Mundari Bani

Mundari Bani (Mundari: 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚, romanized: Mundari Bani) also known as Nag Mundari (Mundari: 𞓨𞓕𞓦 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚, romanized: Nag Mundari) and Mundari Bani Hisir , or the Mundari alphabet, is the writing system created for the Mundari language, spoken in eastern India. Mundari is an Austroasiatic language. Mundari Bani has 27 letters and five diacritics, the forms of which are intended to evoke natural shapes. The script is written from left to right.

Community elder and author Rohidas Singh Nag invented and published in late 1980 the alphabetic writing system Mundari Bani, which has seen limited but increasing use in literature, education, and computing.

Rohidas Singh Nag started designing the initial characters of Mundari bani in 1949 while in grade school, which he wrote on the walls using clay.^[1][2] By 1953 he had finished a set of 35 characters. He further simplified the alphabet in 1980 by reducing it to 27 alphabetical characters. In 2008 Bharat Munda Samaj, Mundari Samaj Sanwar Jamda and Nag reformed the script in styling and adding glyphs. Since then, fonts were developed using this standard.

Nag presented the alphabet in the 1980s to then-Chief Minister of Odisha Janaki Ballabh Patnaik and submitted a memorandum to recognize the Munda language constitutionally. Nag along with others submitted a memorandum to the then president of India in 1999 appealing again for the constitutional recognition. "Mundari Samaj Sanwar Jamda", a social organisation of the Munda community based in Poda Astia, Mayurbhanj has been demanding to incorporate the Munda language in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, to air Munda language through All India Radio, and establish a Munda language department at North Odisha University for higher studies on the basis of the writing system and literature.^[3] The writing system has seen limited but increasing use in literature, education, and computing.

Unlike the Brahmic abugidas (such as Devanagari, Bengali, or Odia), Mundari Bani is a true alphabet. The script is unicameral, designed to accommodate the unique phonetic features of Austroasiatic Munda languages, such as checked consonants and heavy vowel sequences, while using diacritics and digraphs to adapt to Indo-Aryan loanwords.

Since the 2008 edits, it consists of 27 distinct letters and 5 diacritical marks, written from left to right, where consonants do not possess an inherent vowel. Their names follow traditional naming schemes.^[2]

Vowels are called Munu Bani (Mundari: 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓟 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚, romanized: Munu Bani) in Mundari. All vowels have long and short as well as nasalised allophones, but neither length nor nasality is contrastive. All vowels in open monosyllables are quantitatively longer than those in closed syllables.^[5] The following table shows the five base vowel phonemes:

In native Mundari grammar, vowels are categorised by phonetic length into short and long vowels. The five base vowel alphabets of the Mundari Bani script are:

Unlike Brahmic scripts, Mundari Bani lacks independent letters for long vowels. Instead, long vowels are formed by attaching the TOYOR (◌𞓭) diacritic to a base vowel, but not all long vowels are demarcated, depending upon the scribe.

• 𞓕 (/a/) + ◌𞓭 → 𞓕𞓭 (/aː/)
• Example 1: Mundari: 𞓐𞓪𞓕𞓭, IPA: /oɽ.aː/ , Translation: House
• Example 2: Mundari: 𞓗𞓚𞓭𞓔, IPA: /biːŋ/ , Translation: Snake

To denote the signature /O/ sound in the neighbouring Odia/Bengali language, the script uses 𞓐 (/o/) with the SUTUH (◌𞓯) diacritic.

Nasalisation in Mundari is represented by the MUHOR (◌𞓬) diacritic. It attaches to the primary vowels or the final vowel in a cluster.

• 𞓕 (/a/) + ◌𞓬 → 𞓕𞓬 (/ã/)
• Example 1: Mundari: 𞓝𞓟𞓕𞓬, IPA: /t̪uãː/ , Translation: Milk/Breast
• Example 2: Mundari: 𞓧𞓟𞓬 , IPA: /mũː/ , Translation: Nose

Vowels preceding or following nasal phonemes like /ŋ/, /ɲ/, /ṇ/, /ɳ/ and /m/ are also nasalised. ^[5] Native writers do not usually add the MUHOR (◌𞓬) in these cases because, unlike the ONG (𞓔) letter, which represents the nasal consonant /ŋ/, the MUHOR indicates the nasalisation of the vowel itself, crucial for distinguishing word pairs in native Munda vocabulary.

• 𞓧 (/m/) + 𞓕 (/a/) → 𞓧𞓕 (/mã/)

Additionally, those following /ɟ/ are also nasalised.

• 𞓖 (/ɟ/) + 𞓕 (/a/) → 𞓖𞓕 (/ɟã/)

Mundari frequently uses sequences where two or three vowels follow each other without an intervening consonant. Unlike English diphthongs, they are treated as distinct syllables. Some common clusters are:

The absence of vowel phonemes in consonant clusters or after word-end consonants is marked by the absence of vowel letters. There is no halant to indicate a vowel negation as in Brahmic abugidas.

• Example 1: Mundari: 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓜𞓕𞓣𞓚, IPA: /Muɳɖārī/ , Translation: Mundari (lang.)
• Example 2: Mundari: 𞓗𞓟𞓒𞓟𞓔, IPA: /buluŋ/ , Translation: Salt

In Mundari, consonants are called Boja Bani (Mundari: 𞓗𞓐𞓖𞓕 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚, romanized: Boja Bani). Mundari Bani represents consonants using 22 basic letters, plus one diacritic. They are organised into five clusters, each led by a primary vowel. The first letter of the consonant's name matches the primary vowel. These basic letters are:

Because of centuries of contact with neighbouring eastern Indo-Aryan languages, specifically Bengali and Odia, dialects like Naguri and Kera have aspirated loan words. Because native Mundari lacks aspirated distinction, these aspirated phonemes are denoted by adding the /h/ letter (𞓞) to the consonant.

• Example: 𞓢 (/k/) + 𞓞 (/h/) → 𞓢𞓞 (/kʰ/)

There are no conjunct forms or ligatures, and the letters do not change shape in compound syllables, unlike Brahmic abugidas. Mundari also lacks gemination.

Below is the consonant phonology of Mundari depicted using Mundari Bani, which encompasses native phonemes (basic consonants shown in red and unique phonemes in blue) and aspirated loan words (shown in green).

Notes:

Mundari grammar also categorises consonants into four categories according to their place of articulation:

• Soft consonants (Mundari: 𞓣𞓕𞓗𞓕𞓒 𞓗𞓐𞓖𞓕 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚, romanized: Rabal Boja Bani)

• Aspirated consonants (Mundari: 𞓞𞓕𞓧𞓗𞓕𞓒 𞓗𞓐𞓖𞓕 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚, romanized: Hambal Boja Bani)

• Nasal consonants (Mundari: 𞓧𞓟𞓨𞓟 𞓗𞓐𞓖𞓕 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚, romanized: Munu Boja Bani)

• Unstructured consonants (Mundari: 𞓝𞓕𞓣𞓕 𞓗𞓐𞓖𞓕 𞓗𞓕𞓨𞓚, romanized: Tara Boja Bani).

A unique feature of Mundari is the word-final /b/ and /d/, which may be pronounced as checked sounds /ˀb̥(ᵐ)/ or /ˀd̥(ⁿ)/. This is represented by placing the diacritic OJOD (𞓫) before the consonant.

• Example: Mundari: 𞓒𞓕𞓩𞓕𞓫𞓗, IPA: /laʈaˀb/ , Translation: Scissors

However, the use of OJOD to denote aspirated stops is dependent on the scribe and is not universal.^[2]

The Mundari phoneme /w/ or /ʷ/ has two distinct forms of representation in Mundari Bani using the IKIR diacritic (◌𞓮):

• Consonantal /ʷ/: A standalone glide used at the beginning of syllables.

• Vocalic /ʷ/: It is written by adding the IKIR to the vowel that follows to impart a labialized glide.

/w/ never occurs in the initial position in Mundari,^[7] but some use the IKIR in conjunction with vowel letters to write /wa/ or /wi/ syllables from other languages.

Loan words are denoted with the diacritic SUTUH (◌𞓯) when transcribed. Phonemes like 'ẏ', 'ṛ', 'ṛh', 'ś' and 'ṣ', which are common in Indo-Aryan languages, are denoted using the Mundari equivalent with the (◌𞓯).

• 𞓛𞓯 is used to denote both /ʂɔ/ and /ɕɔ/ phonemes. The reader is expected to understand from context which phoneme is being depicted, often the case when transcribing widely used loan words.

In many eastern Indian languages, the sounds for 'b' and 'v/w' are closely related or interchangeable. While native Mundari uses 𞓕𞓮 for the /w/ sound, 𞓗𞓯 is sometimes used in formal transliteration to represent the /ʋ/, which is lacking in native Mundari.

• 𞓗 (/b/) + ◌𞓯 → 𞓗𞓯 (/ʋ/)

Mundari Bani has its own set of decimal digits (0–9) that function identically to standard Western numerals.^[8]

Below are the names of the base digits (0-10) rendered in Mundari Bani:

The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written in Mundari Bani:^[a][9]

The Mundari Bani alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 2022 with the release of version 15.0.^[10] The Unicode block is called Nag Mundari (U+1E4D0–U+1E4FF):

• Anderson, Gregory D.S, ed. (2008). The Munda languages. Routledge Language Family Series 3. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.

• Osada, Toshiki (2008). "Mundari". The Munda Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 99–164. ISBN 0-415-32890-X.

• Noto Sans Nag Mundari - A free Mundari Bani Unicode font that harmonises with other fonts of the Noto font family
• Mundari script at Omniglot.com