Quick Facts Type Syllabic Alphabetic Genealogy Brahmi Location South Asia > Himalaya Time 18th century CE to Present Direction Left to Right

The Lepcha script, also known as the Róng script, is a Brahmi-style syllabic alphabet possibly derived from the dbu med variant of the Tibetan script. It is used to write the Lepcha language, which is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal.

Like all Brahmi-derived scripts, each basic letter in Lepcha in fact represents a syllable that starts with a consonant and ends with an inherent vowel of /a/. The only exception is the letter for just the sound /a/. The following chart lists all basic Lepcha letters.

To change the vowel of the syllable to a value other than /a/, additional strokes are added to various positions around the letter. This applies to both the normal consonant-initial letters as well as the singleton /a/ letter.

Final consonants are represented by extra strokes, often placed at the top of the letter but sometimes before the letter:

Consonant clusters can occur in the beginning of Lepcha syllables, and there are multiple ways of writing them. Consonant clusters of the type /Cl/ (where C is any consonant) are represented by their own letters. All other clusters are written with ligatures of various degrees of complexity. Clusters of the type /Cy/ and /Cly/ are written with a "v"-like attachment following the letter. Clusters of the form /Cr/ use a slightly curved vertical line. And finally, /Cry/ clusters are written with both the "v"-like element and the curved vertical line.

Images on this page were created with the Lepcha font by Jason Glavy (see link below).

Related links:

• Lepcha font