Editing Abugida (section)

==Family-specific features==
There are three principal families of abugidas, depending on whether vowels are indicated by modifying consonants by ''diacritics, distortion,'' or ''orientation.''<ref>John D. Berry (2002:19) ''Language Culture Type''</ref>
*The oldest and largest is the [[Brahmic scripts|Brahmic]] family of India and Southeast Asia, in which vowels are marked with [[diacritic]]s and syllable-final consonants, when they occur, are indicated with [[Typographic ligature|ligatures]], diacritics, or with a special [[virama|vowel-canceling mark]].
*In the [[Geʽez script]], vowels are marked by modifying the shapes of the consonants, and one of the vowel-forms serves additionally to indicate final consonants.
*In [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]], vowels are marked by rotating or flipping the consonants, and final consonants are indicated with either special diacritics or superscript forms of the main initial consonants.

[[Lao script|Lao]] and [[Tāna]] have dependent vowels and a zero vowel sign, but no inherent vowel.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Feature!!North Indic!!South Indic!!Tāna!!Ethiopic!!Canadian Aboriginal
|-
|Vowel representation<br>after consonant||colspan="3"|Dependent sign (diacritic)<br>in distinct position per vowel||Fused diacritic||Rotate/reflect
|-
|Initial vowel<br>representation||Distinct inline<br>letter per vowel{{efn|group=exc|name=IVNI}}||colspan="2"|[[Glottal stop]] or [[zero consonant]]<br>plus dependent vowel{{efn|group=exc|name=IVSEA|Pali in the Burmese, Khmer and Tai Tham scripts uses independent vowels instead, and they are also used in loan words in the local languages. The Cham script also uses both independent vowels and glottal stop consonant plus dependent vowel.<ref name=Cham_Unicode_Proposal/> In all three cases, the glottal stop letter is the same as the independent vowel letter for the inherent vowel. Conversely, the [[Lontara]] script of [[Sulawesi]] uses zero consonant plus vowel.}}||Glottal stop<br>plus dependent||[[Zero consonant]]<br>plus dependent
|-
|[[Inherent vowel]]<br>(value of no vowel sign)||colspan="2"|{{IPA|[ə]}}, {{IPA|[ɔ]}}, {{IPA|[a]}}, or [[Bengali alphabet|{{IPA|[o]|cat=no}}]]{{efn|group=exc|name=INHSEA}}||No||{{IPA|[ɐ]<ref name=WWS_Ethiopic/>}}||N/A
|-
|[[Virama|Zero vowel sign]]<br>(sign for no value)||Often||Colspan="2"|Always used when<br>no final vowel{{efn|group=exc|name=VRMSEA}}||Ambiguous with ə ({{IPA|[ɨ]}})||Shrunk or separate letter{{efn|group=exc|name=VRMCAN}}
|-
|[[Conjunct consonant|Consonant cluster]]|| [[Devanagari#Conjunct consonants|Conjunct]]{{efn|group=exc|name=CLUNI}}||Stacked or separate{{clarify|reason="Does 'separate' allow modification to inidicate the formation of a conjunct?|date=January 2016}}{{efn|group=exc|name=CLUSI}}||colspan="3"|Separate
|-
|Final consonant (not sign)||colspan="2"|Inline{{efn|group=exc|name=FCI}}||colspan="2"|Inline||Inline
|-
|Distinct final sign||colspan="2"|Only for [[anusvara|ṃ]], [[visarga|ḥ]]{{efn|group=exc|name=DFVAR}}{{efn|group=exc|name=DFSI}}||colspan="2"|No||Only in [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics#Eastern and western syllabics|Western]]
|-
|Final sign position||Inline or top||Inline, top or occasionally bottom||colspan="2"|N/A||Raised or inline{{clarify|reason=In talk, there is the implication that signs can be lowered. Perhaps best to leave as 'Inline'.|date=January 2016}}
|-
|colspan="6"|
; Exceptions

{{notelist|group=exc|refs=
<!-- Notes that include formal references must be defined at a referring point, not here! -->
{{efn|group=exc|name=IVNI|Tibetan, [[Róng]] and [[Kharoṣṭhī]] use the glottal stop or zero consonant plus dependent vowel.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=INHSEA|Lao has no inherent vowel – it is an alphasyllabary but not an abugida. There is also a Thai-script Pali orthography which has no inherent vowel.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=VRMSEA|The Thai, Lao, Tai Viet, Tai Tham and Khmer scripts often or always use the plain letter for word-final consonants, and normally do not use a zero vowel sign. However, the Thai script regularly uses it for Pali and Sanskrit.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=VRMCAN|Deviations include omissions{{citation needed|reason=Sole evidence is discussion on Qalam|date=January 2016}} and systematic use of i-forms{{citation needed|reason=Sole evidence is a claim in the talk page|date=January 2016}}.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=CLUNI|Often separate and unmodified as a result of [[Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages|syncope]]. Also, as a legitimate font fall-back, can occur as side-by-side consonants modified only by the inclusion of a virama.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=CLUSI|Tamil and Lao have conjuncts formed from straightforward ligation of side by side consonants. Burmese and Tai Tham have a few conjuncts.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=FCI|Tibetan and Khmer occasionally and Tai Tham regularly write final consonants below the rest of the akshara. This practice is the origin of the Lao letter ຽ U+0EBD LAO SEMIVOWEL SIGN NYO, and a similar sign may be found in Javanese. Tai Tham may also write several final consonants above the rest of the akshara. The Rónɡ script writes final consonants above the rest of the akshara, except that final /ŋ/ ''precedes'' the rest. The Philippine scripts do not represent final consonants.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=DFVAR|The symbol for ṃ represents the sound for /m/ or /ŋ/ in some languages, and the symbol for ḥ may represent a ɡlottal stop or even /k/. Not all scripts have these symbols.}}
{{efn|group=exc|name=DFSI|Tai Tham has superscript and subscript signs for final /k/. Javanese and related scripts have a superscript symbol for final /r/, though it is ultimately related to the normal letter for /r/.}}
}}

|-
|}

===Indic (Brahmic)===
{{see also|Brahmic scripts}}

Indic scripts originated in [[India]] and spread to [[Southeast Asia]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]], [[Tibet]], [[Mongolia]], and [[Russia]]. All surviving Indic scripts are descendants of the [[Brahmi alphabet]]. Today they are used in most languages of [[South Asia]] (although replaced by [[Perso-Arabic]] in [[Urdu]], [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]] and some other languages of [[Pakistan]] and [[India]]), mainland [[Southeast Asia]] ([[Myanmar]], [[Thailand]], [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]], and [[Vietnam]]), [[Tibet]] ([[Tibetan script|Tibetan]]), [[Indonesia]]n archipelago ([[Javanese script|Javanese]], [[Balinese script|Balinese]], [[Sundanese script|Sundanese]], [[Batak script|Batak]], [[Lontara script|Lontara]], [[Rejang alphabet|Rejang]], [[Ulu scripts|Rencong]], [[Makasar script|Makasar]], etc.), [[Philippines]] ([[Baybayin script|Baybayin]], [[Buhid script|Buhid]], [[Hanunuo script|Hanunuo]], [[Kulitan script|Kulitan]], and [[Tagbanwa script|Aborlan Tagbanwa]]), [[Malaysia]] ([[Ulu scripts|Rencong]]).

The primary division is with North Indic scripts, used in Northern India, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia, and Russia; and Southern Indic scripts, used in [[South India]], [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Southeast Asia]]. South Indic letter forms are more rounded than North Indic forms, though [[Odia script|Odia]], [[Golmol script|Golmol]] and [[Litumol script|Litumol]] of Nepal script are rounded. Most North Indic scripts' full letters incorporate a horizontal line at the top, with [[Gujarati script|Gujarati]] and Odia as exceptions; South Indic scripts do not.

Indic scripts indicate vowels through dependent vowel signs (diacritics) around the consonants, often including a sign that explicitly indicates the lack of a vowel. If a consonant has no vowel sign, this indicates a default vowel. Vowel diacritics may appear above, below, to the left, to the right, or around the consonant.

The most widely used Indic script is [[Devanagari]], shared by [[Hindi]], [[Bihari languages|Bihari]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Nepali language|Nepali]], and often [[Sanskrit]]. A basic letter such as [[Devanagari ka|क]] in Hindi represents a syllable with the default vowel, in this case ''ka'' ({{IPA|[kə]}}). In some languages, including Hindi, it becomes a final closing consonant at the end of a word, in this case ''k''. The inherent vowel may be changed by adding vowel mark ([[diacritic]]s), producing syllables such as कि ''ki,'' कु ''ku,'' के ''ke,'' को ''ko.''

[[Image:Rigveda MS2097.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A 19th-century manuscript in the [[Devanagari script]]]]
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Diacritic placement in Brahmic abugidas
! position
! syllable
! pronunciation
! base form
! script
|-
| above || के || {{IPA|/keː/}} || rowspan=4 | क {{IPA|/k(a)/}} || rowspan=4 | [[Devanagari]]
|-
| below || कु || {{IPA|/ku/}}
|-
| left || कि || {{IPA|/ki/}}
|-
| right || को || {{IPA|/koː/}}
|-
| around || கௌ || {{IPA|/kau̯/}} || rowspan="2" | க {{IPA|/ka/}} || rowspan="2" | [[Tamil script|Tamil]]
|-
|within
|கி
|/ki/
|-
| surround || កៀ || {{IPA|/kie/}} || ក {{IPA|/kɑː/}} || [[Khmer alphabet|Khmer]]
|-
| within || ಕಿ || {{IPA|/ki/}} || ಕ {{IPA|/ka/}} || [[Kannada alphabet|Kannada]]
|-
| within || కి|| {{IPA|/ki/}} || క {{IPA|/ka/}} || [[Telugu alphabet|Telugu]]
|-
| below and extend<br>to the right || ꦏꦾ || {{IPA|/kja/}} || rowspan="2" | ꦏ {{IPA|/ka/}} || rowspan="2" | [[Javanese script|Javanese]]
|-
| below and extend<br>to the left || ꦏꦿꦸ || {{IPA|/kru/}}
|}

In many of the Brahmic scripts, a syllable beginning with a cluster is treated as a single character for purposes of vowel marking, so a vowel marker like ि ''-i,'' falling before the character it modifies, may appear several positions before the place where it is pronounced. For example, the game [[cricket]] in [[Hindi]] is क्रिकेट {{transliteration|hi|ISO|krikeṭ}}; the diacritic for {{IPA|/i/}} appears before the [[consonant cluster]] {{IPA|/kr/}}, not before the {{IPA|/r/}}. A more unusual example is seen in the [[Batak alphabet]]: Here the syllable ''bim'' is written ''ba-ma-i-(virama)''. That is, the vowel diacritic and virama are both written after the consonants for the whole syllable.

In many abugidas, there is also a diacritic to suppress the inherent vowel, yielding the bare consonant. In Devanagari, प् is ''p,'' and फ् is ''ph''. This is called the ''[[virāma]]'' or ''halantam'' in Sanskrit. It may be used to form [[consonant cluster]]s, or to indicate that a consonant occurs at the end of a word. Thus in Sanskrit, a default vowel consonant such as फ does not take on a final consonant sound. Instead, it keeps its vowel. For writing two consonants without a vowel in between, instead of using diacritics on the first consonant to remove its vowel, another popular method of special [[conjunct]] forms is used in which two or more consonant characters are merged to express a cluster, such as Devanagari, as in अप्फ ''appha.'' (Some fonts display this as प् followed by फ, rather than forming a conjunct. This expedient is used by [[ISCII]] and South Asian scripts of [[Unicode]].) Thus a closed syllable such as ''phaṣ'' requires two ''aksharas'' to write: फष् ''phaṣ''.

The [[Róng]] script used for the [[Lepcha language]] goes further than other Indic abugidas, in that a single ''akshara'' can represent a closed syllable: Not only the vowel, but any final consonant is indicated by a diacritic. For example, the syllable [sok] would be written as something like s̥̽, here with an underring representing {{IPA|/o/}} and an overcross representing the diacritic for final {{IPA|/k/}}. Most other Indic abugidas can only indicate a very limited set of final consonants with diacritics, such as {{IPA|/ŋ/}} or {{IPA|/r/}}, if they can indicate any at all.

===Ethiopic===
[[Image:Ethiopic genesis (ch. 29, v. 11-16), 15th century (The S.S. Teacher's Edition-The Holy Bible - Plate XII, 1).jpg|thumb|The Geʽez script, an abugida of [[Eritrea]] and [[Ethiopia]]]]
In [[Geʽez script]], ''fidels'' (individual "letters" of the script) have "diacritics" that are fused with the consonants to the point that they must be considered modifications of the form of the letters. Children learn each modification separately, as in a syllabary; nonetheless, the graphic similarities between syllables with the same consonant are readily apparent, unlike the case in a true [[syllabary]].

Though now an abugida, the Geʽez script, until the advent of [[Christianity]] (c. AD [[350]]), had originally been what would now be termed an ''[[abjad]]''. In the Geʽez script (or ''fidel''), the base form of the letter (also known as ''fidel'') may be altered. For example, ሀ ''hä'' {{IPA|[hə]}} (base form), ሁ ''hu'' (with a right-side diacritic that does not alter the letter), ሂ ''hi'' (with a subdiacritic that compresses the consonant, so it is the same height), ህ ''hə'' {{IPA|[hɨ]}} or {{IPA|[h]}} (where the letter is modified with a kink in the left arm).

===Canadian Aboriginal syllabics===
<!--[[Image:Lci.gif]] an inscription of [[Old Kawi]] found in the [[Philippines]]-->

In the family known as [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]], which was inspired by the [[Devanagari script]] of India, vowels are indicated by changing the orientation of the [[syllabogram]]. Each vowel has a consistent orientation; for example, [[Inuktitut]] ᐱ ''pi,'' ᐳ ''pu,'' ᐸ ''pa;'' ᑎ ''ti,'' ᑐ ''tu,'' ᑕ ''ta''. Although there is a vowel inherent in each, all rotations have equal status and none can be identified as basic. Bare consonants are indicated either by separate diacritics, or by superscript versions of the ''aksharas''; there is no vowel-killer mark.