Nawayathi language

Nawayathi
نوائطی
Native to	India
Region	Bhatkal
Ethnicity	Nawayaths
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Southern Zone Marathi–Konkani Nawayathi
Writing system	Persian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Nawayathi, also spelled Nawayati, is a language similar to Konkani spoken by Nawayaths of the southwestern coast of India. It is an amalgam of Persian, Arabic and Marathi, with Konkani as its base.^[1] The Nawayathi language uses Persian script for writing. "Persian script" was being used to write by the Nawayathis long before the Urdu language came into existence.^{[citation needed]}

Proposed Inclusion of Nawayathi Script in Unicode

4 forms of three new letters in Nawayathi script, Top character which sounds between t͡ʃ and s, Middle character which sounds ɳ and Bottom character which sounds ɭ.

In 2019, initiatives were undertaken to preserve the Nawayathi language and prevent its extinction through the inclusion of three additional characters in the Nawayathi script. A prototype keyboard incorporating these characters was also introduced to the public to facilitate digital use and promote the language's vitality.^[2]

References

1. "Connecting Konkan with Arabia via Iran: The history of Nawayathi, the language of Bhatkali Muslims". Two Circles. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
2. Anjana, Vaswani. "Hope for Nawayathi". Mumbai Mirror.