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Assamese script

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The Assamese script belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts and is very similar to Devanagari. It has a continuous history of development from earlier times and has developed from the Nagari script, a precursor of Devanagari. In the 19th century, three styles of the script were identified (baminiya, kaitheli and garhgaya) which gave way to the standard script which followed the typeset script. The present standard is identical to the Bengali script except for two letters.

Buranjis were written during Ahom dynasties in Assamese language using assamese script. Earliest form of evidence Assamese script is found in the Charyyapadas, the Buddhist songs. They are supposed to be composed within a time-frame of four hundred years from 8th century A.D. to 12th century A.D. In 14th century Madhava Kandali used Assamese script to compose the famous Kotha Ramayana which is first translation of Ramayana in a regional Indian language after Balmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit.

A coin with Assamese script from Ahom dynasty
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A coin with Assamese script from Ahom dynasty
Ahom king Chakradhwaja Simha (1663-1670 AD) was the first ruler who started issuing assamese coins for his kingdom (see figure for a sample coin). Similar script with minor differences are used to write Bengali (Bengali script), Manipuri and Sylheti language.

Consonants

Consonants
Letter Name of Letter Transliteration IPA
k k
khô kh
g g
ghô gh
ngô ng ŋ
prôthôm sô s s
ditiyô sô s s
bôrgiyô jô j z
jhô z z
eeiô n n
mudhôinnô tô t t
mudhôinnô thô th
mudhôinnô dô d d
mudhôinnô dhô dh
mudhôinnô nô n n
dôntiyô tô t t
dôntiyô thô th
dôntiyô dô d d
dôntiyô dhô dh
dôntiyô nô n n
p p
phô ph
b b
bhô bh
m m
ôntôsthô jô z z
r ɹ
l l
w w
talôibbô xô x and s x/s
mudhôinnô xô x and s x/s
dôntiyô xô x and s x/s
h h
ক্ষ khyô khy kʰj
ড় dôre ŗô ŗ ɾ
ঢ় đhôre ŗô ŗ ɾ
য় ôntôsthô yô y j

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