Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

uses various non-Latin-based

writing system A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...

s. The writing systems below are listed by

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...

Austroasiatic languages

Khmer script Khmer script (, )Huffman, Franklin. 1970. ''Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader''. Yale University Press. . is an abugida (alphasyllabary) script used to write the Khmer language, the official language of Cambodia. It is also use ...

(for

Khmer language Khmer ( ; , Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: ) is an Austroasiatic language spoken natively by the Khmer people. This language is an official language and national language of Cambodia. The language is also widely spoken by Khmer people i ...

) * Khom script (for

Bahnaric languages The Bahnaric languages are a group of about thirty Austroasiatic languages spoken by about 700,000 people in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Paul Sidwell notes that Austroasiatic/ Mon–Khmer languages are lexically more similar to Bahnaric and Katu ...

) *

Chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

(historical writing for

Vietnamese language Vietnamese () is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language Speech, spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the official language. It belongs to the Vietic languages, Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is s ...

)

Austronesian languages

Most Austronesian languages use Latin script today. Some non-Latin-based writing systems are listed below. * Jawi and Pegon scripts (for Malay and a number of other languages) *

Cham script The Cham script (Cham language, Cham: ) is a Brahmic scripts, Brahmic abugida used to write Cham language, Cham, an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken by some 245,000 Chams in Vietnam and Cambodia. It is written horizontally ...

(for

Cham language Cham (Cham: , Cham Jawi, Jawi: چم, Latin script: Cam) is a Malayo-Polynesian languages, Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian family, spoken by the Cham people, Chams of Southeast Asia. It is spoken primarily i ...

) * Eskayan script (for Eskayan language) *

Gangga Melayu An alphabetical list of populated places, including cities, towns, and villages, in the Tibet Autonomous Region of western China. A *Alamdo *Alhar *Arza *Asog B * Baga *Bagar * Baidi *Baima *Baimai *Baixoi *Bamda *Banag *Banbar *Banggaid ...

Kawi script The Kawi script or the Old Javanese script (, ) is a Brahmic script found primarily in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia between the 8th century and the 16th century.Aditya Bayu Perdana and Ilham Nurwansah 2020Proposal to en ...

(used across

Maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. The terms Island Southeast Asia and Insular Southeast Asia are sometimes given the same meaning as ...

) **

Batak script The Batak script (natively known as Surat Batak, Surat na Sampulu Sia (), or Sisiasia) is a writing system used to write the Austronesian Batak languages spoken by several million people on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The script may b ...

Baybayin Baybayin (,), also sometimes erroneously referred to as alibata, is a Suyat, Philippine script widely used primarily in Luzon during the 16th and 17th centuries and prior to write Tagalog language, Tagalog and to a lesser extent Visayan lang ...

*** Buhid script *** Hanunó'o script *** Kulitan alphabet (for

Kapampangan language Kapampangan, Capampáñgan, or Pampangan, is an Austronesian language, and one of the eight major languages of the Philippines. It is the primary and predominant language of the entire province of Pampanga and southern Tarlac, on the southern p ...

) ***

Tagbanwa script Tagbanwa is one of the scripts indigenous to the Philippines, used by the Tagbanwa and the Palawan people as their ethnic writing system. The Tagbanwa languages ( Aborlan, Calamian and Central), which are Austronesian languages with about 8, ...

** Buda script ***

Balinese script The Balinese script, natively known as and , (Balinese language, Balinese: ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬩᬮᬶ) is an abugida used in the island of Bali, Indonesia, commonly for writing the Austronesian language, Austronesian Balinese language, Kawi la ...

***

Javanese script Javanese script (natively known as ''Aksara Jawa'', ''Hanacaraka'', ''Carakan'', and ''Dentawyanjana'') is one of Indonesia's traditional scripts developed on the island of Java. The script is primarily used to write the Javanese language ...

***

Old Sundanese script Old Sundanese script () is a script that developed in West Java in the 14th–18th centuries which was originally used to write Old Sundanese language. The Old Sundanese script is a development of the Pallava script which has reached the stage ...

****

Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a traditional writing system used by Sundanese people to write Sundanese language. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Kuno'') which was used from the 14th to the 18 ...

Lontara script The Lontara script (), also known as the Bugis script, Bugis-Makassar script, or Urupu Sulapa’ Eppa’ "four-cornered letters", is one of Indonesia's traditional scripts developed in the South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi region. The script is ...

*** Lota Ende script ***

Mbojo script The Lontara script (), also known as the Bugis script, Bugis-Makassar script, or Urupu Sulapa’ Eppa’ "four-cornered letters", is one of Indonesia's traditional scripts developed in the South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi region. The script is ...

*** Sikka script **

Makasar script The Makasar script, also known as Ukiri' Jangang-jangang (bird's script) or Old Makasar script, is a historical Indonesian writing system that was used in South Sulawesi to write the Makassarese language between the 17th and 19th centuries until ...

** Rencong/Ulu script *** Kerinci script ***

Lampung script The Lampung script is an abugida which was traditionally used to write the Lampung and Komering languages. It belongs to the group of Ulu scripts The Ulu scripts, locally known as ''Surat Ulu'' ('upstream script') are a family of writing s ...

***

Rejang script The Rejang script is an abugida of the Brahmic family that is related to other scripts of the region, such as the Batak and Lontara scripts. Rejang is also a member of the closely related group of Ulu scripts that include the script variants ...

*** Serang script **

Sasak script The Sasak script or Jejawaan Sasak is an abugida traditionally used to write the Sasak language in the island of Lombok. It descends from the Kawi script and is heavily influenced by the Balinese and Javanese scripts. History According to one ...

*Others script ** Alifuru script ** Bonda script ** Dunging script ** Gayo script ** Malesung script ** Minangkabau script ** Mongondow script ** Nias script ** Sangir script

Hmong-Mien languages

Romanized Popular Alphabet The Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) or Hmong RPA (also Roman Popular Alphabet), is a system of romanization for the various dialects of the Hmong language. Created in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by a group of missionaries and Hmong advisers, it ha ...

(Hmong RPA) *

Pollard script The Pollard script, also known as Pollard Miao () or Miao, is an abugida loosely based on the Latin alphabet and invented by Methodist missionary Sam Pollard. Pollard invented the script for use with A-Hmao, one of several Miao languages spoke ...

Pahawh Hmong Pahawh Hmong (Romanized Popular Alphabet, RPA: Phaj hauj Hmoob , Pahawh: ; known also as ''Ntawv Pahawh, Ntawv Keeb, Ntawv Caub Fab, Ntawv Soob Lwj'') is an indigenous Semi-syllabary, semi-syllabic writing system, script, invented in 1959 by Sh ...

Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong (Hmong: ; RPA: ''Ntawv Nyiajkeeb Puajtxwm Hmoob'') is an alphabet script devised for White Hmong and Green Hmong in the 1980s by Reverend Chervang Kong for use within his United Christians Liberty Evangelical Church. Th ...

*Eebee Hmong

Kra-Dai languages

Many

Southwestern Tai languages The Southwestern Tai or Thai languages are a branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. Its languages include Central Thai (Siamese), Northern Thai (Lanna), Lao (including Isan), Shan and others. Classification The internal classificatio ...

are written using

Brāhmī Brahmi ( ; ; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system from ancient India. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as ...

-derived alphabets.

Zhuang languages The Zhuang languages (; autonym: , , pre-1982: , Sawndip: 話僮, from ''vah'', 'language' and ''Cuengh'', 'Zhuang'; ) are the more than a dozen Tai languages spoken by the Zhuang people of Southern China in the province of Guangxi and adjace ...

were traditionally written with

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

s, but are now usually written with romanized alphabets. *

Thai script The Thai script (, , ) is the abugida used to write Thai language, Thai, Southern Thai language, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (, ), 16 vowel s ...

Lao script Lao script or Akson Lao ( ) is the primary script used to write the Lao language and other languages in Laos. Its earlier form, the Tai Noi script, was also used to write the Isan language, but was replaced by the Thai script. It has 27 co ...

Sawndip (Sawndip: ; ) are Chinese characters used to write the Zhuang languages in the Chinese provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan. is a Standard Zhuang, Zhuang word that means "immature characters". The Zhuang word for Chinese characters used in the Chi ...

Shan script Shan may refer to; People and languages *Shan (surname), or 单 in Chinese, a Chinese surname *Shan, a variant of the Welsh given name usually spelled Siân *Occasionally used as a short form of Shannen/Shannon (given name), Shannon Ethnic grou ...

* Tai Viet script *

Tai Le script The Tai Le script (ᥖᥭᥰ ᥘᥫᥴ, ), or Dehong Dai script, is a Brahmic scripts, Brahmic script used to write the Tai Nüa language spoken by the Tai Nua people of south-central Yunnan, China. (The language is also known as Nɯa, Dehong Da ...

* New Tai Lue alphabet *

Tai Tham script Tai Tham script (''Dharma, Tham'' meaning "scripture") is an abugida writing system used mainly for a group of Southwestern Tai languages i.e., Northern Thai language, Northern Thai, Tai Lue language, Tai Lü, Khün language, Khün and Lao langu ...

* Tai Yo script

Tibeto-Burman languages

Burmese alphabet The Burmese alphabet (, MLCTS: ''mranma akkha.ya'', ) is an abugida used for writing Burmese, based on the Mon–Burmese script. It is ultimately adapted from a Brahmic script, either the Kadamba or Pallava alphabet of South India. The ...

** S'gaw Karen alphabet **

Chakma script The Chakma Script (), also called Ajha Path, is an abugida used for the Chakma language, and recently for the Pali language. History The Chakma script is an abugida that belongs to the Brahmic scripts, Brahmic family of scripts. Chakma evolve ...

* Ersu Shaba * Kayah Li alphabet *

Fraser alphabet The Fraser or Old Lisu script is an artificial abugida for the Lisu language invented around 1915 by Sara Ba Thaw, a Karen preacher from Myanmar, and improved by the missionary James O. Fraser. It is a single-case (unicameral) alphabet. It was ...

(used to write the

Lisu language Lisu ( Fraser alphabet: , or ; Latin: ; Lisu syllabary: ; zh, c=傈僳语, p=Lìsùyǔ; , ) is a tonal Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Yunnan (Southwestern China), Northern Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand and a small part of India. Along with ...

) *

Naxi script The Naxi language of southwestern China may be written in the syllabic ''geba'' script. There is also a Naxi tradition of pictographic symbols called ''dongba''; this may sometimes be glossed with ''geba'' for clarification, since a ''dongba'' t ...

Geba syllabary ''Geba'' is a syllabary, syllabic script for the Naxi language. It is called ''¹Ggo¹baw'' in Naxi, adapted as ''Geba'', 哥巴, in Chinese. Some glyphs resemble the Yi script, and some appear to be adaptations of Chinese characters. ''Geba'' ...

Dongba symbols The Dongba, Tomba or Tompa or Mo-so symbols are a system of pictographic glyphs used by the ''Dongba, ²dto¹mba'' (Bon priests) of the Naxi people in southern China. In the Naxi language it is called ''²ss ³dgyu'' 'wood records' or ''²lv ³dg ...

* Zomi script *

Tangut script The Tangut script ( Tangut: ; ) is a logographic writing system, formerly used for writing the extinct Tangut language of the Western Xia dynasty. According to the latest count, 5863 Tangut characters are known, excluding variants. The Tangut ch ...

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 ...

* Tujia script *

Yi script The Yi scripts (; ) are two scripts used to write the Yi languages; Classical Yi (an ideogram script), and the later Yi syllabary. The script is historically known in Chinese as ''Cuan Wen'' () or ''Wei Shu'' () and various other names (), amon ...

References