Punctuations in Meetei/Meitei Mayek

James Oinam *

Suti Thare : Book cover

If I am correct, in the ancient times when writing using the Meetei/Meitei script, very few punctuations were used (in the ancient Puyas for example). Other than the one or two "danda" (cheikhei) to denote pause and end of sentence, there weren't many other punctuations (Brahmic punctuation character).

After wide Bengali script usage using punctuations found in the English language, the government-recognized Meetei/Meitei script has now made its entrance. Somewhere it is mentioned that one "danda" is used for comma and two "danda" for full stop. However, it seems most writers now prefer English comma, semicolon, dash etc. for pauses and two "danda" for full stop while writing Meetei/Meitei script.

Just like in English, while writing in the Meetei/Meitei script now, most people use British style of punctuation, i.e., single quote. However, with times due to the internet and other connectivity, Indians, including Manipuris, are also being influenced by the American/US English and punctuation style, which is characterized by use of double quotes.

In most written Meetei/Meitei script articles or books, one must have noticed the use of single quotes. However, recently, I purchased a set of children's books published by National Book Trust of India.

Here, I found use of double quotes. Images from one of the books from this set titled "Suti Thare" authored by Rabindranath Thakur (Tagore?) are included for reference.

I think use of double quotes is a good idea. There are other symbols used with the written Meetei/Meitei script that are not specifically recognized as ancient Meetei/Meitei characters, e.g., the question/interrogation mark, exclamation mark, and quotes. (They do not have names in Meetei/Meitei lon.)

However, I personally prefer the double quotes like the US style. I think this will help distinguish it from Meetei/Meitei characters called cheitap like aanap, otnap, and nung, especially when they (the quote and cheitap) appear next to each other.

In the US style, the full stop and comma always appear before the closing double quote. In British style they appear after the closing single quote. In British style, the punctuation appears before the closing single quote if it is part of the quoted text.

For example, exclamation and question mark will appear before the closing single quote if the entire question or exclamatory sentence is within the quote. Here, one may choose the British style along with double quote if that seems convenient.

Suti Thare : Book

In the included image notice how the text "one, two, three, inlo!" is given within the double quote (US style). In the US style, other than the comma and full stop, other punctuations like exclamation interrogation marks etc. follow the same style as the British regarding its placement with respect to closing quote.

Notice how in our image, the exclamation mark is coming before the closing double quote because it belongs to the text inside the double quotes. If it belonged to the quoted text plus some or all text outside the quote, it would have come after the closing double quote.

Lastly, there is a minor punctuation rule. There is a comma called Oxford comma or serial comma. This is the comma put before the conjunction appearing before the last item of a list containing three or more items.

For example, one, two, and three are numbers. (The comma before the word "and" is the serial comma.) One can consistently use or not use this comma while writing. A mix of the two will not be considered carefully written text.