Sindhi

Sindhi is written using an expanded form of the Arabic script, adapted specifically for the Sindhi language. Its modern standardized writing system developed primarily during the 19th and 20th centuries, as Sindhi was formalized for literature, administration, and education in South Asia.

The Sindhi writing system is an abjad-based alphabetic system, meaning it originates from Arabic script but has been significantly expanded to represent both consonants and vowels more explicitly. Compared to Arabic and Urdu, Sindhi includes a much larger set of additional letters to capture its rich phonetic inventory.

The modern Sindhi alphabet contains approximately 52 letters, combining standard Arabic-derived characters with uniquely Sindhi additions such as ٻ, ڄ, ڃ, ڄ, ڦ, ٺ, ٿ, ٽ, ڊ, ڍ, ڙ, ڱ, and ڻ. These letters represent implosive and retroflex sounds not found in Arabic.

Sindhi is written from right to left and is used in education, literature, media, and government contexts primarily in the Sindh region of Pakistan, with additional use in diaspora communities. It is one of the major regional languages of South Asia with a strong literary tradition.

One of the most distinctive features of Sindhi writing is its extensive use of implosive consonant letters, a rare phonetic feature among Arabic-script languages. These sounds are represented by specially modified letters unique to Sindhi orthography.

Visually, Sindhi combines flowing Arabic calligraphic forms with a dense set of modified characters, making it one of the most phonetically expanded scripts within the Perso-Arabic family.

In summary, Sindhi is an Arabic-derived abjad expanded into a highly phonetic writing system, combining traditional script structure with a large set of unique consonant additions to accurately represent the full sound system of the Sindhi language.