View source for Social:Tocharian alphabet

{{Infobox Writing system
 |name=Tocharian script
 |type=Abugida
 |languages=[[Social:Tocharian languages|Tocharian languages]]
 |time=8th century
 |fam1=Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
 |fam2=[[Phoenician alphabet]]
 |fam3=[[Social:Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic alphabet]]
 |fam4=Brāhmī script
 |sisters=Gupta, Pallava
 |children=
 |sample=Tocharian.JPG
 |imagesize=275px
 |note=none
 }}

The '''Tocharian alphabet''' (also known as North Turkestan Brāhmī<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/brahmi-indian-script|title=BRĀHMĪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica|website=www.iranicaonline.org|access-date=2019-03-28}}</ref>) is a version of [[Social:Brahmi script|Brahmi script]] used to write the Central Asian Indo-European [[Social:Tocharian languages|Tocharian languages]], mostly from the 8th century (with a few earlier ones) that were written on palm leaves, wooden tablets and Chinese [[Chemistry:Paper|paper]], preserved by the extremely dry climate of the Tarim Basin. Samples of the language have been discovered at sites in Kucha and Karasahr, including many mural inscriptions.

Tocharian A and B are not mutually intelligible. Properly speaking, based on the tentative interpretation of ''twqry'' as related to ''Tokharoi'', only Tocharian A may be referred to as ''Tocharian'', while Tocharian B could be called ''Kuchean'' (its native name may have been ''kuśiññe''), but since their grammars are usually treated together in scholarly works, the terms A and B have proven useful. A common Proto-Tocharian language must precede the attested languages by several centuries, probably dating to the 1st millennium BC. Given the small geographical range of and the lack of secular texts in Tocharian A, it might alternatively have been a liturgical language, the relationship between the two being similar to that between Classical Chinese and Mandarin. However, the lack of a secular corpus in Tocharian A is by no means definite, due to the fragmentary preservation of Tocharian texts in general.

The alphabet the Tocharians were using is derived from the Brahmi alphabetic syllabary (abugida) and is referred to as ''slanting Brahmi''. It soon became apparent that a large proportion of the manuscripts were translations of known [[Religion:Buddhism|Buddhist]] works in [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] and some of them were even bilingual, facilitating decipherment of the new language. Besides the Buddhist and [[Unsolved:Manichaeism|Manichaean]] religious texts, there were also monastery correspondence and accounts, commercial documents, caravan permits, and medical and magical texts, and one love poem. Many Tocharians embraced Manichaean duality or Buddhism.

In 1998, Chinese linguist Ji Xianlin published a translation and analysis of fragments of a Tocharian Maitreyasamiti-Nataka discovered in 1974 in Yanqi.<ref>"[http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/01/29/fragments_of_the_tocharian/index.html Fragments of the Tocharian]", Andrew Leonard, ''How the World Works'', Salon.com, January 29, 2008</ref><ref>"[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3107526 Review of 'Fragments of the Tocharian A Maitreyasamiti-Nataka of the Xinjiang Museum, China. In Collaboration with Werner Winter and Georges-Jean Pinault by Ji Xianlin']", J. C. Wright, ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 62, No. 2 (1999), pp. 367–370</ref><ref>"[https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/3110149044 Fragments of the Tocharian a Maitreyasamiti-Nataka of the Zinjiang Museum, China]", Ji Xianlin, Werner Winter, Georges-Jean Pinault, ''Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs''</ref>

Tocharian script probably died out after 840, when the Uyghurs were expelled from Mongolia by the Kyrgyz, retreating to the Tarim Basin. This theory is supported by the discovery of translations of Tocharian texts into Uyghur. During Uyghur rule, the peoples mixed with the Uyghurs to produce much of the modern population of what is now [[Place:Xinjiang|Xinjiang]].

==Script==

The Tocharian script is based on Brahmi, with each consonant having an inherent vowel, which can be altered by adding a vowel mark or removed by a special nullifying mark, the virama. Like Brahmi, Tocharian uses stacking for conjunct consonants and has irregular conjunct forms of [[File:Tocharian letter ra.gif|30px]], ra.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gippert|first=Jost|title=Tocharian Brahmi Script|url=http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/idg/toch/tochbr.htm|publisher=TITUS Didactica|accessdate=8 May 2013}}</ref> Unlike other Brahmi scripts, Tocharian has a second set of characters called ''Fremdzeichen'' that double up several of the standard consonants, but with an inherent "Ä" vowel.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wilson|first=Lee|title=Proposal to Encode the Tocharian Script (in the Unicode Standard / ISO 10646)|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15236-tocharian.pdf|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref> The eleven Fremdzeichen are most often found as substitutes for the standard consonant+virama in conjuncts, but they can be found in any context other than with the explicit "Ä" vowel mark. Fremdzeichen as consonant+virama is not found in later Tocharian texts.

===Table of Tocharian letters===

{| class="wikitable"
|+Tocharian vowels
|-
!rowspan=2|Independent !! A !! Ā !! I !! Ī !! U !! Ū
|-
| [[File:Tocharian letter a.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter uu.gif|75px]]
|-
! R̥ !! R̥̄ !! E !! Ai !! O !! Au !! Ä
|-
| [[File:Tocharian letter r.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter ä.gif|75px]]
|-
!rowspan=2|Marks<br />(on [[File:Tocharian letter tha.gif|30px]]) !! Tha !! Thā !! Thi !! Thī !! Thu !! Thū
|-
| [[File:Tocharian letter tha.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter thuu.gif|75px]]
|-
! Thr̥ !! Thr̥̄ !! The !! Thai !! Tho !! Thau !! Thä
|-
| [[File:Tocharian letter thr.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter thä.gif|75px]]
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Tocharian consonants
|-
! Velars !! Ka !! Kha !! Ga !! Gha !! Ṅa
|-
|Standard || [[File:Tocharian letter ka.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter nga.gif|75px]]
|-
|Fremdzeichen || [[File:Tocharian letter kà.gif|75px]] ||  ||  ||  || 
|-
!Palatals !! Ca !! Cha !! Ja !! Jha !! Ña
|-
| || [[File:Tocharian letter ca.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter nya.gif|75px]]
|-
! Retroflexes !! Ṭa !! Ṭha !! Ḍa !! Ḍha !! Ṇa
|-
| || [[File:Tocharian letter tta.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter nna.gif|75px]]
|-
! Dentals !! Ta !! Tha !! Da !! Dha !! Na
|-
|Standard || [[File:Tocharian letter ta.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter na.gif|75px]]
|-
|Fremdzeichen || [[File:Tocharian letter tà.gif|75px]] ||  ||  ||  || [[File:Tocharian letter nà.gif|75px]]
|-
! Labials !! Pa !! Pha !! Ba !! Bha !! Ma
|-
|Standard || [[File:Tocharian letter pa.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter ma.gif|75px]]
|-
|Fremdzeichen || [[File:Tocharian letter pà.gif|75px]] ||  ||  ||  || [[File:Tocharian letter mà.gif|75px]]
|-
! Sonorants !! Ya !! Ra !! La !! Va
|-
|Standard || [[File:Tocharian letter ya.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter va.gif|75px]]
|-
|Fremdzeichen ||  || [[File:Tocharian letter rà.gif|75px]] || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter và.gif|75px]]
|-
! Sibilants !! Śa !! Ṣa !! Sa !! Ha
|-
|Standard || [[File:Tocharian letter sha.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter ha.gif|75px]]
|-
|Fremdzeichen || [[File:Tocharian letter shà.gif|75px]] || 75px || [[File:Tocharian letter sà.gif|75px]] || 
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Other marks
|-
| Visarga || Anusvara || Virama (on [[File:Tocharian letter na.gif|30px|na]]) || Jihvamuliya || Upadhmaniya
|-
| [[File:Tocharian Visarga.gif|75px]] || 75px || 75px || 75px || [[File:Tocharian Upadhmaniiya.gif|75px]]
|}

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* TITUS: Tocharian [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/idg/toch/tochbr.htm alphabets], [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/database/titusinx/tochvb.asp conjugation tables], and  [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/tocharic/tht.htm manuscripts] from the Berlin Turfan Collection
* [http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/cmp/toch.htm A Tocharian-to-English dictionary with nearly 200 words] with accompanying [http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/cmp/toch.htm article]
* [https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/tokol Tocharian Online] by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, University of Texas at Austin
*[http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tocharian.htm ''Tocharian alphabet''] at Omniglot.com


{{DEFAULTSORT:Tocharian Script}}
[[Category:Obsolete writing systems]]
[[Category:Writing systems]]

{{Sourceattribution|Tocharian alphabet|1}}