Editing Virama

{{short description|Diacritic in many Brahmic scripts}}
{{Infobox diacritic|char=&#x094D;
|name=
|unicode=}}
'''Virama''' ({{Langx|sa|विराम/हलन्त|translit=virāma/halanta}} ्, {{ipa|sa|ʋiraːmɐ, ɦɐlɐn̪t̪ɐ|ipa}}) is a [[Sanskrit]] phonological concept to suppress the [[inherent vowel]] that otherwise occurs with every consonant letter, commonly used as a generic term for a codepoint in Unicode, representing either
# '''halanta''', '''hasanta''' or explicit '''virāma''', a [[diacritic]] in many [[Brahmic scripts]], including the [[Devanagari]] and [[Bengali–Assamese script|Bengali]] scripts, or
# '''saṃyuktākṣara''' ([[Sanskrit]]: संयुक्ताक्षर) or implicit virama, a conjunct consonant or ligature.
Unicode schemes of scripts writing [[Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area|Mainland Southeast Asia languages]], such as that of [[Burmese script]] and of [[Tibetan script]], generally do not group the two functions together.

== Names ==
The name is [[Sanskrit]] for "cessation, termination, end". As a [[Sanskrit]] word, it is used in place of several language-specific terms, such as:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Name in English books
!Language
!In native language
!Form
!Notes
|-
| rowspan="1" |''halant''
|[[Hindi]]
|{{indic|lang=hi|indic=हलन्त|trans=halant|showlang=false}}
|्
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |''halanta''
|[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
|{{indic|lang=pa|indic=ਹਲੰਤ|trans=halanta|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|੍
|
|-
|[[Marathi language|Marathi]]
|{{indic|lang=mr|indic=हलंत|trans=halanta|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|् 
|
|-
|[[Nepali language|Nepali]] 
|{{indic|lang=ne|indic=हलन्त|trans=halanta|showlang=false}}
|्
|
|-
|[[Odia language|Odia]]
|{{Indic|lang=or|indic=ହଳନ୍ତ|trans=haḷanta|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|୍
|
|-
|[[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]
|{{Indic|lang=gu|indic=હાલાંત|trans=hālānta|showlang=false}}
|્
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |''hosonto''
|[[Bengali language|Bengali]]
|{{indic|lang=bn|indic=হসন্ত|trans=hôsôntô|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|্
|
|-
|[[Assamese language|Assamese]]
|{{indic|lang=as|indic=হসন্ত|trans=hoxonto|defaultipa=|showlang=false|showhelp=false}} / {{indic|lang=as|indic=হছন্ত|trans=hosonto|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|্
|
|-
|[[Sylheti language|Sylheti]]
|{{Indic|lang=syl|indic=ꠢꠡꠘ꠆ꠔꠧ|trans=hośonto|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|<span style="font-family: 'Surma';"> ◌ ꠆</span>
|
|-
|''pollu''
|[[Telugu language|Telugu]]
|{{indic|lang=te|indic=పొల్లు|trans=pollu|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|్
|
|-
|''pulli''
|[[Tamil language|Tamil]]
|{{indic|lang=ta|indic=புள்ளி|trans=puḷḷi|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|்
|
|-
|''chandrakkala''
|[[Malayalam script|Malayalam]]
|{{indic|lang=ml|indic=ചന്ദ്രക്കല|trans=candrakkala|defaultipa=|showlang=false|showhelp=false}} / {{Indic|lang=ml|indic=വിരാമം|trans=viraamam|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|്
|Unlike other virama diacritics, it is pronounced {{IPA|ml|ɯ|}} word-finally.
|-
|''ardhakshara chihne''
|[[Kannada script|Kannada]]
|{{indic|lang=kn|indic=ಅರ್ಧಾಕ್ಷರ ಚಿಹ್ನೆ|trans=ardhakshara chihne|defaultipa=|showlang=false|showhelp=false}} / {{Indic|lang=kn|indic=ಸುರುಳಿ|trans=suruli|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|್
|
|-
|''hal kirima''
|[[Sinhala language|Sinhalese]]
|{{Indic|lang=si|indic=හල් කිරිම|trans=hal kirīma|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|්
|
|-
|''a that''
|[[Burmese language|Burmese]]
|{{Indic|lang=my|indic=အသတ်|trans=a.sat|defaultipa=|indicipa=ʔa̰θaʔ|showlang=false}}
|်
|lit. "[[Sat (Sanskrit)|nonexistence]]"
|-
|''viream'' 
| rowspan="2" | [[Khmer language|Khmer]]
| {{indic|lang=km|indic=វិរាម|trans=vīrāma|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
| ៑
|
|-
|''toandokheat''
| {{indic|lang=km|indic=ទណ្ឌឃាត|trans=toandokheat|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
| ៍
|
|-
|''karan, thanthakhat''
| rowspan="3" | [[Thai language|Thai]]
|{{Indic|lang=th|indic=การันต์|trans=kārạnt|defaultipa=|showlang=false|showhelp=false}}<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=คำศัพท์ ''การันต์'' แปลว่าอะไร?|url=http://dict.longdo.com/search/%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%95%E0%B9%8C|website=Longdo Dict}}</ref><ref name=":1">[[:th:การันต์]]</ref> / {{Indic|lang=th|indic=ทัณฑฆาต|trans=thanthakhat|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=คำศัพท์ ''ทัณฑฆาต'' แปลว่าอะไร?|url=http://dict.longdo.com/search/%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%91%E0%B8%86%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%95|website=Longdo Dict}}</ref><ref name=":3">[[:th:ทัณฑฆาต]]</ref>
|◌์
|''Thanthakhat'' is the name of the diacritic, while ''karan'' refers to the character that was marked. These two terms are often used interchangeably. It is used to mark as silent vowels or consonants that were originally pronounced, but have become silenced in Thai pronunciation (mostly from Sanskrit and [[Old Khmer]]). This diacritic is sometimes used in loanwords from European languages to mark final consonants in consonant clusters (e.g. want as วอนท์).
|-
|''pinthu''
|{{Indic|lang=th|indic=พินทุ|trans=pinthu|defaultipa=|showlang=false|showhelp=false}}
|◌ฺ
|''Pinthu'' is akin to Sanskrit [[Bindu (symbol)|bindu]], and means "point" or "dot". It is used to mark a syllable as closed, and it is only used in Thai script when writing Pali or Sanskrit.
|-
|''nikkhahit''
|นฤคหิต / นิคหิต
|◌ํ
|''Nikkhahit'' represents what was originally [[anusvāra]] in Sanskrit. Like ''pinthu'', it is also only used when writing Pali or Sanskrit in Thai script. It marks a syllable as nasalized, realized in Thai as a nasal closed consonant following the vowel.
|-
| rowspan="3" |''rahaam''
|[[Northern Thai language|Northern Thai (Lanna)]]
| rowspan="3" |{{Indic|lang=nod|indic=ᩁᩉ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨾ|trans=rahaam|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tai Tham |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1A20.pdf |access-date=30 July 2022 |website=The Unicode Standard}}</ref>
|◌᩺
|
|-
|[[Khün language|Tai Khün]]
|◌᩼
|
|-
|[[Tai Lue language|Tai Lue]]
|◌᩼
|
|-
|''wirama''
|[[Kawi script|Kawi]]
|{{Indic|lang=jv|indic=𑼮𑼶𑼬𑼴𑼪|trans=wirāma|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|◌𑽁
|
|-
|''pangkon''
|[[Javanese language|Javanese]]
|{{Indic|lang=jv|indic=ꦥꦁꦏꦺꦴꦤ꧀|trans=pangkon|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|◌꧀
|
|-
|''adeg-adeg''
|[[Balinese language|Balinese]]
|{{Indic|lang=ban|indic=ᬳᬤᭂᬕ᭄ᬳᬤᭂᬕ᭄|trans=adəg-adəg|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|◌᭄
| 
|-
| rowspan="3" |''pangolat''
|[[Mandailing Batak language|Mandailing]]
| rowspan="3" |{{Indic|lang=bbc|indic=ᯇᯝᯬᯞᯖ᯲|trans=pangolat|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
| rowspan="3" |◌᯲
|
|-
|[[Pakpak language|Pakpak]]
|
|-
|[[Toba Batak language|Toba]]
|
|-
|''penengen''
|[[Batak Karo language|Karo]]
|{{Indic|lang=btx|indic=ᯇᯧᯉᯧᯝᯧᯉ᯳|trans=pənəngən|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
| rowspan="2" |◌᯳
|
|-
|''panongonan''
|[[Batak Simalungun language|Simalungun]]
|{{Indic|lang=bts|indic=ᯈᯉᯬᯝᯬᯉᯉ᯳|trans=panongonan|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|
|-
|''pamaeh''
|[[Sundanese language|Sundanese]]
|{{Indic|lang=su|indic=ᮕᮙᮆᮂ|trans=pamaeh|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|◌᮪
|
|-
|''bunuhan''
|[[Rejang language|Rejang]]
|{{Indic|lang=rej|indic=ꤷꥈꤵꥈꥁꥐ|trans=bunuhan|defaultipa=|showlang=false}}
|꥓
|
|-
|''sukun''
|[[Maldivian language|Dhivehi]]
|{{langx|dv|ސުކުން|sukun|label=none}}
| ް◌
| Derives from Arabic "sukun"
|-
|''Srog med''
|[[Lhasa Tibetan|Tibetan]]
|''Srog med''
|྄
|Only used when transcribing Sanskrit
|}

== Usage ==
In [[Devanagari]] and many other [[Brahmic family of scripts|Indic scripts]], a virama is used to cancel the [[inherent vowel]] of a consonant letter and represent a consonant without a vowel, a "dead" consonant. For example, in Devanagari,
#{{lang|sa|क}} is a consonant letter, ''ka'',
#् is a virāma; therefore,
#{{lang|sa|क्}} (''ka'' + virāma) represents a dead consonant ''k''.
If this ''k'' {{lang|sa|क्}} is further followed by another consonant letter, for example, ṣa ष, the result might look like {{lang|sa|क्‌ष}}, which represents ''kṣa'' as ''ka'' + (visible) virāma + ''ṣa''. In this case, two elements ''k'' क् and ''ṣa'' ष are simply placed one by one, side by side. Alternatively, ''kṣa'' can be also written as a [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] {{lang|sa|क्ष}}, which is actually the preferred form.
Generally, when a dead consonant letter C<sub>1</sub> and another consonant letter C<sub>2</sub> are conjoined, the result may be:
#A fully conjoined ligature of C<sub>1</sub>+C<sub>2</sub>;
#Half-conjoined—
#*C<sub>1</sub>-conjoining: a modified form (half form) of C<sub>1</sub> attached to the original form (full form) of C<sub>2</sub>
#*C<sub>2</sub>-conjoining: a modified form of C<sub>2</sub> attached to the full form of C<sub>1</sub>; or
#Non-ligated: full forms of C<sub>1</sub> and C<sub>2</sub> with a visible virama.<ref>{{cite web|last=Constable|first=Peter|title=Clarification of the Use of Zero Width Joiner in Indic Scripts|url=https://www.unicode.org/review/pr-37.pdf|publisher=Unicode, Inc|year=2004| access-date=2009-11-19}}</ref>

If the result is fully or half-conjoined, the (conceptual) virama which made C<sub>1</sub> dead becomes invisible, logically existing only in a [[character encoding]] scheme such as [[Indian Script Code for Information Interchange|ISCII]] or [[Unicode]]. If the result is not ligated, a virama is visible, attached to C<sub>1</sub>, actually written.

Basically, those differences are only glyph variants, and the three forms are [[semantics|semantically]] identical. Although there may be a preferred form for a given consonant cluster in each language and some scripts do not have some kind of ligatures or half forms at all, it is generally acceptable to use a nonligature form instead of a ligature form even when the latter is preferred if the font does not have a glyph for the ligature. In some other cases, whether to use a ligature or not is just a matter of taste.

The virāma in the sequence C<sub>1</sub> + virāma + C<sub>2</sub> may thus work as an invisible control character to ligate C<sub>1</sub> and C<sub>2</sub> in Unicode. For example,
*''ka'' क + virāma + ṣa ष = ''kṣa'' {{lang|sa|क्ष}}
is a fully conjoined ligature. It is also possible that the virāma does not ligate C<sub>1</sub> and C<sub>2</sub>, leaving the full forms of C<sub>1</sub> and C<sub>2</sub> as they are:
*''ka'' {{lang|sa|क}} + virama + ''ṣa'' {{lang|sa|ष}} = ''kṣa'' {{lang|sa|क्‌ष}}
is an example of such a non-ligated form.

The sequences ङ्क ङ्ख ङ्ग ङ्घ {{IPA|[ṅka ṅkha ṅɡa ṅɡha]}}, in common Sanskrit orthography, should be written as conjuncts (the virāma and the top cross line of the second letter disappear, and what is left of the second letter is written under the ङ and joined to it).

== End of word ==
The [[inherent vowel]] is not always pronounced, in particular at the end of a word ([[Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages|schwa deletion]]). No virāma is used for vowel suppression in such cases. Instead, the orthography is based on Sanskrit where all inherent vowels are pronounced, and leaves to the reader of modern languages to delete the schwa when appropriate.<ref>Akira Nakanishi: Writing Systems of the World, {{ISBN|0-8048-1654-9}}, pp. 48.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Sukun]], a similar diacritic in Arabic script
*[[Zero consonant]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.siao2.com/2005/04/09/406765.aspx Blog: Sorting it all Out]

{{Navbox diacritical marks}}

[[Category:Brahmic diacritics]]