PUNJABI SCRIPT

                                                       

Punjabi is spoken in both India and Pakistan and can be written in Shahmukhi (Persian script, same as Urdu) or Gurmukhi (the scripture that is used in the sacred Guru Granth Sahib – the Sikh scripture).  

ਓ ooraa [u]	ਅ airaa [ai]	ੲ eeree [i]	ਸ sassaa [sa]	ਹ haahaa [ha]
ਕ kakkaa [ka]	ਖ khakhkhaa [kha]	ਗ gaggaa [ga]	ਘ ghaggaa [gha]	ਙ ngangngaa [nga]
ਢ chachchaa [cha]	ਛ chachhchhaa [chha]	ਜ jajjaa [ja]	ਝ hahhaa [ha]	ਞ njanjnjaa [nja]
ਟ tainkaa [ta]	ਠ thaththaa [tha]	ਡ daddaa [da]	ਢ dhadhdhaa [dha]	ਣ nhanhnhaa [nha]
ਤ TaTTaa [Ta]	ਥ ThaThThaa [Tha]	ਦ daddaa [da]	ਧ dhadhdhaa [dha]	ਨ nannaa [na]
ਪ pappaa [pa]	ਫ phaphphaa [pha]	ਬ babbaa [ba]	ਭ bhabhbhaa [bha]	ਮ mammaa [ma]
ਯ yayyaa [ya]	ਰ rarraa [ra]	ਲ lallaa [la]	ਵ vavvaa [va]	ੜ rharhrhaa [rha]
ਸ਼ ShaShShaa [Sh]	ਖ਼ KhaKhKhaa [Kh]	ਗ਼ GhaGhGhaa [Gha]	ਜ਼ zazzaa [za]	ਫ਼ faffaa [fa]

Although generally Punjabi is barely written at all (due to illiteracy in Punjabi villages) it is worth to note that majority of Punjabi speakers actually live in the West Punjab that belongs to Pakistan and almost 4 times less in the East Punjab that belongs to India. In my blog I will concentrate on the Gurmukhi script as we live in India. Gurmukhi is more of a syllabary rather than the phonetic alphabet. It has 40 letters, 37 consonants and 3 vowels. In  its script charts you may notice the sounds transliterated such as “sa”, “ha”, “ka” rather than “s”, “h” or “k”…Well actually each consonant already comes with a following “a” sound. So if you see a word ਕਮਲ, it is not “kml”, it is “kamal” (lotus). From the script chart you can see that there are only 3 vowels: “ਓ” (o), “ਅ” (a), “ੲ” (e)… In reality you will be able to make other eleven vowels using vowel signs that are like small hooks, moons, dots and lines that come on the top or on the bottom of the rest of Punjabi characters.

                                                          

ਅ a	ਆ aa	ਇ i	ਈ ee	ਉ u	ਊ oo	ਏ e	ਐ ai	ਓ o	ਔ au	ਅੰ ang	ਆਂ aan
ਸ sa	ਸਾ saa	ਸਿ si	ਸੀ see	ਸੁ su	ਸੂ soo	ਸੇ se	ਸੈ sai	ਸੋ so	ਸੌ sau	ਸੰ sang	ਸਾਂ saan

Gurmukhi script is a lot simpler than Devanagari (Hindi script) or Shahmukhi (in my opinion) because the characters do not blend when joined (like in Devanagari) and they don’t go on top of each other like in nasta'liq Urdu script. 

I think it’s pretty easy to learn it. The best to start is to simply copy each character by hand while saying the sound aloud and then move on to copying simple words, while saying them aloud.

Gurmukhi with its Devanagari, Shahmukhi and Roman equivalents:

ਓ उ و u	ਅ अ ع a	ੲ ए ا e	ਸ स س sa	ਹ ह ح ha
ਕ क ک ka	ਖ ख کھ kha	ਗ ग گ ga	ਘ घ غ  gha	ਙ ङ
ਢ च چ cha	ਛ छ چھ  chha	ਜ ज ج ja	ਝ झ جھ jha	ਞ ण ں Na
ਟ ट ٹ Ta	ਠ ठ  ٹھ Tha	ਦ द د da	ਧ ध دھ dha	ਨ न ن na
ਪ प پ pa	ਫ फ پھ pha	ਬ ब ب ba	ਭ भ بھ bha	ਮ म م ma
ਯ य ي ya	ਰ र ر ra	ਲ ल ل la	ਵ व و va	ੜ ड़ ڈ Da
ਸ਼ श ض Sha	ਖ਼ ख़ قھ Kha	ਕ਼ क़ ق qa	ਜ਼ ज़ ز za	ਫ਼ फ़ ف fa