Abugidat

Abugidat is a term used in linguistics to describe a type of writing system where consonant-vowel sequences are written as units. In an abugidat, each basic symbol represents a consonant with an inherent vowel. Modifications to this symbol, such as diacritics or changes in the symbol itself, indicate a different vowel. If the consonant is to be pronounced without a vowel, a special mark called a virama is typically used.

This contrasts with alphabets, where vowels and consonants are represented by separate letters, and abjads, where only consonants are explicitly written, with vowels often omitted or indicated by diacritics. Abugidats are widespread, particularly in South and Southeast Asia. Prominent examples include the Devanagari script used for Hindi and Sanskrit, the Tamil script, and the Thai script. The concept allows for a compact representation of syllables, which are common in many languages that use these scripts. The development of abugidats is thought to have stemmed from the Brahmi script, an ancient Indian writing system. The systematic nature of these scripts makes them efficient for writing languages with complex syllable structures.