A unique phonetic script designed to give the Rohingya language its own written identity.

Science · Published 20 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Developed in the 1980s by Mohammad Hanif and his colleagues, the Hanifi Rohingya script is a specialized phonetic system. Unlike traditional Arabic writing, it treats vowels as independent letters. This innovative approach to orthography was officially recognized by the global digital community when it was added to Unicode in 2018.

The Hanifi Rohingya script emerged as a distinct effort to provide the Rohingya language with a dedicated writing system. While the language has been recorded using various methods since the 19th century—including adaptations of Perso-Arabic and Latin scripts—Mohammad Hanif and his team sought to create a more suitable phonetic structure. Their creation, often compared to the N’ko script, functions as an alphabet where vowels are independent characters rather than mere diacritics. However, these vowels maintain a structural dependency, requiring connection to a consonant to function, and tone markers are applied as diacritics to indicate high, low, or falling pitch.

The script is written from right to left and features a sophisticated 28-consonant and 10-vowel system. A defining characteristic of its calligraphic beauty is its four-line writing system, which dictates specific positioning for each letter: 21 letters sit above the middle three lines, six are contained within the middle two, and one sits below. This precision extends to the script's mathematical components, as Hanif also developed a set of numerals based on Hindu-Arabic digits but modified for the specific needs of the Rohingya language.

The transition of this script into the digital age has been rapid. In June 2018, the Unicode Standard included Hanifi Rohingya in version 11.0, following proposals by linguist Anshuman Pandey. This inclusion paved the way for modern accessibility, including the development of the Noto Sans Hanifi Rohingya font by Google. By 2019, software developers like Ahkter Husin and Kyaw Zay Ya Lin Tun had created virtual keyboards for Android and iOS, ensuring that this unique script could be used in contemporary digital communication, from mobile messaging to a library of over 1,000 books now available in the script.

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