Balinese script

The Balinese script is an abugida that was used to write the Balinese language, an Austronesian language spoken by about three million people on the Indonesian island of Bali. The use of the Balinese alphabet has mostly been replaced by the Roman alphabet, and very few people are familiar with it. It is mostly used for religious writings.

The Balinese script was probably derived from Pallava and Old Kawi alphabets, which ultimately were derived from the Brahmi alphabet, the root of almost all the Indic and Southeast Asian abugidas.

Like most abugidas, each letter has an inherent vowel of /a/. Other vowels are indicated by using diacritics, which can appear above, below, to the left, or to the right of the consonant.

Similarities between Balinese and Javanese Script

Javanese Script	Balinese Script

Balinese in Unicode

The Unicode range for Balinese is U+1B00 ... U+1B7F. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points.

External links

• Entry on Balinese at Omniglot.com -- A guide to writing systems
• Computerization of Balinese Script
• Michael Everson, Coding of Balinese Script to Unicode