Scope And Potentiality Of "Sarma's Unified Script" (SUS) In Modernizing Languages

Prof. Bijon B. Sarma *

ABSTRACT :

"SUS" stands for Sarma's Unified Script. It is the latest Unified Script invented and published in November, 2009. Alike earlier unified scripts this one also claims to be capable of writing all the languages of the world. None of the unified scripts invented prior to the invention of "SUS" could satisfy the purpose. We would have to wait for a few years to see if "SUS" can really "write all languages of the world". However, from the firsthand investigation it may be seen that "SUS" has made use of principles and systems which were never by the inventors of the unified scripts. Also its scripts are so simple that the new learners may need 1/4th or less time to learn those.

Men's profound love is generally associated with their mother tongue or language. Whatever difficult or bad-sounding their mother-tongues might be, they cannot tolerate its alteration. In East Pakistan in 1952, the common people even sacrificed their lives for the cause of their mother tongue, Bengali.

Same however, is not the case with the scripts, with are used merely for writing the language. In any language the scripts act like carry-bags and serve the purpose of transportation. So, it is easily possible to replace one type of script by another, so long the new script does not change the verbal language including sound and general character of the language. In fact many prominent languages of this world have changed their scripts for genuine reasons.

In order to learn a language, the children need lot of time, stationary and energy. The more complicated are the scripts the more will be the investment. On the other hand, the investment will be less for less complex scripts. In such a reality shifting from the complex to the simple one may result in tremendous saving. A person proficient in writing in one language needs to learn another new set of scripts in order to learn a second language. This problem would cease to exist if there exists an easy and generally acceptable set of scripts capable of writing all languages.

From time immemorial, "Unified Script" i.e. the script capable of writing all the languages is the dream of the experts. Kublai Khan, the king of Tibet initiated one such endeavor in 1260 A.D. The Lama who was assigned this task invented the script "Phags Pa" first time in 1269. Vitaly Vetash, an artist and a linguist from Russia worked for 22 years from 1977 to 1999 and invented Interbet.

It is now known to all that none of these inventions could in fact satisfy the multifarious needs of various languages. In November 17, 2009 two persons (Bijon B. Sarma and Mira Sarma Parai) invented "SUS" (Sarma's Unified Script) and published the principles in a book (Ref. 01). Time is still immature to comment if or how far this Unified Script would be able to meet the writing needs and expectations of various languages.

However, in view of the fact that SUS, the latest unified script utilized some unique and novel principles, there are reasons to believe that it would be able to meet the needs of all languages. In the above mentioned book the authors have merely explained the basic principle of "writing all languages of the world by using a single set of self-generating scripts". It means, if various languages intend to accept it as their writing media, then they would have to make manipulations, modifications etc. in order to meet their specialized needs and characters.

INTRODUCTION :

What men invented first was the vocal language. Later, they felt for a medium to carry those from one place to another and for that purpose, invented Scripts. The processes in which the scripts were invented in the distant past have gone under the veil of oblivion. However, it is almost sure that no logic or scientific deduction ever worked behind their creation.

The scripts of some languages are quite difficult to identify, cumbersome to scribe and tough to decipher. Due to this reason some languages have changed or modified all or some of their scripts. None, however, dared to create entirely new set of alphabet on the basis of logic and scientific deductions. One strong reason for not doing this might be, with vocal language the scripts also have attained some sort of emotional attachment because of their long time use.

Kublai Khan, the Tibetan ruler was one of the pioneers who thought of inventing a common script usable by many languages. He assigned one Tibetan Lama to find out scripts through which all the languages used in discrete areas of Tibet could be written. The script devised by this Lama is known as Phags-pa. Two versions of this script are available, (01) the standard script and (02) the seal script.

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