sindhi script book | sarvabhashin

7/27/2019 Sindhi Script Book | sarvabhashin

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sn d i

Sindhi

sarvabhshin


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Script


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The Sindhi letters and words described in this book are each

accompanied by a pronunciation key in the International PhoneticAlphabet (IPA). Please refer to these IPA keys for the exact

pronunciation of a Sindhi letter or word.

The IPA is a scientific notation used for accurately transcribing the

sounds of most human languages. More about the IPA can be

found at http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/ and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipa.

The similarities describedin this book between the pronunciations

of Sindhi letters and corresponding English letters are only

guidelines and should be considered as such.
http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipahttp://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/


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http://tiny.cc/sarvabhashin Read Sindhi right to left

4

k

This letter has a sound similar to

k in skip


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g in go


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These are the letters weve just seen

k


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p


p in speak


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b


b in bat


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These are the letters weve seen so far

k

b p


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tch in catch


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dge in badge


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k

b p


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This sign has a sound similar to

a in America

This sign is written abovea letter


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This is how the sign for is written

k

b p


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i in pin

This sign is written belowa letter


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k

b p


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u in bull

Thissign is written above a letter


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k

b p


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Look at these sequences

made from the letters and signs weve just seen

kkk

bbb ppp


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Did you notice how the letters join one another?

Heres one of those letters, along with vowel signs

k k k

+ +

=

kkk


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Heres another one of those letters,with vowel signs

+ +

=


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These letters join in similar ways

ppp p p p

= + +bbb b b b

= + +


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These letters, too, join in similar ways

= + +

= + +


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Lets try some more combinations of joining letters

k k

= +b b

= +p p

= +


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j


y in yo-yo


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r


r in Italian Roma

This is a rolled /r/, as in Spanish or Italian


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l


l in lad


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v in victory


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r j

l


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This is how the sign for is written on these letters

r j

l


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r j

l


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r j

l


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rrr jjj

lll


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Did you notice?

These letters dontjoin the next one!

rrr

So, while most of the letters join the next one,

allof them dont


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These are some actual Sindhi words

Can you read them?
http://www.crulp.org/sed/WordDetail.aspx?wdid=58http://www.crulp.org/sed/WordDetail.aspx?wdid=58http://www.crulp.org/sed/WordDetail.aspx?wdid=58http://www.crulp.org/sed/WordDetail.aspx?wdid=58


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Here are their pronunciations and meanings

pl pr l kl

bridge but flower total

k p

judge during bite lipkkr bl p

cloud mountain silenceklb ppr r

club peepul tree

(Ficus religiosa) carrot

Did you notice the superscript letter in the pronunciation key

for these words?

pl pr l

This means that these sounds are pronounced very lightly, almost not at all

This usually happens at the end of a word
http://www.crulp.org/sed/WordDetail.aspx?wdid=58http://www.crulp.org/sed/WordDetail.aspx?wdid=58http://www.crulp.org/sed/WordDetail.aspx?wdid=58http://www.crulp.org/sed/WordDetail.aspx?wdid=58


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s


s in sit


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sh in ship


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h in hat


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These are the letters wevejust seen

s


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This is how the signs for , i and are written on these letters

s

s

s


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sss


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These letters join in similar ways

sss s s s

= + +

= + +


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causes the pronunciation of certain vowels before and after it

to change slightly.

Rule

If the vowel immediately before is then

which sounds like

ai in fair

In other words

becomes

becomes

becomes

becomes

Note that this rule does not apply

if the vowel immediately after is a long vowel.

We will come across long vowels later in this book.

Some pronunciation examples will make this vowel-change rulea little clearer.


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Can you read these Sindhi words?


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sr sb k l

brick sew speak move, runk ss s rs

suspicion mother-in-law sun juicek r s bs

a, one stay endure enoughsbb pr kr

reason wear gratitude poison

bt r kl r s p

better appearance, form city, town really, truly


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z


z in zebra


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f


f in fat


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f z


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f z

f z

f z


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fff zzz


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These letters look similar, and behave similarly

rrr r r r

= + +

zzz z z z

= + +

Neither of them joins the following letter, much like

= + +


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Here are some Sindhi words

containing the letters weve just seen

Could you read them?


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klf fr

lock floor

sbz brf

green snow, ice

bzr zr

elder, senior poison


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n


n in new


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m


m in mother


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m n


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m n

m n

m n


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mmm nnn


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Notice how these letters do not look similar when not joined,

but look similar whenjoined

jjj j j j

= + +nnn n n n

= + +

Did you notice?

When joined, the only difference

in how they look

is the number of dots

jnjnjnr

In fact, when joined, j and n

look very similar to p and b

pbpbpbr


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Some more Sindhi words


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Heres how they sound and what they mean

m pn kn km

kiss leaf ear work

pm nrm rm kml

wool soft hot lotus

zn rsm rn nm

weight custom foot birth

jnm nmbr pn mlk

hell number five country


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x


ch in Scottish loch


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r in French au revoir


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x


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x

x

x


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xxx


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Notice the similarity in how these letters look?

xxx

The only difference in how they look is

the number of dots


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How many did you get right?

sl bl xbr m

bath side news grief

zxm xr xk zl

wound expenditure dry sonnet


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t


t in Spanish toro

To pronounce this letter, the tip of your tongue

touches the back of your front teeth


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d


d in Spanish diez




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d t


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d d d t t t


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Notice the similarity in how these letters look?

bbb ppp t t t

The only difference in how they look is

the number of dots

The letters below look similar whenjoined, but different when not joined!

nnnr jjjr t t t r

n j t


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These letters behave similarly, in that they dontjoin the next one

d d d d d d

= + +rrr r r r

= + +

zzz z z z

= + +

= + +


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Here are some Sindhi words with the new letters weve just seen


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And heres how you pronounce them, and what they mean

t dl d r tr

mind heart door sesame seed

bd k md d st t p

duck help seven fever

msd sxt xt m pt l

mosque hard finished brass

mxt lf d ft r d mn rd n

different office enemy neck


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t in ash tray


curls right back and touches the roof of your mouth


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d in rushed




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This is how the signs for , and are written on these letters


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Can you see how similar these groups of letters are,

in pronunciation andshape?

d d d t t t

They are similar in terms of behaviour, too

behaves exactly like t

And behaves exactly like d

Weve already seen the behaviour of and on pages 76 and 77


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Can you read this sequence?

You should have read

plblnljlt ll


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Remember this letter?

k

The letter below is pronounced just like the one above,

except that the letter below is pronounced with a little puff of air

kh

It has a sound similar to

ck-h in brick-house


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except that the letter below is pronounced with a little puffof air

It has a sound similar toggh in egghead


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b



b


bh in clubhouse


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ch-h in church-house


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It has a sound similar todgeh in badgeholder


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k

b p


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k

b p


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k

b p


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k

b p


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kkk

bbb ppp


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These letters look similar, sound similar, and join similarly

kkk kkk

bbb bbb


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These letters, though similar in sound,

donot look similar or join similarly

ppp ppp

In fact, these letters, though different in sound,

look similar and behave similarly

ppp fff


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r bk rk

house less hunger keep

r m kljl k

ask for roam, wander opened cot


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Some more words with some of the letters just seen


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t k n l

roof sneeze pluck, break subterfuge

p mr l

tail mosquito touch break free

r

instant put, pour bear

k r k

bend, bow flow some, a little


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And even more words with some of these new letters


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pl pr pr pr

flower rob turn edge

bt bl sb p

wall error all bloom, grow

brjl brm spl

full honour, reputation successful


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t



t


th-h in bath-house


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d



d


dh in adhere


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d t


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d t

d t

d t


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d d d t t t


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Can you see how similar these groups of letters are,

in pronunciation andshape?

d d d t t t

d d d t t t

They are similar in terms of behaviour, too

behaves exactly like and

And behaves exactly like and

Weve already seen the behaviour of and on pages 76 and 77,

and the behaviour of and on page 85


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th in penthouse


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dh in madhouse


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One more addition to the ever-growing list of letters

with similar shape and pronunciation!

d d d t t t

d d d t t t

Weve already been through the behaviour of some of these letters on

pages 76, 77, 85 and 113


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Can you read this sequence?


plblnljlt llt ll

Be careful of the last four they sound and look very similar!


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And heres how you pronounce them, and what they mean

m p s l

fist back sixty stick

r k

sheep take out thug take

kjl st

covered, closed sixty-seven


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ng in sing

It is not pronounced like the

ng in finger


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ni in onion

gne in French montagne

in Spanish Espaa


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n in wander




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These letters look similar and join similarly

kkk kkk

Do you notice any similarity in sound?

All these letters are articulated at the same area of the mouth,

that is, at the back of the roof of the mouth.


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These letters, too, look similar and join similarly

Do you notice any similarity in sound?


that is, at the middle part of the roof of the mouth.


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These letters look similar and join similarly

nnn

In fact, both these letters look and behave exactly the same,

the only difference being the dot on top of

and the on top of


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These letters dont all sound similar, but they do look and join similarly

t t t t t t

bbb bbb

jjj ppp


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These letters dont all look similar, but they sound similar


that is, with the tongue curled back and touching the roof of the mouth.


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Some more similar-sounding letters, which weve already seen

t t t t t t

d d d d d d

nnn


that is, with the tongue touching the front teeth.


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And even more similar-sounding letters, which weve already seen

ppp ppp

bbb bbb

mmm


that is, with the lips touching each other.


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And some more


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And here are their meanings and pronunciations. How did you fare?

m m l l

fiance,

betrothed

Mung bean

(Phaseolus mungo)limb lameness

mr d s s

fire stout, bulky matrimony animal horn

p r m

virtue to paint, colour to ask, beg

m m r

marrow

Munja grass

(Saccharum munja)

mirage marriage feast


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m p m mt

to agree, heed to card (cotton)

the Madder plant

(Rubia)vow

kr b b

to do to roast to break to go

tj br b mr

to be to fill to survive to die


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The letter n sometimes changes its pronunciation,

depending on what letter comes after it.

Have a look at these words and their pronunciations

r

leg colour

hang jungle

More to come


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pt

sift, dust scholar

moon pond

bn d n d

closed life

kmn d n d

sugarcane place


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Lets look at it in a little more detail.

In these words, the pronunciation of n is like

r


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In these words, the pronunciation of n is like

pt


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In these words, the pronunciation of nis dentaln ,

that is, the tongue touches the back of the front teeth

bn d n d

kmn d n d


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We can see a pattern over here.

If n does nothave a vowel sign,

and occurs before the following consonants

then its pronunciation

is

k k

d d t t

n


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Great.

Now, an obvious question.

What if a word starts with a vowel?

How do we write it then?

Theres a slightly different (but simple) way of doing this

by using this stick-like letter.


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If a word starts with a vowel, we use the stick-like letter as a vowel holder,

and simply write the appropriate vowel sign above or below it


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And here are some examples of words that use the vowel holder letter

kr d k

letter of alphabet eight half eye

kl d rk rt

knowledge coming and going ginger meaning

nn sm n d d n d t r

engine noun disorder seventy-eight

b

fifty-nine thirst sky camel

br t l

to rise to get up to throw to wipe


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Speaking of vowels, here are some more

a

This sign has a sound similar toa in father

This sign is written aftera letter

This letter looks and behaves exactly like

our vowel-holder letter


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i


ee in bee


This sign looks and behaves exactly like

j


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u


oo in tool




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e


in French fiance



j


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o


o in Italian Roma




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This is how the signs for a, i, u, e and o are written

after a letter that joins the next one

ki ka

ke ku

ko


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This is how the signs for a, i, u, e and o are written

after a letter that joins the next one

ri ra

re ru

ro


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Notice the similarity in these letter combinations

ke ki

ko ku

re ri

ro ru

Be careful!


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Technically, there could be confusion, like so

ki kj

ku k

ri rj

ru r

The good news is, the combinations on the right occur very rarely


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And some more


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How many correct?

jad

remembrance

a

what

d astain

xd a

god er

pile, lump ogoodopi

cap foo

photograph

a

brinjal, eggplant

xrab

bad io

glass azship rib

poor at i

elephant

esixty-three pato tear

sn d i

Sindhi

(people, language)

d n d o

business bii

okra,

ladys fingers

krai

Karachi,

capital of Sindh


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mao

tomato

mino

monthpaple

pomfret

pensl

pencil rsilo

juicy

lujl

salty ban d r

monkey

t elo

bag t klif

trouble,

inconvenience

nt io

result napsn d

disliked

d razo

door

sa

to recognise bejo

sisters

husband

bn d obst

preparation,arrangement

bt rin

best ur

grape

abei

competition st ad

teacher

t ar

advertisement


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Our friend l decides to change colours

when

a comes after him

la a l

=

+

Have a go


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This was easy

t la

search

laar

helpless

slam

greetings,

salutations

nilam

auction lazm

proper

xlaf

against

klak

hour

lami

servility blade

Bangladesh

las

sitting,

meeting


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At the beginning of a word, these vowels are written like this,

using our vowel-holder letter

u i

o e

Wait. What about a ?

Wait for it


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a

In other words

+=


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And some Sindhi words beginning with the new letters wevejust seen


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You should have got all of these right!

azad i

freedom

aram

rest

ir

god

iran

Iran

uasi

seventy-nine

uo

high, tall eket ali

forty-one

et ro

this many,

this much

oto

suddenly

ozar

tool


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A couple of tongue twister letters now


tt in the American pronunciation ofbetter

dd in the American pronunciation ofladder

r in Spanishpero

but with the tongue curled further back

and flapping against the roof of the mouth


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The letter below is pronounced just like the one on the previous page,



t h in the American pronunciation ofGet him!

but with the tongue curled further backand flapping against the roof of the mouth


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172

q

A sound similar to the sound of this letter does not exist in English

It sounds like k, but is pronounced further back in the throat,

producing a gulping sound

In colloquial Sindhi, this letter is pronounced the same as

k


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q, k


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174


q, k

q, k

q, k


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qqq, kkk


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This is how these letters look when combined with all the vowels

weve seen so far

o e u i a

o e u i a

qo qe qu q qi q qa qko ke ku k ki k ka k


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These letters look similar, and join similarly

rrr

qqq, kkk fff


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Can you read these Sindhi words containing the letters weve just seen?


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rqm

rkm

amount

pp

lungqt

kt

time oto break

(something) baqi

baki

rest, remaining

ko

walnut

jqin

jkin

belief,

confidence

saisari

qanun

kanun

law pto read, learn


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And even more vowels

This sign has a sound similar toai in fairThis sign is written aftera letter


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181


a in ball



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This is how the signs for and are written

k k

r r


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Notice the similarity in these letter combinations

k ke ki

k ko ku

r re ri

r ro ru

Be careful!


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At the beginning of a word, these vowels are written like this,

using our vowel-holder letter


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And their pronunciations and meanings

ko

difficult

thing farmy

srride, tour

nkri

work, occupation

qd i

kd i

prisoner

rni

light, illumination

bk

sitting,

meeting

mud

existing, present

md an

ground


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The vowels above are called short vowels, as their length while speaking

is comparatively less

u i a

e

o

The vowels above are called long vowels, as their length while speaking

is comparatively more


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188

Homophones are different letters that have the same sound.

Sindhi too has homophonic letters

s

Both these letters have the same sound

Their sound is similar to

s in sit

That is, their pronunciation is the same as


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Made from the letters and signs weve just seen

sss


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weve seen so far

su s si s sa s

s so s se


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191

Ouch!


plslblnljlt llt ll

Did you?!


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sdr

president

ksr

oftenxas

special

sr

Taurus

sab

soap

ksrt

physical

exercise

fslo

decision

msal

example mxsus

particular

sabt

proven,

established


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Some more homophonic letters

z

All these letters have the same sound

Their sound is similar to

z in zebra

That is, their pronunciation is the same as


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zzz


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weve seen so far

zu z zi z za z

s so s ze


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Have fun!


dlzlld ll


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Similar looking and behaving (but not homophonic!) letters

sss

zzz


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mriz

a patient,

zat

caste, ethnicity

lfazwords

lzt taste

n t zam

arrangement

kaz

Paper

zlm

oppression

zafo

increase mnzur

approvedzrur

definitely


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And even more homophonic letters

t


t in Spanish toro



That is, its pronunciation is the same as


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h in hat

That is, its pronunciation is the same as


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t


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t t t


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203


weve seen so far

u i a

tu t t i t t a t

o e

t t o t te


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One dot can make all the difference.

But you probably know that by now!

x


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Similar looking and behaving (but not homophonic!) letters

zzz

t t t


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These Sindhi words contain all the homophonic letters weve seen so far

t aqt

t akt

strength ad soaccident

lt i

mistake d rabad Hyderabad, a

city in Sindh 1

mtan

examination

fazt

protection

xt rnak

dangerous bs

debate

st la

terminology trmanner, type

1The common place name suffix abad is always spelt with ,

even though it occurs in the middle of a word


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When two vowels appear one after the otherwithin a word,

the second vowel is written in a special way

Notusing our usual stick-like vowel-holder letter

but by using this special vowel-holder letter

The vowels are then attached to this letter in the usual way.


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Here are some Sindhi words with consecutive vowels in them

azma

to test

mmbi

Mumbai

(Bombay) ab

disappeared

la

to burn

(something)

aino

mirror saiklbicycle pau

fertile,

productive maisweetmeat

sao

green

aet ali

forty-six nt

humility,

obeisance

n

to take away


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And some more

norio

squirrel pito drink 1a

ua

gambling

to become

sur

pig sineedle d o

to wash

ko

mouse et ali

forty-four 2mslo

problem

1Both spellings (and pronunciations) are prevalent

2pronounced mslo, not mslo as the spelling would suggest


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One exception to our new vowel-holder letter

If a word

ends in two consecutive vowels, and the second vowel is a short vowel (see page 187 if you forgot!),

then our new vowel-holder letter changes shape slightly.

It is notwritten like this

but like this

Lets have a look at some examples to make this clearer.


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211

1

ushe (there) 1

ishe (here) a

yes

1 ba

brother

polater,

afterwards 1 d idaughter

1 ula

July 1 mapi

parents

(lit. mother-

father)

2

srautumn,

fall bd bufoul smell,

stink 1the vowels at the end of these words are pronounced fully, not lightly as is the case otherwise

2pronounced sr, not sr as the spelling would suggest

Clearer?


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A few letters still remain!


g g in big gang

It sounds like a stressed version of this letter

g


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dge J in Ridge James



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d d in god damn!



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b b in job benefits


b


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Camouflage at at its very best

k k

z d d t t b b p

n j s


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These shouldnt be too tough

ofight, brawl

lonext

a

to know

ala

to speak

bai

vegetables,

curry klnowadays

to sink,

drown to fear, be

afraid

ao

grandfather

ao

very, many

ara

family,

children kbeone another,

each other


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This sign doubles a letter

It shows that the letter is pronounced with more stress

This sign is written above a letter

Remember that the signs for and are also written above a letter?

This doubler sign is always written belowthe signs for and , like so

ssi

eightly nn

wool

sso

part, share

qq

kk

rights

mbbt love pkkoripe, firm

mqd d mo

mkd d mo

case, litigation mrmmt repair


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n

This letter has another use,

namely, to show that the vowel that comes immediately before it

is spoken through the nose

This function is called nasalisation

In the pronunciation key, this function is denoted by a over the vowel


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Have a look at how vowels are written with our nasalisation letter

b b b b b b

b b b b


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Notice the two different uses

of the letter

One is pronounced n,

and the other by nasalising the vowel before it

un n in n an n

n on n en

Unfortunately, theres no way to tell from the writing

when is it pronounced how

You just gotta know


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Try saying these aloud to notice the difference

b

mango m

I

ki

how s we ppus

kcrow

u

cow m face, mouth r

now

no

new

b

beak a tea

in that manner

e

in this manner


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And these as well

t a

up to, until

to hang sa o

our, ours m omy, mine

day

lion

m

water buffalo bsri flute d

smoke qi

ki scissors

oa

over there ea over here

eka

if jlqmu jlkmu United Nations


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One last letter

This letter has no sound by itself

that is, it is silent

However, it sometimes (not always!) changes the pronunciation of vowels

before and after it

It is difficult to predict howand whetherit will change the pronunciation

of vowels in a given word

Therefore, you need to individually learn

the pronunciation of words in which this letter occurs


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Look at the sequence weve created from this letter

Note, however, that the pronunciation of this sequence

is purely theoretical, or ideal

Also note that this letter looks and joins exactly like


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This is how this letter looks when combined with all the vowels

weve seen so far

u i a

o e

Again, the pronunciations given here are only theoretical

The actual pronunciation, like weve said earlier,

may vary from word to word


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Here are some Sindhi words in which this letter occurs

and whose pronunciation is fairly phonetic,

that is, predictable from the spelling

t la

notification amcommon mamlo

affair, matter abunusual d a

blessings rubegun rbi

spring harvest rat beginning maf

forgiven nk

spectacles aqo

ako

event rt woman

d afarewell, adieu

qad o

kad olaw

ar

poet ad opromise

Not too bad?


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And here are some words whose pronunciation is seemingly unphonetic

(although if you look closely, you might find certain patterns)

er

poemt allqt allk

connection,

relation

brqo

brko

burqa, veil oloflame

d at

invitation lant curse qllo

kllo

fort naroslogan, cry

d fo

time, turn,

occasion mal

fire torch kabo

The Kaaba

at Mecca malumknown

bdmascoundrel janinamely

t arif

praise zajawasted

So be on the lookout for this rogue letter


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Some special letter forms

a

This letter has a sound similar toa in fatherHere are some words which use this special letter form

saba mea

madam always


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If the second-last letter of the word is a letter

that does not join the next one,

is then written like this

a

as seen in this word

ra

et cetera


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This letter form appears at the end of some short words

It has no sound by itself

Here are some common words that use this letter form

n t b

two no, not that, which also

All these letter forms

are considered to be variant forms of the letter


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While writing in English, you could replace the word and

with the sign &

Sindhi has a similar system

The Sindhi word for and is

~

But it is almost never written this way

Instead, it is normally written

Its like saying the use of the sign & is compulsory, not optional

Note: The tilde ~ between the two pronunciation keys means thattheactual pronunciation may vary

between these two extremes


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Similarly, the Sindhi word for in is

m

But it is almost never written this wayInstead, it is normally written


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One last abbreviation

This sign is added to the end of some words

It is pronounced

n

It behaves exactly like our stick-like vowel-holder letter

Lets have a look at a few examples


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t tfaqn

t t fakncoincindentally

t qribn

t kribnalmost

t fsiln

in detail mslnfor example st n

on an average

mamuln

normally

qiqt nkikt n

actually, in reality n d aznapproximately

Not that tough!


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Lets end with numerals and punctuation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Unlike letters, numerals are written from left to right!

These are the various punctuation marks used in Sindhi

! : .% ! ? , . : ; , .

percent

sign

exclamation

mark

question

mark

thousands

separator

decimal

separator

colon semi

colon

comma full

stop

Try your hand at these (note the location of the percentage sign)

3,7370.611

1.2%

54,789.01


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Here is a well-known piece of writing, in its Sindhi version

.

.

hrnsanazad pd a t jo ae qq smman * ela u

brabr o qd arae. nke t rk et nai t akt

mli ae n ke ke e la baiare e banas

kmkrre .

This is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

* Phonetically, this world should be pronounced [snman], but due to the assimilation or blending of

the sound /n/ with the similar sounding /m/, the word as a whole is pronounced /smman /


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This is the Sindhi alphabet, along with the Sindhi names of the letters

se e e t e t e be e be lf

xe i e e e e e e im pe

e e re zal e e e d e d al

n n zoj toj zad sad in sin ze

e e e af ke kaf qaf pe fe

contd/-


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je mzo ni e aw u nun mim lam

And these are the vowel and other signs, and their Sindhi names

t nin t d id pe zer zbr md d

Very often, in written Sindhi, youll find the vowel and other signs

being omitted.

The reader is expected to add these signs mentally where required.

However, as your knowledge of Sindhi vocabulary and grammar increases,

youll notice that this lack of signswont seem to pose a problem.

In fact, its actually a less messy way of writing, as the vowel and other signs

contribute to a lot of clutter around the letters.

Good luck!


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End

sindhi script book | sarvabhashin

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