Devanagari for English देभऺनागऺरी फॉर इंग्लिश

Devanagari is the most well-known script of the Indian subcontinent, tracing its roots to a northern form of the ancient Brahmi script. Originally developed to write manuscripts in the liturgical Sanskrit language, it has since been adapted for many widely spoken South Asian languages such as Hindi and Nepali.

But what would it take to get it to write English phonetically in the most efficient manner? Let’s find out.

Adaptation process

Making Devanagari work for the English language was a straightforward process, as there are many consonants which have clear English equivalents: /n/ न, /ŋ/ ङ, /s/ स, /ɹ/ र, /h/ ह, and so on.

There’s some differences, of course. Devanagari has separate letters for aspirated, palatal retroflex and breathy voiced consonants, whereas English doesn’t have retroflex or breathy voiced consonants, but quite a bit of fricatives like /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. In this adaptation, I used some of these extra consonant letters to represent the English fricatives and affricates, using them in such a way that they are mapped to the most closely related sound where possible:

• फ /pʰ/ -> /f/
• भ /bʱ/ -> /v/
• ट /ʈ/ -> /θ/
• ड /ɖ/ -> /ð/
• ध /dʱ/ -> /z/
• च /c/ -> /tʃ/
• ज /ɟ/ -> /dʒ/
• ढ /ɖʱ/ -> /ʒ/

Also, while व has a sound more closely corresponding to /v/ in Hindi today, in this adaptation it shall represent /w/, which is how it was originally pronounced. भ /bʱ/ shall be used to represent /v/ instead, as it is the voiced counterpart of फ /pʰ/ which is used for /f/ in this adaptation, allowing them to ‘pair up’ nicely.

Vowels were a little more complicated situation. English has more consonants than the traditional Devanagari script as used for Sanskrit, but since Devanagari has been adapted for other languages as well, there are some extra vowel marks and letterforms we can use.

There’s the ‘chandra E’ ॅ for /æ/ as in words like ‘can’ and ‘hand’, and the ‘OE’ diacritic ऺ for the schwa /ə/ in words like ‘comma’ – let’s use both. For the /ɔ/ vowel in ‘hot’ and ‘tall’, I’ll use ‘chandra O’ ॉ whereas the plain ‘O’ ो shall be used for /oʊ/~/əʊ/ as in ‘code’ and ‘bold’, since its original Devanagari pronunciation /oː/ is closer to the /oʊ/ sound.

The visarga diacritic ः, which represents final /h/, has been repurposed to represent some diphthongs without their own diacritics such as /eɪ/ and /ɪə/.

The anusvara dot diacritic ं is used to represent final /ŋ/ at the end of a syllable, e.g. /kɪŋ/ = किं.

As with my previous abugida adaptations on this blog, I won’t be using an inherent vowel since it only adds an extra layer of complexity due to the fact that English has a lot of words ending in consonants/clusters.

Alrighty! Let’s sum it all up:

Letters लेतऺर्स

Consonants कॉन्सॉनऺन्त्स

/p/ प (port)	/b/ ब (born)	/f/ फ (free)	/v/ भ (van)	/m/ म (moon)
/t/ त (test)	/d/ द (done)	/θ/ ट (thank)	/ð/ ड (the)	/n/ न (new)
/k/ क (call)	/g/ ग (get)	/x/ ख (loch)	/ɣ/ घ	/ŋ/ ङ (sing)
/s/ स (soon)	/z/ ध (zoo)	/ʃ/ श (share)	/ʒ/ ढ (closure)	.
/tʃ/ च (change)	/dʒ/ ज (just)	.	.	.
/w/ व (way)	/ɹ/ र (run)	/l/ ल (laugh)	/j/ य (yell)	/h/ ह (house)

Syllable-final consonant diacritics सिलऺबऺल-फैनऺल कॉन्सॉनऺन्त दैॳक्रितिक्स

• /ŋ/ ं (sing)

Consonant conjunct forms कॉन्सॉनऺन्त कॉन्जांक्त फॉर्म्स

Devanagari has the ability to combine 2 or more consonants into a single letter. Generally, the first consonant is ‘halved’ and tacked on to the left of the 2nd and subsequent consonants, e.g. /s/ स + /k/ क = /sk/ स्क. In some cases, they can stack vertically instead, e.g. /k/ क + /l/ ल = /kl/ क्ल.

When the 2nd consonant is /ɹ/ र, it becomes a small tick below the 1st consonant that points towards the bottom left, e.g. /k/ क + /ɹ/ र = /kɹ/ क्र.

When the 1st consonant in the cluster is /ɹ/ र, it becomes a hook-like diacritic on top of the following consonants, e.g. /ɹ/ र + /l/ ल = /ɹl/ र्ल.

In Unicode Devanagari, the virama sign ् is used to form consonant clusters by being placed between the consonants to cluster – for example, /n/ न + virama ् + /d/ द = /nd/ न्द.

Independent vowels इन्दिपेन्दऺन्त भौॳल्स

These letterforms are used for spelling words starting with a vowel, e.g. /ænd/ ऍन्द (/æ/ ऍ + /nd/ न्द).

/a/~/ʌ/ अ (sun)	/æ/ ऍ (can)
/ɛ/ ए (head)	/ə/~/ɜ/ ॳ (sure)
/ɪ/ इ (bid)	/iː/ ई (bead)
/ɔ/ ऑ (pot)	/ɔː/ ऑा (bought)
/ʊ/ उ (pull)	/uː/ ऊ (pool)

/aɪ/ ऐ (high)	/aʊ/ औ (now)
/eɪ/ एः (day)	/ɪə/ इः (ear)
/ɔɪ/ ऑः (toy)	/oʊ/~/əʊ/ ओ (dough)
/ʊə/ उः (tour)	/ju/ यु (use)

Diacritic vowels दैॳक्रितिक भौॳल्स

Vowel diacritics are placed either on top, to the side or below the consonant, e.g. /k/ क + /ɪ/ ि = /kɪ/ कि.

/a/~/ʌ/ ा (sun)	/æ/ ॅ (can)
/ɛ/ े (head)	/ə/~/ɜ/ ऺ (sure)
/ɪ/ ि (bid)	/iː/ ी (bead)
/ɔ/ ॉ (pot)	/ɔː/ ॉा (bought)
/ʊ/ ु (pull)	/uː/ ू (pool)

/aɪ/ ै (high)	/aʊ/ ौ (now)
/eɪ/ ेः (day)	/ɪə/ िः (ear)
/ɔɪ/ ॉः (toy)	/oʊ/~/əʊ/ ो (dough)
/ʊə/ ुः (tour)	/ju/ ीु (use)

Numbers नाम्बऺर्स

0 ०	1 १	2 २	3 ३	4 ४
5 ५	6 ६	7 ७	8 ८	9 ९

Punctuation पांचुएःशऺन

Punctuation is as in normal English orthography, with the following special punctuation marks used instead:

• Comma: ।
• Full stop: ॥

Syllable structure सिलऺबऺल स्त्राक्चऺर

Devanagari is written left-to-right.

E.g. /stɹakt/ = स्त्राक्त (/stra/ स्त्रा + /kt/ क्त)

Sample texts सॅम्पऺल तेक्स्त्स

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

युनिभऺर्सऺल देक्लऺरेःशऺन ऑफ हीुमऺन रैत्स

ऑल हीुमऺन बींस अर बॉर्न फ्री ऍन्द इकुःल इन दिग्निति ऍन्द रैत्स॥ डेः अर एन्दौद विट रीधऺन ऍन्द कॉन्शऺन्स ऍन्द शुद ऍक्त तॉवऺर्द्स वान ॳनाडऺर इन ॳ स्पिरित ऑफ ब्राडऺर्हुद॥

(अर्तिकऺल १ ऑफ डि युनिभऺर्सऺल देक्लऺरेःशऺन ऑफ हीुमऺन रैत्स)

Excerpt from a short story I wrote a while ago

For comparison, you can view the original one here.

ऐ हॅद ॳ स्त्रेःन्ज द्रीम डॅत नैत॥

इन डॅत द्रीम। ऐ फौन्द मैसेल्फ ॳवेःकऺनिं। लैइं ऑन सॉफ्त ग्रीन ग्रास। इन ॳ फॅन्तऺसि ८-बित वऺर्ल्द सऺरौन्दऺद बै कॉम्पीुतऺर्स॥ डऺ लुमिनऺन्स ऑफ ब्लिंकिं मोदेम्स ऍन्द वॉर्म। चिःर्फुल चिप्तीुन मीुधिक फिल्द डि एर॥ ऑल्डो एभ्रिटिं लुक्द ब्लॉकि ऍन्द स्क्वेर। इत ब्रॉात मि बॅक तु डोध देःस॥ ऑफ ऑल डऺ कॉम्पीुतऺर्स ऐ सॉा। १ ऑफ डेम वऺस प्लेःइं मै फेःभ्रऺत सॉं! ऐ जाम्प ऍन्द लीप इन जॉः ओभऺर डऺ सैत॥ ऐ डेन सॉा मै हौस। ऍन्द ऐ सेद “है” तु मै बेस्त मेःत्स। हु वऺर वेःतिं औत्सैद॥ वि वॉाक्द तुगेडऺर। हॅभिं ॳ चिःरि चॅत ॳबौत डऺ कॉम्पीुतऺर गेःम ऐ वऺस वऺर्किं ऑन ॳर्लिःर॥

“सो वात्स डॅत कुल गेःम गॉना बि ॳबौत। एः?” वान ऑफ डेम अस्क्द॥
“इफ यु लऺभ्द मारिओ। युल लऺभ डिस!” ऐ सेद॥
“ऑासऺम!!! कॅन्त वेःत तु सि इत!” इन्सैद मि डऺ फैॳर तु कीप मि गोइं बिकेःम स्त्रॉंगऺर॥

वि वॉाक्द इन्तु ॳ भिभिद सान्सेत॥ ऐ रेमिनिस्द डऺ मेमऺरिस ऑफ पास्त सामऺर्स। प्लेःइं रेत्रो भिदिओ गेःम्स इन डऺ कुल शेःद। इभऺन डो डऺ सान औत्सैद पीक्द ऍत ४२ दिग्रीस ऍन्द मेल्तऺद एभ्रिटिं एल्स॥