The Balinese script, (Balinese: ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬩᬮᬶ, , ) also known as hanacaraka (), is an abugida used in the island of Bali, Indonesia, commonly for writing the Austronesian Balinese language, Old Javanese, Malay and the liturgical language Sanskrit. With some modifications, the script is also used to write the Sasak language, used in the neighboring island of Lombok. In the present day it is also sometimes used to write the national language Indonesian.
The script is a descendant of the Brahmi script, and so has many similarities with the modern scripts of South and Southeast Asia. The Balinese script, along with the Javanese script, is considered the most elaborate and ornate among Brahmic scripts of Southeast Asia.Kuipers, Joel (2003). Indic Scripts of Insular Southeast Asia: Changing Structures and Functions . Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Though everyday use of the script has largely been supplanted by the Latin alphabet, the Balinese script has a significant prevalence in many of the island's traditional ceremonies and is strongly associated with the Hindu religion. The script is mainly used today for copying or palm leaf manuscripts containing religious texts.Fox, Richard (2013). Rival Styles of Writing, Rival Styles of Practical Reasoning. Heidelberg: Institut für Ehtnologie.
Earliest record
Belanjong pillar The Belanjong pillar, also Blanjong pillar or Blanjong inscription (, ), is a pillar established in 914 CE in the harbour of Belanjong, in the southern area of Sanur in Bali. This is the earliest evidence of Balinese literary script and language.
Language-script and Date The inscription is written in both the Indian Sanskrit language and Old Balinese language, using two scripts, the Nagari script and the Old Balinese script (which is used to write both Balinese and Sanskrit).Haer, p. 275 The Old Balinese in pre-Nagari script is on one side of the pillar, while the Sanskrit inscription in Pallava-derived old Javanese script (also called Kawi script)A short history of Bali by Robert Pringle p. 46 is on the other side.The people of Bali Angela Hobart p. 141
The pillar is dated according to the Indian Shaka era, on the seventh day of the waxing half ('saptāmyāṁ sita') of the month Phalguna of the Śaka year 835, which corresponds to 4 February 914 CE as calculated by Louis-Charles Damais.Louis-Charles Damais (1947) Études balinaises: I. La colonnette de Sanur p. 127Louis-Charles Damais (1959) "Ouvrages d'Études Indonésiennes", Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 49, 2, pp. 685-686.
Characteristics There are 47 letters in the Balinese script, each representing a syllable with inherent vowel or at the end of a sentence, which changes depending on the diacritics around the letter. Pure Balinese can be written with 18 consonant letters and 9 vowel letters, while Sanskrit transliteration or loan words from Sanskrit and Old Javanese utilizes the full set. A set of modified letters are also used for writing the Sasak language. Each consonant has a conjunct form called gantungan which nullifies the inherent vowel of the previous syllable.
Punctuation includes a comma, period, colon, as well as marks to introduce and end section of a text. Musical notation uses letter-like symbols and diacritical marks in order to indicate pitch information. Text are written left to right without word boundaries (Scriptio continua).
There is also a set of "holy letters" called which appears in religious texts and protective talismans. Most of them are constructed using diacritic with corresponding characters. A number of additional characters, known to be used inline in text (as opposed to decoratively on drawings), remains under study and those characters are expected to be proposed as Balinese extensions in due course.
Letters A basic letter in Balinese is called (), and each letter stands for a syllable with inherent vowel /a/.
Consonants Consonants are called () or (). Balinese script has 33 consonants, of which only 18 called () are used for writing basic vocabulary in Balinese language. The other 15, known as (), are mainly used for writing Sanskrit and Kawi loanwords in Balinese language. The consonants can be arranged into Sanskrit order and traditional order.
+ Consonants (aksara wianjana)UnvoicedVoicedNasalSemivowelSibilantFricative Unaspirated Aspirated Unaspirated Aspirated Velar Palatal Retroflex Dental Labial
traditional order The modern Balinese languages does not make use of the whole inventory of consonants inherited from Sanskrit. The 18 consonants used in Balinese () are traditionally arranged following the Javanese sequence, in which 20 letters form a four-line pangram narrating the myth of Aji Saka. The remaining consonants () are used in Sanskrit transcription.
+ Hana caraka
Consonant clusters As in other members of the Brahmic family, consonant clusters are written cursively, by combining a consonant, an appended letter () or attached letter (). For example, , a appended with is pronounced [nda]. Each consonant letter has a corresponding or .
A consonant may be marked with both a or and a vowel diacritic (), but attaching two or more to one letter is forbidden. When three consonants occur together, vowel-killer () may be used in the middle of a word. For example, in the word , the consonant cluster mbl is spelled .Tinggen, p. 27
For a few letters, , , and adding a or also eliminates the letter's inherent vowel .
Vowels Vowels, called () or (), can be written as independent letters when vowels appear in initial position.
Diacritics
Diacritics () are symbols that cannot stand by themselves. When they are attached to independent letters, they affect the pronunciation. The three types of diacritics are , , and .
Vowel diacritics Vowel diacritics () change the inherent vowel of a consonant letter. For example, the letter plus becomes .
+ Vowel diacritics and examples with .
(), except , adds a final consonant to a syllable. It can be used together with . For example, the letter () with () becomes (); () with () and () becomes (). Compared to Devanagari, is analogous to visarga, to anusvara, and to virama.
is zero vowel diacritics as in other Brahmic scripts in Balinese script. , as virama in Devanagari, suppress the inherent vowel in the consonant letter. is used on impossibility of gantungan and gempelan usage such as succeeded by punctuation marks, attachment of two or more gantungan to one letter (, lit. three layers), preservation of combination (, rather than ) and disambiguation.
Balinese script IPA Translit. Name [h] h [r] r [ŋ] ng [∅]
() is appended below consonant letters. are the appended () forms of the (semivowel) consonants. is the appended form of the vowel ().
Balinese script IPA Translit. Name [ra] ra [rə] rě [ʋa] ua [ja] ia
Numerals
Balinese numerals are written in the same manner as Arabic numerals. For example, 25 is written with the Balinese numbers 2 and 5.
If the number is written in the middle of a text, carik has to be written before and after the number to differentiate it from the text. Below is an example of how a date is written using Balinese numerals (date: 1 July 1982, location: Bali):
Balinese scriptTransliteration Bali, 1 Juli 1982.
Other symbols There are some special symbols in the Balinese script. Some of them are punctuation marks, and the others are religious symbols. The symbols are described in the following list:
Symbol Symbol Name Remarks Written in the middle of a sentence, like a comma (,). Also, written surrounding numerals to differentiate them from the text. Written at the end of a sentence, like a full stop (.). Functions like a colon (:). Used at the end of a prose, letter, or verse. or Used at the beginning of a prose, letter, or verse. Used at the beginning of religious texts. This symbol is a ligature of the letters , , , and , forming the word , which roughly means "praying for safety". Sacred symbol of Hinduism. This symbol is pronounced "Ong" or "Om".
Orthography
Balinese language
Loanword from Sanskrit and Old Javanese Balinese have many loanwords from Sanskrit and Old Javanese. In general, the Balinese orthography in Balinese script preserve the original orthography. The preservation of original orthography result on several rules: assimilation rule, which based on articulation rule (Kalvi / Shiksha), () rule, which the word is spelled based on the source, () rule, which several words has doubled consonant.
Assimilation Assimilation in Balinese occurs within the conjuncts/consonant clusters. Balinese script represents assimilation occurred, however Latin script sometimes may not represent this. In general, alveolar consonants are assimilated into palatal, retroflex or labial. There are more specific descriptions in assimilation combination: [n] assimilated into [ɲ] if succeeded by palatal consonants, such as consonant cluster nc and nj . For example, word is written as (), not written as (). [s] assimilated into [ɕ] if succeeded by palatal consonants, such as consonant cluster sc . For example, word is written as (), not written as (). [d] assimilated into [dʒ] if succeeded by palatal consonants, such as consonant cluster dny . For example, word is written as (), not written as (). [n] assimilated into [ɳ] if preceded by retroflex consonants, such as consonant cluster rn . For example, word is written as (), not written as (). [s] assimilated into [ʂ] if succeeded by retroflex consonants, such as consonant cluster st (ṣṭ) and sn (ṣṇ) . For example, word (, lie) is written as (), not written as (). [n] assimilated into [m] if succeeded by labial consonants. For example, word is written as (), not written as ().
Liquid Consonant-Schwa Combination Liquid consonant, [r] and [l], may not be combined with (pepet, schwa) [ə] as and . These combination, rě [rə] and lě [lə], should be written as (re repa) and (le lenga). Word kěrěng (lit. eat a lot) and lekad are written as and . While combination of (gantungan [l]) and (pepet) is possible as in (bleganjur), combination of (cakra or gantungan [r]) and pepet is not allowed. If the combination follows a word which ends in a consonant, (gempelan re repa) may be used as in (Pak Rěrěh, Mr. Rěrěh). If the combination is in a word, (guwung macelek) may be used instead as in (Krěsna, Krishna).
Latin Script Transliteration Latin script transliteration into Balinese script is based on phonetics. As vocabulary expands, foreign sounds are introduced and have no equivalent on Balinese script. In general, transliteration of foreign sounds is shown as below.
+Foreign Sound TransliterationSound Balinese letterExampleBalinese Script [f] ᬧtelephone [v] ᬧvitamin [z]ᬚ [z]ᬲijaza
Sasak language The Sasak language, spoken in Lombok Island east of Bali, is related to Balinese, is written in a version of the Balinese script known as Aksara Sasak, which is influenced by the Javanese script and is given additional characters for loanwords of foreign origin.
Sasakletter Name IPA Derivedfrom Javaneseequivalent Arabicequivalent qaf xot tsir ef ve zal asyura
Fonts There are some fonts for Balinese script as of 2016. Bali Simbar, Bali Galang, JG Aksara Bali, Aksara Bali, Tantular Bali, Lilitan, Geguratan and Noto Sans Balinese are some fonts that included Balinese script. The fonts have different degree of compatibility each other, and most contain critical flaws.