Ol Chiki script
Encyclopedia
The Ol Chiki script, also known as Ol Cemetʼ ("language of writing"), Ol Ciki, Ol (and sometimes as the Santali alphabet), was created in 1925 by Raghunath Murmu for the Santali language
. Previously, Santali had been written with the Bengali alphabet, Oriya alphabet, or Latin alphabet
, on the rare occasions it was written at all. But because Santali is not an Indo-Aryan
language (like most other languages in the north of India
), Indic scripts did not have letters for all of Santali's phonemes, especially its stop consonant
s and vowels, which made writing the language accurately in an unmodified Indic script difficult. The detailed analysis was given by Dr. Byomkes Chakrabarti
in his 'Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali'. Missionaries (first of all Paul Olaf Bodding
, a Norwegian) brought the Latin alphabet, which was better at representing some Santali stops, but vowels were still problematic. Unlike most Indic scripts, which are derived from Brahmi
, Ol Chiki is a true alphabet
, not an abugida
, with vowels given equal representation with consonants. Additionally, because it was designed specifically for the language, one letter could be assigned to each phoneme.
Ol Chiki has 30 letters, the forms of which are intended to evoke natural shapes. Linguist Norman Zide said "The shapes of the letters are not arbitrary, but reflect the names for the letters, which are words, usually the names of objects or actions representing conventionalized form in the pictorial shape of the characters." It is written from left to right. Unfortunately, despite Murmu's efforts, literacy
in Santali is still very low, between 10% and 30%.
Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1.
The Unicode block for Ol Chiki is U+1C50–U+1C7F:
Santali language
Santhali is a language in the Santhali subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. It is spoken by about six million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan . Most of its speakers live in India, in the states of Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal. It has...
. Previously, Santali had been written with the Bengali alphabet, Oriya alphabet, or Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
, on the rare occasions it was written at all. But because Santali is not an Indo-Aryan
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...
language (like most other languages in the north of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
), Indic scripts did not have letters for all of Santali's phonemes, especially its stop consonant
Stop consonant
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...
s and vowels, which made writing the language accurately in an unmodified Indic script difficult. The detailed analysis was given by Dr. Byomkes Chakrabarti
Byomkes Chakrabarti
Dr. Byomkes Chakrabarti was a Bengali research worker on ethnic languages. He was also a renowned educationist and a poet. His major contribution to linguistics was in finding out some basic relationship between Santali and the Bengali language...
in his 'Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali'. Missionaries (first of all Paul Olaf Bodding
Paul Olaf Bodding
Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguist and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district...
, a Norwegian) brought the Latin alphabet, which was better at representing some Santali stops, but vowels were still problematic. Unlike most Indic scripts, which are derived from Brahmi
Brāhmī script
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
, Ol Chiki is a true alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
, not an abugida
Abugida
An abugida , also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is obligatory but secondary...
, with vowels given equal representation with consonants. Additionally, because it was designed specifically for the language, one letter could be assigned to each phoneme.
Ol Chiki has 30 letters, the forms of which are intended to evoke natural shapes. Linguist Norman Zide said "The shapes of the letters are not arbitrary, but reflect the names for the letters, which are words, usually the names of objects or actions representing conventionalized form in the pictorial shape of the characters." It is written from left to right. Unfortunately, despite Murmu's efforts, literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
in Santali is still very low, between 10% and 30%.
Unicode chart
Ol Chiki script was added to the UnicodeUnicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
Standard in April, 2008 with the release of version 5.1.
The Unicode block for Ol Chiki is U+1C50–U+1C7F:
See also
- Santali alphabet (Omniglot)
- Byomkes ChakrabartiByomkes ChakrabartiDr. Byomkes Chakrabarti was a Bengali research worker on ethnic languages. He was also a renowned educationist and a poet. His major contribution to linguistics was in finding out some basic relationship between Santali and the Bengali language...