Konkani alphabets refers to the five different scripts (Devanagari, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam and Perso-Arabic scripts) currently used to write the Konkani language.
As of 1987, the "Goan Antruz dialect" in the Devanagari script has been declared Standard Konkani and promulgated as an official language in the Indian state of Goa.[1] [2] Konkani in the Roman script is not mandated as an official script by law. However, an ordinance passed by the government of Goa allows the use of Roman script for official communication. This ordinance has been put into effect by various ministries in varying degrees. For example, the 1996 Goa Panchayat Rules[3] stipulate that the various forms used in the election process must be in both the Roman and Devanagari script.
The earliest inscription in Konkani in Goykanadi script (extinct now) is of the Gupta period in the 2nd century CE found at Aravalem, Goa. It reads
(On the top of Shachipura)
The famous inscription at the foot of the colossal Jain monolith Gomaṭēśvara (Bāhubali) Konkani: gomṭo - pretty masc., īśvar - God at Shravanabelagola of 981 CE reads,
(Chavundaraya got it done, Gangaraya got it done again.)[4]
At the foot of the Gommateshwara at Shravanabelagola there are two inscriptions. One on the right foot and one on the left. On the right foot the inscription is written in old Kannada. On the left foot it is in Devanagari.
The rules for writing Konkani in the Devanagari script are elucidated in a book released by the Goa Konkani Academy titled kōṅkaṇī śuddhalēkhanācē nēm. While the rules for writing Konkani in the Roman script are elucidated in a book titled thomas sṭīvans koṅkaṇi kēndr Romi Lipi by writer Pratap Naik, released by Konkani singer Ullās Buyā̃v at Dalgado Konkani Academy and in Romi Lipient Konknni Kors.[5]
| Short vowel | Long vowel | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| अ | ಅ | അ | o | ا،ع | pronounced as / /ɐ// | आ | ಆ | ആ | a | آ | pronounced as / /ɑː// | |||
| इ | ಇ | ഇ | i | ? | pronounced as / /i// | ई | ಈ | ഈ | i | ي | pronounced as / /iː// | |||
| उ | ಉ | ഉ | u | ? | pronounced as / /u// | ऊ | ಊ | ഊ | u | و | pronounced as / /uː// | |||
| ऋ | ಋ | ഋ | ru | ? | pronounced as / /ɹ̩// | ॠ | ೠ | ൠ | ? | ? | pronounced as / /ɹ̩ː// | |||
| ऌ | ಌ | ഌ | ? | ? | pronounced as / /l̩// | ॡ | ೡ | ൡ | ? | ? | pronounced as / /l̩ː// | |||
| ऍ | ? | ? | e | ? | pronounced as / /æ// | |||||||||
| ऎ | ಎ | എ | (ê or e) | اے | pronounced as / /e// | ए | ಏ | ഏ | (ê or e) | اے | pronounced as / /eː// | |||
| ऐ | ಐ | ഐ | oi | اے | pronounced as / /ʌj// | |||||||||
| ऑ | ? | ? | o | ? | pronounced as / /æ// | |||||||||
| ऒ | ಒ | ഒ | (ô or o) | او | pronounced as / /o// | ओ | ಓ | ഓ | (ô or o) | او | pronounced as / /oː// | |||
| औ | ಔ | ഔ | ov | او | pronounced as / /ʌʋ// | |||||||||
| Plosive | Nasal | Approximant | Fricative | Affricative | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voicing → | Unvoiced | Voiced | Unvoiced | Voiced | Unvoiced | Voiced | ||||||||||||||
| Aspiration → | Unaspirated | Aspirated | Unaspirated | Aspirated | Unaspirated | Aspirated | Unaspirated | Aspirated | ||||||||||||
| Guttural | क-ಕ-Ka-ക-ک | pronounced as //k// | ख-ಖ-Kha-ഖ-كھ | pronounced as //kʰ// | ग-ಗ-Ga-ഗ-گ | pronounced as //ɡ// | घ-ಘ-Gha-ഘ-گھ | pronounced as //ɡʱ// | ङ-ಞ-Nga-ങ-? | pronounced as //ŋ// | ह-ಹ-Ha-ഹ-ہ،ح | pronounced as //ɦ// | ||||||||
| Palatal | च-ಚ-Cha-ച-چ | pronounced as //c// | छ-ಛ-Chha-ഛ-چھ | pronounced as //cʰ// | ज-ಜ-Ja-ജ-ج | pronounced as //ɟ,// | झ-ಝ-Jha-ഝ-جھ | pronounced as //ɟʱ// | ञ-ಙ-Nja-ഞ-? | pronounced as //ɲ// | य-ಯ-Ya-യ-ي | pronounced as //j// | श-ಶ-Sha,Xa-ശ-ش | pronounced as //ɕ, ʃ// | ||||||
| Retroflex | ट-ಟ-Tta-ട-ٹ | pronounced as //ʈ// | ठ-ಠ-Ttha-ഠ-ٹھ | pronounced as //ʈʰ// | ड-ಡ-Dda-ഡ-ڈ | pronounced as //ɖ// | ढ-ಢ-Ddha-ഢ-ڈھ | pronounced as //ɖʱ// | ण-ಣ-Nna-ണ-? | pronounced as //ɳ// | र-ರ-Ra-ര-ر | pronounced as //r// | ष-ಷ-Xa-ഷ-? | pronounced as //ʂ// | ||||||
| Dental | त-ತ-Ta-ത-ط،ت | pronounced as //t̪// | थ-ಥ-Tha-ഥ-تھ | pronounced as //t̪ʰ// | द-ದ-Da-ദ-د | pronounced as //d̪// | ध-ಧ-Dha-ധ-دھ | pronounced as //d̪ʱ// | न-ನ-Na-ന-ن | pronounced as //n// | ल-ಲ-La-ല-ل | pronounced as //l// | स-ಸ-Sa-സ-ص،س | pronounced as //s// | ||||||
| Labial | प-ಪ-Pa-പ-پ | pronounced as //p// | फ-ಫ-Pha-ഫ-پھ | pronounced as //pʰ// | ब-ಬ-Ba-ബ-ب | pronounced as //b// | भ-ಭ-Bha-ഭ-بھ | pronounced as //bʱ// | म-ಮ-Ma-മ-م | pronounced as //m// | व-ವ-Va-വ-و | pronounced as //ʋ// | ||||||||
| Alveolar | च़-?-Cha-?-? | pronounced as //t͡ʃ// | ज़-?-Za-?-ز،ظ،ذ | pronounced as //d͡ʒ// | ||||||||||||||||
| Labiodental | फ़-ಫ಼-Fa-ف | pronounced as //f// | ||||||||||||||||||
| Retroflex Lateral flap | ळ-ಳ-Lla-ള-? | pronounced as //ɺ̢// | ||||||||||||||||||
In Konkani, the ं is traditionally defined as representing a nasal stop homorganic to a following plosive,(Hindi: anunāsika) and also vowel nasalisation. The precise phonetic value of the phoneme is dependent on the phonological environment.[7] Word-finally, it is realized as nasalization of the preceding vowel (e.g. bā̃yi pronounced as /[bãːyi]/, "a well"). It results in vowel nasalization also medially between a short vowel and a non-obstruent (Hindi: tũvẽ pronounced as /[tʊ̃ʋe]/ "you (acc.)". It is pronounced as a homorganic nasal, with the preceding vowel becoming nasalized allophonically, in the following cases: between a long vowel and a voiced stop (tāṃbo pronounced as /[taːmbo]/ "copper", cāṃdī pronounced as /[tʃaːndiː]/ "silver"), between a long vowel and a voiceless stop (dāṃt pronounced as /[daːnt]/ "tooth"), and also between a short vowel and an obstruent (sāṃbayi- pronounced as /[saːmbay]/ "to support", The last rule has two sets of exceptions where the anusvāra| effects only a nasalization of the preceding short vowel. Words from the first set are morphologically derived from words with a long nasalized vowel (mā̃s pronounced as /[mãs]/, "meat". In such cases the vowel is sometimes denasalized (pronounced as /[maːs]/. The second set is composed of a few words like (pā̃vcẽ pronounced as /[pãʋtʃɛ̃]/, "to arrive".)
Konkani is one of the few modern Indo-Aryan languages to apply the avagraha beyond mere sustenance of an exclamation, cry or shout in speech. It is used by verbs in continuous tense. The avagraha is not used in Standard Konkani in the continuous tense. Its use is however popular and prevalent amongst the Canara Saraswats, both Gaud and Bhanap, writing in their native Amchigele dialect, in the continuous tense with the aim of conforming to the schwa deletion rule.[8]
| Sentence | Konkani in Devanagari | |
|---|---|---|
| He was doing | तॊ करतलॊऽशिलॊ | |
| He is doing | तॊ करतऽसा | |
| He will be doing | तॊ करतलॊऽसतलॊ |
(According to the schwa deletion rule in Indo-Aryan languages, करत आसा will be read as karat āsā and not as karta'sā as prevalent pronunciation is.)
The avagraha is also used to mark the non-elision of word-final inherent a, which otherwise is a modern orthographic convention: बैसऽ baisa "sit" versus बैस bais.
The schwa deletion or schwa syncope phenomenon plays a crucial role in Konkani and several other Indo-Aryan languages, where schwas implicit in the written scripts of those languages are obligatorily deleted for correct pronunciation. Schwa syncope is extremely important in these languages for intelligibility and unaccented speech. It also presents a challenge to non-native speakers and speech synthesis software because the scripts, including Nagar Barap, do not provide indicators of where schwas should be dropped.
This means the schwa ('ə') implicit in each consonant of the script is "obligatorily deleted" at the end of words and in certain other contexts,[9] unlike in Sanskrit. This phenomenon has been termed the "schwa syncope rule" or the "schwa deletion rule" of Konkani. In other words, when a vowel-preceded consonant is followed by a vowel-succeeded consonant, the schwa inherent in the first consonant is deleted. However, this formalization is inexact and incomplete (i.e. sometimes deletes a schwa when it shouldn't or, at other times, fails to delete it when it should), and can yield errors. Schwa deletion is computationally important because it is essential to building text-to-speech software for Konkani. Without the appropriate deletion of schwas, any speech output would sound unnatural.
With some words that contain /n/ or /m/ consonants separated from succeeding consonants by schwas, the schwa deletion process has the effect of nasalizing any preceding vowels. Some examples in Konkani include:
As a result of schwa syncope, the Konkani pronunciation of many words differs from that expected from a literal Sanskrit-style rendering of Devanagari. For instance, करता is kartā not karatā, आपयता is āpaytā not āpayatā, वेद is vēd not vēda and मिरसांग is mirsāṅg not mirasāṅga.
For instance, the letter sequence ळब is pronounced differently in मळब (sky) and मळबार (in the sky). In मळब, there is no schwa deletion for the letter ळ, since it is the second letter in a three letter word that ends with अ. Hence it is pronounced as maḷab. In मळबार, the letter ळ has schwa deletion since it is the second letter of a word with four letters. Hence it is pronounced as maḷbār. While native speakers correctly pronounce the sequences differently in different contexts, non-native speakers and voice-synthesis software can make them "sound unnatural", making it difficult for the listener to grasp the intended meaning.
There have been various proposals to have a script specifically for Konkani. In 1965, S. V. Raykar from Sirsi in Karnataka devised a distinctive script for Konkani by combining features of the Devanagari and Kannada scripts.[10] Similarly, in 2020, Ronan Lewis from Udupi created a unique script for Konkani using alphabets from various languages including Arabic, French and Hebrew.[11] There is also a movement to revive the Goykanadi script and a proposal has been made to introduce a Unicode block for Goykanadi.[12] In 1993, Gajanana Ghantkar wrote the book History of Goa through Gõykanadi script, which has many historical Konkani documents written in Goykanadi, along with its Devanagari transliteration.[13]