Painti Akhri
Painti Akhri is a Punjabi term that refers to the Gurmukhi alphabet. The first word "painti" literally means "35" and the word "akhri" means "writing" - It not surprising that there are thirty-five letters in the Gurmukhi alphabet.
The word Gurmukhi literally means "from the mouth of the Guru". Gurmukhi is the name of the script used in writing primarily Punjabi and, secondarily, Sindhi language. It is exclusively used to write the Sikh holy scriptures, Sri Guru Granth Sahib and Dasam Granth.
Although the "Painti Akhri" was originally just used in Punjab, India, the alphabet has now crossed the frontiers of its homeland. Sikhs have settled in all parts of the world and Gurmukhi has accompanied them everywhere.
Structure of the alphabet
The first three characters of the alphabet Ura, Aara and Eere ੳ ਅ ੲ are vowels. Sassa ਸ is sibilant, Haha ਹ is aspirate. There are twenty-five mutes, which include five Gutturals: kakka, Khakkha, gagga, ghaggha and ngannga ਕ ਖ ਗ ਘ ਙ ; five Palatals: chachcha, chhachchha, jajja, jhajjha and nyanya ਚ ਛ ਜ ਝ ਞ ; five Cerebrals: tainka, thattha, dadda, chaddha and nana ਤ ਠ ਡ ਢ ਣ ; five Dentals: tatta, thattha, dadda, dhaddha and nanna ਤ ਥ ਦ ਧ ਨ and five Labials: pappa, phappha, babba, bhabbha and mamma ਪ ਫ ਬ ਭ ਮ
The last five letters are consonants like mutes, but they are also called semi-vowels. They are: yayya, rara, lalla, wawa and rara ਯ ਰ ਲ ਵ ੜ . The vowels, that is, the first three letters are made to represent ten vowel sounds with the aid of additional signs, which are known as laghan matran. These are the short a inherent in each consonant, aa, i, ee, u, oo, ey, ai, o and au. These laghan matran are: mukta, kanna, siari, biari, uankar, dulainkare, lan, dulaian, hora and kanaura ੦ ਾ ਿ ੀ ੂ ੇ ੈ ੋ ੌ respectively. When used with consonants, these signs represent the three vowels. There are three additional signs, viz., tippi, bindi and adhik ੰ ਂ ੱ .
Tippi ੰ is a nasal sound and is joined with mukta, siari, uankar and dulainkare ੦ ਿ ੂ . Bindi ਂ is also nasal and is joined with kanna, biari, lan, dulaian, hora and kanaura ਾ ੀ ੇ ੈ ੋ ੌ . Adhik ੱ is placed between two letters, indicating the reduplication of the second. The sha sound of Sanskrit and Persian are represented by putting a dot under khakkha, gagga, jajja and phappha ਗ਼ ਜ਼ ਫ਼ respectively. Compound letters are avoided in Gurmukhi, with the exception of haha and rara ਹ ਰ , which are joined with consonants at their foot with the signs.
See also
- Learn Gurmukhi
- Gurmukhi
- Gurmukhi Script
- Gurmukhi Pronunciation
- Gurmukhi Letters
- Gurmukhi to English
- Gurmukhi Alphabet
- Gurmukhi Text
- Words in the Guru Granth Sahib
- List of Punjabi computing resources
Banis in Gurmukhi
Setting up Gurmukhi facility on your Computer
External Links
Learning Tools
- Learn Gurmukhi and Panjabi for advanced learning centre of Panjabi University patiala site
- Learn Gurmukhi lessons from letters to sentences to Shabads - Sound and Graphics
- Free online Diaspora Punjabi (Gurmukhi) lessons
- Learn Gurmukhi - Sound and Graphics
- omniglot.com
Unicode Gurmukhi
- Punjabi Computing Resource Centre web site
- Test for Unicode support in Web browsers
- Unicode script chart
Conversion tool
- Punjabi Font Converter This is an online utility which will allow the conversion of ASCII based Gurmukhi characters to Unicode. So for example the phrase : siqgur pRswid will be converted to ਸਤਿਗਰ ਪਰਸਾਦਿ
Dictionary
History of Script
- Ancient scripts Landa script
- Indian alphabet comparison page
- Sharda script
- Brahmi script Sharda script
- History of Landa and Gurmukhi Script
Typing
Translation tools
References
- 1. Singh , G.B., Gurmukh] Lipi da Janarn te Vikds. Chandigarh, 1972
- 2. Teja Singh, Sahit Darshan. Paliala, 1951
- 3. Bedi, Tarlochan Singh , Punjabi Vaiiak da Alochnatmak Adhyan. Delhi, n.d.
- 4. Arun, V.B., Panjabi Bhasha da ftihds. Ludhiana, 1956
- 5. Bedi, Kala Singh, Panjabi Bhashn da Vikds. Delhi, 1971
- 6. Chatterji, Suniti Kumar, ed., The Cultural IIni/nge of India. Calculla, 1978
- 7. Grierson, G.A., Linguistic Sumey of India. Calcutta, 1916
- 8. Linguistic Survey of India,Vol IX, Part I, Delhi, 1968. &
- 9. Singh, G.B., Gurmukhi Lippi da Janam te Vikas, Chandigarh, 1972.