Brāhmī-derived orthographies are typologically Āksharik but functionally predominantly alphabetic

Abstract

We claim that the orthographies of South and Southeast Asia, which are derived from the Brāhmī writing system, are best described by the typological term “āksharik” (/ɑ:kʃərik/), and that they are functionally predominantly alphabetic. We derive these descriptions from the encoding units that went into the design of the orthographies and the decoding units that are likely to be relevant for reading text in them. More commonly used terms, such as “alphasyllabary” or “abugida”, used to describe these orthographies, are not appropriate. Our focus is on Hindī, an Indo-Āryan language and its orthography, Devnāgrī. Our arguments are based on structural-descriptive, historical-linguistic and theoretical accounts as well as some psycholinguistic evidence. We also support claims that the universal and language-specific features of any writing system should be studied in the context of its associated spoken language or languages.