Updated 31 December, 2024
This page brings together basic information about the Sora Sompeng script and its use for the Sora language. It aims to provide a brief, descriptive summary of the modern, printed orthography and typographic features, and to advise how to write Sora Sompeng using Unicode.
Richard Ishida, Sora (Sora Sompeng) Orthography Notes, 31-Dec-2024, https://r12a.github.io/scripts/sora/srb
𑃦𑃨𑃙𑃤𑃝𑃦𑃔𑃨𑃠𑃖 𑃦𑃨𑃙𑃥𑃑𑃛𑃢𑃔𑃨𑃖 𑃦𑃨𑃙𑃥𑃓𑃓𑃠𑃣𑃔𑃨𑃖 𑃦𑃨𑃐𑃠𑃢𑃐𑃠𑃚𑃑𑃖 . 𑃦𑃨𑃙𑃣𑃟𑃢𑃝𑃑𑃠𑃖 𑃦𑃨𑃙𑃢𑃙𑃢𑃝𑃑𑃠𑃖 𑃦𑃨𑃙𑃢𑃕𑃖𑃖 𑃦𑃨𑃙𑃤𑃝𑃕𑃖𑃖 .. 𑃜𑃞 𑃛𑃝𑃑𑃤𑃑𑃜𑃐𑃖𑃥𑃑𑃛𑃢𑃔𑃨𑃖 𑃛𑃝𑃛𑃡𑃓𑃦𑃛𑃐𑃠𑃖𑃖 𑃐𑃠𑃤𑃚𑃖 . 𑃔𑃨𑃣𑃐𑃠𑃜𑃢𑃖𑃢𑃐 𑃐𑃖𑃒𑃥𑃔𑃨𑃔𑃨𑃠𑃐𑃑𑃖 𑃚𑃙𑃔𑃨𑃣 𑃚𑃔𑃨𑃑𑃢𑃖 𑃚𑃝𑃖 ..
Source: Aksharamukha: Script Converter
Origins of the Sora Sompeng script, 1936 – today.
An original invention.
Sora Sompeng is used to write the Sora language as an alternative to the Telugu or Oriya scripts. The Sora language is endangered, and may be spoken by 2-400,000 people, although the percentage of those who are literate, and know the Sora Sompeng orthography may be quite low.wl Sora Sompeng is used in a variety of written materials, and especially in religious contexts.ume
𑃐𑃚𑃝
Sora Sompeng was invented in 1936 by Mangei Gomango to provide the Sora language with its own script, and to support a new religious movement called Mattar Banom Damri. The letters are named after 24 gods in the Sora Pantheon.z
More information: Everson • Zide • ScriptSource
The Sora Sompeng 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 Sora Sompeng orthography.
Observation: Some people describe the script as an alphabet, but i don't find the arguments for that persuasive, based on the evidence to hand.
Sora text runs left-to-right in horizontal lines. There is no case distinction. Words are separated by spaces.
Sora represents native consonant sounds using 18 letters.
A special letter, 𑃨, can be used to represent sounds from neighbouring languages that are not assimilated into the Sora phonology.
When consonant clusters occur, there is nothing to indicate suppression of the inherent vowel, leading to some ambiguity in detecting clusters that relies on the reader's knowledge of words.
❯ basicV
Sora Sompeng is an abugida with an inherent vowel pronounced ə. 9 more vowel sounds are written using 6 independent letters. There are no combining marks, and there are no pre-base vowels or circumgraphs. There appears to be no way to indicate vowel nasalisation.
Standalone vowels are written using the same vowel letters.
Sora Sompeng has a set of native digits, designed for base-10 (rather than the base-12 used in the language). It uses ASCII punctuation marks.
The following represents the repertoire of the Sora language.
Click on the sounds to reveal locations in this document where they are mentioned.
Phones in a lighter colour are non-native or allophones. Source Zide.
labial | alveolar | post- alveolar |
retroflex | palatal | velar | glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
stop | p b | t | ɖ | k ɡ | ʔ | ||
affricate | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | ||||||
fricative | s | ||||||
nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
approximant | w | l | j | ||||
trill/flap | r | ɽ | |||||
There is no phonemic aspiration, although it may occur in dialectal pronunciations or transliterations of neigbouring languages.z
Sora is not a tonal language.
tbd
The following table summarises the main vowel to character assigments.
ⓘ represents the inherent vowel.
Simple: | |
---|---|
For additional details see vowel_mappings.
𑃟 kə U+110DF LETTER KAH
Sora Sompeng consonants carry an inherent vowel ə, so kə is written by simply using the consonant letter.
Sora Sompeng has no means of indicating a consonant that is not followed by a vowel.u This leads to ambiguity when clusters of consonant letters occur, and the reader simply has to know when to omit the inherent vowel and when not to.
Sora Sompeng has no combining marks. All vowels that follow consonants are written using one of 6 independent letters.
There are no pre-base vowels or circumgraphs.
The following letters are used to write vowels.
Three letters, 𑃤, 𑃥 and 𑃦, each represent more than one sound, though it's not made clear whether these are phonemically distinct.
e is distinguished from ɛ in writing, but there is no similar distinction between o and ɔ.
Nasalisation exists in the Sora language, but doesn't appear to be marked in the Sora Sompeng orthography.z,206
Standalone vowels are apparently written using the normal vowel letters, with no special additional mechanisms.
𑃢𑃖𑃙
This section maps Sora vowel sounds to common graphemes in the Sora Sompeng orthography.
vowel 𑃤
vowel 𑃥
vowel 𑃣
vowel 𑃦
inherent vowel eg. 𑃐𑃚𑃝
vowel 𑃧
vowel 𑃦
vowel 𑃢
The following table summarises the main consonant to character assigments.
The left column is lowercase, and the right uppercase.
Onsets | |
---|---|
For additional details see consonant_mappings.
Whereas the table just above takes you from sounds to letters, the following simply lists the basic consonant letters (however, since the orthography is highly phonetic there is little difference in ordering).
The sound ɽ is written as the digraph 𑃨𑃝.
Zide writesz,205 that sounds of Oriya or Telugu loan words tend to be adapted to fit the Sora phonology. However, he indicates that some non-native sounds can be described using 𑃨 or 𑃜. The former is used to fill gaps such as retroflexes, while the latter is used to indicate aspiration. See the examples below.
Consonant clusters can be found in the pronunciation of Sora words, but they are simply written using sequences of separate consonant lettersz,206; there are no conjunct forms or any other way of indicating the lack of intervening inherent vowels. This, of course, means that the reader has to decide whether an inherent vowel should be pronounced between adjacent consonants or not. It is not clear from the written text.
This section maps Fula vowel sounds to common graphemes in the Adlam orthography.
consonant 𑃛
consonant 𑃒
consonant 𑃑
consonant 𑃓
consonant 𑃠
consonant 𑃔
consonant 𑃟
consonant 𑃕
consonant 𑃞
consonant 𑃐
consonant 𑃖
consonant 𑃙
consonant 𑃡
consonant 𑃗
consonant 𑃚
consonant 𑃝
consonant 𑃨𑃝
consonant 𑃘
consonant 𑃜
Sora Sompeng has a set of native digits
Sora Sompeng text runs left to right in horizontal lines.
Experiment with examples using the Sora Sompeng character app.
Wancho letters don't interact, and there are no combining marks, so no special shaping or positioning is needed.
Words are separated by spaces.
Graphemes in Sora Sompeng consist of single letters. This means that text can be segmented into typographic units using grapheme clusters.
Phrase, sentence, and section delimiters are described in phrase.
Sora Sompeng uses ASCII punctuation marks. The following are mentioned in the sources.
phrase |
, ; |
---|---|
sentence |
. ! |
See type samples.
Wancho commonly uses ASCII parentheses to insert parenthetical information into text.
start | end | |
---|---|---|
standard | ( |
) |
Lines are generally broken between words.
As in almost all writing systems, certain punctuation characters should not appear at the end or the start of a line. The Unicode line-break properties help applications decide whether a character should appear at the start or end of a line.
Show line-breaking properties for characters in the modern Sora Sompeng orthography.
The following list gives examples of typical behaviours for certain characters. Context may affect the behaviour of some of these.
Click/tap on the characters to show what they are.