Practical International Data Management - Writing Systems/Scripts

Much of the information below is taken from The Global Sourcebook for International Data Management

The languages of the world, where there is a written version, are written in a number of different scripts, written in different directions across the page. This chapter shows some of these scripts and some of the (living) languages written in those scripts. Note: some languages are written in different scripts according to context (e.g. for secular or religious use) or geography (with different scripts used in different countries).

There are several types of writing system:

Abjads (Consonant alphabets) – these have independent letters for consonants and may indicate vowels using some of the consonant letters and/or diacritics. Examples include Arabic and Hebrew.

Alphabets – these have sets of letters that represent consonants and vowels. Examples include Latin and Cyrillic. The Latin script contains 26 characters in English, but more in other languages using the same script (e.g. 29 for Danish, 43 (including digraphs) for Hungarian). Arabic script has 30 letters, as does Georgian, Armenian 36, Oriya 50 and Ethiopic 182.

Abugidas (Syllabic alphabets) – these are writing systems where the main elements is the syllable. Syllables are built up of consonants, each of which have an inherent vowel. Examples include Devangari and Marathi.

Syllabaries – these are phonetic writing systems consisting of symbols representing syllables. Examples include Hiragana and Inuktitut.

Semanto-phonetic writing systems – symbols in these writing symbols often represent both sound and meaning, so these script contain large numbers of symbols. Examples include Chinese. Within this category are sub-categories: systems using pictograms and logograms, those using ideagrams, and those with compound characters.

ISO 15924 assigns a 4-letter code to scripts.

Written left to right and read from top to bottom of the page

Armenian

Used for: Armenian

ISO 15924 code: Armn

Bantawa (Kirat Rai)

Used for: Bantawa Rai

Bassa (Vah)

Used for: Bassa

ISO 15924 code: Bass

Bengali

Used for: Bengali

ISO 15924 code: Beng

Borama

Used for: Somali. May be extinct.

Buhid

Used for: Buhid

ISO 15924 code: Buhd

Canadian aboriginal syllabics

Used for: Cree, Ojibwe, Naskapi, Inuktitut, Blackfoot, Sayisi, Carrier

ISO 15924 code: Cans

Chakma

Used for: Chakma

ISO 15924 code: Cakm

Cham

Used for: Cham

ISO 15924 code: Cham

Cherokee

Used for: Cherokee

ISO 15924 code: Cher

Cyrillic

Used for: Belarusian, Bulgarian, Judaeo-Spanish, Kazakh, Macedonian, Mongolian, Russian, Serbian, Tajiki, Ukrainian

ISO 15924 code: Cyrl

Dehong Dai

Used for: Dehong Dai

Devangari

Used for: Bhili, Bhojpuri, Dogri, Gujari, Kashmiri-speaking Hindus, Konkani, Hindi, Magahi, Maithili, Marathi, Marwari, Nepali, Newari, Pahari, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sherpa, Sindhi, Tharu

ISO 15924 code: Deva

Eskayan

Used for: Eskayan

Ethiopic

Used for: Ethiopian Semitic languages (e.g. Amharic, Blin, Ge'ez, Harari, Me'en, Oromo, Tigré)

ISO 15924 code: Ethi

Fraser

Used for: Lisu

Georgian

Used for: Georgian, Laz, Mingrelian, Svan

ISO 15924 code: Geor

Greek

Used for: Greek, Judaeo-Spanish

ISO 15924 code: =Grek

Gujarati

Used for: Avestan, Gujarati, Kutchi, Sanskrit

ISO 15924 code: Gujr

Gurmukhi

Used for: Braj Bhasha, Khariboli, Sanskrit, Sindhi

ISO 15924 code: Guru

Hanunó’o

Used for: Hanunó’o

ISO 15924 code: Hano

Kannada

Used for: Kannada, Konkani, Tulu

ISO 15924 code: Knda

Kayah Li

Used for: Western Kayah, Karenni, Karennyi, Red Karen, Yang Daeng or Karieng Daeng.

ISO 15924 code: Kali

Khmer

Used for: Khmer

ISO 15924 code: Khmr

Korean (Hangul)

Used for: Korean, Cia-Cia

ISO 15924 code: Kore

Lanna

Used for: Northern Thai (Kam Mu'ang), Tai Lue, Khün

Lao

Used for: Lao

ISO 15924 code: Laoo

Latin

Used for: Afrikaans, Albanian, Aragonese, Asturian, Aymara, Azeri, Basque, Bislama, Boholano, Bosnian, Breton, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Cornish, Corsican, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Fula (Pulaar), Gaelic (Scottish), Galician, Ganda, German, Gikuyu, Guaraní, Haitian, Hausa, Hawai'ian, Hiti Motu, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ido, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Innu-aimun, Irish, Italian, Javanese, Judeo-Spanish , Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kongo, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Latvian, Laz, Leonese, Lingala, Lithuanian, Lombard, Luxembourgish, Maori, Malagasy, Malay, Maltese, Manx, Marshallese, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Nahuatl, Nauruan, Navaho or Navajo, Ndebele, Norwegian, Occitan, Oromo, Palauan, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Samoan, Seychellois creole, Shona, Slovene, Somali, Sotho (Northern), Sotho (Southern), Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Swati, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tatar, Tetum, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tsonga, Tswana, Turkish, Turoyo, Uzbek, Venda, Vietnamese, Volapük, Võro, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu, Zazaki

ISO 15924 code: Latn

Lepcha

Used for: Lepcha

ISO 15924 code: Lepc

Limbu

Used for: Limbu

ISO 15924 code: Limb

Malayalam

Used for: Konkani, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tulu

ISO 15924 code: Mlym

Manipuri (Meetei Mayek)

Used for: Manipuri

Myanmar

Used for: Burmese

ISO 15924 code: Mymr

Ndjuká (Aukan)

Used for: Ndjuká (Aukan)

New Tai Lue

Used for: Tai Lü

Nsibidi

Used for: Ekoid, Efik/Ibibio, Igbo

Ol Chiki

Used for: Santali

ISO 15924 code: Olck

Oriya

Used for: Oriya

ISO 15924 code: Orya

Osmanya

Used for: Somali

ISO 15924 code: Osma

Pahawh Hmong

Used for: Hmong Daw, Hmong Njua

Pollard Miao

Used for: Hwa Miao

ISO 15924 code: Plrd

Shan

Used for: Shan

Sinhala

Used for: Sinhala

ISO 15924 code: Sinh

Sorang Sompeng

Used for: Sora

ISO 15924 code: Sora

Tagbanwa (Apurahuano)

Used for: the languages of the people of Palawan, Philippines

ISO 15924 code: Tagb

Tai Dam

Used for: Tai Dam

Tai Le

Used for: Tai Nüa

ISO 15924 code: Tale

Tamil

Used for: Tamil, Sanskrit, Saurashtra

ISO 15924 code: Taml

Telugu

Used for: Telugu

ISO 15924 code: Telu

Thai

Used for: Thai

ISO 15924 code: Thai

Tibetan

Used for: Balti, Dzongkha, Ladakhi, Sikkimese, Tibetan

ISO 15924 code: Tibt

Tifinagh

Used for: Tuareg

ISO 15924 code: Tfng

Vai

Used for: Vai

ISO 15924 code: Vaii

Varang Kshiti

Used for: Ho

ISO 15924 code: Wara

Yi

Used for: Yi

ISO 15924 code: Yiii

Written right to left and read from top to bottom of the page

Arabic

Used for: Azeri (in Iran), Arabic, Baluchi (in Iran), Bedawi, Berber, Comorian, Dari, Fula, Garshuni, Hausa, Karakalpak (in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan), Kashmiri, Kazakh (in Pakistan, Iran, China, and Afghanistan), Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Pashtun, Persian, Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Tajik (in China), Turkmen, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek (in Afghanistan), Wadaad, Wolof