IV. SCRIPT AND SPELLING:

Introduction to graphemes

1. Number of graphemes:

The Assamese graphemes are divided into two sets - one is called A- (Þ) phala, consisting of the vowels and the other is called the K-phala, consisting the consonants.

The total number of graphemes in the Assamese Script is 52. Out of these 11 are vowels and rest 41 are consonants.

2. The Consonants of the Assamese Script are given below:

Sl.	Grapheme	Pronunciation	Sl.	Grapheme	Pronunciation
No.			No
1	ক	k	22	ফ	ph
2	খ	kh	23	ব	b
3	গ	g	24	ভ	bh
4	ঘ	gh	25	ম	m
5	ঙ	ŋ	26	য়	z
6	চ	s	27	ৰ	r
7	ছ	s	28	ল	l
8	জ	z	29	ৱ	v
9	ঝ	z	30	শ	x
10	ঞ	ñ (niyo)	31	ষ	x
11	ট্	t	32	স	x
12	ঠ	th	33	হ	h
13	ড	d	34	ক্ষ্	kkh
14	ঢ	dh	35	ড	r
15	ণ	n	36	ঢ	כrh
16	ত	t	37	য়	y
17	থ	th	38	d	t
18	দ	d	39	+ ++ +	ŋ
19	ধ	dh	40	ঃ	כh
20		n	41	ঁ	Chandravindu
21	প	P

There are 11 Vowels in the Assamese Script. They are given below-

Sl.No.	Grapheme	Pronunciation
1	অ	כ
2	আ	a
3	+	i
4	ঈ	i
5	উ	u
6	ঊ	u
7	ঋ	ri
8	এ	e
9	ঐ	oi
10	ও	o
11	ঔ	ou

But of 11 vowels, there are two diphthongs ঐ (oi) and ঔ (ou)

Consonants clusters:

According to Dr. G.C. Goswami the number of two phoneme clusters is 143 symbolized by 174 conjunct letters. Three

phoneme clusters are 21 in number, which are written by 27 conjunct clusters. A few of them are given below as examples.

1.	ক	 +	 ক 	 = 	(ka+ka)		= 	ক্ক	kka
2.	ঙ 	 + 	 ক 	 = 	(na+ka)		= 	ঙ্ক 	ńka
3.	ল 	 + 	 ক 	 =	(la+ka)		=	ল্ক 	lka
4.	ষ	 + 	 ক 	 = 	(şa+ka)		= 	স্ক 	şka
5.	স 	 +	 ফ 	 = 	(sa+pha) 	=	স্ফ 	spha
6.	ঙ 	 + 	 খ 	 = 	(ña+kh)  	= 	ঙ্খ 	ñkha
7.	স 	 +	 খ	 = 	(sa+kh)		= 	স্খ 	skha
8.	ঙ 	 + 	 গ 	 =	(ńa+ga) 	= 	ঙ্গ	ńga
9.	ল	 +	 গ 	 = 	(la+ga)		=  	“	lga
10.	ঙ 	 + 	 ঘ 	 = 	(ń+gha) 	=	ঙঘ	 ńgha
11.	দ	 +	 ঘ 	 =	(da+gha) 	= 	দঘ 	dgha
12.	ঞ 	 +	 $Jô	 = 	(ña+ca) 	= 	ঞ্চ	ñca 
13.	শ 	 + 	 চ 	 =	(śa+ca)		= 	শ্চ 	śca
14.	চ	 + 	 চ্হ 	 =	(ca+cha)  	=	চ্ছ  	ccha
15.	ঞ 	 +	 চ্হ 	 =	(ña+cha)	=	ঞ্ছ 	ñcha
16.	ঞ	 +	 জ 	 =	(ña+ja) 	= 	ঞ্জ 	ñja
17.	জ 	 + 	 ঞ	 =	(ja+ña)		= 	জ্ঞ 	jña 
18.	ল 	 +	 ট্	 =	(la+ţa) 	= 	ল্  	lţa
19.	ষ 	 +	 ট্ 	 =	(şa+ţa) 	= 	rô 	şta
20.	ণ	 +	 ঠ	 =	(ņ+tḥa) 	=	ণ্ঠ   	ņtha
21.	ষ 	 +	 ঠ 	 =	(şa+tḥa) 	= 	ষ্ঠ 	ştha
22. 	ণ 	 +	 ড	 =	(ņa+ḍa)		= 	ণ্ড	ņḍa
23. 	ষ 	 +	 ণ 	 =	(şa+ņa)		=	ষ্ণ 	şņa
24.	হ 	 +	 ন	 =	(ha+na)  	= 	হ 	hna
25. 	ক	 +	 ষ	 =	(ka+ņa)		= 	ক্ষ	kņa
26. 	X	 + 	 ত 	 = 	(na+ta) 	= 	ন্ত 	nta 
27.	প 	 +	 ত 	 =	(pa+ta) 	=	প্ত	pta
28.	স 	 +	 ত 	 = 	(sa+ta) 	= 	স্ত  	sta
29.	ক 	 +	 ত	 = 	(ka+ta)		= 	ক্ত  	kta
30.	গ	 + 	Wý 	 = 	(ga+dha) 	=  	গ্ধ 	gdha  
31. 	X 	 +	 Wý 	 = 	(na+dha) 	= 	ন্ধ  	ndha
32.  	ব 	 + 	Wý 	 = 	(ba+dha) 	=  	ব্ধ 	bdha
33.  	গ 	 + 	 ন 	 =	(gha+na)	=	ঘ্ন  	ghna
34.  	ত 	 + 	X 	 =	(ta+na) 	=	ত্ন 	tna
35.  	ম 	 + 	 ন 	 = 	(ma+na) 	=	ম্ন 	mna
36.  	শ 	 +	 ন	 = 	(śa+na)		=  	শ্ন	śna
37.  	স 	 + 	 ন 	 =	(sa+na) 	=	স্ন  	sna
38. 	হ 	 +	 ন 	 =	(ha+na) 	= 	হ 	hna
39.  	ত 	 + 	 থ 	 = 	(ta+tha)  	= 	ত্থ  	ttha
40. 	ন 	 +	 থ 	 =	(na+tha) 	= 	ন্থ  	ntha
41. 	ষ 	 + 	 থ 	 =	(şa+tha)  	=	 ষ্থ 	ştha
42. 	ন 	 + 	 দ	 = 	(na+da) 	= 	ন্দ  	nda
43.  	ব 	 + 	 দ 	 =	(ba+da)  	= 	ব্দ  	bda
44.  	ম 	 + 	 প 	 = 	(ma+pa)	  	=  	ম্প 	mpa
45. 	ল 	 + 	 প 	 =	(la+pa) 	= 	ল্প 	lpa
46.	ষ	 + 	 প 	 = 	(şa+pa) 	=	ষ্প	şpa
47. 	স 	 +	 প 	 =	(sa+pa) 	= 	স্প  	spa
48.  	ম	 +	 ফ 	 = 	(ma+pha) 	= 	ম্ফ 	mpha
49. 	ষ 	 +	 ফ	 = 	(şa+pha)  	=   	স্ফ  	şpha 
50.  	দ	 +	 ব 	 =	(da+ba) 	= 	দ্ব 	dba 
51.  	ম  	 +	 ব	 =	(ma+ba)	 	=	ম্ব  	mba
52. 	হ 	 + 	 ব 	 = 	(ha+ba) 	= 	হ্ব 	hba
53.  	দ 	 +	 ভ 	 = 	(da+bha)  	= 	দ্ভ  	dbha
54.  	ম 	 +	 ভ 	 = 	(ma+bha)	=	ম্ভ  	mbha
55.	ক 	 +	 ম 	 =	(ka+ma)		= 	ক্ম  	kma
56. 	দ 	 +	 ম	 = 	(da+ma) 	= 	দ্ম  	dma
57.  	হ 	 +	 ম  	 = 	(ha+ma) 	=  	হ্ম 	hma
58.  	ম 	 + 	 ম 	 =	(ma+ma)	 	= 	ম্ম 	mma

The Assamese script has three graphemes- ৰ (ra) ড( (dra) and ঢ( (dhara) denoting more or less the same sound ৰ (ra). Likewise, there are three graphemes for three sibilants শ , ষ and স (śa, ṣa and sa) which are retained in written form but all are pronounced with the same sound স (x) in most environments.

3. Directions for writing such grapheme:

	        The graphemes of the Assamese language are written from left to right as illustrated below- 


				1	2	3
1 . 	
                       (a)  Ɔ 



2.

                                                             (ā) a 

  



3.
                                     
                       (i) 

   





4. 
                               (ī ) 






5.
                   (u)





   6.           	                           (ū)   





   7. 
                                        (ri)
 




8.
                                        (e)  





9 .
                              (oi) 
 


10 .

                      (o)   




11 .
                   (ou) 

D. History of the Script:

There are two theories regarding the origin of the Assamese script. According to the first theory, the Assamese script originated from the kutila script, which was current in the whole of North India during the period of 4th century A.D to 9th century A.D, while the second theory proposes that the Assamese script originated not from the Kutila script but from the Eastern variety of Gupta Brahmi Script, current since the 4th century A.D. As one finds, the specimen of written old Assamese alike Kamrupia script in the inscription of Vasundhara Varman dated 4th century A.D, the Assamese script can logically originate from the Gupta Brahmi script only.

There are three distinct stages in the development of Assamese script-

a) The Kamrupia Script (from 4th Century A.D to 12th Century A.D)

b) The old Assamese Script (from 12th Century A.D to 19th Century A.D)

c) The modern Assamese Script (from 19th Century AD to the present)

The following chart beautifully illustrates the various stages of the development of the Assamese Script (pg. 9).

3. Script Reform/Revival:

With the advent of the printing machine during the colonial era, the Assamese Script also changed radically. These changes were effected, following the lead of the Bengali printing script, which were used in printing of the Bible and other religious writings. The Christian Missionaries played a prominent role in bringing about the changes in the Modern Assamese Script.

In the early stage of the Assamese Script (Kamarupia Script), mainly found in the inscriptions, there are some punctuation marks like single vertical line (1), double vertical lines (11), single star (*), two single vertical line with a star in the middle position (1*1), double vertical lines with a single star in the middle position (11*11) etc. In the medieval period, some more punctuation marks were used, mainly in the writings of Sachipat (Aquilaria aggalocha) and Julapat (Hand made paper). The new punctuation marks are double circle (:), double vertical (11) and horizontal lines (=). In some manuscripts formatted, single or double vertical lines were also used (< <<). In the modern period, the English punctuation marks are invariably used. Those punctuation marks are comma (,), Semi-colon (;), note of interrogation (?), note of exclamation (!), colon (:), dash (-), inverted comma (“-“), hyphen (-), upper comma (‘), brackets (-), {-}), cross and double cross sign (+, + +), and mark of ellipsis (* **).

Like other scripts of India, the Assamese Script has also ten basic numeral symbols. These are Zero ( 0 ), One ( 1 ), two ( 2 ), three (3), four (4), five (5), six (6), seven (7), eight (8), and nine (9 ) To denote 10 Zero is placed in the right side of one ( 10 ). In the same way zero (0) is placed in the right side of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 to denote twenty ( 20 ), thirty (30 ), forty (40), fifty (50), sixty (60), seventy (70), eighty (80) and ninety (90), respectively.

a)  Vowels:  	অ  আ    ম্প  ঈ 
     		  উ    ঊ    ঋ 
         		   এ   ঐ   ও   ঔ

  
b)	The Consonants: 
			ক খ গ ঘ ঙ  
			চ চ্হ জ ঝ ঞ
			ট্   ঠ ড  ঢ ণ
			ত থ দ  ধ ন
			প ফ ব ভ ম
			য ৰ ল ৱ
			শ ষ স হ
			ত্্ ং ঃ   ঁ

H) Calligraphy:

Calligraphic representation of the Assamese script was moderately popular during the Ahom period when the Ahom Monarchs patronized the calligraphers. However, calligraphy began to loose the popularity with the passage of time, although commercial artists are still practicing the art to some extent.

J) Research on Script/ Orthography:

Research activities on the Assamese script have been going on since 1904, when Bhuler discussed about the Eastern India Script in his monumental work, 'India Paleography'. Pandit Hemchandra Goswami’s work ‘Descriptive Catalogue of Assamese Manuscripts’ (1930) is another epoch - making work on the Assamese script. Late S. Kataki was the first scholar to systematically analyze and discuss the origin and development of the Assamese Script in his book 'Asamiya Pracin Lipi' (1935) (Ancient Assamese Script). Famous critic D. Neog also thoroughly discussed the origin and development of the Assamese script in his monograph- ‘New light on Development of Asamiya Script’ (1964). After him, Dr.M.Neog made another very important contribution in his article entitled “Origin and Development of Eastern Indian Script”. Famous palaeographist Dr.T.D.Verma was the first to start the systematic study of Ancient Assamese Script upto 12th Century A.D. His book ‘Development of Script in Ancient Kamarupa’ (1976) is a major stepping stone in the research of Eastern Indian Script. In 1981, Dr.M.Bora published a remarkable work on the Assamese Script entitled ‘The Evolution of Assamese Script’ in which he discussed the development of Assamese script in a new light. 'Viswa Lipir Bhumika' (1973) by Dr.N.Das and “Asamiya Lipi” by Dr.U.N.Goswami are two notable works written in Assamese on the subject.

The first study on Assamese orthography was made by Barua Hemchandra in his grammar 'Asamiya Vyakaran' (1859) and the dictionary 'Hemkosh'(1900). The scientific study of Assamese orthography reached its zenith in Dr.B.K.Kakati’s 'Assamese, Its Formation and Development' (1941). Dr.G.C. Goswami’s 'Structure of Assamese' (1983) is another significant work on Assamese language.