Brahmi Ña

The Brahmi letter , Ña, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Nun , and is thus related to the modern Latin N and Greek Nu. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Ña can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.^[1] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi Ña historic forms

Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)

Tocharian Ña

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , but does not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian Ña with vowel marks

Ña	Ñā	Ñi	Ñī	Ñu	Ñū	Ñr	Ñr̄	Ñe	Ñai	Ño	Ñau	Ñä

Kharoṣṭhī Ña

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Nun , and is thus related to N and Nu, in addition to the Brahmi Ña.

Devanagari-using Languages

In all languages, ञ is pronounced as [ɲə] or [ɲ] when appropriate, similar to the phoneme in English canyon (/ˈkænjən/).. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Conjuncts with ञ

Half form of Ña.

Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.^[2]

Devanagari Jña

Jña half form

One of the most common true ligatures in Devanagari is the conjunct jña ज्ञ. This ligature is a required form for most Devanagari languages, and the conjunct even has its own half form that freely joins other letters in horizontal conjuncts.

• ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature jña:

• Repha र্ (r) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature rjña:

• Eyelash र্ (r) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature rjña:

• भ্ (bʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature bʰjña:

• ब্ (b) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature bjña:

• छ্ (cʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature cʰjña:

• च্ (c) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature cjña:

• ढ্ (ḍʱ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ḍʱjña:

• ड্ (ḍ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ḍjña:

• द্ (d) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature djña:

• घ্ (ɡʱ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ɡʱjña:

• ग্ (g) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature gjña:

• ह্ (h) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature hjña:

• ज্ (j) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature jjña:

• झ্ (jʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature jʰjña:

• ख্ (kʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature kʰjña:

• क্ (k) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature kjña:

• ल্ (l) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ljña:

• म্ (m) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature mjña:

• न্ (n) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature njña:

• ञ্ (ñ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ñjña:

• ङ্ (ŋ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ŋjña:

• फ্ (pʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature pʰjña:

• प্ (p) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature pjña:

• श্ (ʃ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ʃjña:

• स্ (s) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature sjña:

• ष্ (ṣ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ṣjña:

• थ্ (tʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature tʰjña:

• त্ (t) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature tjña:

• ठ্ (ṭʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ṭʰjña:

• ट্ (ṭ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature ṭjña:

• व্ (v) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature vjña:

• य্ (y) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature yjña:

ঞ in Bengali-using languages

ঞ is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.

Conjuncts with ঞ

Bengali ঞ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a mix of both stacked and linear ligatures.^[3]

• চ্ (c) + ঞ (ña) gives the ligature cña:

• জ্ (j) + ঞ (ña) gives the ligature jña:

• ঞ্ (ñ) + চ (ca) gives the ligature ñca:

• ঞ্ (ñ) + ছ (cʰa) gives the ligature ñcʰa:

• ঞ্ (ñ) + জ (ja) gives the ligature ñja:

• ঞ্ (ñ) + ঝ (jʰa) gives the ligature ñjʰa:

• ষ্ (ṣ) + ঞ (ña) gives the ligature ṣña:

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઞ is pronounced as [ɲə] or [ɲ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Ña	Ñā	Ñi	Ñī	Ñu	Ñū	Ñr	Ñl	Ñr̄	Ñl̄	Ñĕ	Ñe	Ñai	Ñŏ	Ño	Ñau	Ñ
Gujarati Ña syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Conjuncts with ઞ

Half form of Ña.

Gujarati ઞ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari. True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra.

• ર્ (r) + ઞ (ɲa) gives the ligature RÑa:

• ઞ્ (ɲ) + ર (ra) gives the ligature ÑRa:

• જ્ (j) + ઞ (ɲa) gives the ligature JÑa:

• ર્ (r) + જ (ja) ઞ (ɲa) gives the ligature RJÑa:

• જ (ja) + ઞ્ (ɲ) + ર (ra) gives the ligature JÑRa:

• ઞ્ (ɲ) + ન (na) gives the ligature ÑNa:

Conjuncts of ഞ

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

• ഞ് (ñ) + ച (ca) gives the ligature ñca:

• ഞ് (ñ) + ജ (ja) gives the ligature ñja:

• ജ് (j) + ഞ (ña) gives the ligature jña:

• ഞ് (ñ) + ഞ (ña) gives the ligature ñña:

Conjuncts of ଞ

As is common in Indic scripts, Odia joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. ଞ does not have the small subjoined form that is the most common means of conjunct formation in Odia. The second type of conjunct formation is through pure ligatures, where the constituent consonants are written together in a single graphic form. This ligature may be recognizable as being a combination of two characters or it can have a conjunct ligature unrelated to its constituent characters. For other conjuncts, an explicit Halanta is needed when adding ଞ.

• ଞ୍ (ñ) + ଚ (ca) gives the ligature ñca:

• ଞ୍ (ñ) + ଛ (cʰa) gives the ligature ñcʰa:

• ଞ୍ (ñ) + ଜ (ja) gives the ligature ñja:

• ଞ୍ (ñ) + ଝ (jʰa) gives the ligature ñjʰa:

• ଜ୍ (j) + ଞ (ña) gives the ligature jña:

Conjuncts of 𑂖

As is common in Indic scripts, Kaithi joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a half form of preceding consonants, although several consonants use an explicit virama. Most half forms are derived from the full form by removing the vertical stem. As is common in most Indic scripts, conjucts of ra are indicated with a repha or rakar mark attached to the rest of the consonant cluster. In addition, there are a few vertical conjuncts that can be found in Kaithi writing, but true ligatures are not used in the modern Kaithi script.

• 𑂩୍ (r) + 𑂖 (ña) gives the ligature rña: