This page brings together basic information about the Masaram Gondi script and its use for the Gondi language. It aims to provide a brief, descriptive summary of the modern, printed orthography and typographic features, and to advise how to write Masaram Gondi using Unicode.
CAUTION: The examples and their IPA pronunciations are largely reverse-engineered from Gondi terms written in Devanagari. While care was taken to produce correct results, there may be some small deviations from standard spellings in the Gondi script. The examples should, nevertheless, serve to illustrate how the script works.
Masaram Gondi is a South Asian abugida used in India for the Gondi language. It is unrelated to the historic Gunjala Gondi. It was created in 1918 by Mangal Singh Masaram of Madhya Pradesh, and is actively used today in handwritten and printed materials. In 2011, the Akhil Gondvana Gondi Sahitya Parishad passed a resolution adopting Masaram’s script as the official script of the Gondi language.
Gondi is a language spoken by almost 3 million people, of which about 300,000 speak Adilabad Gondi, 150,000 speak Aheri Gondi, and around 2.1 million speak Northern Gondi. The language is taught only in the early grades of primary schools, but the State Education Department has recognized the language and has been active in promoting it for primary education. The language has been developed to the point that it is used and sustained by institutions beyond the home and community.eth It is commonly written using the Telugu or Devanagari scripts.
The Masaram Gondi script is an abugida, ie. each consonant contains an inherent vowel sound. See the table to the right for a brief overview of features for the modern Masaram Gondi orthography.
Text runs left to right in horizontal lines. There is no case distinction. Words are separated by spaces.
Masaram Gondi represents native consonant sounds using 34 basic letters. It has a nukta for extending the repertoire, such as for ɽ, a combining medial consonant for -r, and 2 combining marks for use as codas. RA codas can also be written using a letter that acts as a repha.
It is unclear from the sources how many of these letters and marks are needed for everyday Gondi writing, and how many are there for transcribing Sanskrit.
The inherent vowel is killed by an invisible virama in consonant clusters, but a different, always visible, combining mark in word-final codas. RA has special code points for medials and codas in addition to the forms created by the virama. There are no dedicated medial consonants. Codas can also be written using anusvara and visarga. The orthography also has 3 atomic codepoints that represent consonant clusters.
The inherent vowel for Masaram Gondi is pronounced a. So ma is written by simply using the consonant letter.
eg.
𑴤𑴫𑴦𑴱𑴤𑵄
𑴤,𑴫,𑴦,𑴱,𑴤𑵄
Whereas consonant letters in other indic scripts often have a vertical line that can be associated with the inherent vowel sound, Masaram Gondi has a horizontal line, which is attached to all consonants and which represents the inherent vowel. This horizontal line is dropped to indicate consonant clusters.
Since Masaram Gondi consonants normally include an inherent vowel, the orthography has ways to indicate a consonant that is not followed by a vowel sound. See novowel.
Post-consonant vowels
Post-consonant vowels are all written using combining marks.
Masaram Gondi uses the following vowel signs for plain vowels.
𑴲,𑴳,𑴴,𑴵,𑴺,𑴽,𑴱
eg.
𑴌𑴲𑴫𑵅𑴌𑴱𑴟𑴱
𑴌𑴴𑴝𑴺𑴦𑵄
Long and short sounds are not distinguished for e and o.
The vowel signs replace the horizontal line that appears to the right of each consonant letter. The following shows each vowel attached to the letter KA.
𑴌𑴲,𑴌𑴳,𑴌𑴴,𑴌𑴵,𑴌𑴺,𑴌𑴽,𑴌𑴱
Repertoire extension
𑵃 is used with consonants, vowel signs and independent vowels to represent the sounds æ and ɔ.
For post-consonant vowels, the diacritic is combined with the base consonant, or with 𑴱, respectively. See the list just below, using KA as an example base.
𑴌𑵃,𑴌𑴱𑵃
eg.
𑴤𑵃𑴎𑴟𑴲𑴓𑵄𑴌𑴱𑵃𑵆𑴢𑴟𑴘𑴱𑴥𑴱𑴮𑴱𑴂𑴘𑵄
Diphthongs
Two additional vowel signs represent the diphthongs ai and au.
𑴼,𑴿
eg.
𑴤𑴼𑴝𑴤𑵄
𑴠𑴿𑴘𑴤𑵄
These vowel signs also replace the base consonant's horizontal line, eg.
𑴌𑴼,𑴌𑴿
Vowel length
Vowel length in Masaram Gondi is indicated by choosing the appropriate vowel sign or letter.
Standalone vowels
Masaram Gondi represents basic standalone vowels using 10 independent vowel letters, including one for the equivalent of the inherent vowel.
𑴂,𑴃,𑴄,𑴅,𑴆,𑴉,𑴀,𑴁,,𑴈,𑴋
eg.
𑴃𑴝𑴤𑴦𑵂𑵄
𑴎𑴿𑴄𑴟𑵄
𑵃 is used with 𑴆 and 𑴁 to represent the sounds æ and ɔ, respectively.
𑴆𑵃,𑴁𑵃
Vowel sounds to characters
This section maps Gondi vowel sounds to common graphemes in the Masaram Gondi orthography.
Sounds listed as 'infrequent' are allophones, or sounds used for foreign words, etc. Light coloured characters occur infrequently.
Plain vowels
i
vowel sign𑴲
standalone𑴂
iː
vowel sign𑴳
standalone𑴃
u
vowel sign𑴴
standalone𑴄
uː
vowel sign𑴵
standalone𑴅
eː
vowel sign𑴺
standalone𑴆
o:
vowel sign𑴽
standalone𑴉
ɔ
vowel sign𑴱𑵃Used for foriegn sounds in loan words.
standalone𑴁𑵃
æ
vowel sign𑵃Used for foriegn sounds in loan words.
standalone𑴆𑵃
a
inherent voweleg. 𑴌𑴽𑴧𑴥𑴧𑵄
standalone𑴀
aː
vowel sign𑴱
standalone𑴁
Diphthongs & rhymes
ai
vowel sign𑴼
standalone𑴈
au
vowel sign𑴿
standalone𑴋
Vocalics
𑴶,𑴦𑴶
The Masaram Gondi script has a vowel sign for the vocalic r̥ but doesn't have a corresponding independent letter. The standalone vowel is written as 𑴦𑴶.
Observation: The pronunciation of the vocalic is unclear from the sources used.
This is the only vocalic in the Masaram Gondi script.
Vowel absence
Vowel absence principally occurs either when a consonant is a syllable coda, or when a consonant is part of a consonant cluster.
Given that consonants normally include an inherent vowel, the orthography needs a way to indicate when a consonant is not followed by a vowel. The absence of a vowel sound can be visually indicated in one of the following ways.
Conjuncts where the non-final consonant in a cluster is reduced to a ‘half-form’.
Atomic code points where a single code point represents a whole conjunct.
RA codas & medials that represent onsets and clusters using special code points, rather than a virama.
Coda diacritics. Some codas can be written using combining marks.
To produce a conjunct, 𑵅 is normally added between the consonants in the cluster. This virama is never displayed visibly, and is not used to indicate a missing vowel outside the case of consonant clusters (eg. for word-final codas).
eg.
𑴌,𑵅,𑴛,𑴌𑵅𑴛
The effect of the virama is to create a 'half-form' for the non-initial consonant(s) by simply removing the horizontal line to the right side. All conjuncts formed in this way are conjoined rather than stacked.
Conjuncts can include a sequence of consonants, each separated by a virama.
𑴝,𑵅,𑴌,𑴝𑵅𑴌
𑴟,𑵅,𑴠,𑴟𑵅𑴠
𑴌,𑵅,𑴛,𑵅
,𑴨,𑵅,𑴥,𑴌𑵅𑴛𑵅𑴨𑵅𑴥
Examples of conjuncts formed by using half-forms.
Different approaches apply for some clusters including RA and 3 clusters for which atomic code points exist.
An unusual feature of Masaram Gondi is that 3 consonant clusters are written using single code points.
𑴮,𑴯,𑴰
eg.
𑴟𑴮𑴱
𑴄𑴰𑴤𑵄
RA codas & medials
Masaram Gondi has 4 ways of handling the sound r in consonant clusters: 2 for medial consonants, and 2 for codas.
RA medials
An -r after an initial consonant can be written using the code point 𑵇. No virama is involved.
When a vowel follows the onset cluster the vowel follows the ra-kara.
𑴌,𑵇,𑴌𑵇
𑴌,𑵇,𑴱,𑴌𑵇𑴱
Examples of ra-kara used for a medial consonant.
eg.
𑴟𑴲𑴝𑵇𑴱
𑴫𑴴𑴌𑵅𑴌𑵇𑴱𑴦𑴤𑵄
The other way of writing this medial is to use the atomic code point for tr (see novowel_atomic).
RA codas
These can also be written in 2 ways, depending on whether or not a morphological boundary is involved.
The regular way of indicating an -r coda when another consonant follows is to use a repha, which is encoded explicitly as 𑵆. The glyph representing the r sound appears at the right of the cluster. If there is a vowel with a shape that extends vertically, the repha extends the horizontal line of the last consonant.
eg.
𑴌𑵆𑴓𑵄
𑴠𑴽𑵆𑴌𑴱
𑴄𑵆𑴦𑴳
The repha is typed and encoded in logical order, ie. before the other consonant(s) in the cluster, and the font renders the glyph in the correct position. Although the reference glyph for 𑵆 looks like a combining mark, it is actually a special kind of letter.
𑵆,𑴌,𑵆𑴌
𑵆,𑴌,𑴱,𑵆𑴌𑴱
𑵆,𑴌,𑴳,𑵆𑴌𑴳
Examples of ra-repha used for a standard coda.
If the -r marks a morphological boundary, the coda is written using a half-form, with a virama, like other codas.
𑴦,𑵅,𑴌,𑴦𑵅𑴌
𑴦,𑵅,𑴌,𑴱,𑴦𑵅𑴌𑴱
𑴦,𑵅,𑴌,𑴳,𑴦𑵅𑴌𑴳
Examples of a ra coda used at a morphological boundary.
Visible vowel killer
𑵄 is used to kill the inherent vowel when this is not a consonant cluster, for example at the end of a word. This vowel killer is always visible.
eg.
𑴧𑴽𑴟𑵄
𑴠𑴱𑴧𑵄
𑴤𑴫𑴦𑴱𑴤𑵄
Consonants
Consonant summary table
This table only summarises basic consonant to character assignments. Click on the phonetic transcriptions for more detail.
The above list contains all the consonant letters in the Unicode block.
Observation: It's not clear from the sources used which of these are regularly used for native Gondi words, and which are mostly present for transcriptions of Sanskrit or for adopted Sanskrit words. In the more than 4,000 terms in the Gondwana dictionary there are no terms with aspirated stops, very few with ɳ, and none with ɲ.
Repertoire extension
𑴦𑵂
𑵂 can be used to represent additional consonant sounds. The sound mentioned in the sources is ɽ.
Most codas are written using normal consonant letters, but Masaram Gondi also uses two dedicated combining marks for codas.
Word-medial codas that occur before another consonant are written as conjuncts (see clusters). Other codas that don't have a following onset are followed by the vowel killer 𑵄; this is always visible, and is never used for consonant clusters.
eg.
𑴓𑴺𑴢𑵄
𑴌𑴺𑴨𑵅𑴌𑵄
Coda diacritics
Two combining characters can follow a consonant or vowel to produce a final consonant sound in a phonetic syllable.
𑵀,𑵁
The positioning and shape of these diacritics can vary, depending on context or preference. See context.
𑵀 represents a homorganic nasal before a plosive. It is commonly pronounced ŋ, but before retroflex and palatal stops it is pronounced ɳ and ɲ, respectively.
eg.
𑴎𑴽𑵀𑴘𑴳
Observation: Unlike Gunjala Gondi, Masaram Gondi has letters for the sounds ɳ and ɲ. It's not clear from the sources when those are used rather than the anusvara.
𑵁 is rarely used and is usually a silent hangover from Sanskrit, representing a final -h.
The anusvara and visarga are always typed and stored after any a base letter and any accompanying vowel sign.
eg.
𑴤𑵀𑴘𑴱,𑴤,𑵀,𑴘,𑴱
𑴑𑴵𑵀,𑴑,𑴵,𑵀
Consonant length
Geminated consonants appear to be common in Gondi. They are written as conjuncts, in the same way as any consonant cluster (see clusters).
eg.
𑴀𑴌𑵅𑴌𑴧𑵄
𑴎𑴤𑵅𑴤𑴛𑵄
𑴟𑴟𑵅𑴟𑴱
Consonant sounds to characters
This section maps Gondi consonant sounds to common graphemes in the Masaram Gondi orthography.
Sounds listed as 'infrequent' are allophones, or sounds used for foreign words, etc. Light coloured characters occur infrequently.
p
𑴠
pʰ
𑴡
b
𑴢
bʰ
𑴣
t
𑴛
tʰ
𑴜
t͡ʃ
𑴑
t͡ʃʰ
𑴒
d
𑴝
dʰ
𑴞
d͡ʒ
𑴓
d͡ʒʰ
𑴔
ʈ
𑴖
ʈʰ
𑴗
tr
𑴰Atomic code point for a consonant cluster.
ɖ
𑴘
ɖʰ
𑴙
k
𑴌
kʰ
𑴍
ks
𑴮Atomic code point for a consonant cluster.
ɡ
𑴎
ɡʰ
𑴏
ɡɲ
𑴯Atomic code point for a consonant cluster. Not entirely sure about the pronunciation!
v
𑴨
s
𑴫
ʂ
𑴪
ʃ
𑴩
h
𑴬
𑵁Coda. Used mainly for Sanskrit words.
m
𑴤
n
𑴟
ɳ
𑴚
𑵀Coda before a retroflex consonant.
ɲ
𑴕
𑵀Coda before a palatal consonant.
ŋ
𑴐
𑵀Coda.
r
𑴦
𑵆Used for codas when this is not a morphological boundary.
𑵇Used as a medial consonant.
l
𑴧
ɭ
𑴭
j
𑴥
Encoding choices
This section offers advice about characters or character sequences to avoid, and what to use instead. It takes into account the relevance of Unicode Normalisation Form D (NFD) and Unicode Normalisation Form C (NFC). It also takes into account Unicode's Do Not Emit guidelines.
Although usage is recommended here, content authors may well be unaware of such recommendations. Therefore, applications should look out for the non-recommended approach and treat it the same as the recommended approach wherever possible.
Codepoint sequences
Combining marks always follow the based character. The anusvara and visarga always follow any vowel sign, regardless of the displayed position.
When 𑵆 is used for an -r coda, it is always encoded in the order it is pronounced. Even though the reference glyph for this character looks like a combining mark, it is actually a special kind of letter.
Numbers
Digits
Masaram Gondi has a set of native, decimal digits
𑵐,𑵑,𑵒,𑵓,𑵔,𑵕,𑵖,𑵗,𑵘,𑵙
The style of some glyphs may vary between the Maharashtra and the Madhya Pradesh regions. See page 38 of the Unicode proposal for a list.up,38
Text direction
Masaram Gondi text runs left to right in horizontal lines.
Base characters can carry multiple combining marks. Masaram Gondi requires context-sensitive shaping and positioning of glyphs. Here, we mention some examples.
Conjunct formation
Conjuncts need to change the shape of the non-final consonant letters in a cluster, removing the horizontal line to the right, and hide the virama (see clusters).
𑴫,𑵅,𑴌,𑴫𑵅𑴌
Anusvara & visarga
The positioning of 𑵀 and 𑵁 varies when vowel signs are also present. The list below shows this for the anusvara but the same applies for the visarga. Essentially, when there is no vertical line in the vowel sign, the anusvara/visarga sits above the horizontal line of the consonant, rather than to the right. When there is a vertical line, the height varies in addition to the fine horizontal placement.
𑴌𑴲𑵀,𑴌𑴳𑵀,𑴌𑴴𑵀,𑴌𑴵𑵀,𑴌𑴺𑵀,𑴌𑴽𑵀,𑴌𑵀,𑴌𑴱𑵀,𑴌𑴼𑵀,𑴌𑴿𑵀,𑴌𑴶𑵀
Pandeyup,5 says that some modern users prefer the diacritic to appear above the main body of the consonant letter, rather than alongside the vowel sign. This gives a more stationary position. This positioning should be effected by the font; the diacritic should always be encoded after the vowel sign.
Ra-repa
When the ra-repa is used to represent an -r coda, the glyph appears to the far right of the orthographic syllable (see novowel_ra). In most, but not all, cases this means extending the horizontal line to the right of the base letter to accommodate the repha.
𑵆𑴌,𑵆𑴌𑴲,𑵆𑴌𑴳,𑵆𑴌𑴴,𑵆𑴌𑴵,𑵆𑴌𑴺,𑵆𑴌𑴽,𑵆𑴌𑴱,𑵆𑴌𑴼,𑵆𑴌𑴿,𑵆𑴌𑴶
The ra-repha is typed and stored before the following syllable onset, so the font must place and shape the glyph for the end result to be correct.
𑵆,𑴌,𑴲,𑵆𑴌𑴲
Typographic units
Word boundaries
Words are separated by spaces.
Graphemes
tbd
Phrase, sentence, and section delimiters are described in phrase.
Punctuation & inline features
Phrase & section boundaries
:,.,।,॥
Masaram Gondi mostly uses ASCII punctuation, but dandas are also used. They are shared from the Devanagari Unicode block. The Unicode proposal says that other Latin punctuation is also used, including a period.up,14 A list of punctuation marks is shown on page 36 of the proposal.
phrase
,
;
:
sentence
.
?
!
other
0964
0965
The specific roles of the two dandas are not made clear.
