Balochi alphabets (Balochi: بلۏچی سیاھگ; Balòci Siyàhag) consist of the Balòrabi script, based on the Perso-Arabic script, and the Balòtin script, based on the Latin script. Both scripts are used for the Balochi language spoken in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
Alphabet The Balochi alphabet, standardized by Balochi Academy Sarbaz, consists of 32 letters.
The Romanized version is called Balòtin, and the Arabic version is called Balòrabi.
Script Correspondence Table
RomanizationLetterIPARomanized ExamplesBalorabi Examples Final Medial Initial Isolated ءَ/ـہَـاَاَ / ہَ Aps (horse), Apserk (cold) اَرس (Tears), گرَنچ (Node) ـاآآ / ا /ɑ/ (water), (ready) آماد (ready), آسمان (Sky)، آسبار (planet) ـبـبـبـب (wing), (arm,member) بَرۏت (mustachio), رُمب (sheeps group) ـچـچـچـچ (channel) چانٚک (lesion), دو چاپی(Balochi traditional dance) ـدد (hand) دیوال (Wall), دراج (tall) ـڈڈ (heavy), (donkey), (dance) ڈُنگ (robber(Gedrosian word)), ڈَل (sand) ءِـِاِاِ / ہِ (art), (artist), (Human) اِشک (Love) ـےـݔـݔـࢩ/ے /ɪ/ - /eː/ (Iran), (Woman), (revenge) اݔدام (Execution), بݔر (revenge), اِسپݔت (White) ـگـگـگـگ (sister), (happy), (group) گَنش (Millipede), گُب (cheek), گوارَگ (raining) ـہـھـھـھ / ہ (seven), (god) ھئیک (Egge), ھال (news), ھَشت (eight) ـیـیـایـی/ای (old), (wedding) بیر (Thunderstorm), شیر (milk) ـجـجـجـج (question), (place) جاک (shriek), جَنِک (daughter) ـکـکـکـک (river), (little) کِرر (side), کَپپَگی (a balochi traditional game) ـلـلـلـل (lamp) لَھم (soft), لَشکَر (army) ـمـمـمـم (beer), (we, us), (I) مادَگ (Female gender), مار (Snake) ـنـنـنـن (Balochi promise), (to Seat) نَمبیگ (sultry), نِھݔپَگ (pregnancy) ءُ ُـاُاُ/ہُ /o/ (flower) اُستُم (people(Gedrosian word)), اُستاز (professor) ـۏـۏاۏۏ / اۏ /ʊ/ - /oː/ (hope), (there), (vehicle) اۏلاک (vehicle), اۏشت (stop) ـپـپـپـپ (foot), (shirt) پَتتَر (Apologize seat), پِت (father), پُلل (flower) ـرر (color), (clean), (cleaner) رُنگ (shortcut), راھشۏن (Leader) ـسـسـسـس (marriage) سیاہ (Black), سَنگَت (friend) سُھل (Peace) ـشـشـشـش (night) شاشک (mosquito), شَش (six), شَھدَربرجاہ (University) ـتـتـتـت (fear) تَل (layer), تَلار (rock) ـٹـٹـٹـٹ (tower) ٹاک (Day(Gedrosian wordl)), ٹراشو (category) ـوُاُووُ/اُو (nine) ھور (nephew) ـوو (salt) (kind) وئیل (incident), واھَگ (desire) ـیـیـیـی (one) یَل (brave) ـزز (live), (soon), (power) زَھیر (longing), زِڈڈ (gutty)، زال (Woman(Gedrosian word)) ـژژ (tired) ژانگ (bell), بوژ (hair(Gedrosian word))
Some digraphs in Balochi writing Balochi also has 3 digraphs set by Balochi Academy Sarbaz in Standard Alphabets:
RomanizationLetter of DigraphsIPARomanized Examples Final Medial Initial Isolated ـئـئـئـئ Sæ (three), Æš, Pæl (action), Bænk (Bank) ـئیـئیـائیـئی Taig (yours), Mai (our), Aid (Eid) ـؤـؤاؤؤ Augàn(afghan), Kaur (river)
Arabic diacritics in Balochi writing Arabic diacritics are used in Balochi, as with other scripts derived from Arabic:
Marks Name Example words Purpose / effectPronouncingَ◌ zabar ک، چ، گنچ، نز Adding vowel/a/ِ◌ zèr رّ، لّ، نگ، چک/e/ُ◌ pèš لّ، رت، مب/o/ّ◌ šadd گُ، پُ، گَ Consonant geminationٚ◌ gowanďi دَز، کَب، اَب، سیاھݔ Nasal vowel/◌̃/
Use of Hamza 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.
Below are the forms that stand-alone Hamza is used:
Form Diacritic Example words Purpose / effectPronouncing 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/
Balochi Numbers
Number Balochi Number Name0۰ھِچ1۱یَک2۲دوٚ3۳سئ4۴چار5۵پَنچ6۶شَش7۷ھَپت8۸ھَشت9۹نُھ
Notes 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/.
Vowels in standard alphabets have 11 vowels, Balòrabi Balòtin IPA◌َ ـَ اَAa/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/ʊ/او ـو Uu/u/ائ ـئ ئ Ææ - Ae/ɛ/ ائی ـئی ـئی AI ai/ɑiː/اؤ ـؤ ؤ AU au/ɑuː/
Writing difference between Old Balochi and Standard Balochi
In standardized Balochi, letters from old Balochi have been removed and some new letters have been added, The added letters are: ݔ Cappi Yà or Arabic yā letter with a dot on it, which is the same at the beginning and middle of the word, and at the end of the word, the letter ے is used only, which existed in old Balochi. ۏ Cappi Wà or Wāw letter with a dot added on it
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 styleBalochبلۏچBalòcبلوچRevengeبݔرBèrبیرThunderبیرBirBalochistanبلۏچستانBalòcestànبلوچستانYouتؤTauتوRainھؤرHaurھورWith togetherھۏرHòrnymphھورHurAttackبیڈBiďبیڑ
"ݔ" Letter using 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.
References