The Balochi Standard Alphabet or Balòrabi(Arabic Scripts), Balòtin(Latin Scripts) (bal|بلۏچی استانداردݔن سیاھگ, Balòci Estàndàrdèn Siyàhag), also known as Balorabi, is an abjad-based writing system developed from the Arabic script, used for the Balochi language spoken in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
| Type: | Abjad |
| Also Known As: | Baluchi: بلۏچی استانداردݔن اب |
| Sample: | Balochi Writes.jpg |
| Image Size: | 200px |
| Caption: | A writing in Balochi Standard alphabet |
| Languages: | |
| Fam1: | Egyptian hieroglyphs |
| Fam2: | Proto-Sinaitic |
| Fam3: | Phoenician |
| Fam4: | Aramaic |
| Fam5: | Nabataean |
| Fam6: | Arabic |
The Balochi alphabet, standardized by Balochi Academy Sarbaz, consists of 32 letters.[1]
The Romanized version is called Balòtin, and the Arabic version is called Balòrabi.
| Romanization | Letter | IPA | Romanized Examples | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Medial | Initial | Isolated | |||
| ءَ/ـہ | َـ | اَ | اَ / ہَ | pronounced as //a// | Aps (horse), Apserk (cold) | |
| ـا | ـا | آ | آ / ا | /ɑ/ | (water), (ready) | |
| ـب | ـبـ | بـ | ب | pronounced as //b// | (wing), (arm) | |
| ـچ | ـچـ | چـ | چ | pronounced as //t͡ʃ// | (channel) | |
| ـد | د | pronounced as //d̪// | (hand) | |||
| ـڈ | ڈ | pronounced as //ɖ// | (heavy), (donkey), (dance) | |||
| ءِ | ـِ | اِ | اِ / ہِ | pronounced as //e// | (art), (artist), (Human) | |
| ـے | ـݔـ | ݔـ | ࢩ/ے | /ɪ/ - /eː/ | (Iran), (Woman), (revenge) | |
| ـگ | ـگـ | گـ | گ | pronounced as //g// | (sister), (happy), (group) | |
| ـہ | ـھـ | ھـ | ھ / ہ | pronounced as //h// | (seven), (god) | |
| ـی | ـیـ | ایـ | ی/ای | pronounced as //i// | (old), (wedding) | |
| ـج | ـجـ | جـ | ج | pronounced as //d͡ʒ// | (question), (place) | |
| ـک | ـکـ | کـ | ک | pronounced as //k// | (river), (little) | |
| ـل | ـلـ | لـ | ل | pronounced as //l// | (lamp) | |
| ـم | ـمـ | مـ | م | pronounced as //m// | (beer), (we, us), (I) | |
| ـن | ـنـ | نـ | ن | pronounced as //n// | (Balochi promise), (to Seat) | |
| ءُ | ُـ | اُ | اُ/ہُ | /o/ | (flower) | |
| ـۏ | ـۏ | اۏ | ۏ / اۏ | /ɯ/ - /oː/ | (hope), (there) | |
| ـپ | ـپـ | پـ | پ | pronounced as //p// | (foot), (shirt) | |
| ـر | ر | pronounced as //ɾ// | (color), (clean), (cleaner) | |||
| ـس | ـسـ | سـ | س | pronounced as //s// | (marriage) | |
| ـش | ـشـ | شـ | ش | pronounced as //ʃ// | (night) | |
| ـت | ـتـ | تـ | ت | pronounced as //t̪// | (fear) | |
| ـٹ | ـٹـ | ٹـ | ٹ | pronounced as //ʈ// | (tower) | |
| ـوُ | اُو | وُ/اُو | pronounced as //u// | (nine) | ||
| ـو | و | pronounced as //w// | (salt) (kind) | |||
| ـی | ـیـ | یـ | ی | pronounced as //j// | (one) | |
| ـز | ز | pronounced as //z// | (live), (soon), (power) | |||
| ـژ | ژ | pronounced as //ʒ// | (tired) | |||
Balochi also has 3 digraphs set by Balochi Academy Sarbaz in Standard Alphabets:[2]
| Romanization | Letter of Digraphs | IPA | Romanized Examples | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Medial | Initial | Isolated | ||||
| ـئ | ـئـ | ئـ | ئ | pronounced as //ɛ// | Sæ (three), Æš, Pæl (action), Bænk (Bank) | ||
| ـئی | ـئیـ | ائیـ | ئی | pronounced as //ɑiː// | Taig (yours), Mai (our), Aid (Eid) | ||
| ـؤ | ـؤ | اؤ | ؤ | pronounced as //ɑuː// | Augàn(afghan), Kaur (river) | ||
Arabic diacritics are used in Balochi, as with other scripts derived from Arabic:
| Marks | Name | Example words | Purpose / effect | Pronouncing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| َ◌ | zabar | ک، چ، گنچ، نز | Adding vowel | /a/ | |
| ِ◌ | zèr | رّ، لّ، نگ، چک | Adding vowel | /e/ | |
| ُ◌ | pèš | لّ، رت، مب | Adding vowel | /o/ | |
| ّ◌ | šadd | گُ، پُ، گَ | Consonant gemination | ||
| ٚ◌ | gowanďi | دَز، کَب، اَب، سیاھݔ | Nasal vowel | /◌̃/ |
One of the aspects that distinguishes Balochi orthography from other orthographies derived from Perso-Arabic Script is the use of stand-alone Hamza, which, depending on its function within a sentence, is always written with one of three vowel diacritics. Stand-alone Hamza without diacritic is also used similar to other Perso-Arabic Scripts, to indicated glottal stop at end of words
The use of Hamza in such a way was first used in Balochi by poet Husayn Anqa, and officially adopted into Balochi as a result of decisions made in a convention in Karachi, Pakistan on 22 July 1959, attended by prominent Balochi poets and literaturists.[3] [4]
Below are the forms that stand-alone Hamza is used:
| Form | Diacritic | Example words | Purpose / effect | Pronouncing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | Adding glottal stop to end of word | /ʔ/ | |||
| zabar | (I will stand [obj.]) (the pen will say[obj.]) | Accusative, Dative, Oblique | /a/ | ||
| zèr | (Midnight) | Genitive (Possession) | /e/ | ||
| pèš | (I and you) | and | /o/ |
| Number | Balochi | Number Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ۰ | ھِچ | |
| 1 | ۱ | یَک | |
| 2 | ۲ | دوٚ | |
| 3 | ۳ | سئ | |
| 4 | ۴ | چار | |
| 5 | ۵ | پَنچ | |
| 6 | ۶ | شَش | |
| 7 | ۷ | ھَپت | |
| 8 | ۸ | ھَشت | |
| 9 | ۹ | نُھ |
Some dialects of Balochi very infrequently use the voiced retroflex flap, meaning ڑ. Due to its immense rarity in Balochi, most orthographies of the language leave out glyphs for the phoneme. When written however, it is usually represented with ر.
This alphabet uses two completely separate and new glyphs to represent the long close front unrounded vowel (/iː/). For the initial and medial forms, ݔ is used. This glyph is based on the initial/medial form of the Perso-Arabic "Ye":
(یـ/ـیـ), the difference being the dot above it. Meanwhile, for the final form, ے is used, which is also based on ی and is called "Bari ye"; it is from Urdu. Sometimes there is خ, meaning /x/.
in standard alphabets have 11 vowels,
| Balòrabi | Balòtin | IPA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ◌َ ـَ اَ | Aa | /a/ | |
| آ ـا ئا | Àà | /ɑ/ | |
| ◌ِ اِ ـِ | Ee | /e/ | |
| ݔ ـݔ ـے ے ࢩ | Èè | /ɪ/ | |
| ای ـی | Ii | /i/ | |
| ◌ُ ـُ اُ | Oo | /o/ | |
| ۏ ـۏ | Òò | /ɯ/ | |
| او ـو | Uu | /u/ | |
| ائ ـئ ئ | Ææ - Ae | /ɛ/ | |
| ائی ـئی ـئی | AI ai | /ɑiː/ | |
| اؤ ـؤ ؤ | AU au | /ɑuː/ |
In standardized Balochi, letters from old Balochi have been removed and some new letters have been added, The added letters are:
And also in standard Balochi, the letter ڑ is merged with the letter ڈ
In the table below, you can see the difference between old and standard writing:
| English | Balòrabi | Ballàtin | Old style | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baloch | بلۏچ | Balòc | بلوچ | |
| Revenge | بݔر | Bèr | بیر | |
| Thunder | بیر | Bir | بیر | |
| Balochistan | بلۏچستان | Balòcestàn | بلوچستان | |
| You | تؤ | Tau | تو | |
| Rain | ھؤر | Haur | ھور | |
| With together | ھۏر | Hòr | ھور | |
| nymph | ھور | Hur | ھور | |
| Attack | بیڈ | Biď | بیڑ |
Cappi Yà (ݔ ے ࢩ) is one of the standard letters of the Balochi language, which was added to the standard Balochi alphabets by the Balochi Academy Sarbaz. In the old Balochi alphabet, this letter is given as یْ, but in some others, it is also given as ڃ and یٚ.[5]