Have you ever wondered why Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, and Sanskrit all use the same script—Devanagari—even though they are different languages?

Or why Urdu and Punjabi can both be written in the Persian-Arabic script, even though they are linguistically distinct? The phenomenon of multiple languages sharing the same script is neither accidental nor unusual. In fact, it's a result of fascinating historical, political, social, and linguistic processes.

Let's embark on a journey to explore why specific languages share the same or similar scripts, the factors that influence this convergence, and the implications for linguistic diversity and communication. Also, let's examine the influence of script origin, geography, historical periods, decipherment, and cultural dominance in shaping the evolution of scripts across multiple tongues.

The Basics: What Is a Script?

Before we dive deep, let's clarify a fundamental distinction:

A language is a system of communication consisting of grammar, vocabulary, and syntax.

A script is a set of visual symbols used to write down a language.

Scripts are like outfits a language wears. Multiple languages can be expressed in the same outfit, or it can be changed altogether over time. For instance, Hindi and Marathi both use the Devanagari script, but they're linguistically distinct. Similarly, English, French, and German all use the Latin script.

Shared Scripts: How and Why?

Languages adopt the same script under the influence of several factors:

Cultural and Political Unification

In multi-lingual empires or regions, a dominant script often becomes the standard across diverse languages for administrative ease.

Example:

During the Mauryan Empire, the Brahmi script was used to inscribe Emperor Ashoka’s edicts in multiple languages across his territory. This set a precedent for using one script to cover multiple vernaculars.

Modern parallel:

India’s adoption of Devanagari for Hindi and Sanskrit, and Gurmukhi for Punjabi (in India), while Perso-Arabic continues to be used for Urdu and Punjabi (in Pakistan).

Religious and Literary Prestige

Scripts often carry the weight of religious texts and are therefore preserved or adopted across languages.

Example:

The Devanagari script owes its widespread use, in part, to Sanskrit literature and Hindu scriptures, such as the Rigved and the Bhagavad Gita. As a result, Hindi, Nepali, and even Konkani adopted it to maintain cultural continuity

Arabic script, through Islam, spread across vast regions—from West Africa to South Asia. Languages such as Urdu, Persian (Farsi), Pashto, and even ancient Malay adopted the Arabic script due to their shared religious affinity.

Colonial Legacy

Colonial rulers often imposed or facilitated specific scripts for practical governance.

Example:

The Latin script was introduced in many parts of the world under colonialism. Today, Swahili, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and even indigenous languages like Xhosa and Zulu are written in the Latin alphabet.

Geographic and Historical Factors

Let’s examine the role of space and time in shaping the script-language dynamics.

Origin and Lineage

Scripts often descend from earlier ones. When a script spreads, its 'descendants' may branch into different language communities.

Example:

1. The Brahmi script (India, ~3rd century BCE) gave rise to multiple scripts:
2. Devanagari (Hindi, Sanskrit, Nepali)
3. Bengali-Assamese (Bengali, Assamese)
4. Tamil and Telugu scripts

These all look different today but share structural roots, especially the abugida nature (consonants with an inherent vowel, modified by diacritics).

Thus, one script can evolve into many, and many scripts can originate from a single one.

Geographical Proximity

Languages spoken in the same region often influence each other script-wise, especially if there's population movement, trade, or conquest.

Example:

In North India, close proximity meant that even different languages, such as Maithili, Bhojpuri, and Sanskrit, retained the use of Devanagari for the ease of mutual literacy and printing.

In South India, Dravidian languages such as Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam have their scripts, but they are all derived from the Southern Brahmi variant. These scripts are different but functionally similar, showing convergence.

Decipherment and Orthographic Reform

Sometimes, a script's revival or decipherment allows it to spread anew. Other times, reforms help unify multiple languages under a single writing system.

Decipherment

When a script is deciphered, scholars may find that it served more than one language.

Example:

The Kharosthi script was deciphered in the 19th century and revealed to be used for Gandhari Prakrit and other dialects in the northwestern Indian subcontinent.

Likewise, the cuneiform script was used for several unrelated languages, including Sumerian, Akkadian, Elamite, and Hittite.

Standardisation and Reform

Governments may enforce script reforms for educational or nationalist purposes.

Example:

1. Turkey’s switch from the Arabic script to Latin under Atatürk (1928) aimed to modernise and secularise the nation.
2. In post-independence India, the official promotion of Devanagari for Hindi helped unify multiple dialects under a single script for educational purposes.

Benefits of Sharing a Script

Why is script-sharing such a powerful tool? Here are some significant advantages:

Literacy and Education

Once someone learns to read the script, they can potentially access texts in multiple languages. This reduces the learning curve and fosters passive bilingualism.

Printing and Publishing

When scripts are shared, books, newspapers, keyboards, and typesetting systems don’t have to be reinvented. A printing press in 19th-century Calcutta could produce books in Hindi, Sanskrit, and Nepali without requiring any changes to its setup.

Cross-Linguistic Unity

In multilingual societies, a shared script can create a sense of collective identity, even when languages differ.

Example:

The usage of Gurmukhi among Punjabi speakers in India provides a sense of cultural coherence. In contrast, in Pakistan, Shahmukhi (a Perso-Arabic variant) aligns Punjabi with Urdu and Islamic heritage.

Script as Soft Power

Scripts themselves become part of a region's cultural capital. The spread of the Devanagari and Latin scripts helped expand the influence of Indian and European languages, respectively.

But Are There Downsides?

Yes, and it's essential to acknowledge them.

1. Script dominance can marginalise other writing systems (e.g., the decline of the Sharada and Modi scripts in India).
2. Loss of nuance: When a language shifts scripts, it can lose pronunciation accuracy. For example, Urdu’s sounds are better represented in Perso-Arabic than in Latin transliteration.
3. Political tensions: Script choices sometimes become battlegrounds for identity. The Hindi-Urdu divide is as much about script and culture as it is about grammar.

Case Study: Hindi and Urdu

Let’s zoom in on one fascinating case—Hindi vs. Urdu.

1. Both derive from Hindustani, a lingua franca of North India.
2. Urdu uses the Nastaʿlīq style of the Perso-Arabic script.
3. Hindi uses Devanagari.

While mutually intelligible in spoken form, their scripts shape how they're taught, published, and even perceived. This script divergence became a symbol of religious and political identity, particularly after Partition.

Reader Activity: Explore the Script Map

Try this interactive exercise:

1. Pick any Indian language you speak or are curious about.
2. Google its script and find out:
3. Which other languages share it?
4. What script did it use 200 years ago?
5. Has it ever changed?

You’ll discover a story not just of language, but of migrations, empires, and revolutions.

In a world of over 7,000 languages and only a few dozen scripts, it’s inevitable—and often strategic—that different tongues share the same script. Scripts are tools. They help transmit thought, unify communities, and record history.

When languages share a script, they don't lose individuality; instead, they open gateways to shared literacy, cultural cohesion, and mutual understanding.

As digital tools make multilingual content more accessible, script convergence continues, as seen in Unicode, multilingual keyboards, and AI transcription. The future may hold new shared scripts or even script-neutral writing.

So, next time you see a script, remember: it’s not just letters—it’s a fingerprint of civilisations.