Brahmic Scripts

The Korean alphabet (apart from being a relatively simple and logical alphabet, and a picturesque one) exercises a fascination because it is clear that, whatever the approved or official history of the alphabet, this alphabet was definitely influenced by the Devanagari alphabet (with touches of other related Indian alphabets like Brahmi). I will try to demonstrate this point in this article.

Page 1. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens / Vienna Journal of South Asian Studies, Bd. XLVIII/2004, 81-109 © 2005 by Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien Jost Gippert A Glimpse into the Buddhist Past of the Maldives I. An Early Prakrit Inscription* ...

The Burmese Tamarind script is used to write Pali texts for liturgical purposes. This is a study of the script, its characters and most common ligatures along with a Brahmic primer, a word-by-word textual analysis and a comparison with related Brahmic scripts.

A 6th century Mongolian inscriptions written in Brahmi script is newly discovered in Mongolia. The phonological features are: *p- initial consonant and *-p- middle consonant, which reaffirms the historical phonological law of Mongolian language constructed by Ramstedt. Based on this, the Mongolian vocabulary of Tuoba Xianbei and Rouran is restored. Then it is determined that the primitive Mongolian «writing » *biti- is the first writing behavior in the history of nomadic nomadic history, and they first writing they learnt is Chinese script. Before that, the nomadic world had only the Turkic-Mongolian cognate *yïr- ~ *ǰiru-, which was the tradition of the Huns of "carved bone wood". Today, only the Mongolian dialect Tu (Monguor) of Qinghai  still uses *ǰiru-"scribe", resisting the trend of *biti- ~ *biči- writing. Finally, study the underlying vocabulary of the Tu language (Monguor), compare the history of Tuyuhun, and explore the potential relationship between the these two.
蒙古國新發現六世紀婆羅米字原始蒙古語碑文，其音韻特色：*p- 首輔音與 *-p- 中間輔音，重新肯定藍司鐵 (Ramstedt) 構擬的蒙古語歷史音韻規律。以此為基礎，還原拓跋鮮卑與柔然的蒙古語詞匯。繼而考訂原始蒙古語“寫”*biti- 是遊牧史上最先的書寫行為，寫的是漢字：*biti- 是漢語“筆”，引意筆寫。在此之前，遊牧世界只有突厥－蒙古同源詞 *yïr- ~ *ǰiru-，是匈奴人“刻骨契木”的傳統。今日，蒙古方言只有青海的土族語 (Monguor) 仍然使用 *ǰiru-“劃寫”，抵制了 *biti- ~ *biči- 筆寫潮流。最後，研究土族語的底層詞彙，對比吐谷渾的歷史，探索兩者之間的潛在關係。

Коряков Ю.Б. Письменности новых индоарийских языков // Языки мира: Новые индоарийские языки / РАН. Институт языкознания. Ред. колл.: Т.И. Оранская, Ю.В. Мазурова, А.А. Кибрик, Л.И. Куликов, А.Ю. Русаков. ― М.: Academia, 2011. – С. 819-850.

This article emphasis on evaluating the idea of Emperor Aśoka especially from Pillar Edict Seven. The comparison is made on the basis of the context, ideas and emotions that are depicted on the pillar. An emphasis is also made on comparing the edict line by line in order to understand different dimensions plotted by the Emperor depending on situation, place and society. It is very clear that inscriptions of Aśoka play a vital role in illuminating ancient history. This paper is primary aimed to provide a concise but comprehensive manner of understanding about the ideas of Emperor Aśoka in erecting pillar edict seven. Nevertheless, this paper is supposed to be a descriptive analysis and also my own understanding of pillar edict seven.

The three Bhaikshuki inscriptions was brought to the notice of the Epigraphy Branch, ASI, Mysore by Excavation Branch III, Patna.  Two are  from Uren in Lakhisari district, Bihar and one is from the adjoining village of Manjhiyavan. They are in Bhaikshuki script, datable variously between 9th-10th century A.D.  and Pali language. So far only twelve inscriptions, engraved in this script are found and thus the present discovery forms a valuable addition to the corpus of Bhaikshuki inscriptions, making a total of 15.

Although the debates on the origins and use of Sanskrit language, which is considered to be the ancestor of the Indian European language family, continue today, it is quite clear that it has a unique place in terms of its religious language and geography. This language, thought to be born in Indian lands, was extended not only to India but also to the Caspian Sea and the Middle East. In the period of the 4th to the 6th centuries, when the Greeks of the Sanskrit texts, which had remained in India for some time, had used the Sanskrit language, which is the language of Indian society. In this period, especially the inscription was written in Sanskirt Brahmi alphabet as the numismatic language. Ak Huns also adopted the language and writing system. In our study, general information about alphabets in which Sanskrit language and Sanskrit language is written will be given and examples will be given to prove that Huns use this language.

Yazım bakımından bazı eksiklikleri olan alfabelerle kaleme alınmış metinlerden oluşan Eski Türkçede, ilk hecedeki yuvarlak ünlülerin darlık ve genişlik bakımından tespiti ciddi bir sorun olarak karşımızda durmaktadır. Bu problemi çözerken Eski Türkçenin kaynakları tek başına yeterli olmamaktadır. Daha önce karşılaştırmalı ve tarihî Türk dil biliminin tespit ettiği, kimi zaman değinip geçtiği, kimi zaman da kısmî çözüm önerilerinde bulunduğu sorun; günümüz Türk dillerinin ışığında değerlendirilebilir. Günümüz Türk dillerinin kökenleri aynı olmasına rağmen, ilk hecedeki yuvarlak ünlülerin genişlik ve darlıklarının farklılık gösterdikleri bilinmektedir. Eski Türkçe bo:ḏ ≈ Tatar Türkçesi buy ≈ Başkurt Türkçesi buy “boy” örneklerinden yola çıkılarak Eski Türk yazı sistemleri ile ilk hecedeki yuvarlak ünlüleri nasıl okuyacağımız hakkında bir sonuca varılabilir. Bunun için Clauson’un Etymological Dictionary of Pre–Thirteenth Century Turkish adlı etimolojik sözlüğündeki ilk hecesinde dar ve yuvarlak ünlüler bulunduran köl~kül, töl~tül gibi sözcükler toplanmalı, Eski Türkçe ile Tatar ve Başkurt Türkçeleri arasındaki o > u ve ö > ü (ilk hecede yuvarlak ünlünün daralması); u > o ve ü > ö (ilk hecede yuvarlak ünlünün genişlemesi) özellikleri dikkate alınarak karşılaştırılmalıdır. Bunun yanında Brāhmī harfli metinler, ilk hecedeki yuvarlak ünlülerin darlık ve genişlik niteliğini belirlerken başvuru aracımız olabilir. Brāhmī yazısında o/u ünlüleri bulunmaktaydı ve ö/ü ünlüleri sistemi Uygurcaya uyarlayanlar tarafından ya,yo, yu hecelerinden faydalanılarak eklenmişti. Bu durumda Uygur ve Mani harfleriyle yazılan bir metinde sözbaşında ve ilk hecede bu sesler w+ya/yo/yu biçiminde gösterilmek zorundadır. Öyleyse yukarıda Tatar ve Başkurt Türkçesinde görülen daralma ve genişleme ses olaylarının düzenliliği hakkında bir fikir edinilebilir ve bu şekilde elde edilecek sistematik değişimler ışığında ilk hecedeki yuvarlak ünlüler hakkında çözüm önerisi sunulabilir.

This paper brings together all available evidence for literacy in Post-Harappan India, still popularly known as Iron age Vedic India, most of which have been endorsed by mainstream researchers in some way or the other in the recent past and brings into attention the need to revise all earlier models dealing with literacy in Post-Harappan India to bring them in line with latest acculturation models and mainstream models of the development of alphabetic scripts. More importantly we refute the thesis that the Archaemenids introduced the alphabetic script into India. This theory has always been controversial and has been challenged by several mainstream researchers, both Western and Indian, for several decades. It is hopelessly antiquated now and a complete non-starter when all recent evidence and data is taken into account and no mainstream researcher will even be able to consider such a theory in view of the evidence, reasoning, logic and views of other scholars presented in the paper. The theory that Brahmi was a derivative of the earlier Aramaic script has been somewhat more popular, though still controversial, and we refute this theory as well. We also explain why updating theories based on latest research can have a bearing on research on alphabetic systems in general. All conclusions reached in this paper are presented using a figure-it-out-for-yourself approach and only the views of mainstream researchers are presented. Readers are strongly advised to exercise their own judgment as usual.

Středoasijský Turkestán je lingvisticky rozmanitým regionem – jazyková rozmanitost není jen současným fenoménem, složitou jazykovou situaci známe již z předislámského období, zejména pak z oblasti Turfánské oasy a Tarimské pánve v Čínském Turkestánu (Sin-ťiangu). Dějiny Střední Asie úzce souvisejí s Hedvábnou stezkou, která vedla z Číny přes Sin-ťiang do Samarkandu, centra Sogdiany, a odtud dále do Persie a do Evropy. Na Hedvábné stezce se setkáváme s řadou jazyků a dialektů – s jazyky íránskými, turkickými, indoárskými či sinotibetskými a dalšími; v těchto jazycích byly zapsáno množství textů tří různých náboženství – buddhismu, manicheismu a křesťanství. S písemnou kulturou souvisí rozmanitost písem, která se v dané oblasti používala. Manicheismus a křesťanství s sebou přinesly své vlastní abecedy (manichejskou a syrskou). Podobně i buddhismus spolu se sanskrtskou literaturou přináší vlastní písmo – bráhmí, v případě buddhistických literárních památek není toto písmo jediným užívaným grafickým systémem. Bráhmí přejali mluvčí tocharských dialektů a íránskojazyční Sakové, částečně pak i staří Ujghuři. Druhým písmem používaným pro zápis buddhistických textů bylo písmo sogdské – varianta aramejské abecedy vytvořená primárně pro sogdský jazyk. Sogdština sloužila jako lingua franca Hedvábné stezky – spolu se sogdštinou jako jazyka obchodu se rozšířila i sogdská abecedy, kterou převzali zejména staří Ujghuři, od nich se pak tato abeceda dostala k Mongolům, kteří ji dále upravili pro svůj jazyk. Ačkoliv sogdština i její písmo prakticky nepřežily nástup islámu a následně vliv perštiny, přesto sogdské písmo nezaniklo úplně a jeho mongolská varianta je užívána dodnes. Rozmanitost písem používaných v předislámské Střední Asii je pozoruhodným pramenem pro hlubší poznání jednotlivých jazyků regionu – řada grafických systémů neposkytuje plnohodnotné informace o fonologii jednotlivých jazyků, srovnáním různých zápisů však zpřesňuje nejen naši znalost fonologie těchto jazyků, ale i limity fonetické representace jednotlivých grafémů. Zvláštním případem pak může být snaha o zápis čínštiny sogdským písmem, kdy se dozvídáme více o podobě středověké čínštiny v oblasti sousedící právě s Východním Turkestánem.