Use accesskey "n" to jump to the internal navigation links at any point. Right now you can
I am compiling these notes as I explore the Balinese script as used for the Balinese language. The page lists the Unicode characters used to represent Balinese text, and briefly describes their use. It starts with brief notes on general script features and discussions about which Unicode characters are most appropriate when there is a choice.
If you click on the Balinese example text, the page will show the constituent characters at the bottom right of the page. (Hint: since the examples are all displayed using graphics (to ensure that you see what is expected), you can copy the characters in the example by clicking on the example and then copying the red text that appears at the bottom right of the page, just above the list of constituent characters.)
For more detailed information, especially about the history and phonology of Balinese, follow the links in the text and at the bottom of the page. You can also click on the symbols in the next section to jump to a description of that character.
The only Unicode-based Balinese font I know of is Aksara Bali, but that font seems to only work as expected in Firefox on Mac OS X. Note also that you need to ensure that you have the latest version of the font, otherwise you will have problems with the ra repa letter.
Native consonants:
Sanskrit/Kawi consonants:
Sasak consonants:
Independent vowels:
Vowel signs:
Diacritics:
Digits:
Punctuation:
To test the various contextual forms of these characters, use the Balinese character picker.
The script type is abugida. Consonants carry an inherent vowel a, although that is pronounced ə at the end of a word.
Text runs left-to-right, and words are not separated by spaces.
Consonants have an inherent -a vowel sound. Consonants combine with following consonants in the usual Brahmic fashion: the inherent vowel is silenced by U+1B44 BALINESE ADEG ADEG (the Balinese equivalent of the Sanskrit virama), and the following consonant is subjoined or postfixed, often with a change in shape.
Only 18 of the consonants are used for pure Balinese language text. The remainder are used for words derived from Sanskrit or Kawi. There are also a few characters in the Unicode block that are used for the Sasak language. (It's not clear to me whether the fact that these relate to aspirated or retroflex forms originally affects the pronunciation.)
A number of the Sanskrit or Kawi consonants are rather poorly attested. The letter ca laca is only found in non-initial position as 
, and most of the retroflex series is often omitted in books about the script. The letter JA JERA õ (jha) seems to be known from only one word, 
nirjhara (pond). (It is possible that an original ai may have been lost in Balinese, to be replaced by the glyph for jha.)
The symbols for vocalic r and vocalic l have been reclassified as consonants (see below for details).
To represent consonants without intervening vowels, the non-initial consonant is typically drawn below the initial consonant, and with a slightly different shape. There can be up to 3 consonants combined in this way, and the third consonant must be one of ya, ra, la or wa. In some cases the following consonant appears to the right of the initial consonant.
Otherwise, the sign adeg-adeg is used to show that no vowel is present, eg. 
kapal (ship).
In Unicode, the adeg-adeg character is used between consonants to cause the conjunct combining behaviour.
Because there is no word separator, consonants at the end of one word and beginning of the following word are normally stacked, too. In some cases this leads to ambiguity about whether this is one or two words. If you really want to make clear which is which, you can use an explicit adeg-adeg, eg. 
pakraman (membership) vs. 
Pak Raman (Mr. Raman).
You can do this in Unicode by including a zero-width non-joiner after the adeg-adeg.
A somewhat ambiguous situation arises where apparently norms prevent certain combinations stacking. For example, the name of the village tamblung should not stack the mbl, but should look like 
. This would look exactly like this if you used a zero-width non-joiner after ma, but it could be achieved also by intelligence in the font, as was actually the case when I generated this example (click on it to see). It's not clear to me what is the preferred approach: put zwnj in only when the font doesn't do what you want, or use it always. The latter may lead to more consistent content where different fonts are applied to the text (eg. after cut and paste). In theory, this shouldn't affect searching and sorting, although some applications may not ignore the zwnj as they should.
Balinese doesn"t use ra + pepet to represent the sound rə. Instead it uses ra repa . U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER RA REPA at the beginning of a syllable, such as in 
kěrěng (eat a lot), is treated as a consonant.
Ra repa has a postfixed form and a subjoined form. The postfixed form 
is seen where the consonant form of ra repa follows a word which ends in a consonant, such as 
Pak Rěrěh (Mr Rereh). The sequence of characters to be used for this is <consonant, adeg-adeg, ra repa> (ie. not using U+1B3A BALINESE VOWEL SIGN RA REPA).
The subjoined form 
is used to represent the original vocalic r. In such cases, it follows a syllable-initial consonant, as in 
Krěsna (Krishna). This is where U+1B3A BALINESE VOWEL SIGN RA REPA is used. The sequence of characters to be used here is <consonant, vowel sign ra repa>.
The combining mark rerekan is used, as is a similar sign in Javanese, to extend the character repertoire for foreign sounds. Attested in Library of Congress transliterations and in earlier Sasak orthography are: 
x, 
ɣ, 
ʕ, 
z, 
f, 
v, and 
ħ. 
could be used for one-to-one transliteration for Javanese d̠.
In rendering, the dots of these letters appear above the top character, which can cause some ambiguity in reading; 
could be xja <ka, rerekan, adeg-adeg, ja>, or kza <ka, adeg-adeg, ja, rerekan>, or indeed xza <ka, rerekan, adeg-adeg, ja, rerekan>. In practice these combinations are probably rather rare.
In recent times, Sasak users abandoned the use of the Javanese-influenced rerekan in favour of a series of modified letters (see above), making use, in addition, of some of unused Kawi letters for the Arabic sounds. In place of x and ɣ, for instance, the new fusion (of and ) khot sasak and the Kawi letter ga gora are used.
Consonants carry an inherent vowel a, pronounced ə at the end of a word and also in prefixes ma-, pa- and da-. There are vowel signs for all vowel sounds in Balinese except the inherent vowel.
There are also independent vowel forms for most vowels for use at the beginning of a word. In the middle of a word, the vowel sign is used over ha. The vowels pepet and pepet tedong don't have an independent form, and have to be used over ha at the beginning of a word.
In Sasak, independent vowel akara can be treated as a consonant insomuch as it can be followed by an explicit adeg adeg in word- or syllable-final position, where it indicates the glottal stop, eg. 
amaq; other consonants can also be subjoined to it.
Many of the subjoined and post-fixed consonant forms have different shapes from the standard glyph for that character, for example na becomes 
.
In addition, many conjunct clusters combine characters with special shapes, or subtly change parts of glyphs to join smoothly. Often the changes are significant, especially the medial consonants, ya, ra, wa and la. For example, see the sequence <ba, adeg-adeg, ra, adeg-adeg, ya> in 
briag laughter.
Combining vowel signs can also have different shapes depending on the context. For example, the vowel sign tedung typically ligates with the preceding consonant, eg. ha is but <ha, tedong> is 
and subjoined ya is 
but <consonant, adeg-adeg, ya, tedong> is 
.
When two diacritics appear above a consonant, the shape and position needs to be adapted.
You can experiment with other examples using the Balinese picker.
There are a set of Balinese digits, and they are used in the same way as Latin digits.
However, many of the digit symbols are indistinguishable from other Balinese letters. Numbers are typically surrounded by carik siki, so that they are easily recognisable, eg. 
(Bali, 3 July 1982).
Both panti and pamada are used to begin a section in text.
carik pamungkah is used as a colon, and carik siki and carki pareren are used as comma and full stop respectively.
At the end of a section, 
pasalinan and 
carik agung may be used (depending on what sign began the section). These are encoded using the punctuation ring windu together with carik pareren and pamada.
In some texts, "holy letters" or modre symbols are made by using ulu candra with these: 
, 
, 
.
Common practice is to break the sentence at any point when it reaches the end of a line, except that no line breaks should be allowed within syllable boundaries and no line breaks are allowed just before a colon, comma or full stop.
In lontar texts where a word must be broken at the end of a line (always after a full syllable), the sign pameneng is inserted. This sign is not used as a word-joining hyphen; it is used only in linebreaking.
U+1B33 BALINESE LETTER HA
Balinese consonant
ha
- when used as a support for a vowel. It is used as a support for a vowel sign when an independent vowel is used within a word, eg. 
daerah (development). The vowels pepet and pepet tedong have no independent form, so they are represented with ha plus vowel sign at the start of a word, too.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B26 BALINESE LETTER NA
Balinese consonant
na
Conjunct form:
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B18 BALINESE LETTER CA
Balinese consonant
ca
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B2D BALINESE LETTER RA
Balinese consonant/semi vowel/medial consonant, ra / guwung
ra
Conjunct form: 
.
This character is also used for the semi-vowel / medial consonant guwung, eg. 
cakra (disk).
When used medially, it can also be followed by another medial ya or wa, eg. briag (laughter).
Ra is not used with U+1B42 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET or U+1B43 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET TEDUNG. Instead use U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER RA REPA 
, eg. , kereng (eat a lot), or U+1B0C BALINESE LETTER RA REPA TEDUNG 
, respectively.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B13 BALINESE LETTER KA
Balinese consonant
ka
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B24 BALINESE LETTER DA
Balinese consonant
da
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B22 BALINESE LETTER TA
Balinese consonant
ta
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B32 BALINESE LETTER SA
Balinese consonant
sa
Conjunct form: 
, eg. 
paksa (force).
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B2F BALINESE LETTER WA
Balinese consonant
wa
Conjunct form: 
This character is also used for the semi-vowel / medial consonant suku kembung.
When used medially, it can follow another medial ra or la.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B2E BALINESE LETTER LA
Balinese consonant
la
Conjunct form: 
This character is also used for the semi-vowel / medial consonant gantungan la.
When used medially, it can also be followed by another medial ya or wa.
La is not used with U+1B42 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET or U+1B43 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET TEDUNG. Instead use U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER LA LENGA 
, eg. 
, taler (therefore), or U+1B0C BALINESE LETTER LA LENGA TEDUNG 
, respectively.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B2B BALINESE LETTER MA
Balinese consonant
ma
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B15 BALINESE LETTER GA
Balinese consonant
ga
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B29 BALINESE LETTER BA
Balinese consonant
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B17 BALINESE LETTER NGA
Balinese consonant
ŋa
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B27 BALINESE LETTER PA
Balinese consonant
pa
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B1A BALINESE LETTER JA
Balinese consonant
ʤa
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B2C BALINESE LETTER YA
Balinese consonant
ja
Conjunct form:
This character is also used for the semi-vowel / medial consonant nania.
When used medially, it can also follow another medial ra or la, eg. briag (laughter).
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B1C BALINESE LETTER NYA
Balinese consonant
ɲa
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B21 BALINESE LETTER NA RAMBAT
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= nna
Balinese consonant, na rambat
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B25 BALINESE LETTER DA MADU
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= dha
Balinese consonant, da madu
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B23 BALINESE LETTER TA TAWA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= tha
Balinese consonant, ta tawa
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B1D BALINESE LETTER TA LATIK
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= tta
Balinese consonant, ta latik
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B30 BALINESE LETTER SA SAGA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= sha
Balinese consonant, sa saga
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B31 BALINESE LETTER SA SAPA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= ssa
Balinese consonant, sa sapa
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B16 BALINESE LETTER GA GORA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= gha
Balinese consonant, ga gora
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B2A BALINESE LETTER BA KEMBANG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= bha
Balinese consonant, ba kembang
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B28 BALINESE LETTER PA KAPAL
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= pha
Balinese consonant, pa kapal
?
Used for writing Kawi, rather than ordinary Balinese words.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B19 BALINESE LETTER CA LACA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= cha
Balinese consonant
?
Very rare in Balinese. This letter is apparently borrowed from Javanese. Only the subjoined form of this letter is used, and it is always paired with the normal form of ca.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B14 BALINESE LETTER KA MAHAPRANA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= kha
Balinese consonant
?
Very rare in Balinese. This letter is apparently borrowed from Javanese.
Conjunct form: 
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B1B BALINESE LETTER JA JERA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= jha
Balinese consonant
ʤa
Seems to be known from only one word, nirjhara (pond). (It is possible that an original ai may have been lost in Balinese, to be replaced by the glyph for this character.)
Sudewa says that this is identical to the independent vowel airsania, but in the Unicode charts and elsewhere the top right of airsania 
and jha 
is slightly different.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B05 BALINESE LETTER AKARA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= a
Balinese independent vowel, a kara
a
This represents the same sound that is the inherent vowel.
Sometimes this vowel can be found as a support for vowel signs, but this is incorrect usage according to Sudewa, and should be avoided.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B06 BALINESE LETTER AKARA TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= aa
≡ 1B05 1B35
Balinese independent vowel, a kara tedong
ɑː
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B07 BALINESE LETTER IKARA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= i
Balinese independent vowel, i kara
i
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B08 BALINESE LETTER IKARA TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= ii
≡ 1B07 1B35
Balinese independent vowel, i kara tedong
iː
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B09 BALINESE LETTER UKARA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= u
Balinese independent vowel, u kara
u
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B0A BALINESE LETTER UKARA TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= uu
≡ 1B09 1B35
Balinese independent vowel, u kara tedong
uː
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B0F BALINESE LETTER EKARA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= e
Balinese independent vowel, e kara
e, ɛ
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B10 BALINESE LETTER AIKARA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= ai
Balinese independent vowel, airsania
aːi
Sudewa says that this is identical to the consonant jha, but in the Unicode charts and elsewhere the top right of airsania and jha is slightly different.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B11 BALINESE LETTER OKARA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= o
Balinese independent vowel, o kara
o, ɔ
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B12 BALINESE LETTER OKARA TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= au
≡ 1B11 1B35
Balinese independent vowel, o kara tedong
aːu
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER RA REPA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= vocalic r
Balinese consonant, ra repa
rə
Balinese does not use ra + pepet to represent the sound rə. Instead it uses ra repa . U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER RA REPA at the beginning of a syllable, such as in kěrěng (eat a lot), is treated as a consonant.
Ra repa has a postfixed form and a subjoined form. The postfixed form is seen where the consonant form of ra repa follows a word which ends in a consonant, such as Pak Rěrěh (Mr Rereh). The sequence of characters to be used for this is <consonant, adeg-adeg, ra repa> (ie. not using U+1B3A BALINESE VOWEL SIGN RA REPA).
The subjoined form is used to represent the original vocalic r. In such cases, it follows a syllable-initial consonant, as in Krěsna (Krishna). This is where U+1B3A BALINESE VOWEL SIGN RA REPA is used. The sequence of characters to be used here is <consonant, vowel sign ra repa>.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia] [3] Southeast Asian Scripts [Unicode]
U+1B35 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= aa
Balinese vowel sign, tedong
ɑː
Pronounced longer than the inherent vowel. It is often used with prefixes, eg. ‘ma’ + ‘adep’ becoming mādep. If it appears in the holy texts, that are meant to be recited, this vowel can be pronounced even longer than the normal reading.
This vowel sign typically ligates with the preceding consonant, eg. ha, tedong is and consonant, adeg-adeg, ya, tedong is .
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B37 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN ULU SARI
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= ii
Balinese vowel sign, ulu-sari
iː
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B38 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN SUKU
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= u
Balinese vowel sign, suku
u
The glyph changes when this appears after conjoined consonants, eg. kyu looks like 
.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B39 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN SUKU ILUT
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= uu
Balinese vowel sign, suku-ilut
uː
The glyph changes when this appears after conjoined consonants, eg. kyū looks like 
.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B3E BALINESE VOWEL SIGN TALING
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= e
Balinese vowel sign, taleng
e, ɛ
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B3F BALINESE VOWEL SIGN TALING REPA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= ai
Balinese vowel sign, taleng-repa
aːi
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B40 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN TALING TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= o
≡ 1B3E 1B35
Balinese vowel sign, taleng tedong
o, ɔ
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B41 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN TALING REPA TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= au
≡ 1B3F 1B35
Balinese vowel sign, taleng-repa tedong
aːu
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B42 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= ae
Balinese vowel sign, pepet
ə
This vowel sign is not used with U+1B2D BALINESE LETTER RA or U+1B2D BALINESE LETTER LA. Instead use U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER RA REPA , eg. , kereng (eat a lot), or U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER LA LENGA , eg. , taler (therefore).
There is no independent vowel corresponding to this. Instead use pepet with U+1B33 BALINESE LETTER HA 
.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B43 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= oe
≡ 1B42 1B35
Balinese vowel sign, pepet tedong
əː
This vowel sign is not used with U+1B2D BALINESE LETTER RA or U+1B42 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET TEDUNG. Instead use U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER RA REPA TEDUNG or U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER LA LENGA TEDUNG , respectively.
There is no independent vowel corresponding to this. Instead use pepet tedong with U+1B33 BALINESE LETTER HA 
.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B3A BALINESE VOWEL SIGN RA REPA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= vocalic r
Balinese vowel sign/semi-vowel/medial consonant, guwung macelek
rə
In Balinese the combination U+1B2D BALINESE LETTER RA + U+1B42 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET is not used. Instead U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER RA REPA is used. This can be used for what was originally a vocalic r.
This subjoined form of ra repa follows a syllable-initial consonant, as in Krěsna (Krishna).
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B3C BALINESE VOWEL SIGN LA LENGA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= vocalic l
Balinese vowel sign
lə
In Balinese the combination U+1B2D BALINESE LETTER LA + U+1B42 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET is not used. Instead U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER LA LENGA is used.
This subjoined form of la lenga follows a syllable-initial consonant.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B3B BALINESE VOWEL SIGN RA REPA TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= vocalic rr
≡ 1B3A 1B35
Balinese vowel sign/semi-vowel/medial consonant, guwung macelek tedong
rəː
In Balinese the combination U+1B2D BALINESE LETTER RA + U+1B42 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET TEDUNG is not used. Instead U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER RA REPA TEDUNG is used.
This subjoined form of ra repa tedong follows a syllable-initial consonant.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B3D BALINESE VOWEL SIGN LA LENGA TEDUNG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= vocalic ll
≡ 1B3C 1B35
Balinese vowel sign
ləː
In Balinese the combination U+1B2D BALINESE LETTER LA + U+1B42 BALINESE VOWEL SIGN PEPET TEDUNG is not used. Instead U+1B0B BALINESE LETTER LA LENGA TEDUNG is used.
This subjoined form of la lenga tedong follows a syllable-initial consonant.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B02 BALINESE SIGN CECEK
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= anusvara
Balinese combining character, cecek
ŋ
Only appears at the end of a word, eg. 
bangkung (pig), unless the word involves repetition, eg. 
cengceng (musical instrument).
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B04 BALINESE SIGN BISAH
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= visarga
Balinese combining character, bisah
h
Only appears at the end of a word, eg. 
manah (logic), unless the word involves repetition.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B03 BALINESE SIGN SURANG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= repha
Balinese combining character, surang
-r
Unlike most Brahmi-derived scripts, to represent a Balinese ra that starts a sequence of consonants without intervening vowels this character is used over the preceding syllable, eg. 
karna (ear).
The Kawi form of the script used a repha glyph in the same way as many Brahmic scripts do. However, because many syllables end in -r in the Balinese language, this written form was changed.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B01 BALINESE SIGN ULU CANDRA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= candrabindu
Balinese combining character, ulu candra
-ŋ
When combined with certain syllables this sign becomes part of the Aksara Modre, or holy letters, which are used to write words in Sanskrit, usually part of prayers, eg. 
mang (holy letter).
-m Over ulu candra this creates the letter ongkara, which is the symbol of God, 
and is transcribed om, eg. 
om swastiastu (God bless you).
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B00 BALINESE SIGN ULU RICEM
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= ardhacandra
Balinese combining character, ulu ricem
-m
When combined with certain syllables this sign becomes part of the Aksara Modre, or holy letters, which are used to write words in Sanskrit, usually part of prayers. This character only appears in Sanskrit texts, eg. 
siddham.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B34 BALINESE SIGN REREKAN
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= nukta
Balinese combining character, rerekan
The combining mark rerekan 
is used, as is a similar sign in Javanese, to extend the character repertoire for foreign sounds. Attested in Library of Congress transliterations and in earlier Sasak orthography are: x, ɣ, ʕ, z, f, v, and ħ. could be used for one-to-one transliteration for Javanese d̠.
Refs: [1] Proposal for encoding the Balinese script in the UCS [Everson et al.]
U+1B44 BALINESE ADEG ADEG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= virama
Balinese virama, adegadeg
This is the Balinese virama. It is usually invisible when used between two characters to indicate an absence of intervening vowels. It is visible, however, at the end of a word that does not finish with a vowel and is not followed by anything else, eg. kapal (ship), or sometimes to clarify the distinction between a word-final consonant and a medial consonant, eg. pakraman (membership) vs. eg. Pak Raman (Mr. Raman).
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B5E BALINESE CARIK SIKI
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= danda
→ (devanagari danda - 0964)
Balinese punctuation, carik
Equivalent to a comma.
This is also used for acronyms, eg. Bank Pembangunan Daerah Bali (Development Bank of Bali Province) can be abbreviated to 
ba pe da bali.
It is also used to surround numbers, since many digits cannot be distinguished from letters, eg. (Bali, 3 July 1982).
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B5F BALINESE CARIK PAREREN
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= double danda
→ (devanagari double danda - 0965)
Balinese punctuation, carik pareren
Equivalent to a period.
Also used as part of pasalinan which indicates the end of a letter, story or verse that began with panten (U+1B5A BALINESE PANTI).
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B5A BALINESE PANTI
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= section
Balinese punctuation, panten
Used at the beginning of a letter, story or verse.
(At the end of a letter, story or verse you find pasalinan .)
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B5B BALINESE PAMADA
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= honorific section
Balinese punctuation, pamada
Used at the beginning of religious texts. This symbol is a ligature of the letters in the word mangajapa, which roughly means "praying for safety".
Also used at the end of the same text as part of carik agung .
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B5C BALINESE WINDU
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= punctuation ring
Balinese punctuation
Used at the end of religious texts as part of carik agung and at the end of letters, stories and verse as part of pasalinan .
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B5D BALINESE CARIK PAMUNGKAH
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= colon
Balinese punctuation, carik pamungkah
Equivalent to a colon.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
U+1B60 BALINESE PAMENENG
Notes from the Unicode standard:
= line-breaking hyphen
Balinese punctuation, pameneng
In lontar texts where a word must be broken at the end of a line (always after a full syllable), the sign pameneng is inserted. This sign is not used as a word-joining hyphen; it is used only in linebreaking.
Refs: [1] The Balinese Alphabet [Sudewa] [2] Balinese Script [Wikipedia]
Content first published 2012-03-10. This version 2013-01-07 16:08 GMT
Copyright © 2012 Richard Ishida, All Rights Reserved.
