Gurmukhi Manuscript - Style Writing
Individual Letterform Chains: Synthesis and Analysis
Each letterform’s horizontal manuscript-style composition has a co-relation with script-based and language-based based associations embedded in the written Punjabi script forms – the same has been articulated as individual descriptions to present the design synthesis of each gurmukhi akhar that provides form possibilities for beginnings of a type design project for future (Fig. 11).
Punjabi is a tonal language with three tones. These are indicated in writing using the voiced aspirates consonants (gh, dh, bh, etc.) and the intervocalic h. This comes across for few letterforms.
The practice has helped retain the correct methods of stroke formations and modulations, nature of the structure and composition of parts of letters, their joineries, etc (Figure 11a and 11c).
Figure 11. Practicing Gurmukhi akhar ਕ (pronounced ka'kaa: ਕਾਕਾ (11a); a page from a Janamsakhi that is decorated in the provincial Kashmiri style of manuscript illustration. Courtesy: sikhmuseum.com (11b); Practicing Gurmukhi akhar ਖ (pronounced kha'khaa: ਖ਼ੱਖ਼ਾ), (11c)