Brahmi’s children: Variation and stability in a script family

A survey of modern descendants of Brahmi shows that the letter forms and various other features of the scripts vary, but the use of an inherent vowel and of dependent, satellite signs for other vowels is remarkably stable. Comparison is made to other scripts invented in the same geographic region, T...

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Published in:Written language and literacy 2021-12, Vol.24 (2), p.303-335
Main Author: Gnanadesikan, Amalia E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arabic language
Cultural differences
Cultural factors
Kashmiri
Kurdish language
Orthography
Persian language
Reading acquisition
Syllables
Turkic languages
Vowels
Writing systems
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description A survey of modern descendants of Brahmi shows that the letter forms and various other features of the scripts vary, but the use of an inherent vowel and of dependent, satellite signs for other vowels is remarkably stable. Comparison is made to other scripts invented in the same geographic region, Thaana and Sorang Sompeng, and to the Arabic script as used in Arabic, Persian, Sorani Kurdish, Uyghur, and Kashmiri. Arabic scripts maintain uniform letter forms but vary considerably in their treatment of vowels. Cultural factors may explain the visual diversity of Brahmic scripts as compared to Arabic scripts. The stable combination of inherent vowel and satellite vowels derives from the decodability of simple aksharas into pronounceable syllabic units in the acquisition of reading. This akshara advantage is related to the psychological grain size theory of reading, with the additional claim that the syllable has special status because it is pronounceable.
doi_str_mv 10.1075/wll.00057.gna
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source EBSCOhost MLA International Bibliography With Full Text; Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
subjects Arabic language
Cultural differences
Cultural factors
Kashmiri
Kurdish language
Orthography
Persian language
Reading acquisition
Syllables
Turkic languages
Vowels
Writing systems
title Brahmi’s children: Variation and stability in a script family
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