Lepcha script

The Lepcha script, or Róng script, is an abugida used by the Lepcha people to write the Lepcha language. Unusually for an abugida, syllable-final consonants are written as diacritics.

Lepcha
ᰛᰩᰵ
Script type
Time period
c. 1700present
Directionleft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesLepcha
Related scripts
Parent systems
Child systems
Limbu
Sister systems
Meitei, Khema, Phagspa, Marchen
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Lepc (335), Lepcha (Róng)
Unicode
Unicode alias
Lepcha
U+1C00U+1C4F
The theorised Semitic origins of the Brahmi script are not universally agreed upon.

History

Róng manuscript

Lepcha is derived from the Tibetan script, and may have some Burmese influence. According to tradition, it was devised at the beginning of the 18th century by prince Chakdor Namgyal of the Namgyal dynasty of Sikkim, or by scholar Thikúng Men Salóng in the 17th century. Early Lepcha manuscripts were written vertically. When they were later written horizontally, the letters remained in their new orientations, rotated 90° from their Tibetan prototypes. This resulted in an unusual method of writing final consonants.

Typology

The Lepcha consonants in original direction (called Lazóng).
Lepcha inventory in Unicode

Lepcha is now written horizontally, but the changes in the direction of writing have resulted in a metamorphosis of the eight syllable-final consonants from conjuncts (ligatures) as in Tibetan to superposed diacritics.

As in most other Brahmic scripts, the short vowel /-a/ is not written; other vowels are written with diacritics before (/-i, -o/), after (/-ā, -u/), or under (/-e/) the initial consonant. The length mark, however, is written over the initial, as well as any final consonant diacritic, and fuses with /-o/ and /-u/. (When fused as /-ō/, however, it lies below any final consonant.) Initial vowels do not have separate letters, but are written with the vowel diacritics on an &-shaped zero-consonant letter.

There are postposed diacritics for medial /-y-/ and /-r-/, which may be combined (krya). For medial /-l-/, however, there are seven dedicated conjunct letters. That is, there is a special letter for /kla/ which does not resemble the letter for /ka/. (Only /gla/ is written with a straightforward diacritic.)

One of the final letters, /-ŋ/, is an exception to these patterns. First, unlike the other finals, final /-ŋ/ is written to the left of the initial consonant rather than on top, occurring even before preposed vowels. That is, /kiŋ/ is written "ngki". Second, there is no inherent vowel before /-ŋ/; even short /-a-/ must be written, with a diacritic unique to this situation. (It appears to be the diacritic for long /-ā/ rotated 180° around the consonant letter.) That is, /kaŋ/ is written "ngka", rather than "ngk" as would be expected from the general pattern.

Structure

As an abugida, a basic letter represents both a consonant and an inherent vowel. In Lepcha, the inherent vowel is /a/.

Consonants

Consonants
 Transcriptiona ka kha ga nga cachaja nya tatha da napa pha  fa ba ma
IPA /a//ka//kʰa/ /ga/ /ŋa/ /ca/ /cʰa//dʒa/ /nja/ /ta/ /tʰa/ /da/ /na//pa//pʰa/ /fa//ba/ /ma/
Letter            
 Transcription tsa tsha za ya ra laha va sha sa wa
IPA /tˢa/ /tʃa/ /za/ /ja/ /ra/ /la/ /ha/ /va//ʃa/ /sa/ /ua/
Letter          
Transcriptionklaglapla fla bla mla hlatta ttha dda
IPA /kla/ /gla/ /pla//fla//bla//mla/ /hla//ʈa/ /ʈʰa/ /ɖa/
Letter          


Subjoined Consonants
Transcription-y--r-
Dependent mark
Example using (la)ᰜᰤ(lya)ᰜᰥ(lra)
Final Consonants
Transcription-k-m-l-n-p-r -t-ng
Dependent mark  [lower-alpha 1]
Example using (la)ᰜᰭ(lak)ᰜᰮ(lam) ᰜᰯ(lal)ᰜᰰ(lan)ᰜᰱ(lap)ᰜᰲ(lar) ᰜᰳ(lat) ᰜᰴ(lang)

Vowels

Vowel signs
Transcription â á ií o ó uúe/ä[lower-alpha 2]
IPA /ə/ /a/ /i/ /i/ /o/ /ɔ/ /ɯ/ /u/ /e~ɛ/
Dependent diacritical mark ᰧ ᰶ    
Letter (not dependent) ᰣᰶᰣᰦ ᰣᰧᰣᰧᰶ ᰣᰨ ᰣᰩ ᰣᰪ ᰣᰫ ᰣᰬ
Example using (la)  ᰜᰶ(lâ)ᰜᰦ(lá) ᰜᰧ(li)ᰜᰧᰶ(lí) ᰜᰨ(lo)ᰜᰩ(ló) ᰜᰪ(lu) ᰜᰫ(lú) ᰜᰬ(le)
  1. Written as with an /-a-/ vowel, as in the example.
  2. The transcription 'e' is used in this article.

Numerals

Lepcha numerals
Hindu-Arabic numerals 0123456789

Unicode

Lepcha script was added to the Unicode Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1.

The Unicode block for Lepcha is U+1C00U+1C4F:

Lepcha[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+1C0x
U+1C1x
U+1C2x
U+1C3x ᰿
U+1C4x
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

  • Leonard van der Kuijp, The Tibetan Script and Derivatives, in Daniels and Bright, The World's Writing Systems, 1996.
  • Lepcha script at Omniglot.com
  • Róng Kít - A free Lepcha Unicode Kit including fonts and keyboard files (Win/Mac/Linux), published by the Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC)
  • Noto Sans Lepcha - A free Lepcha Unicode font that harmonizes with other fonts of the Noto font family
  • Mingzat - A Lepcha Unicode font by SIL, based on Jason Glavy’s JG Lepcha
  • JG Lepcha - A free and well designed but non-Unicode compliant font by Jason Glavy.
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