Hanunoo
Hanunóo is a living script of Mindoro in the Philippines used to write the Hanunóo language. Hanunóo is a Brahmi-derived script, distantly related to the South Indian scripts. It is closely related to the Buhid and Tagbanwa scripts of the Philippines. All three scripts are related to Tagalog, but may not be directly descended from it. The ancestor of these Philippine scripts (including Tagalog) may have been transported to the Philippines via palaeographic scripts of western Java between the 10 and 14 C CE. Hanunóo is still widely used to write love poetry, which is a popular pastime among the Hanunóo.
Unicode blocks | Hanunoo |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | pre-19C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | abugida |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 13000 |
Languages | Hanunóo |
Main sources | Kuipers, J., and R. McDermott. 1996. "Insular Southeast Asian Scripts" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 474-484. |
Secondary sources | Santos, Hector. 1994. The Living Scripts. Los Angeles: Sushi Dog Graphics. (Ancient Philippine scripts series, 2.) |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n1933.pdf |
Hebrew
The Hebrew alphabetic script (also known as square script) is used to write Hebrew, Yiddish, Judezmo (Ladino), Judeo-Arabic and a number of other languages. The script derives from Imperial Aramaic, which was used widely around the time of the Babylonian exile.
Unicode blocks | Hebrew |
Alternate names | Jewish script, square script, block script |
Timeframe | x-3C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | abjad |
Alternate names | right to left |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 7.6 million |
Languages | Hebrew, Yiddish, Judezmo, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, Ladino, Samaritan Aramaic |
Main sources | Goerwitz, R. 1996. "The Jewish Scripts" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 487-498. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
IPA Extensions
IPA Extensions include the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is a standardized system for representing speech sounds. The IPA first appeared in 1886 and has undergone several revisions of content and usage since that time. The Unicode Standard covers all single symbols and diacritics in the last published IPA revision (1999) as well as a few earlier IPA symbols.
Unicode blocks | IPA Extensions |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | 1886 to present |
Regions | International |
Type | alphabet |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | — |
Languages | International |
Main sources | MacMahon, M. 1996. “Phonetic Notation” in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 821-846. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Ideographic Description Characters
Ideographic Description characters are a set of 12 characters to be used as a reference for unencoded ideographs. Unencoded ideographs can be described by using these characters and the encoded ideographs, so the reader can create a mental picture of the ideographs from the description. These were first introduced in Unicode 3.0 (1999-2000).
Unicode blocks | Ideographic Description Characters |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | 20C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | — |
Alternate names | — |
Status | — |
Number of speakers | — |
Languages | — |
Main sources | The Unicode Consortium. 2011. The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0, defined by: The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0. Mountain View, CA: The Unicode Consortium, pp. 409-412 (Section 12.2). |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Imperial Aramaic
The Imperial Aramaic script was used to write the Aramaic language from the middle of the 8C BCE. It became widely used when Aramaic became the principal administrative language of the Assyrian empire and then the official language of the Achaemenid Persian empire. Imperial Aramaic evolved from Phoenician and was the source of many other scripts, such as the square Hebrew script, the Arabic script, and scripts used for the Middle Persian languages (such as Inscriptional Parthian, Inscriptional Pahlavi, and Avestan).
Unicode blocks | Imperial Aramaic |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | x-8C to -4C |
Regions | International |
Type | abjad |
Alternate names | right to left |
Status | historical |
Number of speakers | 0 |
Languages | Aramaic, Hebrew |
Main sources | O’Connor, M. 1996. “Epigraphic Semitic scripts” in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 88-107. |
Secondary sources | Skjaervo, P.O. 1996. "Aramaic Scripts for Iranian Languages" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 515-535. |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3339.pdf |
Inscriptional Pahlavi
Inscriptional Pahlavi is an historical script that was used to write a number of Iranian and Indo-European languages, chiefly Parthian and Middle Persian, in the area of present-day Iran and surrounding areas. It was descended from the Imperial Aramaic script and was used regularly as a monumental script until the 5 CE.
Unicode blocks | Inscriptional Pahlavi |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | 2C to 5C |
Regions | International |
Type | abjad |
Alternate names | right to left |
Status | historical |
Number of speakers | 0 |
Languages | Middle Persian, Parthian |
Main sources | Skjaervo, P.O. 1996. "Aramaic Scripts for Iranian Languages" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 515-535. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3286.pdf |
Inscriptional Parthian
Inscriptional Parthian is an historical script that was used to write a number of Iranian and Indo-European languages, chiefly Parthian, and Middle Persian, in present-day Iran and surrounding areas. It derives from the Imperial Aramaic script. By the 2C CE the script was used as an official script of the Sassanid Empire, alongside Inscriptional Pahlavi, which was used to write the Sassanians’ own language. Inscriptional Parthian continued to be used into the 3C CE; the last known inscription of Inscriptional Parthian dates to 292 CE.
Unicode blocks | Inscriptional Parthian |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | 2C to 3C |
Regions | International |
Type | abjad |
Alternate names | right to left |
Status | historical |
Number of speakers | 0 |
Languages | Parthian |
Main sources | Skjaervo, P.O. 1996. "Aramaic Scripts for Iranian Languages" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 515-535. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3286.pdf |
Javanese
The Javanese script is used to write the Javanese language, as well as Sanskrit, Jawa Kuna (Sanskritized Javanese), Kawi transcriptions, and the modern languages Sundanese and Sasak. The script descends from the ancient Brahmi script. Although the Javanese script has been supplanted by use of the Latin alphabet, it is still used in ceremonial domains. The traditional Javanese texts appear, for example, on palm leaves, which are bound together in books called "lontar".
Unicode blocks | Javanese |
Alternate names | Tjarakan, Carakan |
Timeframe | 17C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | abugida |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 114 million |
Languages | Javanese, Sanskrit, Jawa Kuna (Sanskritized Javanese), Kawi transcriptions, Sundanese, Sasak |
Main sources | Kuipers, J., and R. McDermott. 1996. "Insular Southeast Asian Scripts" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 474-484. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3319.pdf |
Kaithi
Kaithi is a Brahmi-derived script used to write the Maithili language and other languages in northern India. The Kaithi script was used in administrative documents since the 16C, as well as in routine writing, commercial transactions, and religious and literary manuscripts. Kaithi script is still used to a limited extent today, having been largely replaced by Devanāgarī in the early 20C.
Unicode blocks | Kaithi |
Alternate names | Kaithınagarı, Kayathi |
Timeframe | 16C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | abugida |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 185 million (potential users) |
Languages | Bhojpuri, Magahi, Awadhi, Maithili, Urdu, and other Hindi-related languages |
Main sources | Grierson, George A. 1899. A Handbook to the Kaithi Character. 2nd rev. ed. of the title A Kaithi Handbook, 1881. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co. |
Secondary sources | Grierson, George A. 1903. The Linguistic Survey of India. Vol. V. Indo-Aryan Family. Eastern Group. Part II. Specimens of the Biharı and Oriya languages. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n3389.pdf |
Kana Supplement
The Kana Supplement block is made up of historic and variant forms of Japanese kana characters, including those variants that are referred to as hentaigana in Japanese.
Unicode blocks | Kana Supplement |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | — |
Regions | International |
Type | syllabary |
Alternate names | variable |
Status | historical |
Number of speakers | 0 |
Languages | — |
Main sources | Okumura, T., and T. Ooya. 1977. Kogen'e eben: Kogen'e ebenshōho. Tōkyō: Benseisha. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3388.pdf |
Kanbun
The Kanbun block is composed of symbols used in Japanese texts to indicate the Japanese reading order of classical Chinese texts. These marks are widely used in literature, and are typically written in an annotation style to the left of each line of vertically rendered Chinese text.
Unicode blocks | Kanbun |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | — |
Regions | International |
Type | ideographic |
Alternate names | variable |
Status | historical |
Number of speakers | 122 million |
Languages | Japanese |
Main sources | Japanese Industrial Standards Committee. 2004. Nihongo Bunsho no Kumihan Houhou (Formatting rules for Japanese documents). Tokyo: Japanese Standards Association. (=JIS X 4051:2004). |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Kangxi Radicals
Kangxi Radicals are East Asian ideographs or fragments of ideographs that are used to index dictionaries and word lists, and serve as the basis for creating new ideographs. The set of 214 radicals in the KangXi Radicals block derives from the 18C KangXi dictionary, which serves as a universally-recognized sets of radicals. (The CJK Radicals Supplement block contains variants of these radicals.) The Chinese standard CNS 11643-1992 includes 212 of the 214 radicals.
Unicode blocks | Kangxi Radicals |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | 18C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | ideographic |
Alternate names | variable |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | — |
Languages | Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese |
Main sources | Zhongwen biaozhun jiaohuanma (Chinese standard interchange code). Taipei: 1992. (=CNS 11643-1992) |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Kannada
The Kannada script is used to write the Kannada (or Kanarese) language of the Karnataka state in India and is also used to write minority languages such as Tulu. Kannada is a South Indian script that is very closely related to the Telugu script and shares many features common to other Indic scripts. The Kannada language is also used in many parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. It dates to at least 1500.
Unicode blocks | Kannada |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | 1500 to present |
Regions | International |
Type | abugida |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 35 million |
Languages | Kannada, Tulu |
Main sources | Bright, W. 1996. "Kannada and Telugu Writing” in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 413-419. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Katakana
Katakana is a syllabary script used to write non-Japanese (usually Western) words phonetically in Japanese. It is also used to write Japanese words with visual emphasis. Katakana syllables are phonetically equivalent to corresponding Hiragana syllables. The script was developed in the early Heian Period (794-1185).
Unicode blocks | Katakana, Katakana Phonetic Extensions |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | 8C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | syllabary |
Alternate names | variable |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 122 million |
Languages | Japanese, Ainu |
Main sources | Japanese Industrial Standards Committee. 1997. 7 bitto oyobi 8 bitto no 2 baito jouhou koukan you fugouka kanji shuugou (7-bit and 8-bit double byte coded kanji sets for information interchange). Tokyo: Japanese Standards Association. (=JIS X 0208) |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Kayah Li
The Kayah Li alphabet was devised by Htae Bu Phae in 1962, to write the Eastern and Western Kayah Li languages in the Kayah and Karen states of Myanmar. The script is also taught in schools in refugee camps in Thailand. The Kayah Li or Kayah language is a member of the Karen branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family.
Unicode blocks | Kayah Li |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | 1962 to present |
Regions | International |
Type | alphabet |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 570000 |
Languages | Eastern and Western Kayah Li languages |
Main sources | Bennett, J. Fraser. 1993. Kayah Li Script: A Brief Description. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois. |
Secondary sources | Solnit, David B. 1997. Eastern Kayah Li: Grammar, Texts, Glossary. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3038.pdf |
Kharosthi
The Kharosthi script is used to write Gandhari, Sanskrit, and various mixed dialects called "Gandhari Hybrid Sanskrit" in the northwest of India, northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. It was used circa 3C BCE until apparently 3C CE in the area of its homeland, and may have survived into the 7C CE along the northern Silk Road in western China. Kharosthi was essentially a regional script only, and died out in ancient times, leaving no modern descendants, unlike the other ancient script of India, Brahmi, which served as the parent of most of the scripts of India and many from Asia. Kharosthi derives from Aramaic.
Unicode blocks | Kharosthi |
Alternate names | — |
Timeframe | x-3C to 7C |
Regions | International |
Type | abugida |
Alternate names | right to left |
Status | historical |
Number of speakers | 0 |
Languages | Gandhari, Sanskrit, Gandhari Hybrid Sanskrit |
Main sources | Salomon, R. 1996. “Brahmi and Kharosthi” in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 373-383. |
Secondary sources | Glass, Andrew. 2004. “Kharosthi Manuscripts: A Window on Gandharan Buddhism.” Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism, 24 (2004): 129–152. |
Proposal | http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2732.pdf |
Khmer
Khmer, also called aksaa khmae (“Khmer letters”), is the script of the Khmer language, also known as Cambodian. The Khmer script is also used to write a number of regional minority languages, such as Tampuan, Krung, and Cham. It is the official script of Cambodia and is descended from the Brahmi script of South India.
Unicode blocks | Khmer, Khmer Symbols |
Alternate names | aksaa khmae |
Timeframe | 6C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | abugida |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 13.9 million |
Languages | Khmer, Tampuan, Krung, and Cham |
Main sources | Schiller, E. 1996. "Khmer Writing" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 467-473. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Lao
The Lao script (Aksone Lao) is used to write the Lao language and other minority languages in Laos. Both the language and script are closely related to Thai. The Lao script ultimately derives from Brahmi.
Unicode blocks | Lao |
Alternate names | Aksone Lao |
Timeframe | 16C? to present |
Regions | International |
Type | abugida |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 3 million |
Languages | Lao and other minority languages in Laos |
Main sources | Diller, A. 1996. "Thai and Lao Writing" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 457-466. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Latin
The Latin script (or Roman alphabet) is used to write a wide variety of languages and is one of the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It was derived from a form of the Western Greek alphabet from Euboea, which was borrowed and modified by the Etruscans, and then further modified by the Romans to write the Latin language. The earliest documents date to 7C BCE. In the process of adapting Latin to other languages, numerous extensions have been devised and appear in the various Latin Extended blocks. Some of the characters that appear in the Latin Extended blocks come from earlier character sets.
Unicode blocks | Latin Extended Additional, Latin Extended-A, Latin Extended-B, Latin Extended-C, Latin Extended-D, Latin-1 Supplement |
Alternate names | Roman alphabet |
Timeframe | x-7C to present |
Regions | International |
Type | alphabet |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 2.1 billion |
Languages | Afar, Achinese, Acoli, Adangme, Afrikaans, Akan, Aleut, Amo, Aragonese, Araucanian, Arapaho, Asturian, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Balinese, Basa, Batak Toba, Bemba, Bislama, Bikol, Bini, Buhid, Siksika, Bambara, Breton, Bosnian, Bushi, Buginese, Batak, Catalan, Caddo, Carib, Atsam, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chuukese, Mari, Choctaw, Chipewyan, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Corsican, Cree, Czech, Welsh, Danish, Dakota, German, Delaware, Slave, Dogrib, Dinka, Lower Sorbian, Duala, Dyula, Ewe, Efik, Ekajuk, English, Spanish, Estonian, Basque, Ewondo, Fang, Fanti, Fulah, Finnish, Filipino, Fijian, Faroese, Fon, French, Northern Frisian, Eastern Frisian, Friulian, Western Frisian, Irish, Ga, Gagauz, Gayo, Guianese Creole French, Scottish Gaelic, Gilbertese, Galician, Guarani, Gorontalo, Grebo, Swiss German, Manx, Gwichʼin, Hausa, Haida, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hmong, Hanunoo, Hiri Motu, Hopi, Croatian, Upper Sorbian, Haitian, Hungarian, Hupa, Herero, Iban, Ibibio, Indonesian, Igbo, Inupiaq, Iloko, Icelandic, Italian, Javanese, Kabyle, Jju, Kamba, Tyap, Koro, Kongo, Khasi, Kikuyu, Kuanyama, Kalaallisut, Kimbundu, Kosraean, Kpelle, Kanuri, Krio, Karelian, Colognian, Kurdish, Kutenai, Komi, Cornish, Lamba, Luxembourgish, Ganda, Limburgish, Lingala, Mongo, Lozi, Lithuanian, Luba-Katanga, Luba-Lulua, Luiseno, Lunda, Luo, Latvian, Madurese, Makasar, Mandingo, Masai, Maguindanaon, Mandar, Mende, Morisyen, Malagasy, Marshallese, Maori, Micmac, Minangkabau, Mohawk, Mossi, Malay, Maltese, Creek, Mirandese, Nauru, Neapolitan, Norwegian Bokmål, North Ndebele, Low German, Ndonga, Nias, Niuean, Dutch, Norwegian Nynorsk, Norwegian, South Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Navajo, Nyanja, Nyamwezi, Nyankole, Nyoro, Nzima, Occitan, Oromo, Ossetic, Osage, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Papiamento, Palauan, Polish, Pohnpeian, Portuguese, Quechua, Rajasthani, Rapanui, Rarotongan, Réunion Creole French, Romansh, Rundi, Romanian, Romany, Aromanian, Kinyarwanda, Sandawe, Sasak, Santali, Sardinian, Sicilian, Scots, Northern Sami, Sango, Sidamo, Slovak, Slovenian, Samoan, Southern Sami, Lule Sami, Inari Sami, Skolt Sami, Shona, Soninke, Somali, Albanian, Serbian, Sranan Tongo, Serer, Swati, Southern Sotho, Sundanese, Sukuma, Susu, Swedish, Swahili, Tagbanwa, Timne, Tereno, Tetum, Tajik, Tiv, Turkmen, Tokelau, Tagalog, Tlingit, Tamashek, Tswana, Tonga, Nyasa Tonga, Tok Pisin, Turkish, Turoyo, Tsonga, Tausug, Tsimshian, Tumbuka, Tuvalu, Tahitian, Central Morocco Tamazight, Ulithian, Umbundu, Uzbek, Venda, Vietnamese, Walloon, Waray, Washo, Wolof, Xhosa, Yao, Yapese, Yoruba, Zhuang, Zapotec, Zulu, Zuni, Ainu, Arawak, Chinook Jargon, English-based Creole or Pidgin, Kashubian, Finno-Ugrian Language, Sichuan Yi, Ingush, Inuktitut, Kirghiz, Lushootseed, Ojibwa, Prussian, Sami Language, Songhai, Comorian, Udmurt, Uighur, Votic, Esperanto, Latin, Etruscan, Interlingua, Oscan, Old Irish, Volapük, Umbrian |
Main sources | Tuttle, E, W. Senner, et al. 1996. "Adaptations of the Roman Alphabet" in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 633-699. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | — |
Lepcha
The Lepcha (Róng) script is used to write the Lepcha language in the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal and Kalimpong, as well as in Nepal and Bhutan. Lepcha is based on Tibetan writing with some influence from the Burmese script. Some believe it was inspired by Buddhist missionaries and invented by the Lepcha scholar Thikúng Men Salóng in 1720. Today the Lepcha script is used in newspapers, magazines, textbooks, collections of poetry, prose and plays.
Unicode blocks | Lepcha |
Alternate names | Róng |
Timeframe | 1720 to present |
Regions | International |
Type | abugida |
Alternate names | left to right |
Status | living |
Number of speakers | 65000 |
Languages | Lepcha |
Main sources | Van der Kuijp, L. 1996. "The Tibetan Script and Derivatives” in The World’s Writing Systems, ed. Peter T. Daniels & William Bright. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 431-441. |
Secondary sources | — |
Proposal | http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/leke.pdf |