Reference · 16 base letters
Alphabet guide
Burushaski uses a Latin-based academic orthography with diacritics for retroflex and uvular sounds. ASCII script substitutes plain digraphs.
Academic script
Diacritics distinguish vowel length (á í ú) and special consonants (ċ ḍ ṣ ṭ ġ ŋ). The convention used in published linguistic work.
ASCII script
Plain ASCII for keyboards: long vowels doubled (aa, ii), retroflexes get a trailing dot (c., d., s., t.), digraphs for sh, zh, gh, ng.
Base letters
b
basí
garden
d
dáko
pillar
g
garí
light
h
halánc
moon
j
jarpá
poplar tree
k
kadákus
latch
l
laqpís
handkerchief
m
maltáṣ
butter
n
naġéći
bamboo
p
pácxhi
cloth
r
raćhélo
guard
s
sar
thread
t
tilí
walnut
w
wat
skin
y
ya
bear / snow leopard
z
zurú
cloves
Special characters & diacritics
Glyph
ASCII
Description
Example
Audio
a
a
short a; doubled aa = long
aaġo· pain
á
a
stressed a (acute marks stress)
abáado· lazy
c
c
dental affricate /ts/ (rare)
cum· from / out of
ch
ch
aspirated dental affricate /tsʰ/ (rare)
ć
ch
palatal affricate (English ch)
áćo· brother
ćh
cx
palatal aspirated affricate
ćhil· water
c̣
c
retroflex affricate
rac̣· weed
c̣h
cx
retroflex aspirated affricate
c̣hap· meat
ḍ
d
retroflex d
aḍá· station
e
e
short e
eilem· sawdust
é
e
stressed e
étas· to cover
f
f
in loanwords only
famól· fruit
ġ
gh
voiced uvular fricative
ġénis· gold
i
i
short i
irán· milk cream
í
i
stressed i
apí· is not
j̣
j
voiced retroflex affricate
kh
kh
aspirated k
khóle· here
ṅ
ng
velar nasal
méṅġal· snow leopard
ṇ
n
retroflex n
duwáṇ· hitting
o
o
short o
óśin· guest
ó
o
stressed o
óomanas· to disobey
ph
ph
aspirated p
phaltás· to break
q
q
uvular stop
qurút· dry curd
qh
qh
aspirated uvular stop
qhurónc̣· deaf
ṛ
r
retroflex r/flap
khiṛkí· window
ś
sh
palatal sh
śua· good
ṣ
sh
retroflex sh (same ASCII as ś)
ṣapík· bread
th
th
aspirated t
thám· king
ṭ
t
retroflex t
akhilaṭé· thus
ṭh
th
aspirated retroflex t
ṭhap· hit
u
u
short u
urk· wolf
ú
u
stressed u
dúphaltas· to break in
v
v
in loanwords; may vary with w
váriś· lid
x
x
voiceless velar fricative
xakún· donkey
ỵ
y
retroflex approximant (rare, disappearing)
áỵa· father
ẓ
zh
voiced retroflex sibilant
aẓía· Asia
ʼ
'
glottal stop
yaʼ· oh!