the following list:

Pangangge suara ᬧᬗ᭢‌ᬗ᭄ᬕᬲ᭄ᬯᬭ
Warga (Place of articulation)	Balinese script		Transliteration	IPA	Name
Kaṇṭhya ᬓᬡ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Guttural)		◌ᭂ	e / ê / ě 1	[ə]	Pepet
		◌ᬵ	ā	[ɑː]	Tedung
Tālawya ᬢᬵᬮᬯ᭄ᬬ (Palatal)		◌ᬶ	i	[i]	Ulu
		◌ᬷ	ī	[iː]	Ulu sari
Oṣṭhya ᬑᬱ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Labial)		◌ᬸ	u	[u]	Suku
		◌ᬹ	ū	[uː]	Suku ilut
Kaṇṭha-Tālawya ᬓᬡ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬᬢᬵᬮᬯ᭄ᬬ (Palato-guttural)		◌ᬾ	e / é 1	[e] [ɛ]	Taling
		◌ᬿ	ai	[aːi]	Taling detya
Kaṇṭha-Oṣṭhya ᬓᬡ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬᬑᬱ᭄ᬞ᭄ᬬ (Labio-guttural)		◌ᭀ	o	[o] [ɔ]	Taling tedung
		◌ᭁ	au	[aːu]	Taling detya matedung

^1 As first romanization of Balinese Language was developed during Dutch Colonial Era, letter e represents sound [ə] and letter é represents sound [e] and [ɛ] as in Van Ophuijsen Indonesian and Dutch orthography. After 1957, sounds [ə], [e] and [ɛ] are represented with e as in current Indonesian orthography with exception for new learner and dictionary usage.[10][11]

Many consonants can form ligatures with tedung:

Pangangge tengenan (ᬧᬗ᭢‌ᬗ᭄ᬕᬢᭂᬗᭂᬦᬦ᭄), except adeg-adeg, adds a final consonant to a syllable. It can be used together with pangangge suara. For example, the letter ᬦ (na) with bisah (◌ᬄ) becomes ᬦᬄ (nah); ᬓ (ka) with suku (◌ᬸ) and surang (◌ᬃ) becomes ᬓᬸᬃ (kur). Compared to Devanagari, bisah is analogous to visarga, cecek to anusvara, and adeg-adeg to virama.

Adeg-adeg is zero vowel diacritics as in other Brahmic scripts in Balinese script. Adeg-adeg, as virama in Devanagari, suppress the inherent vowel /a/ in the consonant letter. Adeg-adeg is used on impossibility of gantungan and gempelan usage such as succeeded by punctuation marks, attachment of two or more gantungan to one letter (tumpuk telu, lit. three layers), preservation of combination (watek ksatriya, ᬯᬢᭂᬓ᭄‌ᬓ᭄ᬱᬢ᭄ᬭᬶᬬ rather than ᬯᬢᭂᬓ᭄ᬓ᭄ᬱᬢ᭄ᬭᬶᬬ) and disambiguation.[10]

Pangangge tengenan ᬧᬗ᭢‌ᬗ᭄ᬕᬢᭂᬗᭂᬦᬦ᭄
Balinese script		IPA	Translit.	Name
	◌ᬄ	[h]	h	Bisah
	◌ᬃ	[r]	r	Surang
	◌ᬂ	[ŋ]	ng	Cecek
	◌᭄	[∅]		Adeg-adeg

Pangangge aksara (ᬧᬗ᭢‌ᬗ᭄ᬕᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭ) is appended below consonant letters. Pangangge aksara are the appended (gantungan) forms of the ardhasuara (semivowel) consonants. Guwung macelek is the appended form of the vowel ra repa (ᬋ).

Pangangge aksara ᬧᬗ᭢‌ᬗ᭄ᬕᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭ
Balinese script		IPA	Translit.	Name
	◌᭄ᬭ	[ra]	ra	Cakra Guwung
	◌ᬺ	[rə]	rě	Guwung macelek
	◌᭄ᬯ	[ʋa]	ua	Suku kembung
	◌᭄ᬬ	[ja]	ia	Nania

Balinese have many loanwords from Sanskrit and Old Javanese. In general, the Balinese orthography in Balinese script preserve the original orthography. The preservation of original orthography result on several rules:

1. assimilation rule, which based on articulation rule (Kalvi / Shiksha),
2. ᬧᬲᬂᬧᬕᭂᬄ (pasang pageh) rule, which the word is spelled based on the source,
3. ᬫᬤ᭄ᬯᬶᬢ (maduita) rule, which several words has doubled consonant.

Assimilation in Balinese occurs within the conjuncts/consonant clusters. Balinese script represents assimilation occurred, however Latin script sometimes may not represent this. In general, alveolar consonants are assimilated into palatal, retroflex or labial. There are more specific descriptions in assimilation combination:[11]

• ᬦ [n] assimilated into ᬜ [ɲ] if succeeded by palatal consonants, such as consonant cluster nc ᬜ᭄ᬘ and nj ᬜ᭄ᬚ. For example, word wianjana is written as ᬯ᭄ᬬᬜ᭄ᬚᬦ ([wjaɲdʒana]), not written as ᬯ᭄ᬬᬦ᭄ᬚᬦ (*[wjandʒana]).
• ᬲ [s] assimilated into ᬰ [ɕ] if succeeded by palatal consonants, such as consonant cluster sc ᬰ᭄ᬘ. For example, word pascad is written as ᬧᬰ᭄ᬘᬤ᭄ ([paɕcad]), not written as ᬧᬲ᭄ᬘᬤ᭄ (*[pascad]).
• ᬤ [d] assimilated into ᬚ [dʒ] if succeeded by palatal consonants, such as consonant cluster dny ᬚ᭄ᬜ. For example, word yadnya is written as ᬬᬚ᭄ᬜ ([jadʒɲa]), not written as ᬬᬤ᭄ᬜ (*[jadɲa]).
• ᬦ [n] assimilated into ᬡ [ɳ] if preceded by retroflex consonants, such as consonant cluster rn ᬭ᭄ᬡ. For example, word karna is written as ᬓᬭ᭄ᬡ ([karɳa]), not written as ᬓᬭ᭄ᬦ (*[karna]).
• ᬲ [s] assimilated into ᬱ [ʂ] if succeeded by retroflex consonants, such as consonant cluster st (ṣṭ) ᬱ᭄ᬝ and sn (ṣṇ) ᬱ᭄ᬡ. For example, word dusta (duṣṭa, lie) is written as ᬤᬸᬱ᭄ᬝ ([duʂʈa]), not written as ᬤᬸᬲ᭄ᬝ (*[dusʈa]).
• ᬦ [n] assimilated into ᬫ [m] if succeeded by labial consonants. For example, word tanbara is written as ᬢᬫ᭄ᬪᬭ ([tambʰara]), not written as ᬢᬦ᭄ᬪᬭ (*[tanbʰara]).

Liquid consonant, ᬭ [r] and ᬮ [l], may not be combined with ◌ᭂ (pepet, schwa) [ə] as ᬭᭂ and ᬮᭂ. These combination, rě [rə] and lě [lə], should be written as ᬋ (re repa) and ᬍ (le lenga). Word kěrěng (lit. eat a lot) and lekad are written as ᬓᭂᬋᬂ and ᬍᬓᬤ᭄. While combination of ◌᭄ᬮ (gantungan [l]) and ◌ᭂ (pepet) is possible as in ᬩᬼᬕᬜ᭄ᬚᬸᬃ (bleganjur), combination of ◌᭄ᬭ (cakra or gantungan [r]) and ◌ᭂ pepet is not allowed. If the combination follows a word which ends in a consonant, ◌᭄ᬋ (gempelan re repa) may be used as in ᬧᬓ᭄ᬋᬋᬄ (Pak Rěrěh, Mr. Rěrěh). If the combination is in a word, ◌ᬺ (guwung macelek) may be used instead as in ᬓᬺᬱ᭄ᬡ (Krěsna, Krishna).[11][12]

Latin script transliteration into Balinese script is based on phonetics. As vocabulary expands, foreign sounds are introduced and have no equivalent on Balinese script. In general, transliteration of foreign sounds is shown as below.[13]

The Sasak language, spoken in Lombok Island east of Bali, is related to Balinese, is written in a version of the Balinese script known as Aksara Sasak, which is influenced by the Javanese script[14] and is given additional characters for loanwords of foreign origin.