Inherent vowel

The inherent vowel is a phenomenon that occurs Abugidas as the Indian scriptures and the Ethiopic script, in which each character consonant with one in the language most frequent vowel ( usually "a" in the Bengali language but "o" ) is linked. Thus, the isolated consonants correspond to full syllables ka, kha, ga, gha, etc.

But if another vowel than follow the "a", which by the addition sign ( matra ) is on displayed below or above the syllabic signs: ki, khi, gi, ghi ... or ku khu, gu, ... ghu In some cases caused by the ligation of the consonants with the vowel also special, not a regular predictable forms, such as the letter " yes " in Gujarati script.

In this system, the representation of consonant clusters is fundamentally problematic because you have to neutralize a syllable like " ktra " the inherent consonants of "ka" and "ta". In the Indian scriptures there are different approaches to:

• A special additional characters ( virama ) the inherent vowel can be removed. This method is the standard in modern Tamil, but is regarded as aesthetically inferior to the other Indic scripts and used only if the other methods are not applicable. The Virama usually has the form of a dot or slash or lower than the consonants.
• In most Indian scriptures many (but not all) consonants have a graphical element that is symbolic of the inherent vowel. In the Devanagari script which is a vertical line, in Oriya half circle above the character. If we write the consonants without this element (half- form), then it represents the bare consonants.
• It represents the entire consonant clusters represent by a single ligature, the features of all the consonants involved in the final ligation are usually still recognizable; in some cases, but has the ligature also an irregular, hardly predictable form. This method is a generalization of the foregoing and represents considerable technical demands on the printing press, since a large number is required by Ligaturlettern. For example, clusters are in Sanskrit of three or four consonants not rare, which requires hundreds of individually cut ligatures. In the case of Kannada and Telugu ligatures are basically formed by a reduced version of the following consonants are written to the right of the leading consonants. A possible third consonant then comes right below the second.
• In Devanagari ligatures are predominantly formed by horizontally concatenating the individual characters (see half-molds ), in some cases (especially Geminal ) vertically. Ligatures of three or more characters are usually mixed horizontal - vertical, with the order of the consonants were often not deduced from the graphical form of the ligature.
• The ligature of "k " "sa" has. In the northern Indian writings a figure who is not related to the shape of the individual letters This mark may occur as an element of a more complex ligature.
• The letter " ra" has ligatures in special shapes. The first element of a cluster in Devanagari he takes the form of a right open half- circle ( REPHA ), which is written on the next letter (or the ligature for the sequence cluster). As a member of a cluster occurs later "r" as a short slash in the lower part of the ligature formed.

The derived from the Indian scriptures alphabets of Southeast Asia have adopted the principle of the inherent vowel. In Thai and Lao, the failure of the inherent vowel is not always displayed, while Khmer form complex ligatures subscript. Khmer is also unique in that it distinguishes between two groups of consonants that are associated with different inherent vowel (a or o).