Joyig script

Jogyig
*Lhoyig* • *Mönyig* • *Drukyig*
མགྱོགས་ཡིག་
*mgyogs yig*
Jogyig; Lhoyig • Mönyig • Drukyig; མགྱོགས་ཡིག་; mgyogs yig
	Choksat (Alphabet) chart in Joyig style used in Bhutan
Script type	Abugida (a cursive adaptation of the Tibetan script)
Creator	Denma Tsemang
Period	c. 8th c.e.–present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Dzongkha
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brahmi Northern Brahmi Gupta Tibetan Jogyig; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Sister systems	Umê script; Uchen script;
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Tibt (330), Tibetan
Unicode
Unicode alias	Tibetan
Unicode range	U+0F00–U+0FFF ; (mapped to the Tibetan alphabet)
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains Tibetan script. Without proper rendering support, you may see very small fonts, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Tibetan characters.

The Jôyi script or Jogyig (Dzongkha: མགྱོགས་ཡིག་) commonly referred to as the Bhutanese cursive script, is a distinct calligraphic style of the Tibetan script utilised for the Dzongkha language in Bhutan.^[3] Just as the Tibetan script developed distinct styles for formal (Üchen) and informal (Umê) contexts, the Bhutanese developed their own styles, known as Jogyig "cursive longhand" and Jôtshum "formal longhand". Jogyig is the Bhutanese equivalent for Umé, which isused for everyday handwriting.^[4]

Historically developed and used exclusively within Bhutan, Jogyig is characterised by its fluid, rapid, and continuous stroke structure, facilitating efficient handwritten communication. Known also as Mönyig (Mön script), Lhoyig (Southern script) or Drukyig (Bhutanese script), it is believed to have been drafted by the translator Denma Tsemang in the 8th century. It is considered halfway between the Üchen (དབུ་ཅན་) and Umê (ཁྱུག་ཡིག་) scripts.^[5] Because it is written quickly, it got its name Jogyig or "fast script".^[6] It is an syllabilic segemental abugida writing system with 30 consonants, 5 vowels and numerous symbols used in religious texts.

Presently, there is no standalone policy specifically for the status of Jogyig in Bhutan; however, it is widely used by government bodies, institutions, monastic groups and in everyday life. As most of the state's internal treasure texts, administrative documents, and correspondence were historically written in Jogyig, the script is a foundational component of Bhutan’s literature and cultural heritage. The Dzongkha Development Commission considers Jogyig to be the authentic script for Bhutanese.^[7]

Etymology

According to traditional Bhutanese accounts, before the introduction of Buddhism, the region was sparsely populated and heavily forested. The area was historically referred to as the "Land of Snow-Clad Mountains and Ravines" (Khawa Ribrag gi Yul), and its inhabitants were known as Ribragpa.^[8]

According to the Gyalrab Lhoi Chojung (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་རབས་ལྷོའི་ཆོས་འབྱུང་, Wylie: rgyal rabs lho'i chos 'byung) (History of Southern Buddhism), subsequent settlements were established by figures exiled from India, including Prince Sindhu Raja, who established himself in Bumthang Chokhor alongside his ministers and subjects.^[9] He would later be known as Chakhar Gyalpo, among the first Kings of Bhutan. During the 8th century, he invited Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) to the region, which introduced Buddhism into Bhutan.^[10] Following his arrival, the terms Mön Bumthang and Mön Paro emerged, with the broader region becoming known as Mönyul (Land of Mön) and its local script as Mönyig.

Tibetans referred to this script as Lhoyig (Southern script) because it originated south of the Tibetan Plateau. While the terms Mönyig and Lhoyig remained in use until the 19th century, the script's rapid, fluid execution led to the widespread adoption of the term Joyig (literally "fast script"). Today, it is primarily known as Joyig, though it is occasionally referred to as Drukyig (Bhutanese script).^[3]

History and origins

Because the Uchen and Jogyig scripts used in Bhutan are similar to Tibetan scripts, the history of their forms is closely tied to the history of Tibetan writing. The origins of Tibetan writing trace back to Indian scripts. It is widely accepted that the Tibetan script was derived from the Gupta script of India. According to historical accounts, Tibetan Bonpos believe that scripts existed in Tibet even before Guru Rinpoche's arrival. During the reign of the 33rd Tibetan King, Songtsen Gampo, the minister Thonmi Sambhota was sent to India to study scripts. Among the many Indian scripts, the Tibetan and Bhutanese scripts appear most similar to the Gupta script.

The creation of Jogyig is traditionally attributed to Denma Tsemang, a disciple of Guru Rinpoche. Several scholars have documented different historical perspectives on its origins:^[11]

Dasho Sangay Dorji's account: In the 8th century, King Sindhu Raja of Bumthang offered paper to the Tibetan King Trisong Detsen for the transcription of the Kangyur and Tengyur at Samye Monastery. In return, Guru Rinpoche brought Denma Tsemang to Bumthang to transcribe local Dharma teachings. Denma Tsemang is credited with inventing the Lhoyig (Southern Script) during this period to record these texts, which were later concealed as spiritual treasures (terma) at Kurjey Dorje Tsegpa.^[12]^[3]
Ugyen Dorji's account: Denma Tsemang initially developed a semi-cursive script known as Jotsum. Over generations, as scribes required greater speed, Jotsum naturally evolved into the fully cursive Joyig. Historically, up to seven distinct scripts flourished in Bhutan, including standard block lettering (Tshugyig or Uchen) and various cursive forms.^[13]
Khenpo Phuntsho Tashi's account: Drawing on ancient Buddhist records citing 64 classical scripts, Tashi posits that Jogyig may have pre-existed Denma Tsemang's arrival. Under this view, Denma Tsemang, a master of these classical scripts, popularized the existing script in Bumthang rather than inventing it independently.^[8]

Historically, Jogyig was used exclusively within Bhutan.^[3] While Bhutanese scholars and officials used the widely understood Tibetan Umed script for religious and trade correspondence with Tibet, internal communications were predominantly written in Jogyig. This included official edicts (kashog) issued by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal and successive Druk Gyalpos, as well as administrative records and private correspondence. Historical examples of the script are preserved today in Bhutanese museums, libraries, and private collections.

Letters

The Jogyig script is a Brahmic abugida system where syllables are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a tsek (་) mark, which is a short vertical mark in Joyig; Spaces are not used to divide words, due to their segmental nature.^[14] It functions similarly to the Tibetan script due to being a cursive variation of the same. However, there are distinct differences between the Tibetan and Bhutanese ways of writing. The Dzongkha Development Commission noted that since 2000, while developing the Dzongkha Uchen font for the Unicode system, they identified 42 differences compared to the Tibetan script.^[3] The tsek can function slightly differently when setting margins, spacing, and word boundaries in Dzongkha text processing.

Basic Letters

Jogyig has 30 basic letters called གསལ་བྱེད། ((Wylie: gsal byed), or consonants. As in other Brahmic scripts, each consonant letter assumes an inherent vowel /a/ in Jogyig.

*Jogyig* Alphabet
	Unaspirated high		Aspirated medium		Voiced low		Nasal low
	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA
Guttural		ཀ /ka/		ཁ /kʰa/		ག^[i] /ɡa/		ང /ŋa/
Palatal		ཅ /tʃa/		ཆ /tʃʰa/		ཇ^[i] /dʒa/		ཉ /ɲa/
Dental		ཏ /ta/		ཐ /tʰa/		ད^[i] /da/		ན /na/
Labial		པ /pa/		ཕ /pʰa/		བ^[i] /ba/		མ /ma/
Dental		ཙ /tsa/		ཚ /tsʰa/		ཛ^[i] /dza/		ཝ /wa/
low		ཞ^[i] /ʒa/		ཟ^[i] /za/		འ /ɦa/^[15]^[16] ⟨ʼa⟩		ཡ /ja/
medium		ར /ra/		ལ /la/		ཤ /ʃa/		ས /sa/
high		ཧ /ha/		ཨ /a/ ⟨ꞏa⟩

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g These voiced values are historical. They have been devoiced in modern Standard Tibetan.

Vowels

There are five vowels in Jogyig, with the vowel carrier ཨ /a/ combined with diacritics to form the remaining four. Long and short vowels are not distinguished. Dzongkha is a tonal language, with tone predicted from the spelling patterns of the word's orthography instead of dedicated tone markers.

	Back open		Front close		Back close		Front mid		Back mid
	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA	Letter	Tibetan Equivalent IPA
Vowel		ཨ /a/		ཨི /i/		ཨུ /u/		ཨེ /e/		ཨོ /o/

Policy and preservation

There is no special policy enshrining legal status for Jogyig in Bhutan. However, it is implicitly understood to be a part of Dzongkha, the national language. During the reigns of the Third and Fourth Druk Gyalpos, repeated royal edicts were issued emphasising the need to learn and preserve Dzongkha in order to properly understand Bhutan's religion, culture, traditions, and Driglam namzha (etiquette). Since the establishment of the National Assembly in 1953, numerous resolutions have been passed to preserve and promote Dzongkha and, in effect, the scripts of Bhutan.

Digitization

Since 2000, a project has successfully developed and distributed a computer font for Jogyig, which is now widely used within Bhutan. Schools have also been instructed to prioritize the teaching of Jogyig. During the annual book competitions organized by the DDC, extra points are awarded to books written in Jogyig to encourage its use.^[3]

Unicode

Being a stylistic variant of Tibetan, the script is mapped to Tibetan Unicode, with suitable fonts bringing the desired glyphs.

The Unicode block for Tibetan is U+0F00–U+0FFF. It includes letters, digits and various punctuation marks and special symbols used in religious texts:

Tibetan^[1]^[2]^[3] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+0F0x	ༀ	༁	༂	༃	༄	༅	༆	༇	༈	༉	༊	་	༌ NB	།	༎	༏
U+0F1x	༐	༑	༒	༓	༔	༕	༖	༗	༘	༙	༚	༛	༜	༝	༞	༟
U+0F2x	༠	༡	༢	༣	༤	༥	༦	༧	༨	༩	༪	༫	༬	༭	༮	༯
U+0F3x	༰	༱	༲	༳	༴	༵	༶	༷	༸	༹	༺	༻	༼	༽	༾	༿
U+0F4x	ཀ	ཁ	ག	གྷ	ང	ཅ	ཆ	ཇ		ཉ	ཊ	ཋ	ཌ	ཌྷ	ཎ	ཏ
U+0F5x	ཐ	ད	དྷ	ན	པ	ཕ	བ	བྷ	མ	ཙ	ཚ	ཛ	ཛྷ	ཝ	ཞ	ཟ
U+0F6x	འ	ཡ	ར	ལ	ཤ	ཥ	ས	ཧ	ཨ	ཀྵ	ཪ	ཫ	ཬ
U+0F7x		ཱ	ི	ཱི	ུ	ཱུ	ྲྀ	ཷ	ླྀ	ཹ	ེ	ཻ	ོ	ཽ	ཾ	ཿ
U+0F8x	ྀ	ཱྀ	ྂ	ྃ	྄	྅	྆	྇	ྈ	ྉ	ྊ	ྋ	ྌ	ྍ	ྎ	ྏ
U+0F9x	ྐ	ྑ	ྒ	ྒྷ	ྔ	ྕ	ྖ	ྗ		ྙ	ྚ	ྛ	ྜ	ྜྷ	ྞ	ྟ
U+0FAx	ྠ	ྡ	ྡྷ	ྣ	ྤ	ྥ	ྦ	ྦྷ	ྨ	ྩ	ྪ	ྫ	ྫྷ	ྭ	ྮ	ྯ
U+0FBx	ྰ	ྱ	ྲ	ླ	ྴ	ྵ	ྶ	ྷ	ྸ	ྐྵ	ྺ	ྻ	ྼ		྾	྿
U+0FCx	࿀	࿁	࿂	࿃	࿄	࿅	࿆	࿇	࿈	࿉	࿊	࿋	࿌		࿎	࿏
U+0FDx	࿐	࿑	࿒	࿓	࿔	࿕	࿖	࿗	࿘	࿙	࿚
U+0FEx
U+0FFx
Notes 1.^As of Unicode version 17.0 2.^Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points 3.^Unicode code points U+0F77 and U+0F79 are deprecated in Unicode 5.2 and later

Dzongkha

The Dzongkha keyboard layout scheme is designed as a simple means for inputting Dzongkha text on computers. This keyboard layout was standardized by the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) and the Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2000.

It was updated in 2009 to accommodate additional characters added to the Unicode and ISO 10646 standards since the initial version. Since the arrangement of keys essentially follows the usual order of the Dzongka and Tibetan alphabet, the layout can be quickly learned by anyone familiar with this alphabet. Subjoined (combining) consonants are entered using the Shift key.

The Dzongka keyboard layout is included in Microsoft Windows, Android, and most distributions of Linux as part of XFree86.

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Dzongkha of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

In Joyig script

In Tibetan script

འགྲོ་བ་མི་རིགས་ག་ར་དབང་ཆ་འདྲ་མཏམ་འབད་སྒྱེཝ་ལས་ག་ར་ གིས་གཅིག་གིས་གཅིག་ལུ་སྤུན་ཆའི་དམ་ཚིག་བསྟན་དགོ།

Wylie transliteration & translation

འགྲོ་

’Gro-

བ་

ba-

མི་

mi-

རིགས་

rigs-

ག་

ga-

ར་

ra-

དབང་

dbaṅ-

ཆ་

cha-

འདྲ་

’dra-

མཏམ་

mtam-

འབད་

’bad-

སྒྱེཝ་

sgyew-

ལས་

las-

ག་

ga-

ར་

ra-

གིས་

gis-

གཅིག་

gcig-

ལུ་

lu-

སྤུན་

spun-

ཆའི་

cha’i-

དམ་

dam-

ཚིག་

tshig-

བསྟན་

bstan-

དགོ།

dgo

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.^[17]

References

^ Daniels, Peter T. (January 2008). "Writing systems of major and minor languages". In Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (eds.). Language in South Asia. pp. 285–308. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511619069.017. ISBN 978-0-521-78653-9.
^ Masica, Colin (1993). The Indo-Aryan languages. p. 143.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Thinley, Namgay and Dorji, Tandin. (2016). Bhutan's Jogyig. Thimphu: Dzongkha Development Commission.
^ van Driem, George (1998). Dzongkha = Rdoṅ-kha. Leiden: Research School, CNWS. p. 47. ISBN 90-5789-002-X.
^ Phuntsho, Karma. "Jyoyig: A Bhutanese Script". Mandala Library. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
^ "Joyig script". Kmaps. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
^ "Dzongkha" (PDF). Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names. United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
^ ^a ^b Tashi, Khenpo Phuntsho. As cited in Thinley & Dorji (2016).
^ Lho'i chos 'byung bstan pa rin po che'i 'phro mthud 'jam dgon smon mtha'i 'phreng ba. Buddhist Digital Resource Center. Retrieved 2026-05-28. – via Historical woodblock print documenting the history of Bhutan.
^ "Kurjey Lhakhang". Bumthang District Administration. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
^ Tashi, Khenpo Phuntsok (2004). "Development of Cursive Bhutanese Writing". The Spider and the Piglet: Proceedings of the First Seminar on Bhutan Studies. Thimphu: Centre for Bhutan Studies. pp. 194–263. ISBN 99936-14-19-X. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
^ Dorji, Dasho Sangay. As cited in Thinley & Dorji (2016).
^ Dorji, Ugyen. As cited in Thinley & Dorji (2016).
^ Chan, A.; Noble, A. (2009). Sounds in Translation: Intersections of Music, Technology and Society. DOAB Directory of Open Access Books. ANU E Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-921536-55-7. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
^ Hill, Nathan W. (2005b). "Once more on the letter འ" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 28 (2): 111–141. doi:10.32655/LTBA.28.2.04. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-16. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
^ Hill, Nathan W. (2009). "Tibetan <ḥ-> as a plain initial and its place in Old Tibetan phonology" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 32 (1): 115–140. doi:10.32655/LTBA.32.1.03. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
^ "Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1) in Sino-Tibetan languages". omniglot.com.

External links

The History of Southern Buddism - The Buddhist Digital Archives

[voiced-15] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g These voiced values are historical. They have been devoiced in modern Standard Tibetan.

[1] Daniels, Peter T. (January 2008). "Writing systems of major and minor languages". In Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (eds.). Language in South Asia. pp. 285–308. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511619069.017. ISBN 978-0-521-78653-9.

[masica-2] Masica, Colin (1993). The Indo-Aryan languages. p. 143.

[ThinleyDorji2016-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Thinley, Namgay and Dorji, Tandin. (2016). Bhutan's Jogyig. Thimphu: Dzongkha Development Commission.

[Driem47-4] van Driem, George (1998). Dzongkha = Rdoṅ-kha. Leiden: Research School, CNWS. p. 47. ISBN 90-5789-002-X.

[5] Phuntsho, Karma. "Jyoyig: A Bhutanese Script". Mandala Library. Retrieved 19 February 2025.

[6] "Joyig script". Kmaps. Retrieved 19 February 2025.

[7] "Dzongkha" (PDF). Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names. United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-05-28.

[Tashi-8] Tashi, Khenpo Phuntsho. As cited in Thinley & Dorji (2016).

[9] Lho'i chos 'byung bstan pa rin po che'i 'phro mthud 'jam dgon smon mtha'i 'phreng ba. Buddhist Digital Resource Center. Retrieved 2026-05-28. – via Historical woodblock print documenting the history of Bhutan.

[10] "Kurjey Lhakhang". Bumthang District Administration. Retrieved 2026-05-28.

[11] Tashi, Khenpo Phuntsok (2004). "Development of Cursive Bhutanese Writing". The Spider and the Piglet: Proceedings of the First Seminar on Bhutan Studies. Thimphu: Centre for Bhutan Studies. pp. 194–263. ISBN 99936-14-19-X. Retrieved 2026-05-28.

[12] Dorji, Dasho Sangay. As cited in Thinley & Dorji (2016).

[13] Dorji, Ugyen. As cited in Thinley & Dorji (2016).

[x832-14] Chan, A.; Noble, A. (2009). Sounds in Translation: Intersections of Music, Technology and Society. DOAB Directory of Open Access Books. ANU E Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-921536-55-7. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

[16] Hill, Nathan W. (2005b). "Once more on the letter འ" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 28 (2): 111–141. doi:10.32655/LTBA.28.2.04. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-16. Retrieved 2022-06-01.

[17] Hill, Nathan W. (2009). "Tibetan <ḥ-> as a plain initial and its place in Old Tibetan phonology" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 32 (1): 115–140. doi:10.32655/LTBA.32.1.03. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01.

[18] "Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1) in Sino-Tibetan languages". omniglot.com.

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v t e Tibetan language
Language	Tibetic languages Old Tibetan Classical Tibetan Ü-Tsang Khams Amdo
Scripts	Tibetan alphabet Umê (Drutsa, Bêtsug) Uchen Regional (Joyig, Monyig and Lhoyig) Numerals Braille
Others	Transcription: Wylie, Tibetan pinyin, THL Transcription Grammar (Modern Standard Tibetan grammar)
Tibetic languages outside Tibetan Plateau	Dzongkha Sikkimese Ladakhi Balti