| Balochi Standard Alphabet |
|---|
| ا ب پ ت ٹ ج چ د ڈ ر ز ژ س ش ک گ ل م ن و ۏ ہ (ھ) ء ی ے (ݔ) |
|
Extended Perso-Arabic script |
The Balochi Standard Alphabet or Balòrabi(Arabic Scripts), Balòtin(Latin Scripts) (Balochi: بلۏچی استانداردݔن سیاھگ, romanized: Balòci Estàndàrdèn Siyàhag), also known as Balorabi, is an abjad-based writing system developed from the Arabic script, used for the Balochi language spoken in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
| Balochi Standard Alphabet بلۏچی استانداردݔن اب Balòci Estàndàrdèn Ab | |
|---|---|
 A writing in Balochi Standard alphabet | |
| Script type | Abjad |
| Languages | |
| Related scripts | |
| Parent systems | Egyptian hieroglyphs |
| This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between , / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
Alphabet
The Balochi alphabet, standardized by Balochi Academy Sarbaz, consists of 32 letters.
The Romanized version is called Balòtin, and the Arabic version is called Balòrabi.
Script Correspondence Table
| Romanization | Letter | IPA | Romanized Examples | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Medial | Initial | Isolated | |||
| A / a | ءَ/ـہ | َـ | اَ | اَ / ہَ | /a/ | Aps (horse), Apserk (cold) |
| À / à | ـا | ـا | آ | آ / ا | /ɑ/ | Àp (water), Àmàd (ready) |
| B / b | ـب | ـبـ | بـ | ب | /b/ | Bàl (wing), Bàsk (arm) |
| C / c | ـچ | ـچـ | چـ | چ | /t͡ʃ/ | Coll (channel) |
| D / d | ـد | د | /d̪/ | Dast (hand) | ||
| Ď / ď | ـڈ | ڈ | /ɖ/ | Ďòk (heavy), Ďèl (donkey), Ďæns (dance) | ||
| E / e | ءِ | ـِ | اِ | اِ / ہِ | /e/ | Ezm (art), Ezmkàr (artist),Ensàn (Human) |
| È / è | ـے | ـݔـ | ݔـ | ࢩ/ے | /ɪ/ - /eː/ | Èràn (Iran), Janèn (Woman), Bèr (revenge) |
| G / g | ـگ | ـگـ | گـ | گ | /g/ | Guhàr (sister), Gal (happy), Gall (group) |
| H / h | ـہ | ـھـ | ھـ | ھ / ہ | /h/ | Hapt (seven), Hodà (god) |
| I/i | ـی | ـیـ | ایـ | ی/ای | /i/ | Pir (old), Sir (wedding) |
| J / j | ـج | ـجـ | جـ | ج | /d͡ʒ/ | Jost (question), Jàh (place) |
| K / k | ـک | ـکـ | کـ | ک | /k/ | Kaur (river), Kam (little) |
| L / l | ـل | ـلـ | لـ | ل | /l/ | Laiť (lamp) |
| M / m | ـم | ـمـ | مـ | م | /m/ | Mam (beer), Mà (we, us), Man (I) |
| N / n | ـن | ـنـ | نـ | ن | /n/ | Nàl (Balochi promise), Nend (to Seat) |
| O / o | ءُ | ُـ | اُ | اُ/ہُ | /o/ | Poll (flower) |
| Ò / ò | ـۏ | ـۏ | اۏ | ۏ / اۏ | /ɯ/ - /oː/ | Òpàr (hope), Òdà (there) |
| P / p | ـپ | ـپـ | پـ | پ | /p/ | Pàd (foot), Pašk (shirt) |
| R / r | ـر | ر | /ɾ/ | Rang (color), Ròp (clean), Ròpag (cleaner) | ||
| S / s | ـس | ـسـ | سـ | س | /s/ | Sàng (marriage) |
| Š / š | ـش | ـشـ | شـ | ش | /ʃ/ | Šap (night) |
| T / t | ـت | ـتـ | تـ | ت | /t̪/ | Tors (fear) |
| Ť / ť | ـٹ | ـٹـ | ٹـ | ٹ | /ʈ/ | Ťulàsk (tower) |
| U / u | ـوُ | اُو | وُ/اُو | /u/ | Nuh (nine) | |
| W / w | ـو | و | /w/ | Wàd (salt) Waď (kind) | ||
| Y / y | ـی | ـیـ | یـ | ی | /j/ | Yak (one) |
| Z / z | ـز | ز | /z/ | Zend (live), Zit (soon), Zòr (power) | ||
| Ž / ž | ـژ | ژ | /ʒ/ | Žand (tired) | ||
Some digraphs in Balochi writing
Balochi also has 3 digraphs set by Balochi Academy Sarbaz in Standard Alphabets:
| Romanization | Letter of Digraphs | IPA | Romanized Examples | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Medial | Initial | Isolated | |||
| Æ / æ(Ae /ae) | ـئ | ـئـ | ئـ | ئ | /ɛ/ | Sæ (three), Æš, Pæl (action), Bænk (Bank) |
| Ai / ai | ـئی | ـئیـ | ائیـ | ئی | /ɑiː/ | Taig (yours), Mai (our), Aid (Eid) |
| Au / au | ـؤ | ـؤ | اؤ | ؤ | /ɑuː/ | Augàn(afghan), Kaur (river) |
Arabic diacritics in Balochi writing
Arabic diacritics are used in Balochi, as with other scripts derived from Arabic:
| Marks | Name | Example words | Purpose / effect | Pronouncing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| َ◌ | zabar | ڈَک، مَچ، گرَنچ، دَنز | Adding vowel | /a/ |
| ِ◌ | zèr | کِرّ، سِلّ، ھِنگ، تِچک | Adding vowel | /e/ |
| ُ◌ | pèš | پُلّ، کُرت، کُمب | Adding vowel | /o/ |
| ّ◌ | šadd | گُٹّ، پُلّ، گَلّ | Consonant gemination | |
| ٚ◌ | gowanďi | دَنٚز، کَمٚب، اَمٚب، سیاھݔنٚ | Nasal vowel | /◌̃/ |
Use of Hamza
One of the aspects that distinguishes Balochi orthography from other orthographies derived from Perso-Arabic Script is the use of stand-alone Hamza (ء), which, depending on its function within a sentence, is always written with one of three vowel diacritics. Stand-alone Hamza without diacritic is also used similar to other Perso-Arabic Scripts, to indicated glottal stop at end of words
The use of Hamza in such a way was first used in Balochi by poet Husayn Anqa, and officially adopted into Balochi as a result of decisions made in a convention in Karachi, Pakistan on 22 July 1959, attended by prominent Balochi poets and literaturists.
Below are the forms that stand-alone Hamza is used:
| Form | Diacritic | Example words | Purpose / effect | Pronouncing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ء | None | Adding glottal stop to end of word | /ʔ/ | |
| ءَ | zabar | منءَ اۏشتون (I will stand ) کلمءَ گُش ایت (the pen will say) |
Accusative, Dative, Oblique | /a/ |
| ءِ | zèr | شپءِ نݔم (Midnight) | Genitive (Possession) | /e/ |
| ءُ | pèš | من ءُ تؤ (I and you) | and | /o/ |
Balochi Numbers
| Number | Balochi | Number Name |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | ۰ | ھِچ |
| 1 | ۱ | یَک |
| 2 | ۲ | دوٚ |
| 3 | ۳ | سئ |
| 4 | ۴ | چار |
| 5 | ۵ | پَنچ |
| 6 | ۶ | شَش |
| 7 | ۷ | ھَپت |
| 8 | ۸ | ھَشت |
| 9 | ۹ | نُھ |
Notes
Some dialects of Balochi very infrequently use the voiced retroflex flap, meaning ڑ. Due to its immense rarity in Balochi, most orthographies of the language leave out glyphs for the phoneme. When written however, it is usually represented with ر.
This alphabet uses two completely separate and new glyphs to represent the long close front unrounded vowel (/iː/). For the initial and medial forms, ݔ is used. This glyph is based on the initial/medial form of the Perso-Arabic "Ye":
(یـ/ـیـ), the difference being the dot above it. Meanwhile, for the final form, ے is used, which is also based on ی and is called "Bari ye"; it is from Urdu. Sometimes there is خ, meaning /x/.
Vowels
in standard alphabets have 11 vowels,
| Balòrabi | Balòtin | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| ◌َ ـَ اَ | Aa | /a/ |
| آ ـا ئا | Àà | /ɑ/ |
| ◌ِ اِ ـِ | Ee | /e/ |
| ݔ ـݔ ـے ے ࢩ | Èè | /ɪ/ |
| ای ـی | Ii | /i/ |
| ◌ُ ـُ اُ | Oo | /o/ |
| ۏ ـۏ | Òò | /ɯ/ |
| او ـو | Uu | /u/ |
| ائ ـئ ئ | Ææ - Ae | /ɛ/ |
| ائی ـئی ـئی | AI ai | /ɑiː/ |
| اؤ ـؤ ؤ | AU au | /ɑuː/ |
The difference in writing between old Balochi and standard Balochi
In standardized Balochi, letters from old Balochi have been removed and some new letters have been added, The added letters are:
- ݔ Cappi Yà or Arabic yā letter with a dot on it, which is the same at the beginning and middle of the word, and at the end of the word, the letter ے is used only, which existed in old Balochi.
- ۏ Cappi Wà or Wāw letter with a dot added on it
And also in standard Balochi, the letter ڑ is merged with the letter ڈ
In the table below, you can see the difference between old and standard writing:
| English | Balòrabi | Ballàtin | Old style |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baloch | بلۏچ | Balòc | بلوچ |
| Revenge | بݔر | Bèr | بیر |
| Thunder | بیر | Bir | بیر |
| Balochistan | بلۏچستان | Balòcestàn | بلوچستان |
| You | تؤ | Tau | تو |
| Rain | ھؤر | Haur | ھور |
| With together | ھۏر | Hòr | ھور |
| nymph | ھور | Hur | ھور |
| Attack | بیڈ | Biď | بیڑ |
"ݔ" Letter using
Cappi Yà (ݔ ے ࢩ) is one of the standard letters of the Balochi language, which was added to the standard Balochi alphabets by the Balochi Academy Sarbaz. In the old Balochi alphabet, this letter is given as یْ, but in some others, it is also given as ڃ and یٚ.
References
- "Balochi Standarded Alphabet". BalochiAcademy.ir. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
"Balochi for beginners". www.thelanguagebarracks.org. Retrieved 21 January 2024. - "[Aesà] Special characters in Balochi Standard Alphabets". BalochiAcademy.ir. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
- "الفبای زبان بلوچی".
- Spooner, Brian (1999). " Standardization and Orthography in the Balochi Language , Carina Jahani, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studia Iranica Upsaliensia 1, Uppsala, 1989, 286 pp., ISBN 91-554-2487-2, ISSN 1100-326X". Iranian Studies. 32: 158–160. doi:10.1017/S0021086200005879.
- "Balochi Alphabets by Ayoub Ayoubi". ayoob673.blogfa.com. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
