Editing Balti language (section)

==Orthographies==
The predominant writing system currently in use for Balti is the [[Perso-Arabic script]], although there have been attempts to revive the [[Tibetan script]], which was used between the 8th and the 16th centuries.{{sfn|Bashir|2016|pp=808–09}} Additionally, there are two, nowadays possibly extinct, indigenous writing systems{{sfn|Pandey|2010}} and there have been proposals for the adoption of [[Latin script]]-{{sfn|Bashir|2016|p=808}} as well as [[Devanagari]]-based orthographies{{sfn|Pandey|2010|p=1}} that were adjusted for writing Balti by the Central Institute of Indian Languages in the 1970s.<ref name="omniglot"/>

In 1985, [[Yusuf Hussain Abadi]] added four new letters to the Tibetan script and seven new letters to the Perso-Arabic script to adapt both of them to the needs of the Balti language. Two of the four added letters now stand included in the Tibetan Unicode block.

Balti was written with a version of the Tibetan script from 727 AD, when Baltistan was conquered by Tibetans, until the last quarter of the 14th century, when the Baltis converted to Islam.<ref name="omniglot">{{cite web|first=Michael Peter|last=Füstumum|title=Balti|website=Omniglot: The online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages|url=https://omniglot.com/writing/balti.htm|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref> Subsequently, the Perso-Arabic script replaced the Tibetan script, but the former had no letters for seven Balti sounds and was in vogue despite being defective. Adding the seven new letters has now made it a complete script for Balti.

Recently, a number of Balti scholars and social activists have attempted to promote the use of the Tibetan Balti or "Yige" alphabet<ref name="omniglot"/> with the aim of helping to preserve indigenous Balti and Ladakhi culture and ethnic identity. Following a request from this community, the September 2006 Tokyo meeting of ISO/IEC 10646 WG2 agreed to encode two characters invented by Abadi (U+0F6B TIBETAN LETTER KKA and TIBETAN U+0F6C LETTER RRA) in the [[Universal Coded Character Set|ISO 10646]] and [[Unicode]] standards in order to support rendering [[Urdu]] loanwords present in modern Balti using the Yige alphabet.

===Perso-Arabic alphabet===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Letter !! Romanization !! [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ا}}}} || ā, a, (e), o, - || {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ə/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}, {{IPA|/∅/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ب}}}} || b || {{IPA|/b/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|پ}}}} || p || {{IPA|/p/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ت}}}} || t || {{IPA|/t/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ٹ}}}} || ṭ || {{IPA|/ʈ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ث}}}} || (s) || {{IPA|/s/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ج}}}} || j || {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ڃ}}}} || ž || {{IPA|/ʒ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|چ}}}} || č || {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ڇ}}}} || č̣ || {{IPA|/ʈ͡ʂ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ح}}}} || (h) || {{IPA|/h/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|خ}}}} || x || {{IPA|/x/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|د}}}} || d || {{IPA|/d/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ڈ}}}} || ḍ || {{IPA|/ɖ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ذ}}}} || (z) || {{IPA|/z/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ر}}}} || r || {{IPA|/ɾ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ڑ}}}} || ṛ || {{IPA|/ɽ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ز}}}} || z || {{IPA|/z/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ڗ}}}} || đ/dz || {{IPA|/d͡z/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ژ}}}} || c/ts || {{IPA|/t͡s/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|س}}}} || s || {{IPA|/s/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ش}}}} || š || {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ݜ}}}} || ṣ || {{IPA|/ʂ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ص}}}} || (s) || {{IPA|/s/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ض}}}} || (z) || {{IPA|/z/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ط}}}} || (t) || {{IPA|/t/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ظ}}}} || (z) || {{IPA|/z/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ع}}}} || (ā), (a), (e), (o), (-) || {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ə/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}, {{IPA|/∅/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|غ}}}} || ǧ || {{IPA|/ʁ~ɢ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ف}}}} || f || {{IPA|/pʰ~f/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ق}}}} || q || {{IPA|/q/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ک}}}} || k || {{IPA|/k/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|کٔ}}}} || ǩ/ṡ || {{IPA|/ɕ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|گ}}}} || g || {{IPA|/ɡ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ل}}}} || l || {{IPA|/l/}}, ({{IPA|/ɭ/}}), ({{IPA|/ɫ/}})
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|م}}}} || m || {{IPA|/m/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ن}}}} || n || {{IPA|/n/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ݨ}}}} || ŋ/ng || {{IPA|/ŋ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ݩ}}}} || ň/ny || {{IPA|/ɲ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|و}}}} || w, u || {{IPA|/w/}}, {{IPA|/u/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ہ}}}} || h || {{IPA|/h/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ھ}}}} || _h || {{IPA|/◌ʰ/}}, {{IPA|/◌ʱ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ی}}}} || y, i || {{IPA|/j/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | {{lang|bft|{{Uninastaliq|ے}}}} || e/ay || {{IPA|/e/}}
|}

===Yige alphabet===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
! Additional Balti Yige Letter !! Romanization !! [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
|-
| style="font-size:200%" | {{lang|bft|ཫ}} || q || {{IPA | /q/}}
|-
| style="font-size:200%" | {{lang|bft|ཬ}} || ɽ || {{IPA | /ɽ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:200%" | {{lang|bft|ཁ༹}} || x || {{IPA | /χ/}}
|-
| style="font-size:200%" | {{lang|bft|ག༹}} || ɣ || {{IPA | /ʁ/}}
|}

===Basic letters===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:75%"
|-align=center style="font-size:small"
!
!style="background:beige;" colspan=2 | Unaspirated<br/>''high''
!style="background:#d6f5d6;" colspan=2 | [[Aspirated consonant|Aspirated]]<br />''medium''
!style="background:#ffcce6;" colspan=2 | [[Voiced]]<br/ >''low''
!style="background:#99bbff;" colspan=2 | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]<br />''low''
|-align=center style="font-size:small"
!
! Letter
! [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
! Letter
! IPA
! Letter
! IPA
! Letter
! IPA
|-align=center
| '''''[[Guttural]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཀ}} || {{IPA|/ka/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཁ}} || {{IPA|/kʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ག}} || {{IPA|/ɡa/}}  ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ང}} || {{IPA|/ŋa/}}
|-align=center
| '''''[[Palatal]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཅ}} || {{IPA|/tʃa/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཆ}} || {{IPA|/tʃʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཇ}} || {{IPA|/dʒa/}} ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཉ}} ||  {{IPA|/ɲa/}}
|-align=center
| rowspan="2" | '''''[[Dental consonant|Dental]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཏ}} || {{IPA|/ta/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཐ}} || {{IPA|/tʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ད}} || {{IPA|/da/}} ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ན}} || {{IPA|/na/}}
|- align="center"
| style="background:beige; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཙ}}||{{IPA|/tsa/}}|| style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཚ}}||{{IPA|/tsʰa/}}|| style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཛ}}||{{IPA|/dza/}}|| style="background:#EEEFE4; font-size:24px;" |{{bo-textonly|ཝ}}||{{IPA|/wa/}}
|-align=center
| '''''[[Labial consonant|Labial]]''''' ||style="background:beige; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|པ}} || {{IPA|/pa/}} ||style="background:#d6f5d6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཕ}} || {{IPA|/pʰa/}} ||style="background:#ffcce6; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|བ}} || {{IPA|/ba/}} ||style="background:#99bbff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|མ}} || {{IPA|/ma/}}
|-align=center
|style="background:#d9b3ff;" | '''''low''''' ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཞ}} || {{IPA|/ʒa/}} ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཟ}} || {{IPA|/za/}}  ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|འ}} || {{IPA|/a/}} {{angle bracket|ʼa}} ||style="background:#d9b3ff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཡ}} ||  {{IPA|/ja/}}
|-align=center  
|style="background:#b3ffff;" | '''''medium''''' ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ར}} || {{IPA|/ra/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ལ}} || {{IPA|/la/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཤ}} || {{IPA|/ʃa/}} ||style="background:#b3ffff; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ས}} || {{IPA|/sa/}}
|-align=center
|style="background:#ffffcc;" | '''''high''''' ||style="background:#ffffcc; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཧ}} || {{IPA|/ha/}} ||style="background:#ffffcc; font-size:24px;"| {{bo-textonly|ཨ}} || {{IPA|/a/}} {{angle bracket|ꞏa}}
|}