The Balochi Standard Alphabet (Balochi: بلۏچی استانداردݔن اب) is a writing system used for the Balochi language spoken in Balochistan, a region spanning parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. This writing system is derived from the Persian alphabet, itself derived from the Arabic script.
| Balochi Standard Alphabet |
|---|
| ا ب پ ت ٹ ج چ د ڈ ر ز ژ س ش ک گ ل م ن و ۏ ہ (ھ) ی ے (ݔ) |
|
Extended Perso-Arabic script |
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The Balochi alphabet, standardized by Balochi Academy Sarbaz, consists of 31 letters.[1]
| Romanization | Letter | IPA | Romanized Examples | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Medial | Initial | Isolated | |||
| A / a | ـہَ | َـ | اَ | اَ / ہَ | /a/ | Aps (horse), Apserk (cold) |
| À / à | ـا | ـا | آ | آ / ا | /a:/ | Àp (water), Àmàd (ready) |
| B / b | ـب | ـبـ | بـ | ب | /b/ | Bàl (wing), Bàsk (arm) |
| C / c | ـچ | ـچـ | چـ | چ | /t͡ʃ/ | Coll (channel) |
| D / d | ـد | د | /d/ | Dast (hand) | ||
| Ď / ď | ـڈ | ڈ | /ɖ/ | Ďòk (heavy), Ďèl (donkey), Ďæns (dance) | ||
| È / è | ـے | ـݔـ | ݔـ | ݔ/ے | /e:/ | Èràn (Iran) |
| G / g | ـگ | ـگـ | گـ | گ | /g/ | Guhàr (sister), Gal (happy), Gall (group) |
| H / h | ـہ | ـھـ | ھـ | ھ / ہ | /h/ | Hapt (seven), Hodà (god) |
| Í/i | ـی | ـیـ | ایـ | ی/ای | /i/ | Pir (old), Sir (wedding) |
| I/i | ـہِ | ـِ | اِ | اِ / ہِ | /i/ | Izm (art), Izmkàr (artist) |
| J / j | ـج | ـجـ | جـ | ج | /d͡ʒ/ | Jost (question), Jàh (place) |
| K / k | ـک | ـکـ | کـ | ک | /k/ | Kaur (river), Kam (little) |
| L / l | ـل | ـلـ | لـ | ل | /l/ | Laiť (lamp) |
| M / m | ـم | ـمـ | مـ | م | /m/ | Mam (beer), Mà (we, us), Man (I) |
| N / n | ـن | ـنـ | نـ | ن | /n/ | Nàl (Balochi promise) |
| O / o | ـہُ | ُـ | اُ | اُ/ہُ | /u/ | Poll (flower) |
| Ò / ò | ـۏ | ـۏ | اۏ | ۏ / اۏ | /o:/ | Òpàr (hope) |
| P / p | ـپ | ـپـ | پـ | پ | /p/ | Pàd (foot), Pašk (shirt) |
| R / r | ـر | ر | /ɾ/ | Rang (color), Ròp (clean), Ròpag (cleaner) | ||
| Ř/ř | ـڑ | ڑ | /ɽ/ | |||
| S / s | ـس | ـسـ | سـ | س | /s/ | Sàng (marriage) |
| Š / š | ـش | ـشـ | شـ | ش | /ʃ/ | Šap (night) |
| T / t | ـت | ـتـ | تـ | ت | /t/ | Tors (fear) |
| Ť / ť | ـٹ | ـٹـ | ٹـ | ٹ | /ʈ/ | Ťulàsk (tower) |
| U / u | ـوُ | اُو | وُ/اُو | /uː/ | Nuh (nine) | |
| W / w | ـو | و | /w/ | Wàd (salt) Waď (kind) | ||
| Y / y | ـی | ـیـ | یـ | ی | /j/ | Yak (one) |
| Z / z | ـز | ز | /z/ | Zend (live), Zit (soon), Zòr (power) | ||
| Ž / ž | ـژ | ژ | /ʒ/ | Žand (tired) | ||
| /◌̃/ | ں | |||||
Arabic diacritics are used in Balochi, as with other scripts derived from Arabic:
| Marks | Name | Example words | Purpose / effect | Pronoucing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| َ◌ | zabar | ڈَک، مَچ، گرَنچ، دَنز | Adding vowel | /a/ |
| ِ◌ | zèr | کِرّ، سِلّ، ھِنگ، تِچک | Adding vowel | /i/ |
| ُ◌ | pèš | پُلّ، کُرت، کُمب | Adding vowel | /u/ |
| ّ◌ | šadd | گُٹّ، پُلّ، گَلّ | Consonant gemination | |
| ٚ◌ | gowanďi | دَنٚز، کَمٚب، اَمٚب، سیاھݔنٚ | Nasal vowel | /◌̃/ |
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 glypth 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 "Big ye"; it is from Urdu. Sometimes there is خ, meaning /x/.