This is a project to create a standard Roman script for writing Dardic and other languages of northern Pakistan, northern India, and northwestern Afghanistan that don't yet have one. We started with ṣiṇaá and the script is built around it first.
Take a simple example. ṣiṇaá has two words that sound like "baas" to an English speaker. One means language, one means lung. Written in English letters, both come out looking identical. There is no way to tell them apart. This is not a niche problem. It comes up constantly, and there is no fix inside the English alphabet.
This Roman script is built specifically to handle everything ṣiṇaá needs. It adds a small number of extra letters on top of the standard English ones, each covering a sound that English has no letter for. If you already type in English, you can pick this up quickly.
All 26 English letters work exactly as you know them. The new ones sit on top, only for sounds English cannot cover.
ṣiṇaá uses rising and falling tones on long vowels to change meaning. This script shows both, which no English spelling can do.
The same letter choices work across Dardic languages in the area. One consistent system, not a patchwork of individual workarounds.
Every letter in this script was chosen based on actual phonetic research into how these languages work. Nothing is a guess.
The script is built around ṣiṇaá because that is where this project started and where the phonetic work is most complete. Other Dardic languages and related languages of the region share many of the same sounds, so most of this script applies to them too. The exact letters needed may shift a little from language to language, but the foundation is the same.
Type in the script right in your browser. Long-press any key to see all its variants. Copy and paste wherever you want.
Open Keyboard →This is a collaboration between a linguist who has spent years studying Dardic languages and a developer building digital tools for Gilgit-Baltistan. If you have questions or suggestions about the script itself — the letters, the sounds, how something is written — reach out to the linguist. If you want to use this on your own site, have feedback about how the website works, or want to build something with it, reach out to the developer.
