Zanabazar's square script is a horizontal Mongolian square script (Mongolian: Хэвтээ Дөрвөлжин бичиг, romanized: Hevtee Dörvöljin bichig or Хэвтээ Дөрвөлжин Үсэг, Hevtee Dörvöljin Üseg),[1] an abugida developed by the monk and scholar Zanabazar based on the Tibetan alphabet to write Mongolian. It can also be used to write Tibetan language and Sanskrit as a geometric typeface.[2][3]
It was re-discovered in 1801 and the script's applications during its using period are not known, read left to right, and employed vowel diacritics above and below the consonant letters.[1]
Letters
Vowels
The Zanabazar Square script is an abugida. Consonant represent a syllable with an inherent vowel /a/. The vowel can be changed by adding a diacritic to the consonant. Only the vowel /a/ is written as an independent letter; other independent vowels, for example those at the start of a word which can't be attached to a consonant, are written by adding the appropriate diacritic to the letter ⟨𑨀⟩. A length mark indicates that the vowel sound is long and a candrabindu⟨◌𑨵⟩ indicates that it is nasalised.[4] The final consonant mark ⟨◌𑨳⟩ functions as a virama, or "killer stroke" that removes the inherent vowel, leaving an isolated consonant. When transcribing Sanskrit or Tibetan, a different virama, ⟨◌ 𑨴⟩ is used. Two additional diacritics are used for Sanskrit transcription, the anusvara⟨◌𑨸⟩, which adds nasalisation and the visarga⟨◌𑨹⟩, which adds aspiration.
The Zanabazar script includes twenty basic consonants used for writing Mongolian, and twenty additional consonants that are used for transcribing Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and other languages.[4]
The following diacritics are used for transcribing Tibetan consonant clusters.
Clusters letters and examples
diacritic
𑨺
r-
◌𑨻
-ya
◌𑨼
-ra
◌𑨽
-la
◌𑨾
-va
consonant ⟨𑨋⟩ + diacritic
𑨺𑨋
rka
𑨋𑨻
kya
𑨋𑨼
kra
𑨋𑨽
kla
𑨋𑨾
kva
Other characters
Head marks are similar to Tibetan yig mgo, and may be used to mark the beginning of a text, page, or section. They may be decorated with a candra, ⟨◌ 𑨶⟩ or ⟨◌ 𑨶⟩
"Zanabazar Square" has been included in the Unicode Standard since the release of Unicode version 10.0 in June 2017. The Zanabazar Square block contains 72 characters.[5]
The Unicode block for Zanabazar Square is U+11A00–U+11A4F:
^Shagdarsürüng, Tseveliin (2001). ""Study of Mongolian Scripts (Graphic Study or Grammatology). Enl."". Bibliotheca Mongolica: Monograph 1.
^Bareja-Starzyńska, Agata; Byambaa Ragchaa (2012). ""Notes on the Pre-existences of the First Khalkha Jetsundampa Zanabazar according to His Biography Written in the Horizontal Square Script."". Rocznik Orientalistyczny 1.