Xrirampur Romanization

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The Xrírám͂pur Romanization is the most widely used transliteration system of Indic scripts. It was first popularized in the first half of the 19th century by three scholars from Xrírám͂pur University; Þorður Jónsson frá Hvítá, Xríwizáj Canðra, and Paul Thordersen Xwítáw.

Fraktursanskrit.gif

Sample of Sanskrit written in Fraktur according to the Xrírám͂pur transliteration system.

Ðevanágarí

The system was originally created to transliterate Đevanágarí (used to write Sam̃skrytam) into Fraktur letters (used by Lutherans). But this can easily be adapted to transliterate Ðevanágarí into Roman letters as well.

The Đevanágarí characters below are listed in the traditional order, which is virtually mirrored more or less completely in all Indic scripts. The Xrirampur Transliteration System can therefore been adapted to transliterate all Indic scripts into Latin script using Fraktur or Roman letters. (The Khmær and Ðaij scripts, however, have evolved distinct properties not found in other Indic scripts to accommodate tones and additional vowels. Their transliteration will be described in their respective sections further below).

Vowels

The transliteration of Ðevanágarí vowels is given below. The characters given in the first column come in two forms; an independent vowel form (on the left), and the diacritical vowel form (on the right).

Vowels:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
a */a/
आ ाá/aː/
इ िi/i/
ई ीí/iː/
उ ुu/u/
ऊ ूú/uː/
ऋ ृry/r̩/
ॠ ॄ/r̩ː/
ऌ ॢly/l̩/
ए ेe/eː/
ऐ ैai/ai/
ओ ोo/oː/
औ ौau/au/
  • Note that the inherent vowel can be muted by a vowel muting device called a viráma.

Consonants

The transliteration of Đevanágarí consonants is given below. They are traditionally arranged in five parallel series of gutturals, palatals, cerebrals, dentals, labials, semivowels, and spirants.

Gutturals:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
k/k/
kh/kʰ/
g/g/
gh/gʱ/
/ŋ/

Palatals:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
c/c/
ch/cʰ/
z/ɟ/
zh/ɟʱ/
ñ/ɲ/

Cerebrals:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
t/ʈ/
th/ʈʰ/
d/ɖ/
dh/ɖʱ/
n/ɳ/

Dentals:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
þ/t/
þh/tʰ/
ð/d/
ðh/dʱ/
/n/

Labials:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
p/p/
ph/pʰ/
b/b/
bh/bʱ/
m/m/

Semivowels:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
j/j/
r/ɾ/
l/l/
v/w/ʋ/

Spirants:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
x/ç/
s̷ch/ʂ/
s/s/
h/h/

Visarga & Anusvára

There are two very important diacritics; the Visarga and the Anusvára.

Visarga:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
×/h/ (syllable-final aspiration)

Anusvára:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
/~/ (syllable-final nasalization)

Vedic Sounds

Vedic cerebral laterals and accent marks:

ÐevanágaríTransliterationSound Value
ļ/ɭ/
ळ्हļh/ɭʱ/
अ॒/ə̀/ (an̷uddáþþa)
अ॑à, á`(â)/ə̂/ (svariþa)

Hin̷ðí and Maráthí

The transliteration of Hin̷ðí and Maráthí is essentially the same as for Sam̃skrytam. In addition, cerebral (retroflexed) laterals and rhotics can be transliterated using the appropriate letter with a subscript comma, and there are signs for short ě and ŏ. There are also a number of letters for Arabic and other foreign sounds that are made with a subscript dot in Devan̷ágarí and a superscript dot in transliteration.

Hin̷ðí and Maráthí cerebrals

Ðevan̷ágarí Transliteration Sound Value
ļ /ɭ/
ड़ ŗ/ḋ /ɽ/
ढ़ ŗh/ḋh /ɽʱ/

Signs for foreign sounds

Ðevan̷ágarí Transliteration Sound Value
æ/ĕ /ɛ/
å/ŏ /ɔ/
क़ q/k̇ /q/
ख़ k̇ḣ /x/
ग़ ġ /ɣ/
ज़ ż /z/
फ़ f /f/
श़ /ʒ/
य़ /ʝ/
ह़ /ħ/


Ban̊glá vowels

Ban̊glá has lost the vowel length distinctions of Sanskrit and other Indo-Aryan languages, but has instead gained more qualitative distinctions. While Ban̊glá is usually transliterated as if it still had distinctive vowel length there is an alternative system of indicating the actual vowel pronunciation, utilizing the Scandinavian letters å and æ to indicate the low mid vowels.

Ban̊glá Transcription IPA
i /i/
u /u/
e /e/
o /o/
অઘা / য æ /ɛ/
অা a /a/
å /ɔ/



Ðamiŗ

The Ðamiŗ transliteration system was developed in the middle of the 19th century by Jesper Thomsen in cooperation with Marangovil Valan Ramanathansen. They assumed Danish default values for some letters (g, d, t, z) rather than adopting the Sam̃skrytam or Bán̊glá values.

Vowels

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
a ʌ
á a:
i i
í i:
u u, ɯ
ú u:
e e
é e:
ai ʌj
o o
ó o:
au
அஂ am̃ ʌ̃

Consonants

Gutturals:

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
g k, g, x, ɣ, h
ŋ

Palatals:

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
z tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, s
ñ ɲ

Cerebrals:

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
d ʈ, ɖ, ɽ
n ɳ

Dentals:

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
ð t̪, d̪, ð

Labials:

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
b p, b, β
m m

Semivowels:

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
j j
r ɾ
l l̠ (alveolar)
v ʋ

Ðamiŗ cerebral and alveolar resonants

These are a miscelaneous group of letters which is part of the normal Ðamiŗ alphabet but indicate sounds not found in Sam̃skrytam.

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
ŗ ɹ
ļ ɭ
ŕ r (alveolar trill)
ņ n̠ (alveolar)

Granða letters

These are used to write Sam̃skrytam and foreign words. They were borrowed from the Granðha script used for Sanskrit in the Ðamiŗ country.

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
s̷ch ʂ
s s̠ (alveolar)
h h

Áydam letters

The sign áydam (ஃ) is used in modern Ðamiŗ to convert certain consonants into fricatives for use in foreign words.

Ðamiŗ Transliteration Sound Value
பஃ f f
ஜஃ ż z

Tibetan

The Tibetan (Bod-skad /pʰø̀ø̀kɛ́ɛ̀/) alphabet was created by Thon-mi Sam-bh̦o-ța in the eight century C.E. on the basis of an Indian alphabet. Tibetan orthography has changed very little since then and for this reason the rules of correspondence between orthography and pronunciation are very complicated. They are described on the page on Tibetan transcription.

Consonants

The Tibetan consonants are arranged on the model of Sam̃skrytam, but with letters for sounds peculiar to Old Tibetan added somewhat randomly. Note that when writing Sam̃skrytam in Tibetan letters the dental affricates rather than the palatal affricates are used to render the Sam̃skrytam palatals, in accordance with the ancient pronunciation in Kaxmír.

1 2 3 4
Velars
ka kha ga n̊a
Palatal
affricates
ca cha za ña
Dentals
ta tha da na
Labials
pa pha ba ma
Dental
affricates
c̒a c̒ha z̒a va
ẋa ża ha
ja ra la
xa sa h̦a a/ ˀa

Vowels

i u e o

Sam̃skrytam cerebrals

These are mirror-images of the dental letters

ཀྵ
ța țha d̦a n̦a șcha kșcha

Sam̃skrytam voiced aspirates

These are column 3 letters with subscript h̦a.

གྷ ཌྷ དྷ བྷ ཛྷ
gh̦a d̦h̦a dh̦a bh̦a zh̦a

Sam̃skrytam vowels

ཱི ཱུ ྲྀ ླྀ
á í ú ry ly ai au

Khmær

As in the Đevanágarí writing system, from which it is derived, the Khmær script arranges the consonants of the language in five parallel series of gutturals, palatals, cerebrals, dentals (which have coalesced with the cerebrals), and labials; with a sixth group comprising the semivowels and spirants. However, the sound values of some of the Khmær consonants differ from that of the Đevanágarí system. It also introduces an essential innovation: the consonants are divided into two series of registers, in each of which one and the same vowel sign is realised differently. Thus, the system doubles the vocalic inventory by giving one specific value following a series 1 consonant, and quite another value to the same vowel sign following a series 2 consonant. Series 1 consonants are the original Đevanágarí voiceless stops with their aspirates; series 2 consonants consists of the Đevanágarí voiced stops with their aspirates.

Consonants

The transliteration of Khmær consonants is given below. The Khmær consonant characters appear in two forms; a main form, and a subscript form. The subscript form is used to represent the second component of a consonant cluster, and is shown in the tables below as applied to the letter ក (k).

Gutturals:

Khmær
main form
Khmær
subscript form
TransliterationSeriesSound Value
ក្កk1/k/
ក្ខkh1/kʰ/
ក្គg2/k/
ក្ឃgh2/kʰ/
ក្ង2/ŋ/

Palatals:

Khmær
main form
Khmær
subscript form
TransliterationSeriesSound Value
ក្ចc1/c/
ក្ឆch1/cʰ/
ក្ជz2/c/
ក្ឈzh2/cʰ/
ក្ញñ2/ɲ/

Cerebrals:

Khmær
main form
Khmær
subscript form
TransliterationSeriesSound Value
ក្ដt1/d/
ក្ឋth1/tʰ/
ក្ឌd2/d/
ក្ឍdh2/tʰ/
ក្ណn1/n/

Dentals:

Khmær
main form
Khmær
subscript form
TransliterationSeriesSound Value
ក្តþ1/t/
ក្ថþh1/tʰ/
ក្ទð2/t/
ក្ធðh2/tʰ/
ក្ន2/n/

Labials:

Khmær
main form
Khmær
subscript form
TransliterationSeriesSound Value
ក្បp1/b/
ក្ផph1/pʰ/
ក្ពb2/p/
ក្ភbh2/pʰ/
ក្មm2/m/

Semivowels:

Khmær
main form
Khmær
subscript form
TransliterationSeriesSound Value
ក្យj2/j/
ក្រr2/r/
ក្លl2/l/
ក្វv2/w/

Spirants:

Khmær
main form
Khmær
subscript form
TransliterationSeriesSound Value
ក្សs1/s/
ក្ហh1/h/
ក្ឡļ1/l/
ក្អq *1/ʔ/
  • Note that អ can be seen as a placeholder for vowels. So in its transliteration,
is a not written in the beginning of words. E.g., អង្គរ ("city") is transliterated as An̊gar, not Qan̊gar.

Two consonants are only used in Pali/Sam̃skrytam loanwords:

Special Consonants:

KhmærTransliterationSeriesSound Value
x1/s/
s̷ch1/s/

For certain consonants in one series there is no counterpart in the complementary series. In such cases, the consonant of one series can be converted into the opposing series by adding <"> in the transliteration:

Converted Consonants:

KhmærTransliterationSeriesSound Value
ង៉n̊"1/ŋ/
ញ៉ñ"1/ɲ/
ប៊p"2/b/
ព៉b"1/p/
ម៉m"1/m/
យ៉j"1/j/
រ៉r"1/r/
វ៉v"1/w/
ស៊s"2/s/
ហ៊h"2/h/
អ៊q"2/ʔ/

Vowels

The transliteration of Khmær vowels are given below. Some of the Khmær vowel characters appear in two forms; an independent vowel, and a diacritical vowel. The diacritical form is shown in the tables below as applied to the letter ក (k). The IPA value of the diacritical vowel signs depend on the register series of the consonant that it is attached to. The independent vowel has the same IPA value as the first series.

Khmær
independent form
Khmær
diacritical form
TransliterationSound Value
Series 1
Sound Value
Series 2
a */ɑː//ɔː/
អាកាá/aː//iǝ/
កិi/e//i/
កីí/ǝi//iː/
កឹy/ǝ//ɨ/
កឺý/əɨ//ɨɨ/
កុu/o//u/
កូú/ou//uː/
កួ/uə//uə/
កើø/aə//əə/
កឿ/ɨə//ɨə/
កៀ/iə//iə/
ry/rɨ/
/rɨː/
ly/lɨ/
/lɨː/
កេe/ei//eː/
កែæ/ae//ɛː/
កៃai/ai//ɨi/
កោo/ao//oː/
កៅau/au//ɨu/
កុំum̃/om//um/
កំam̃/ɑm//um/
កាំám̃/ɑm//oəm/
កះ/ah//eəh/
  • Note that the inherent vowel is muted in word-final position. The virama (vowel killer) is obsolete in Khmær.

Samples of Khmær Transliteration

  • អង្គរ An̊gar /ʔɑŋˈkɔː/ "city"
  • កម្ពុជា Kambuzá /kɑːmpuˈciǝ/ "Kambuzá"
  • ភាសាខ្មែរ Bhásá Khmær /pʰiəˈsaː kʰmaer/ "Khmær Language"

Ðaij

The Ðaij script, used to write ภาษาไทย (Bháschá Ðaij, "Ðaij language") and other Southeast Asian languages. The script is borrowed in part from the Khmær script.

The Lao Script, used in ล้านชาง (Lá²n̷ Zan̊), is very closely related to the Ðaij script, and so the transliteration system for the Ðaij script applies just as well with the Lao script.

Consonants

Like the Đevanágarí and Khmær scripts, it arranges the consonants in five parallel series, with a sixth and seventh comprising the semivowels and spirants. However, like Khmær, the sound values of some of the consonants differ from that of Đevanágarí. Furthermore, it also has additional consonants not found in either Đevanágarí or Khmær.

All the consonants are sub-divided into low, middle, and high class to indicate tone in spelling. High class consonants represent the original voiceless aspirated sounds, the middle class represent the original voiceless non-aspirated sounds, and the low class represent the original voiced sounds.

Most consonants have two sound values; one value for syllable-initial position and another for syllable-final position. Consonants that do not have a value for syllable-final position may not be used to close a syllable. Where a combination of consonants ends a written syllable, only the first is pronounced.

Gutturals:

ÐaijTransliterationInitial Sound ValueFinal Sound ValueClass
k/k//k/middle
kh/kʰ//k/high
kh'/kʰ//k/high
g/kʰ//k/low
g'/kʰ//k/low
gh/kʰ//k/low
/ŋ//ŋ/low

Palatals:

ÐaijTransliterationInitial Sound ValueFinal Sound ValueClass
c/c//t/middle
ch/cʰ/high
z/cʰ//t/low
z'/s//t/low
zh/cʰ/low
ñ/j//n/low

Cerebrals:

ÐaijTransliterationInitial Sound ValueFinal Sound ValueClass
t/d//t/middle
t'/t//t/middle
th/tʰ//t/high
d/tʰ//t/low
dh/tʰ//t/low
n/n//n/low

Dentals:

ÐaijTransliterationInitial Sound ValueFinal Sound ValueClass
þ/d//t/middle
þ'/t//t/middle
þh/tʰ//t/high
ð/tʰ//t/low
ðh/tʰ//t/low
/n//n/low

Labials:

ÐaijTransliterationInitial Sound ValueFinal Sound ValueClass
p/b//p/middle
p'/p//p/middle
ph/pʰ/high
ph'/f/high
b/pʰ//p/low
b'/f//p/low
bh/pʰ//p/low
m/m//m/low

Semivowels:

ÐaijTransliterationInitial Sound ValueFinal Sound ValueClass
j/j//j/low
r/ɾ//n/low
l/l//n/low
v/w//w/low

Spirants:

ÐaijTransliterationInitial Sound ValueFinal Sound ValueClass
x/s//t/high
s̷ch/s//t/high
s/s//t/high
h/h/high
ļ/l//n/low
q */ʔ/middle
qh/h/low
  • Note that อ can be seen as a placeholder for vowels. So in its transliteration,
is a not written in the beginning of words. E.g., *อัฐ is transliterated as Âth, not Qâth.

Vowels

The Ðaij script has only diacritical forms of vowels, and no forms for independent vowels. A unique feature of the script is the use of certain consonant signs as vowel signs. The vocalization system is shown in the table below as applied to the consonant ก (k). Note that vowels can go above, below, left of or right of the consonant; some are written with symbols to both the left and right of the consonant; and if the syllable starts with a consonant cluster, they are two positions to the left of the consonant whose sound precedes the vowel.

The sound value of a few vowel signs are dependent on whether they are used in an open or closed syllable. The inherent vowel in open syllables is /a/, but /o/ in closed syllables.

Vowels:

ÐaijTransliterationOpen Sound ValueClosed Sound Value
a */a//o/
กวava/uə/
กอaqa/ɔː//ɔ/
กัâ/a/
กัวâva/uə/
กะ/a/
กาá/aː//aː/
กิi/i//i/
กีí/iː//iː/
กุu/u//u/
กูú/uː//uː/
กึy/ɨ//ɨ/
กืý/ɨː//ɨː/
เกe/eː//eː/
เก็ĕ/e/
เกะ/e/
เกอeq/əː/
เกอะeqa×/ə/
เกยej/əːj//əːj/
เกิø/əː/
เกียïja/iə//iə/
เกียะïja×/iə/
เกือÿqa/ɨə//ɨə/
เกือะÿqa×/ɨə/
เกาau/au/
เกาะau×/ɔ/
แกæ/ɛː//ɛː/
แก็æ̆/ɛ/
แกะæ×/ɛ/
โกo/oː//oː/
โกะ/o/
ไกai/ai//ai/
ใกái/ai//ai/
  • Note that the inherent vowel is muted in word-final position. The virama (vowel killer) is only used in Pali or Sam̃skryta loans.

Ðaij transcription of Páli and Sam̃skrytam

The Ðaij script is frequently used to write Páli and Sam̃skrytam. When so used, consonant clusters are represented by the explicit use of the Ðaij equivalent of the virama (e.i. กฺ when applied to ก) to mark the removal of the inherent vowel. There is no conjoining behavior, unlike in other Indic scripts. The Ðaij equivalent of the anusvára and visarga (i.e. กํ and กะ respectively when applied to ก) is transliterated as in the Devanágarí transliteration. The following syllabic consonants are also used to write Páli or Sam̃skrytam loans:

ÐaijTransliterationSound Value
ry/ɾɨ/
ฤา/ɾɨː/
ly/lɨ/
ฦา/lɨː/

Tones

The four tone markers in the Ðaij script are derived from the numbers one, two, three, and four. Likewise, the four tone markers are transliterated by the use of raised numbers. They are shown below as applied to the consonant ก (k):

ÐaijTransliteration
ก่◌¹
ก้◌²
ก๊◌³
ก๋◌⁴

Samples of Ðaij Transliteration

Below are some samples of Ðaij transliterated into Roman letters. Tones have been left out in the phonemic transcription.

  • ไทย - Ðaij /tʰai/ "Free" or "Ðaij"
  • เมืองไทย - Mÿqan̊ Ðaij /mɨəŋ tʰai/ "Land of the Free" or "Land of the Ðaijs"
  • ราชอาณาจักรไทย - Ráz'a Ánácâkr Đaij /ɾaːca ʔaːnaːcak tʰai/ "Kingdom of the Free" or "Kingdom of the Ðaijs"
  • กรุงเทพมหานคร - Krun̊ Ðeb Mahán̷agar /kʰɾuŋ tʰep mahaːnakʰon/ "City of Angels" (the capital of Mÿqan̊ Ðaij)
  • กรุงเทพฯ - Krun̊ Ðeb. /kʰɾuŋ tʰep/ (the abbreviated form of Krun̊ Ðeb Mahán̷agar)
  • ล้านนาไทย - Lá²n̷n̷á Đaij /laːn naː tʰai/ "One Million Ðaij Rice-fields" (the vassal state in northern Mÿqan̊ Ðaij)
  • เชียงใหม่ - Z'ïjan̊ Hmái¹ /siəŋ mai/ (the capital of Lá²n̷n̷á Đaij)
  • ล้านชาง - Lá²n̷ Zan̊ "One Million Elephants" (the vassal state in Northeastern Mÿqan̊ Ðaij, bordering with Nam Viet)