Gujarātī

Origin

The Gujarātī script was adapted from the Devanāgarī script to write the Gujarātī language. The earliest known document in the Gujarātī script is a manuscript dating from 1592, and the script first appeared in print in a 1797 advertisement. Until the 19th century it was used mainly for writing letters and keeping accounts, while the Devanāgarī script was used for literature and academic writings.

Notable Features

The Gujarātī script is also known as the śarāphi (banker's), vāṇiāśāi (merchant's) or mahājani (trader's) script.
Gujarātī is a syllabic alphabet in that consonants all have an inherent vowel.
Vowels can be written as independent letters, or by using a variety of diacritical marks which are written above, below, before or after the consonant they belong to.

Used to write:

Gujarātī, an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 46 million people in the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, and also in Bangladesh, Fiji, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Oman, Pakistan, Réunion, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Kachchi, an Indo-Aryan language with about 866,000 speakers in the Indian states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Orissa, and also in Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan and Tanzania.

Source: www.ethnologue.com

Gujarātī script

Vowels and vowel diacritics

Gujarati vowels

When combined with ja and ra, some of the vowel diacritics have special forms.

Consonants

Gujarati consonants

A selection of conjunct consonants

Numerals

Gujarati numerals

Sample text in Gujarātī

Sample text in Gujarati

Transliteration
Pratiṣṭhā anē adikhārōnī dr̥ṣṭinē sarvē mānavō janmathī svatantra anē samān hōy chē. Tēmanāmāṁ vicārśakti anē antaḥkaraṇ hōy chē anē tēmaṇē paraspar bandhutvanī vartavuṁ jōiē.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Thanks to Arvind Iyengar for providing the sample text.

Gujarati language courses, dictionaries, etc.

Gujarati Translation

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Links

Information about Gujarati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarati_language

Online Gujarati lessons
http://utopianvision.co.uk/gujarati/
http://www.ukindia.com/zguj1.htm

Online Gujarati lexicon - dictionary, thesaurus, idioms, spellchecker
http://www.gujaratilexicon.com

Free Gujarati fonts
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Gujarati.html
http://www.fototext.com/download.htm

Gujarati Language and Literature
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/gujarati/

Online Gujarati newspapers and magazines
http://www.gujaratsamachar.com
http://www.sambhaav.com

Send email in Gujarati
http://utopianvision.co.uk/services/gujaratimessage/

Other syllabic alphabets

Ahom, Balinese, Batak, Bengali, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Cham, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dhives Akuru, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Grantha, Gujarati, Gurmukhi (Punjabi), Hanuno'o, Hmong, Javanese, Kannada, Kharosthi, Khmer, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Malayalam, Manpuri, Modi, New Tai Lue, Oriya, Pallava, Phags-pa, Ranjana, Redjang, Shan, Sharda, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tocharian, Varang Kshiti

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