The Balinese script (Balinese: Aksara Bali) is an abugida that was used to write the Balinese language, an Austronesian language spoken by about three million people on the Indonesian island of Bali. The use of the Balinese alphabet has mostly been replaced by the Roman alphabet. Although it is learned in school, few people use it. It is mostly used in temples and for religious writings.
The Balinese script was derived from the Old Kawi alphabet, which ultimately derived from the Brahmi alphabet, the root of all the Indic and Southeast Asian abugidas. The alphabet consists of 47 characters, 14 of which are vowels (aksara suara), and the remaining 33 are consonants (aksara wianjana). Among the 33 consonants, only 18 are commonly used; the rest are mainly used to write loanwords from Kavi and Sanskrit.
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