| Mundari Bani 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚 | |
|---|---|
 'Mundari' in Mundari Bani Script | |
| Script type | |
| Creator | Rohidas Singh Nag |
| Created | 1982 |
Time period | 1982 to present |
| Direction | Left to Right |
| Region | India |
| Languages | Mundari |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Original invention
|
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Template:ISO 15924 alias |
| U+1E4D0–U+1E4FF Nag Mundari | |
Template:Writing systems in India Mundari Bani (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.) also known as Nag Mundari (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.) and Mundari Bani Hisir , or the Mundari alphabet, is the writing system created for the Mundari language, spoken in eastern India. Mundari is an Austroasiatic language. Mundari Bani has 27 letters and five diacritics, the forms of which are intended to evoke natural shapes. The script is written from left to right.
Community elder and author Rohidas Singh Nag invented and published in late 1980 the alphabetic writing system Mundari Bani, which has seen limited but increasing use in literature, education, and computing.
History[edit | edit source]
Rohidas Singh Nag started designing the initial characters of Mundari bani in 1949 while in grade school, which he wrote on the walls using clay.[1][2] By 1953 he had finished a set of 35 characters. He further simplified the alphabet in 1980 by reducing it to 27 alphabetical characters. In 2008 Bharat Munda Samaj, Mundari Samaj Sanwar Jamda and Nag reformed the script in styling and adding glyphs. Since then, fonts were developed using this standard.
Nag presented the alphabet in the 1980s to then-Chief Minister of Odisha Janaki Ballabh Patnaik and submitted a memorandum to recognize the Munda language constitutionally. Nag along with others submitted a memorandum to the then president of India in 1999 appealing again for the constitutional recognition. "Mundari Samaj Sanwar Jamda", a social organisation of the Munda community based in Poda Astia, Mayurbhanj has been demanding to incorporate the Munda language in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, to air Munda language through All India Radio, and establish a Munda language department at North Odisha University for higher studies on the basis of the writing system and literature.[3] The writing system has seen limited but increasing use in literature, education, and computing.
Alphabets[edit | edit source]
Unlike the Brahmic abugidas (such as Devanagari, Bengali, or Odia), Mundari Bani is a true alphabet. The script is unicameral, designed to accommodate the unique phonetic features of Austroasiatic Munda languages, such as checked consonants and heavy vowel sequences, while using diacritics and digraphs to adapt to Indo-Aryan loanwords.
Since the 2008 edits, it consists of 27 distinct letters and 5 diacritical marks, written from left to right, where consonants do not possess an inherent vowel. Their names follow traditional naming schemes.[2]
| Letter | Mundari Name | Romanised Name | Transliteration | IPA[4] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALA-LC | Zide[4] | Deva. | Beng. | Odia | ||||
| Template:Huge | [𞓐] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | O | o | ọ | ओ | ও | ଓ | /ɔ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓐𞓑] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | OP | p | p | प | প | ପ୍ | /p/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓐𞓒] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | OL | l | l | ल | ল | ଲ୍ | /l/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓐𞓓] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | OY | y | y | य | য / য় | ଯ / ୟ | /j/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓐𞓔] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | ONG | ng | ṅ | ङ | ঙ | ଙ | /ŋ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓕] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | A | ā | a | अ / आ | অ / আ | ଅ / ଆ | /a/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓕𞓖] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | AJ | j | cʼ | ज | জ | ଜ୍ | /d͡ʑ/ , /ɟ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓕𞓗] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | AB | b | pʼ | ब | ব | ବ୍ | /pʼ/ , /b/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓕𞓘] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | ANY | ny | ñ | ञ | ঞ | ଞ୍ | /ɲ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓕𞓙] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | AH | ḥ | h | ः | ঃ | ଃ | /ʔ/ , /h/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓚] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | I | i | i | इ / ई | ই / ঈ | ଇ / ଈ | /i/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓚𞓛] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | IS | s | s | स | স | ସ୍ | /s̪/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓚𞓜] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | IDD | ḍ | ḍ | ड | ড | ଡ୍ | /ɖ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓚𞓝] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | IT | t | t | त | ত | ତ୍ | /t̪/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓚𞓞] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | IH | h | (C)h | ह | হ | ହ୍ | /ʰ/ , /h/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓟] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | U | u | u | उ / ऊ | উ / ঊ | ଉ / ଊ | /u/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓟𞓠] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | UC | ch | c | च | চ | ଚ୍ | /t͡ʃ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓟𞓡] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | UD | d | tʼ | द | দ | ଦ୍ | /tʼ/, /d̪/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓟𞓢] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | UK | k | k | क | ক | କ୍ | /k/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓟𞓣] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | UR | r | r | र | র | ର୍ | /r/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓤] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | E | e | e | ए | এ | ଏ | /e/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓤𞓥] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | ENN | ṇ | ṇ | ण | ণ | ଣ୍ | /ɳ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓤𞓦] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | EG | g | kʼ | ग | গ | ଗ୍ | /g/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓤𞓧] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | EM | m | m | म | ম | ମ୍ | /m/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓤𞓨] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | EN | n | n | न | ন | ନ୍ | /n/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓤𞓩] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | ETT | ṭ | ṭ | ट | ট | ଟ୍ | /ʈ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓤𞓪] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | ELL | ṛ / ḷ | ḷ | ड़ / ळ | ড় | ଡ଼ / ଳ | /ɽ/, /ɭ/ |
| Letter | Mundari Name | Romanised Name | Transliteration | Function/IPA[4] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deva. | Beng. | Odia | ||||
| Template:Huge | [𞓐𞓖𞓐𞓡] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | OJOD | ् | ্ | ୍ | Modifies preceding consonant; check/gemination |
| Template:Huge | [𞓧𞓟𞓬𞓞𞓐𞓣] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | MUHOR | ँ / ं | ্ঁ / ং | ଁ / ଂ | Vowel Nasalization /◌̃/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓝𞓐𞓓𞓐𞓣] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | TOYOR | ◌ा | ◌া | ◌ା | Vowel Lengthener /ː/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓚𞓢𞓚𞓣] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | IKIR | ◌्व | ◌্ব | ◌୍ୱ | Labialization /ʷ/ |
| Template:Huge | [𞓛𞓟𞓝𞓟𞓙] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | SUTUH | ़ | ় | ଼ | Nukta (for non-native sounds) |
Vowels[edit | edit source]
Vowels are called Munu Bani (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.) in Mundari. All vowels have long and short as well as nasalised allophones, but neither length nor nasality is contrastive. All vowels in open monosyllables are quantitatively longer than those in closed syllables.[5] The following table shows the five base vowel phonemes:
| Short | Long | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | /i/ 𞓚 i | /u/ 𞓟 u | /iː/ 𞓚𞓭 ī | /uː/ 𞓟𞓭 ū | ||
| Mid | /e/𞓤 e | /o/ 𞓐 o | /eː/ 𞓤𞓭 ē | /oː/ 𞓐𞓭 ō | ||
| Open | /a/ 𞓕 a | /aː/ 𞓕𞓭 ā | ||||
In native Mundari grammar, vowels are categorised by phonetic length into short and long vowels. The five base vowel alphabets of the Mundari Bani script are:
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
Unlike Brahmic scripts, Mundari Bani lacks independent letters for long vowels. Instead, long vowels are formed by attaching the TOYOR ([◌𞓭] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help)) diacritic to a base vowel, but not all long vowels are demarcated, depending upon the scribe.
- 𞓕 (/a/) + ◌𞓭 → 𞓕𞓭 (/aː/)
- Example 1: Mundari: [𞓐𞓪𞓕𞓭] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help), IPA: /oɽ.aː/ , Translation: House
- Example 2: Mundari: [𞓗𞓚𞓭𞓔] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help), IPA: /biːŋ/ , Translation: Snake
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
Loan Words[edit | edit source]
To denote the signature /O/ sound in the neighbouring Odia/Bengali language, the script uses [𞓐] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) (/o/) with the SUTUH ([◌𞓯] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help)) diacritic.
| Template:Letter |
Nasalisation[edit | edit source]
Nasalisation in Mundari is represented by the MUHOR ([◌𞓬] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help)) diacritic. It attaches to the primary vowels or the final vowel in a cluster.
- 𞓕 (/a/) + ◌𞓬 → 𞓕𞓬 (/ã/)
- Example 1: Mundari: 𞓝𞓟𞓕𞓬, IPA: /t̪uãː/ , Translation: Milk/Breast
- Example 2: Mundari: [𞓧𞓟𞓬] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) , IPA: /mũː/ , Translation: Nose
Vowels preceding or following nasal phonemes like /ŋ/, /ɲ/, /ṇ/, /ɳ/ and /m/ are also nasalised. [5] Native writers do not usually add the MUHOR ([◌𞓬] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help)) in these cases because, unlike the ONG ([𞓔] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help)) letter, which represents the nasal consonant /ŋ/, the MUHOR indicates the nasalisation of the vowel itself, crucial for distinguishing word pairs in native Munda vocabulary.
- 𞓧 (/m/) + 𞓕 (/a/) → 𞓧𞓕 (/mã/)
Additionally, those following /ɟ/ are also nasalised.
- 𞓖 (/ɟ/) + 𞓕 (/a/) → 𞓖𞓕 (/ɟã/)
Dipthongs[edit | edit source]
Mundari frequently uses sequences where two or three vowels follow each other without an intervening consonant. Unlike English diphthongs, they are treated as distinct syllables. Some common clusters are:
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
Vowel Absence[edit | edit source]
The absence of vowel phonemes in consonant clusters or after word-end consonants is marked by the absence of vowel letters. There is no halant to indicate a vowel negation as in Brahmic abugidas.
- Example 1: Mundari: [𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help), IPA: /Muɳɖārī/ , Translation: Mundari (lang.)
- Example 2: Mundari: [𞓗𞓟𞓒𞓟𞓔] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help), IPA: /buluŋ/ , Translation: Salt
Consonants[edit | edit source]
Basic Consonants[edit | edit source]
In Mundari, consonants are called Boja Bani (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.). Mundari Bani represents consonants using 22 basic letters, plus one diacritic. They are organised into five clusters, each led by a primary vowel. The first letter of the consonant's name matches the primary vowel. These basic letters are:
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | ||
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | ||
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | ||
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | ||
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
Because of centuries of contact with neighbouring eastern Indo-Aryan languages, specifically Bengali and Odia, dialects like Naguri and Kera have aspirated loan words. Because native Mundari lacks aspirated distinction, these aspirated phonemes are denoted by adding the /h/ letter (𞓞) to the consonant.
- Example: 𞓢 (/k/) + 𞓞 (/h/) → 𞓢𞓞 (/kʰ/)
There are no conjunct forms or ligatures, and the letters do not change shape in compound syllables, unlike Brahmic abugidas. Mundari also lacks gemination.
Below is the consonant phonology of Mundari depicted using Mundari Bani, which encompasses native phonemes (basic consonants shown in red and unique phonemes in blue) and aspirated loan words (shown in green).
Notes:
- ↑ Checked Consonants are a unique feature of the Munda language group wherein terminal /b/ and /d/ sounds are characterised by a simultaneous glottal closure and a faint nasal release.
- ↑ Native Mundari lacks aspirated distinction, but Naguri and Kera dialects include aspirated stops due to contact with Indo-Aryan languages. Unlike Brahmic abugidas, these sounds do not have a distinct glyph to represent them.
- ↑ The native phonemes for /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are affricates, i.e. they start as a plosive and release immediately into a fricative, producing a "hissing" sound. Because of the variation between native pronunciation and dialects, the sound can become palatal in most cases and is speaker dependent.
Mundari grammar also categorises consonants into four categories according to their place of articulation:
- Soft consonants (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.)
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
- Aspirated consonants (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.)
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
- Nasal consonants (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.)
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
- Unstructured consonants (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.).
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
Aspirated stops[edit | edit source]
A unique feature of Mundari is the word-final /b/ and /d/, which may be pronounced as checked sounds /ˀb̥(ᵐ)/ or /ˀd̥(ⁿ)/. This is represented by placing the diacritic OJOD (𞓫) before the consonant.
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
- Example: Mundari: [𞓒𞓕𞓩𞓕𞓫𞓗] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help), IPA: /laʈaˀb/ , Translation: Scissors
However, the use of OJOD to denote aspirated stops is dependent on the scribe and is not universal.[2]
The Mundari /ʷ/ phoneme[edit | edit source]
The Mundari phoneme /w/ or /ʷ/ has two distinct forms of representation in Mundari Bani using the IKIR diacritic (◌𞓮):
- Consonantal /ʷ/: A standalone glide used at the beginning of syllables.
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
- Vocalic /ʷ/: It is written by adding the IKIR to the vowel that follows to impart a labialized glide.
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
/w/ never occurs in the initial position in Mundari,[7] but some use the IKIR in conjunction with vowel letters to write /wa/ or /wi/ syllables from other languages.
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
Loan Words[edit | edit source]
Loan words are denoted with the diacritic SUTUH (◌𞓯) when transcribed. Phonemes like 'ẏ', 'ṛ', 'ṛh', 'ś' and 'ṣ', which are common in Indo-Aryan languages, are denoted using the Mundari equivalent with the (◌𞓯).
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
- 𞓛𞓯 is used to denote both /ʂɔ/ and /ɕɔ/ phonemes. The reader is expected to understand from context which phoneme is being depicted, often the case when transcribing widely used loan words.
In many eastern Indian languages, the sounds for 'b' and 'v/w' are closely related or interchangeable. While native Mundari uses 𞓕𞓮 for the /w/ sound, 𞓗𞓯 is sometimes used in formal transliteration to represent the /ʋ/, which is lacking in native Mundari.
- 𞓗 (/b/) + ◌𞓯 → 𞓗𞓯 (/ʋ/)
| Template:Letter |
Numerals[edit | edit source]
Mundari Bani has its own set of decimal digits (0–9) that function identically to standard Western numerals.[8]
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
Below are the names of the base digits (0-10) rendered in Mundari Bani:
| Numeral | Mundari | Transliteration | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 𞓰 | [𞓛𞓟𞓭𞓨] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Sūn | Zero |
| 𞓱 | [𞓧𞓐𞓡𞓫] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Mod' | One |
| 𞓲 | [𞓗𞓕𞓭𞓫𞓣] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Bar' | Two |
| 𞓳 | [𞓚𞓭𞓑𞓚𞓭] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Āpī | Three |
| 𞓴 | [𞓟𞓑𞓟𞓫𞓨] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Upun' | four |
| 𞓵 | [𞓧𞓐𞓥𞓤] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Moñe | Five |
| 𞓶 | [𞓝𞓟𞓣𞓚𞓭] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Turī | Six |
| 𞓷 | [𞓤𞓓𞓕𞓭] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Eyā | Seven |
| 𞓸 | [𞓚𞓣𞓕𞓡𞓒] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Irāl' | Eight |
| 𞓹 | [𞓕𞓣𞓤] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Āre | Nine |
| 𞓱𞓰 | [𞓦𞓤𞓒] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: nagm for code: unr (help) | Gel | Ten |
Sample text[edit | edit source]
The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written in Mundari Bani:[lower-alpha 1][9]
Mundari Script[edit | edit source]
Romanisation[edit | edit source]
IPA Transcription[edit | edit source]
Translation[edit | edit source]
Unicode[edit | edit source]
The Mundari Bani alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 2022 with the release of version Template:Unicode version.[10] The Unicode block is called Nag Mundari (U+1E4D0–U+1E4FF): Template:Unicode chart Nag Mundari
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ a suitable Unicode font may be required for proper viewing
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Know Your State West Bengal. Arihant Experts. 22 August 2019. p. 272. ISBN 9789313198017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Wolf-Sonkin, Lawrence; Mandal, Biswajit (8 January 2021). "L2/21-031: Proposal to Encode the Mundari Bani Script in the Universal Character Set" (PDF). Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ↑ "page no.96, Adivasi, A Journal of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2016.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Zide, Norman (1996). Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (eds.). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 614-615. ISBN 978-0195079937.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Osada 2008, p. 100.
- ↑ Hoffmann, Johann (1903). Mundari Grammar. Bengal Secretariat Press. pp. 67–70. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ↑ Osada 2008, p. 101.
- ↑ Singh, Birbal; Singh, Pahan Basanta Kumar (2017). Mundari Bhasa Shiskha: A Multilingual Education (Mundari-Odia-English-Hindi) (in English, Hindi, Mundari, and Odia). Academy of Tribal Languages and Culture. pp. 1–3. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ↑ "Mundari Bani Alphabet". Omniglot.com. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ↑ The Unicode Standard (PDF). 15.0.0. The Unicode Consortium. 2022. ISBN 978-1-936213-32-0.
Sources[edit | edit source]
- Anderson, Gregory D.S, ed. (2008). The Munda languages. Routledge Language Family Series 3. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.
Further reading[edit | edit source]
- Osada, Toshiki (2008). "Mundari". The Munda Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 99–164. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.
External links[edit | edit source]
- Noto Sans Nag Mundari - A free Mundari Bani Unicode font that harmonises with other fonts of the Noto font family
- Mundari script at Omniglot.com