The Marchen script was a Brahmic

abugida An abugida (; from Geʽez: , )sometimes also called alphasyllabary, neosyllabary, or pseudo-alphabetis a segmental Writing systems#Segmental writing system, writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as units; each unit ...

which was used for writing the extinct Zhangzhung language. It was derived from the

Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system, or '' abugida'', forming a part of the Brahmic scripts, and used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. Its exact origins ...

Script

As per McKay (2003), Zhang-zhung script has been modelled after Thonmi Sambhota's

"There is also a Zhang-zhung alphabet, but despite its rather unusual appearance to anyone who is unfamiliar with the Indo-Tibetan ornate style of lettering known as lan-tsha, one observes that it is modeled letter by letter upon Thon-mi Sambhota's alphabet of thirty letters."

A number of scripts are recorded as being used for writing the Zhang-Zhung language: * Marchen or Greater Mar script () * Marchung or Lesser Mar script () * Pungchen or Greater Pung script () * Pungchung or Lesser Pung script () * Drusha script () These scripts have mostly been observed in calligraphy manuals. One extant document, a seal originally held at Tsurpu monastery, is written in the Marchen script.

Description

The Marchen scripts has some similarities with the Tibetan scripts and Lantsa but at the same time differs considerably from these. It also differs from other writing systems in the

Bon Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...

tradition, such as Marchung, Pungchen, Pungchung and Drusha. A feature the Marchen script shares with Tibetan script and Lantsa are the special subjoined variants of the letters ''wa'', ''ya'' and ''ra''. The vowel diacritics are most similar to those of Drusha. A distinguishing feature of the Marchen script is the presence of a left-facing

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

, a symbol of the Bon religion, which is used both to write the letter ''nya'' and as a punctuation mark. The Marchen script consists of 30 consonant letters, four vowel diacritics, a vowel length marker '' -a '' and two diacritics for nasalization (corresponding to ''candrabindu'' and ''anusvara''). Each consonant has an accompanying vowel ''a'' which can be modified with the four vowel diacritics. Consonant clusters are written just like in Tibetan script by stacking two or more consonants on top of each other vertically. Just as in Tibetan script, there are simplified forms for medial ''w'', ''y'' and ''r''. However, there is no simplified form of initial ''r''. Unlike in Tibetan script, there is no sign to mark syllable boundaries, which means that ambiguities can sometimes arise. The Marchen script can be written in two different styles: one with thick angular letters and one with thin rounded ones.

Alphabet

Vowels

Consonants

Signs

Unicode

Marchen script was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2016 with the release of version 9.0. The Unicode block for Marchen is U+11C70–U+11CBF:

References

{{list of writing systems Brahmic scripts Obsolete writing systems Tibetan script 7th-century introductions Writing systems introduced in the 1st millennium