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Punjabi/Gurmukhi Phonetic (ITRANS)

This is a phonetic keyboard layout for Punjabi and Sindhi languages written in Gurmukhi script. It is based on ITRANS transliteration scheme with some modifications. You can phonetically type using the modified ITRANS scheme on a regular QWERTY keyboard and get Gurmukhi Unicode output.

For example, type hindI for ਹਿਨ੍ਦੀ, gujarAtI for ਗੁਜਰਾਤੀ.

Keyboard layouts

The default and shifted layouts cover digits, consonants, vowels and other commonly used characters.

ITRANS Gurmukhi keyboard layouts

Gurmukhi Alphabet

The following table shows the English letters to type to get the Gurmukhi Alphabet. The first three letters of the alphabet are the base for forming the independent vowels using the dependent vowel signs.

ੳ (ura) $ | ਅ(aim) a | ੲ (iri) % | ਸ sa | ਹ ha
ਕ ka | ਖ Ka/kha | ਗ ga | ਘ Ga/gha | ਙ ~Na/Nga
ਚ ca/cha | ਛ Ca/Cha | ਜ ja | ਝ Ja/jha | ਞ ~na/Ya
ਟ Ta | ਠ Tha | ਡ Da | ਢ Dha | ਣ Na
ਤ ta | ਥ tha | ਦ da | ਧ dha | ਨ na
ਪ pa | ਫ pha | ਬ ba | ਭ bha | ਮ ma
ਯ ya | ਰ ra | ਲ la | ਵ va | ੜ Ra

Combining Marks

The combining marks, nukta, addak, udaat, should occur after the consonant to which they attach, and before any vowel sign.

  • Ṭippi ( ੰ ) and bindi ( ਂ ) are used for producing a nasal phoneme depending on the following obstruent or a nasal vowel at the end of a word. All short vowels utilise ṭippi and all long vowels are paired with bindi except for Dulankar ( ੂ ) which uses ṭippi instead. M will choose the correct form based on context.
  • The use of addak ( ੱ ) indicates that the following consonant is geminate. This means that the subsequent consonant is doubled or reinforced.
  • The visarg symbol (ਃ U+0A03) is used very occasionally in Gurmukhi.
  • The udaat symbol (ੑ U+0A51) occurs in older texts and indicates a high tone.
  • The virama (੍) character is not used when writing Punjabi in Gurmukhi, except for Sanskritized words. Virama (੍) when followed by ਰ(r), ਵ(v) and ਹ(h) makes subscript letters.

    Consonants with nukta (pairī̃ bindi, or "dot at the foot")

    There are six consonants created by placing a dot (bindi) at the foot (pair) of the consonant. These should be entered as follows:

    ਸ਼ Sa/sha | ਖ਼ xa | ਗ਼ qa | ਜ਼ za | ਫ਼ fa | ਲ਼ La

    Subscript letters (pairī̃ akkhar, or "letters at the foot")

    Some Punjabi words require consonants to be written in a conjunct form, which takes the shape of a subscript to the main letter. The second consonant is written under the first as a subscript. There are only three commonly used subjoined letters. The subscript ਰ(r) and ਵ(v) are used to make consonant clusters and behave similarly; subjoined ਹ(h) raises tone. There is also a half-form of the letter ਯ(y) used exclusively for Sanskrit borrowings, which is referred to as yakash, . Udaat ੑ is used in older texts to indicate a high tone.

    When following the ITRANS transliteration scheme, the subscript letters are formed automatically. e.g. typing pr will output ਪ੍ਰ.

    |੍ਰ|Virama r|pairī̃ rāarāa|
    |੍ਹ|Virama h|pairī̃ hāahāa - tone|
    |ੑੵ|w|udaat - high tone|
    |੍ਵ|Virama v|pairī̃ vāavāa - used rarely|
    |ੵ|&|yakash - used rarely|

    Vowels and Vowel Signs

    In Punjabi, independent vowels are represented by dependent vowels carried by the first three letters of the Gurmukhi alphabet.

    In the following table, independent vowels, dependent vowel signs and vowel signs combined with the consonant `k` are shown in ITRANS transliteration scheme and in Gurmukhi script. The second row shows Vowels in their independent form and the third row shows their corresponding dependent form (maatraa or vowel sign). If there is a need to type ONLY the vowel signs, it can be done using `@` instead of a consonant. e.g. @A will output ਾ, @ai will output ੈ.

    The fourth row shows the vowel sign combined with the consonant `k` in ITRANS and the fifth in Gurmukhi script. `ka` is without any added vowel sign, where the vowel `a` is inherent.

    a aa/A i ii/I/ee u uu/U/oo e ai/ei o au/ou
    ਅ ਆ ਇ ਈ ਉ ਊ ਏ ਐ ਓ ਔ
    ਾ ਿ ੀ ੁ ੂ ੇ ੈ ੋ ੌ
    ka kA ki kI ku kU ke kai ko kau
    ਕ ਕਾ ਕਿ ਕੀ ਕੁ ਕੂ ਕੇ ਕੈ ਕੋ ਕੌ

    The consonantal diacritics follow the vowel signs including the implicit ’a’. The following table shows consonant ’k’ followed by various dependent vowel signs and consonantal diacritics.

    ka kA ki kI ku kU ke kai ko kau
    M TIPPI/BINDI ਕੰ ਕਾਂ ਕਿੰ ਕੀਂ ਕੁੰ ਕੂੰ ਕੇੰ ਕੈਂ ਕੋੰ ਕੌਂ
    > ADDAK ਕੱ ਕਾੱ ਕਿੱ ਕੀੱ ਕੁੱ ਕੂੱ ਕੇੱ ਕੈੱ ਕੋੱ ਕੌੱ
    MM ADAK BINDI ਕਁ ਕਾਁ ਕਿਁ ਕੀਁ ਕੁਁ ਕੂਁ ਕੇਁ ਕੈਁ ਕੋਁ ਕੌਁ

    Punctuation

    Keys Input Output Character Comment
    ,,Comma
    ,, ૰ Gurmukhi Abbreviation Sign
    ..Period
    .. । DanDaa
    ... ॥ Double DanDaa
    --Dash
    --–En Dash
    ---—Em Dash

    Numbers

    1. Press the number keys to type Gurmukhi digits. for example 9 produces ੯.
    2. For typing the Arabic digits, press the number keys and then the backspace key, for example 9 Back space produces 9.

    Special Symbols

    KeyOutput CharacterComment
    #ੴek onkar SIGN
    $ੲiri SIGN
    % ੳ ura SIGN
    *☬khanda SIGN

    Note: Gurmukhi script related information is taken from the following web pages:

    All Documentation Versions

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