Batak script

Origin

The Batak script was probably derived from Pallava and Old Kawi scripts, which ultimately were derived from the Brahmi script, the root of almost all the Indic and Southeast Asian scripts.

Structure

Batak is written from left to right and top to bottom. Like all Brahmi-based scripts, each consonant has an inherent vowel of , unless there is a diacritic (in Toba Batak called pangolat) to indicate the lack of a vowel. Other vowels, final ŋ, and final velar fricative are indicated by diacritics, which appear above, below, or after the letter. For example, /ba/ is written ᯅ ba (one letter); /bi/ is written ᯅᯪ ba-i (i follows the consonant); /baŋ/ is written ᯅᯰ ba^ng (ng is above the consonant); and /biŋ/ is ᯅᯪᯰ ba-i^ng. Final consonants are written with the pangolat (here represented by "#"): /bam/ is ᯅᯔ᯲ ba-ma-#. However, /bim/ is written ᯅᯪᯔ᯲ ba-ma-i-#: phonetically, the first diacritic modifies the first consonant, and the second modifies the second consonant, but both are attached to the second consonant.

Unlike most Brahmi-based scripts, Batak does not form consonant conjuncts.

Basic characters

The basic characters are called surat. Each consonant has an inherent vowel of . The script varies by region and language. The major variants are between Karo, Mandailing/Angkola, Pakpak/Dairi, Simalungun/Timur, and Toba:

Alternate forms:
^1 ^2 ^3 ^4 ^5 ^6

ᯤ and ᯥ are only used for open syllables. Some manuscripts use ᯀᯪ and ᯀᯮ instead of ᯤ and ᯥ even there: ᯘᯤ or ᯘᯀᯪ sai, ᯘᯥ or ᯘᯀᯮ sau.

In Angkola/Mandailing, the letter ᯂ has the value /ha/ if it is in syllable initial position and /k/ in final position. The tempi diacritic is optionally used to distinguish ᯄ᯦ /ka/ from ᯄ /ha/ and ᯚ᯦ /ca/ from ᯚ /sa/.

Diacritics

Diacritics are used to change the pronunciation of a character. They can change the vowel from the inherent , mark a final [velar nasal] , mark a final velar fricative , or indicate a final consonant with no vowel:

Ligatures with U

The diacritic for U used by Mandailing, Pakpak, Simalungun, and Toba can form ligatures with its base character:

Tompi

In Mandailing, the diacritic tompi can be used to change the sound of some characters:

Placement of diacritics for Ng and H

The diacritics for Ng () and H () are usually written above spacing vowel diacritics instead of above the base character.
Examples: ping, pong, peh, and pih.

Diacritic reordering for closed syllables

Vowel diacritics are reordered for closed syllables (that is, syllables where the final consonant has no vowel). Consonants with no vowel are marked by the Batak pangolat or panongonan diacritic, depending on the language.

When they are used for a closed syllable (like "tip"), both the vowel diacritic and the pangolat or panongonan are written at the end of the syllable.

Examples of closed syllables using pangolat:

Punctuation and ornaments

Batak is normally written without spaces or punctuation (as scriptio continua). However, special marks or bindu are occasionally used.

They vary greatly in size and design from manuscript to manuscript.

Unicode

Batak script was added to the Unicode Standard in October 2010 with the release of version 6.0.

The Batak script was registered in Unicode by Uli Kozok, a German scholar of Batak literature. Before being documented by Uli Kozok, there were several versions of the Batak script based on Batak sub-ethnic groups, including Toba, Karo, Simalungun, Mandailing, and Pakpak. Uli succeeded in unifying the Batak script, with minor differences considered as variations.

Currently, the Batak script is listed in Unicode with the status of a limited use script. For its status to be elevated to recommended, evidence must be submitted to Unicode showing that the Batak script is still in use.

Character input is phonetic, with the visual output reordered per the description above. For example, lon ᯞᯬᯉ᯲ is entered LON# but displays as LNO#. If the text is entered LNO#, a dotted circle will separate the pangolat from the O, indicating an encoding error.

Block

The Unicode block for Batak is U+1BC0–U+1BFF: