The Tigrinya writing system is one variant of what is often
referred to as the "Ethiopic" writing system or "Ethiopic syllabary".
It is a slight variant of the writing system used for Amharic and for Ge'ez
[gɨʔɨz],
the classical language still in use as the liturgical language of
Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Christians. The most salient graphical units
in this writing system represent a consonant followed by a vowel.
Characters representing the same consonant followed by different
vowels are similar in shape. For example, here are the characters
representing: /he/, /hu/, /hi/, /ha/, /hie/, /h/ and /ho/:
As a result, the writing system is usually displayed as a two-dimensional matrix in which the rows contain units beginning with the same consonant and the columns contain units ending in the same vowel. The columns are traditionally known as "orders". The first order, in Tigrinya, represents the vowel /e/, the second the vowel /u/, the third the vowel /i/, the fourth the vowel /a/, the fifth the vowel (really diphthong) /ie/, and the seventh the vowel /o/. The sixth order represents the consonant alone or followed by the vowel /ɨ/, which, however, is subject to considerable allophonic variation. The literature on Tigrinya suggests that this vowel is always epenthetic, so the sixth order simply represents the consonant by itself.
This writing system is sometimes called a "syllabary" because most characters represent a consonant plus a vowel. However, it isn't really a syllabary, since closed syllables must be written with at least two characters. For example, a CVC syllable such as /t'ut'/ ጡጥ "cotton" requires two characters, one (ጡ) for the initial CV, the second (ጥ) for the final C.
In the chart below, the column Unicode Name gives the Unicode name for the first order in the row. The names for the remaining orders can then be obtained by substituting for a the Unicode names for the vowels. These are: a, u, i, aa, ee, e, o. Similarly, the column Unicode Code gives the Unicode codepoint, in hexadecimal, for the first order in the row. The column labelled Sem gives the notation commonly found in works by specialists in Semitic languages. The column labelled Yudit gives the key sequence for the consonant in question when using the default Ethiopic keymap for the Yudit Unicode editor.
Click on a character to hear the sound.
IPA | Description | e | u | i | a | ie | 0 | o | Unicode Name |
Unicode Code |
Sem | Yudit Ethiopic |
p | voiceless bilabial stop | ፐ | ፑ | ፒ | ፓ | ፔ | ፕ | ፖ | pa | 0x1350 | p | pe |
b | voiced bilabial stop | በ | ቡ | ቢ | ባ | ቤ | ብ | ቦ | ba | 0x1260 | b | be |
p' | glottalized bilabial stop | ጰ | ጱ | ጲ | ጳ | ጴ | ጵ | ጶ | pha | 0x1330 | p' | Pe |
m | bilabial nasal | መ | ሙ | ሚ | ማ | ሜ | ም | ሞ | ma | 0x1218 | m | me |
f | voiceless labio-dental fricative | ፈ | ፉ | ፊ | ፋ | ፌ | ፍ | ፎ | fa | 0x1348 | f | fe |
v | voiced labio-dental fricative | ቨ | ቩ | ቪ | ቫ | ቬ | ቭ | ቮ | va | 0x1268 | v | ve |
w | voiced labiovelar approximant | ወ | ዉ | ዊ | ዋ | ዌ | ው | ዎ | wa | 0x12C8 | w | e |
t | voiceless alveolar stop | ተ | ቱ | ቲ | ታ | ቴ | ት | ቶ | ta | 0x1270 | t | te |
d | voiced alveolar stop | ደ | ዱ | ዲ | ዳ | ዴ | ድ | ዶ | da | 0x12F0 | d | de |
t' | glottalized alveolar stop | ጠ | ጡ | ጢ | ጣ | ጤ | ጥ | ጦ | tha | 0x1320 | t' | Te |
ts' | glottalized alveolar affricate | ጸ | ጹ | ጺ | ጻ | ጼ | ጽ | ጾ | tsa | 0x1338 | s' | Se |
n | alveolar nasal | ነ | ኑ | ኒ | ና | ኔ | ን | ኖ | na | 0x1290 | n | ne |
s | voiceless alveolar fricative | ሰ | ሱ | ሲ | ሳ | ሴ | ስ | ሶ | sa | 0x1230 | s | se |
z | voiced alveolar fricative | ዘ | ዙ | ዚ | ዛ | ዜ | ዝ | ዞ | za | 0x12D8 | z | ze |
r | alveolar trill | ረ | ሩ | ሪ | ራ | ሬ | ር | ሮ | ra | 0x1228 | r | re |
l | lateral alveolar approximant | ለ | ሉ | ሊ | ላ | ሌ | ል | ሎ | la | 0x1208 | l | le |
ʧ | voiceless palatal affricate | ቸ | ቹ | ቺ | ቻ | ቼ | ች | ቾ | ca | 0x1278 | ce | |
ʤ | voiced palatal affricate | ጀ | ጁ | ጂ | ጃ | ጄ | ጅ | ጆ | ja | 0x1300 | je | |
ʧ' | glottalized palatal affricate | ጨ | ጩ | ጪ | ጫ | ጬ | ጭ | ጮ | cha | 0x1328 | Ce | |
ɲ | palatal nasal | ኘ | ኙ | ኚ | ኛ | ኜ | ኝ | ኞ | nya | 0x1298 | ň | Ne |
ʃ | voiceless palatal fricative | ሸ | ሹ | ሺ | ሻ | ሼ | ሽ | ሾ | sha | 0x1238 | š | xe |
ʒ | voiced palatal fricative | ዠ | ዡ | ዢ | ዣ | ዤ | ዥ | ዦ | zha | 0x12E0 | ž | Ze |
j | voiced palatal approximant | የ | ዩ | ዪ | ያ | ዮ | ይ | ዮ | ya | 0x12E8 | y | ye |
k | voiceless velar stop | ከ | ኩ | ኪ | ካ | ኬ | ክ | ኮ | ka | 0x12A8 | k | ke |
kw | voiceless labialized velar stop | በ | ቢ | ባ | ቤ | ብ | kwa | 0x12B0 | kw | kWe | ||
g | voiced velar stop | ገ | ጉ | ጊ | ጋ | ጌ | ግ | ጎ | ga | 0x1308 | g | ge |
gw | voiced labialized velar stop | ጐ | ጒ | ጓ | ጔ | ጟ | gwa | 0x1310 | gw | gWe | ||
k' | glottalized velar stop | ቀ | ቁ | ቂ | ቃ | ቄ | ቅ | ቆ | qa | 0x1240 | k' | qe |
kw' | glottalized labialized velar stop | ቈ | ቊ | ቋ | ቌ | ቍ | qwa | 0x1248 | k'w | qWe | ||
x | voiceless velar fricative | ኸ | ኹ | ኺ | ኻ | ኼ | ኽ | ኾ | kxa | 0x12B8 | Ke | |
xw | voiceless labialized velar fricative | ዀ | ዂ | ዃ | ዄ | ዅ | kxwa | 0x12C0 | KWe | |||
ʁ' | voiced glottalized velar fricative | ቐ | ቑ | ቒ | ቓ | ቔ | ቕ | ቖ | qha | 0x1250 | Qe | |
ʁw | voiced labialized uvular fricative | ቘ | ቚ | ቛ | ቜ | ቝ | qhwa | 0x1258 | QWe | |||
ħ | voiceless pharyngeal fricative | ሐ | ሑ | ሒ | ሓ | ሔ | ሕ | ሖ | hha | 0x1210 | ḥ | He |
ʕ | voiced pharyngeal fricative | ዐ | ዑ | ዒ | ዓ | ዔ | ዕ | ዖ | pharyngeal a | 0x12D0 | ` | `e |
ʔ | glottal stop | አ | ኡ | ኢ | ኣ | ኤ | እ | ኦ | glottal a | 0x12A0 | ' | e |
h | voiceless glottal fricative | ሀ | ሁ | ሂ | ሃ | ሄ | ህ | ሆ | ha | 0x1200 | h | he |
Here is the order in which the letters were read aloud for the sound files.
My understanding is that this is approximately the traditional order for
recitation. Note, however, that a couple of old-fashioned letters have
been included, along with compound forms for labio-velars. The order of
vowels is not shown since it is the same as in the chart above.
PDF file
Unicode file
Tigrinya has its own set of punctuation symbols, listed below. They are similar to those used for Amharic, but the usage is not identical. The traditional punctuation is not used in writing numbers. Rather, numbers are written as they are in English, with a comma every three digits and a decimal point.
Tigrinya | Name | Unicode | Yudit |
፡ | comma | 0x1361 | [space]:[space] |
። | full stop | 0x1362 | :: |
፤ | semi-colon | 0x1364 | ; |
፥ | colon | 0x1365 | -: |
፦ | preface colon | 0x1366 | :- |
፧ | question mark | 0x1367 | `? |
፨ | paragraph separator [not in modern use] | 0x1368 | : | : |
There is a set of numerals, shown below. These are no longer in common use in Eritrea, where they have been replaced by the ``Arabic'' numerals, that is, the same ones used in English.
Tigrinya | Arabic | Unicode | Yudit |
፩ | 1 | 1369 | `1 |
፪ | 2 | 136A | `2 |
፫ | 3 | 136B | `3 |
፬ | 4 | 136C | `4 |
፭ | 5 | 136D | `5 |
፮ | 6 | 136E | `6 |
፯ | 7 | 136F | `7 |
፰ | 8 | 1370 | `8 |
፱ | 9 | 1371 | `9 |
፲ | 10 | 1372 | 10 |
፳ | 20 | 1373 | `20 |
፴ | 30 | 1374 | `30 |
፵ | 40 | 1375 | `40 |
፶ | 50 | 1376 | `50 |
፷ | 60 | 1377 | `60 |
፸ | 70 | 1378 | `70 |
፹ | 80 | 1379 | `80 |
፺ | 90 | 138A | `90 |
፻ | 100 | 138B | `100 |
፼ | 10000 | 138C | `10000 |
Last modified 2003/11/16 20:52.