The Lepcha indigenous script

According to Lepcha tradition, the Lepcha script was invented by the Lepcha scholar Thikúng Men Salóng, a contemporary of the patron saint of Sikkim, Lama Lhatsün Chenpo (also known as Lhatsün Namkha Jimi, 1597-1654).The invention of the written language is likely to have been motivated by the religious activities of Buddhist missionaries. The Lepcha literary tradition can be dated back to the eighteenth century, when the indigenous Lepcha script was devised during the reign of the third chögel of Sikkim, (imperabat 1700-1716). In his article of 1996, 'A Foreigner Studies Heroes of the Lepcha Race'‚ Keith Sprigg offers a detailed overview of all existing views on the origin of the Lepcha script.

There are 35 consonant symbols (chomíng ʔámú or ʔámú ʔámíng) and 9 vowel signs (chomíng ʔákup or ʔákup ʔámíng) in the Lepcha script. When the consonant is not marked by any vowel sign, the inherent vowel of the consonant is the vowel 'a', just like in many other Indic scripts. In combination with consonant symbols, nine diacritical vowel signs ( ʔákup thámbyín or míngkup thámbyín) are used. the script also has special symbols for post-consonantal -y- (ya-thyú) and -r- (ra-thyú).

All Lepcha consonants may occur syllable-initially. All Lepcha vowels may occur at the end of a syllable, but there is a limited number of consonants that can occur in syllable-final position. For the consonants that can occur as final consonants (tyelbú thámbyín or míngtyel thámbyín), a series of 9 diacritical marks exists, which are added either to a consonant symbol (with or without a diacritical vowel symbol).

The Lepcha script is written from left to right, with spaces between words. In Lepcha, no distinction is made between capital and other letters. In the bibliography on this site, several works that pay attention to the Lepcha script may be found (for example Chakraborty 1978, Haarh 1959, Mainwaring 1876, Plaisier 2003, Sprigg 1996).The 1982 publication by Khárpú Támsáng, a reprint of Lâzóng, the book on the Lepcha alphabet, is most important in this respect. This traditional text treats the native orthography exhaustively and systematically. The Lâzóng text is used traditionally by the Lepchas in the instruction of the Lepcha alphabet (cf. Plaisier 2003b, pp.31-32).

There are several internet sites that provide information on the Lepcha script, for example www.proel.org/alfabetos/lepcha.html, and Omniglot: a guide to writing systems.