Uddin and Begum Hindustani romanisation
Introduction
Urdu, Hindustani or The Indian Language is a language that has evolved over the subcontinent of Hindustan over the centuries as its lingua franca among a rich and fertile grounds of diverse Indian languages (belonging to four language families:Indo-European, Dravidian, Mon-Khmer, and Sino-Tibetan) and English. Some Indian languages have a long literary history--Sanskrit literature is more than 5,000 years old and Tamil 3,000. India also has some languages that do not have written forms. Regardless of the source of origin of linguistic traditions, Hindustani language cherishes, treasures and preserves our common Hindustani cultural heritage.
| Lower Case Characters | Upper Case Characters | Character Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a a' | A A' | Alif |
| 2 | b | B | Be |
| 3 | c_h | C_H | C_Hi'm |
| 4 | d | D | Dal |
| 5 | d^ | D^ | D^a'l |
| 6 | e | E | Ye |
| 7 | f | F | Fe |
| 8 | g | G | Ga'f |
| 9 | g_h | G_H | G_Hain |
| 10 | h | H | He |
| 11 | i i' | I I' | Yi |
| 12 | j j' | J J' | Ji'm |
| 13 | k | K | Ka'f |
| 14 | k_h | K_H | K_Hae |
| 15 | l | L | La'm |
| 16 | m | M | Mi'm |
| 17 | n (n) | N (N) | Nu'n |
| 18 | o | O | Ow |
| 19 | p | P | Pe |
| 20 | q | Q | Qha'f |
| 21 | r | R | Re |
| 22 | r^ | R^ | R^ae |
| 23 | s | S | Se |
| 24 | s_h | S_H | S_Hin |
| 25 | t | T | TeAlif |
| 26 | t^ | T | T^e |
| 27 | u u' | U U' | Ou |
| 28 | w | W | Wa'o |
| 29 | y | Y | Ya |
| 30 | z | Z | Ze |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Notations:
- ^
- Is the hard sound. (representing with the caret)
- _h _H
- Is the guttural sound.(representing with the Under Score)
- ’
- Is the long vowel sound. (representing with the Apostrophe)
- (n) (N)
- Is the nasal sound of Nu'n, when if follows a long vowel and when sometimes used at the end of a word. (representing by enclosing it in The Parenthesis)
- ~
- Inter-junction of two vowels, with the first vowel casting a shadow on the second vowel. (representing with the Tilde)
URDU VOWELS
Urdu language has three short vowels.
a A Sounds like English u in but, shut. In Urdu: ab, adab, agar, ahmaq, kam. i I Sounds like English i in bit, hit. In Urdu: kari, giri, ajnabi, bha'i. u U Sounds like English u in pull, bull. In Urdu: Urdu, uda's, umda, ungli.
Note: In traditional Urdu script these vowels sounds are not represented by any letters of alphabet. They are often omitted or sometimes represented by signs which are added to consonants and are termed "Eara'bs". "Eara'bs" representing short vowels are "zabar", "zaer" and "paesh".
Urdu language has three long vowels.
a' A' Sounds like English "a" in far, father. In Urdu: a'ba'di, a'g, a'fat, a'm, ka'm. i' I' Sounds like English "ea" in heat, seat. In Urdu: i'nt^. u' U' Sounds like English "oo" in tool, soon. In Urdu: bu'nd, bhu'k, ju'ta, jhu't^.
Urdu language has three neutral vowels, which are without long or short form.
e E Sounds like English "ay" in hay, lay. In Urdu: la'e, ga'e, c_ha'e, pic_he, pic_hhle. o O Sounds like English "o" in old, own. In Urdu: os, ko, or^hna, roz, afsosna'k. y Y Sounds like English "y" in yard, young. In Urdu: ya'r, ya'd, yaqin ha~ey.
Urdu language has three Compound vowels.
A~i A~I In Urdu: a~isa, a~ina A~u A~U In Urdu: a~urat A~y A~Y In Urdu: a~ya, a~yanda
CASE OF DOUBLE VOWELS
Inter-junction of two vowels, with the first vowel casting a shadow on the second vowel. The two vowels are separated by a ~ Comma. The following examples illustrates the case of double vowels. In traditional notations this is referred as HUMZA.
Kaha~e A'~i’ La'~e La'~o Li’~ye Ga~e Ha~ey Ga~i’ A'~u(n) Kiji~ye
====NASAL NU'N====
Is the nasal sound of Nu'n, when if follows a long vowel and when sometimes used at the end of a word. (representing by enclosing in The Parenthesis). The following examples illustrates the case of Nasal Nu'n. In traditional notations this is referred as Nu'n-e-g_huna.
Ma(n) Ha(n) De(n) Me(n) Ha,e(n) Tihe(n) Hu(n)
Sanskrit based words of Urdu have the following typical vernacular compound sounds:
bh c_hh dh d^h gh jh kh ph r^h th t^h
Fa'rsi (Persian) based words of Urdu have the following typical vernacular sounds:
C_Hi'm Ga'f Pe
Arabic based word of Urdu that have the following typical vernacular sounds:
AIN G/HAIN FE QHA'F TOE ZOE SWA'D ZWA'D SE HA,E
Historical Reference:
This scheme is proposed by Late Syed Fasih Uddin and Late Quader Unissa Begum. As such is adopted by The First International Urdu Conference, 1992 Chicago, as " The Modern International Standard Letters of Alphabet for URDU - (HINDUSTANI) - The INDIAN Language, script for the purposes of hand written communication, dictionary references, published material and Computerized Linguistic Communications (CLC)".