Ahom Script - Script Characteristics

Script Characteristics

Like most abugidas, each letter has an inherent vowel of /a/. Other vowels are indicated by using diacritics, which can appear above, below, to the left, or to the right of the consonant. The script does not, however, indicate tones used in the language.

The Ahom language has other characteristics typical of Tai languages, such as:

• Subject Verb Object (SVO) word order
• Monosyllabic roots
• Analytic syntax

When speaking and writing Ahom, much is dependent upon context and the audience interpretation. Multiple parts of the sentence can be left out; verb and adjectives will remain, but other parts of speech, especially pronouns, can be dropped. Verbs do not have tenses, and nouns do not have plurals. Time periods can be identified by adverbs, strings of verbs, or auxiliaries placed before the verb.

The Ahom script is further complicated, as the script does not cover all of Ahom's tones, and contains inconsistencies; a consonant may be written once in a word, but pronounced twice, common words may be shortened, and consecutive words with the same initial consonant may be contracted.