View source for Mru script

{{Short description|Writing system for the Mru language}}
{{Infobox writing system
| name        = Mru
| altname     = Mro, Krama<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.endangeredalphabets.com/2021/07/20/designing-new-scripts-the-missing-mro/ | title=Designing New Scripts: The Missing Mro – Endangered Alphabets | date=20 July 2021 }}</ref>
| sample      = Mru in Mru script.png
| type        = [[Alphabet]]
| caption     = The word "Mru" written in the Mru/Krama script
| languages   = [[Mru language|Mru]]
| creator     = Menley Mro<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brookes |first=Tim |date=20 July 2021 |title=Designing New Scripts: The Missing Mro |url=https://www.endangeredalphabets.com/2021/07/20/designing-new-scripts-the-missing-mro/ |website=Endangered Alphabets}}</ref>
| unicode     = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U16A40.pdf U+16A40–U+16A6F]
| iso15924    = Mroo
| note        = none
}}
The '''Mru script''' (Mru: {{Script|Mru|𖩃𖩓𖩑}}) is an indigenous, messianic script for the [[Mru language]]. In the 1980s Menlay Murang (also known as Manley Mro) created the religion of Khrama (or Crama) and with it a new script.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last1=Hosken|first1=Martin|last2=Everson|first2=Michael|author-link2=Michael Everson|date=24 March 2009|title=N3589R: Proposal for encoding the Mro script in the SMP of the UCS|url=http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3589.pdf|access-date=2 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Zaman | first = Mustafa | title = Mother Tongue at Stake | journal = Star Weekend Magazine | volume = 5 | issue = 83 | publisher = The Daily Star | date = 24 February 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brookes |first=Tim |date=20 July 2021 |title=Designing New Scripts: The Missing Mro |url=https://www.endangeredalphabets.com/2021/07/20/designing-new-scripts-the-missing-mro/ |website=Endangered Alphabets}}</ref>

==History==
The script was created in the 1980s by a [[Bangladeshi]] man, Menlay Murang (also known as Manley Mro). Traditional folklore has it that god Turai wrote down a script and a religion for the Mro people, as for all the other tribes, and gave it to a cow to deliver to them. However, the cow became tired and hungry during the long journey from heaven, and ate the book it was carrying, and the script was forever lost. Until the 1980s it was a great source of shame to the Mro people that they did not have a script of their own, and Menlay Murang is held in high esteem for redeeming them from this. Some textbooks claim that Menlay Murang based the script on Roman, Burmese and Chinese characters, although others state that any similarity to other scripts is purely coincidental. Sources agree, however, that the script bears no natural genetic relationship with any existing script.<ref name="ScriptSource">{{Cite web |last=Holloway |first=Steph |title=Mro, Mru |url=https://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Mroo |website=Script Source}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=bysa3|from this source=yes}}</ref>

==Structure==
The Mro script is an alphabet, therefore each character represents one sound, and some sounds are represented by more than one letter. It is written from left to right with spaces between words. No tone marks or combining characters are used.<ref name="ScriptSource"/>

Two script-specific punctuation characters are known, 𖩮 'DANDA' and 𖩯 'DOUBLE DANDA'.

Two of the Mro letters are used as abbreviations. The letter 𖩞 'TEK' /tɛk/ can be used instead of the word, 𖩀𖩘𖩌 tek ‘quote’. The letter 𖩜 'HAI' /hai/ can be used for groups of letters like 𖩉𖩆𖩊 hai<ref name=":0" />

==Characters==
The Mru script has 31 letters, 23 consonants and 8 vowels. Each letter represents a singular phoneme. Though some phonemes are represented by multiple characters.
{| class=wikitable
|+Mru letters
|-
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩀 |top=ta |ipa=/[[Unvoiced dental plosive|t]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩁|top=ngi |ipa=/[[Voiced velar nasal|ŋ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩂|top=yo |ipa=/[[Voiced palatal fricative|ʝ]]~[[Voiced palatal approximant|j]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩃|top=mim|ipa=/[[Voiced bilabial nasal|m]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩄|top=ba|ipa=/[[Voiced bilabial plosive|b]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩅|top=da|ipa=/[[Voiced dental and alveolar plosives|d]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩆|top=a|ipa=/[[Open front unrounded vowel|a]]~[[Open back unrounded vowel|ɑ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩇|top=phi|ipa=/[[Aspirated consonant|pʰ]]/}}
|-
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩈|top=khäy|ipa=/[[kʰ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩉|top=hau|ipa=/[[Voiceless glottal fricative|h]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩊|top=dai|ipa=/[[Close front unrounded vowel|i]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩋|top=cu|ipa={{br}}/[[Voiceless palatal plosive|c]]~[[Voiceless alveolar affricate|ts]]~[[Aspirated consonant|tsʰ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩌|top=kä|ipa=/[[Voiceless velar plosive|k]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩍|top=ol|ipa=/[[Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants|l]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩎|top=mäm|ipa=/[[Voiced bilabial nasal|m]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩏|top=nin|ipa=/[[Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar nasals|n]]/}}
|-
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩐|top=pa|ipa=/[[Voiceless bilabial plosive|p]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩑|top=u|ipa=/[[Close back rounded vowel|u]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩒|top={{hamza}}o|ipa=/[[Glottal stop|ʔ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩓|top=ro|ipa=/[[Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar trills|r]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩔|top=si|ipa=/[[Voiceless postalveolar fricative|ʃ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩕|top=thea|ipa=/[[Aspirated consonant|tʰ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩖|top=ea|ipa=/[[Open-mid front unrounded vowel|ɛ]]~[[Schwa|ə]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩘|top=e|ipa=/[[Close-mid front unrounded vowel|e]]/}}
|-
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩗|top=wa|ipa=/[[Close back unrounded vowel|ɯ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩙|top=ko|ipa=/[[Voiceless velar plosive|k]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩚|top=lan|ipa=/[[Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants|l]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩛|top=la|ipa=/[[Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants|l]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩜|top=hai|ipa=/[[Voiceless glottal fricative|h]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩝|top=ri|ipa=/[[Open-mid back rounded vowel|ɔ]]/}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩞|top=tek|ipa=/[[Voiceless dental and alveolar plosives|t]]/}}
|}

==Numerals==
Like the latin script, the '''Mru Script''' has 10 distinct numerals.  
{| class="wikitable"
|+Mru numerals
|-
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩠|top=0}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩡|top=1}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩢|top=2}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩣|top=3}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩤|top=4}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩥|top=5}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩦|top=6}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩧|top=7}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩨|top=8}}
|{{letter|s=Mroo|ch=𖩩|top=9}}
|}

==Unicode==
{{Main|Mro (Unicode block)}}
The Mru alphabet was added to the [[Unicode]] Standard in June, 2014 with the release of version 7.0.

The Unicode block for the Mru script, called Mro, is U+16A40–U+16A6F:

{{Unicode chart Mro}}

==References==
{{reflist}}


{{writingsystem-stub}}
[[Category:Writing systems]]
[[Category:Alphabets]]