Inherent vowel
The inherent vowel is a specialty of Abugidas like the Indian scripts and the Ethiopian script , in which each consonant sign is linked to a vowel that is particularly common in the respective language (mostly "a", but in the Bengali language "o"). The isolated consonants correspond to complete syllables ka, kha, ga, gha , etc.
However, if another vowel than the "a" is to follow, this is indicated by additional signs ( matra ) on, below or above the syllable: ki, khi, gi, ghi ... or ku, khu, gu, ghu ... In In some cases, the ligature of the consonant with the vowel also creates special forms that cannot be regularly predicted, e.g. B. the letter "yes" in Gujarati script.
In this system, the representation of consonant clusters is fundamentally problematic, because for a syllable like “ktra” the inherent consonants of “ka” and “ta” have to be neutralized. There are different approaches to this in the Indian scriptures:
- The inherent vowel can be removed with a special additional character ( virama ). This procedure is the standard in modern Tamil but is considered aesthetically inferior in the other Indian scriptures and is only used when the other methods are not applicable. The virama usually has the form of a point or slash above or below the consonant.
- In most Indian scripts, many (but not all) consonant characters have a graphic element that symbolizes the inherent vowel. In Devanagari script this is a vertical line, in Oriya a semicircle above the sign. If you write the consonant sign without this element ( half-form ), then it represents the naked consonant.
- The entire consonant cluster is represented by a single ligature, whereby the characteristics of all consonants involved are mostly still recognizable in the finished ligature; in some cases the ligature has an irregular, hardly predictable shape. This method is a generalization of the preceding and places considerable technical demands on letterpress printing, since a large number of ligatures is required. For example, in Sanskrit clusters of three or four consonants are not uncommon, which requires hundreds of individually cut ligatures.
- In the spelling of Kannada and Telugu , ligatures are basically formed by writing a scaled down version of the following consonant to the right below the leading consonant. A possible third consonant then appears on the right under the second.
- In Devanagari ligatures are mainly formed by joining the individual characters horizontally (see half-forms), in individual cases (especially geminals ) also vertically. Ligatures consisting of three or more characters are usually mixed horizontally and vertically, whereby the order of the consonants is often difficult to understand from the graphic form of the ligature.
- The ligature from “k” + “ṣa” has a form in the North Indian scripts that is not related to the shape of the individual letters. This character can appear as part of a more complex ligature.
- The letter "ra" has special shapes in ligatures. As the first element of a cluster in Devanagari it takes the form of a semicircle open to the right ( repha ), which is written over the following letter (or the ligature for the following cluster). As a later element of a cluster, “r” appears as a short slash in the lower part of the ligature formed.
- In many Indian languages, a nasal at the beginning of a consonant cluster is perceived as part of the preceding syllable and articulated by nasalizing the preceding vowel. In this case it is written as a diacritical mark ( Anusvara or Chandrabindu ), which is, however, connected graphically with the following syllable.
- In some North Indian languages, ligatures are usually not formed; one simply uses the syllable “ka” for the consonant “k”. The reader has to decide from his knowledge of the language whether a spelling “ka-ta” should be read as “kata” or “kta”. This path is often followed, especially in Punjabi , Hindi and Marathi , while Gujarati and Bengali are written more phonemically.
The alphabets of Southeast Asia derived from the Indian scripts have adopted the principle of the inherent vowel. In Thai and Lao , the absence of the inherent vowel is generally not displayed, but the Virama is also used in Thai for Pali or Sanskrit texts. In Khmer , consonant clusters are formed by subscript . Due to the many vowels and diphthongs , Khmer is also unique in that it distinguishes two groups of consonant signs that are associated with different inherent vowels (a or o).