The Balochi Standard Alphabet ( bal, بلۏچی استانداردݔن اب),(Romanized: Balòci Estàndàrdèn Ab) is a
writing system
A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...
used for the
Balochi language
Balochi or Baluchi () is an Iranian language spoken primarily in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, there are speakers in Oman, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan, East Africa and in diaspor ...
spoken in
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, a region spanning parts of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
The Balochi alphabet, standardized by Balochi Academy Sarbaz, consists of 32 letters.
Script Correspondence Table
Some diagraphs in Balochi writing
Balochi also have 3 diagraphs set by Balchi Academy sarbaz in Standard Alphabets.
Arabic diacritics in Balochi writing
Arabic
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
s are used in Balochi, as with other scripts derived from Arabic:
Notes
Some dialects of Balochi very infrequently use the
voiced retroflex flap
The voiced retroflex flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phon ...
, meaning ڑ. Due to its immense rarity in Balochi, most orthographies of the language leave out glyphs for the phoneme. When written however, it is usually represented with ر.
This alphabet uses two completely separate and new glyphs to represent the long
close front unrounded vowel
The close front unrounded vowel, or high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound that occurs in most spoken languages, represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by the symbol i. It is similar to the vowel sound in the English wo ...
(/iː/). For the initial and medial forms, ݔ is used. This glypth is based on the initial/medial form of the Perso-Arabic "Ye": (یـ/ـیـ), the difference being the dot above it. Meanwhile for the final form, ے is used, which is also based on ی and is called " Big ye"; it is from