Konkani Scripts

The name Konkani in the five scripts it is written in: 

Devanagari, Kannada, Romi, Malayalam ans Perso-Arabic

Konkani has been compelled to become a language using a multiplicity of scripts, and not just one single script used everywhere. This has led to an outward splitting up of the same language, which is spoken and understood by all, despite some inevitable dialectal convergences.

The Brahmi Script for Konkani fell into disuse. Later, some inscriptions were written in old Nagari. However, owing to the Portuguese conquest in 1510 and the restrictions imposed by the inquisition, some early form of Devanagari was disused in Goa. The Portuguese promulgated a law banning the use of Konkani and Nagari scripts.

Another script, called Kandevi or Goykandi, was used in Goa since the times of the Kadambas, although it lost its popularity after the 17th century. Kandevi/Goykandi is very different from the Halekannada script, with strikingly similar features.Unlike Halekannada, Kandevi/Goykandi letters were usually written with a distinctive horizontal bar, like the Nagari scripts. This script may have been evolved out of the Kadamba Script, which was extensively used in Goa and Konkan. The earliest known inscription in Devanagari dates to 1187 AD. The Roman Script has the oldest preserved and protected literary tradition, beginning from the 16th century.

Today Konkani is written in five scripts:  Because Devanagari is the official script used to write Konkani in Goa, Konkan Region of  Maharashtra, North Kanara(Karwar) district and recently even Kochi Konkanis  of Kerala (Except Kadargod) most Konkanis (especially Hindus) in these 4 states write the language in Devanagari. However, Konkani is widely written in the Roman script (called Romi Konkani) by many Konkanis, (especially Catholics). This is because for many years, all Konkani literature was in the Latin script, and Catholic liturgyl and other religious literature has always been in the Roman script. Only people of Undivided South Kanara District/ Tulunad Region Karnataka and Kerala i.e. South Kanara, Udupi and Kasargod District   use the Kannada Script;  Malayalam Script was used by the Konkani community in Kerala, but there has been a move towards the usage of the Devanagari script in recent years. Konkani Muslim use Arabic script to write Konkani. There has been to trend towards the usage of the Arabic script among Muslim communities; this coincides with them mixing more Urdu and Arabic words into their Konkani dialects. When the Sahitya Akademi recognised Konkani in 1975 as an independent and literary language, one of the important factors was the literary heritage of Romi Konkani since the year 1556. However, after Konkani in the Devanagari script was made the official language of Goa in 1987, the Sahitya Akademi has supported only writers in the Devanagari script. For a very long time there has been a rising demand for official recognition of Romi Konkani by Catholics in Goa because a sizeable population of the people in Goa use the Roman script. Also a lot of the content on the Internet and the staging of the famed Tiatr  is written in Romi Konkani. In January 2013, the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court issued a notice to the state government on a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Romi Lipi Action Front seeking to amend the Official Language Act to grant official language status to Romi Konkani but has not yet been granted.