New Nikhilipi alphabet
The New Nikhilipi alphabet was invented by Nikhil Sinha in September
2005 with the aim of making Indian languages easier to use on the internet
and on computers in general. At the moment because they are difficult to type,
Indic scripts only have a very negligible presence on the internet and in
the world of computers.
Notable features
- Can be used to write almost all Indo-Aryan languages, a subgroup of Indo-Iranian
branch of Indo-European languages including Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, Konkani, Nepali,
Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Gujarati and Punjabi, and Dravidian languages, including
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, in the Roman alphabet.
- With a few additional letters can also be used to write Sinhalese and Maldivian
(Divehi), which are Indo-Aryan languages but are very much influenced by Dravidian
languages.
- New Nikhilipi duplicates spelling rather than pronunciation, though there isn't
much difference between spelling and pronunciation in Indian languages anyway.
- The pronunciation of the letters varies according to the language being written.
For example, the letter 'a' is pronounced differently in Hindi and Bengali.
The New Nikhilipi alphabet
Sample text (Hindi)
Sabhii manus'yow ko gaurava aura adhikaarow ke maamale mew janmajaata svatantrataa
aura samaanataa praapta hai. Unhew buddhi aura antaraatmaa kii dena hai aura paraspara
unhew bhaaiicaare ke bhaava se bartaava karanaa caahiye.
Transliteration into the Devanagari alphabet
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason
and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
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