Abugida

An abugida (/ɑːbʊˈɡiːdə, ˈæb-/ (listen), from Ge'ez: አቡጊዳ), sometimes known as alphasyllabary, neosyllabary or pseudo-alphabet, is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is secondary. This contrasts with a full alphabet, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent, partial, or optional. (In less formal contexts, all three types of script may be termed "alphabets"). The terms also contrast them with a syllabary, in which the symbols cannot be split into separate consonants and vowels.

This article contains Ethiopic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Ethiopic characters.

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

This article contains Canadian Aboriginal syllabic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of syllabics.

This article contains letters from the Javanese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Javanese characters.

Related concepts were introduced independently in 1948 by James Germain Février (using the term néosyllabisme)[1] and David Diringer (using the term semisyllabary),[2] then in 1959 by Fred Householder (introducing the term pseudo-alphabet).[3] The Ethiopic term "abugida" was chosen as a designation for the concept in 1990 by Peter T. Daniels.[4][5] In 1992, Faber suggested "segmentally coded syllabically linear phonographic script", and in 1992 Bright used the term alphasyllabary,[6][7] and Gnanadesikan and Rimzhim, Katz, & Fowler have suggested aksara or āksharik.[8]

Abugidas include the extensive Brahmic family of scripts of Tibet, South and Southeast Asia, Semitic Ethiopic scripts, and Canadian Aboriginal syllabics. As is the case for syllabaries, the units of the writing system may consist of the representations both of syllables and of consonants. For scripts of the Brahmic family, the term akshara is used for the units.