Yi script


The Yi scripts are two scripts used to write the Yi languages; Classical Yi, and the later Yi syllabary. The script is historically known in Chinese as Cuan Wen or Wei Shu and various other names, among them "tadpole writing".
This is to be distinguished from romanized Yi which was a system invented by missionaries and intermittently used afterwards by some government institutions. There was also the alphasyllabary devised by Sam Pollard, the Pollard script for the Miao language spoken in Yunnan province, which he adapted for the Nasu language as well. Present day traditional Yi writing can be sub-divided into five main varieties, namely, Nuosu, Nasu, Nisu, Sani and Azhe.

Classical Yi

Classical Yi or Traditional Yi is a syllabic logographic system that was reputedly devised, according to Nuosu mythology, during the Tang dynasty by a Nuosu hero called Aki. However, the earliest surviving examples of the Yi script date back to only the late 15th century and early 16th century, the earliest dated example being an inscription on a bronze bell dated to 1485. There are tens of thousands of manuscripts in the Yi script, dating back several centuries, although most are undated. In recent years a number of Yi manuscript texts written in traditional Yi script have been published.
The original script is said to have comprised 1,840 characters, but over the centuries widely divergent glyph forms have developed in different Yi-speaking areas, an extreme example being the character for "stomach" which exists in some forty glyph variants. Due to this regional variation as many as 90,000 different Yi glyphs are known from manuscripts and inscriptions. Although similar to Chinese in function, the glyphs are independent in form, with little to suggest that they are directly related. However, there are some borrowings from Chinese, such as the characters for numbers used in some Yi script traditions.
Languages written with the classical script included Nuosu, Nisu, Wusa Nasu, and Mantsi. It was traditionally written on manuscripts vertically from top to bottom, in columns stacking from right to left, but some modern transcriptions are showing it horizontally from left to right, in lines stacking from top to bottom.

Modern Yi

The Modern Yi script is a standardized syllabary derived from the classic script in 1974 by the local Ethnic Affairs Commission in Sichuan.
In 1980, it was ratified by the State Council as the official script of the Liangshan dialect of the Nuosu Yi language of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, and consequently is known as Liangshan Standard Yi Script. There are 756 basic glyphs based on the Liangshan dialect, plus 63 for syllables used only for words borrowed from Chinese.
Yunnan did not officially adopt the Liangshan script, but developed its own Yunnan Standard Yi Script on different principles, which emphasized cross-dialect intelligibility, as well as retention of shared logographic forms. The Yunnan script has 2,608 glyphs, of which 2,258 are logographic, plus 350 phonetic glyphs. The Yunnan script was ratified by the provincial government in Yunnan in 1987. Guizhou published a dictionary in 1991 which identified standard and variant forms of traditional Yi logographs used in Nasu area.
The native syllabary represents vowel and consonant-vowel syllables, formed of 43 consonants and 8 vowels that can occur with any of three tones, plus two "buzzing" vowels that can only occur as mid tone. Not all combinations are possible.
Although the Liangshan dialect has four tones, only three tones have separate glyphs. The fourth tone may sometimes occur as a grammatical inflection of the mid tone, so it is written with the mid-tone glyph plus a diacritic mark. Counting syllables with this diacritic, the script represents 1,164 syllables. In addition, there is a syllable iteration mark, ꀕ, that is used to reduplicate a preceding syllable.

Yi in pinyin

Only the Northern Yi language spoken in Sichuan is currently standardized and officialized using the modern Yi syllabary. The syllabary may be used as well for other Lolo languages elsewhere in China, notably for the Hani dialect spoken in Yunnan Province, where it is used on some public displays, but their Pinyin romanization uses a different system, based on Chinese Pinyin, which may offer additional phonetic distinctions that are still not representable in the standard Yi syllabary.
The expanded Sichuan Yi Pinyin letters used to write Nuosu in Sichuan Province are:

Consonants

The consonant series are tenuis stop, aspirate, voiced, prenasalized, voiceless nasal, voiced nasal, voiceless fricative, voiced fricative, respectively. In addition, hl, l are laterals, and hx is. v, w, ss, r, y are the voiced fricatives. With stops and affricates, voicing is shown by doubling the letter.
  • Plosive series
  • * Labial: b, p, bb, nb, hm, m, f, v
  • * Alveolar: d, t, dd, nd, hn, n, hl, l
  • * Velar: g, k, gg, mg, hx, ng, h, w
  • Affricate and fricative series
  • * Alveolar: z, c, zz, nz, s, ss
  • * Retroflex: zh, ch, rr, nr, sh, r
  • * Palatal: j, q, jj, nj, ny, x, y

Vowels

The two "buzzing" vowels Romanized in Pinyin as 'ur' and 'yr' are transcribed distinctly in IPA notations using a subscripted minus sign below the base vowel; this minus sign diacritic is optional in phonologic transcriptions below the base vowel or as it is not distinctive. The other alternate transcriptions using an "up tack" diacritic below the base vowel are only phonetic for some Nuosu dialects, but not needed in phonologic transcriptions.
All IPA transcriptions may vary with sources and authors, depending on dialects or when representing local accents more precisely than the simplified phonology. The last two base vowels romanized in Pinyin as 'u' or 'y' may also be transcribed in IPA using a Latin consonant or but with an additional vertical tick below.

Tones

An unmarked Pinyin syllable has mid-level tone, i.e. . Other tones are represented in Sichuan Yi Pinyin by appending a basic Latin consonant, and transcribed in IPA by appending modifier digits or IPA tone symbols, or by adding an accent diacritic above the base vowel symbol:t : high level tone, i.e. x : high rising tone, i.e. or p : low falling tone, i.e.

Syllabary

The syllabary of standard modern Yi is illustrated in the two tables below. The consonant sound represented in each column comes first before the vowel and tone sound represented in each row; the top-right cell shows the additional syllable iteration mark.
Syllables represented for the rising tone are highlighted with a pale yellow background, and are based on the glyph for the mid tone, with an additional stroke for the superscript arc. The three glyphs for syllables with the rising tone, are composed differently from other syllables with the rising tone: as the root syllable for their characters does not have a form in the normal mid tone, they use the low tone character with the arc diacritic noting the rising tone. :

–b
p
bb
nb
hm
m
f
v
d
t
dd
nd
hn
n
hl
l
g
k
gg
mg
hx
ng
h
w
ꀕ
it
ꀀꀖꀸꁖꁶꂑꂮꃍꃢꄀꄚꄶꅑꅨꅽꆗꆷꇚꇸꈔ ꉆ ꉮ it
ix
ꀁꀗꀹꁗꁷꂒꂯꃎꃣꄁꄛꄷꅒꅩꅾꆘꆸꇛꇹꈕ ꉇ ix
i
ꀂꀘꀺꁘꁸꂓꂰꃏꃤꄂꄜꄸꅓꅪꅿꆙꆹꇜꇺꈖ ꉈ i
ip
ꀃꀙꀻꁙꁹꂔꂱꃐꃥꄃꄝꄹꅔꅫꆀꆚꆺꇝꇻ ꉉ ip
iet
ꀄꀚ ꁚ ꃦ ꅬ ꆻꇞ ꉊ iet
iex
ꀅꀛꀼꁛꁺꂕꂲ ꃧꄄꄞꄺꅕꅭꆁꆛꆼꇟꇼꈗꈰꉋꉝꉯ iex
ie
ꀆꀜꀽꁜꁻꂖꂳ ꃨꄅꄟꄻꅖꅮꆂꆜꆽꇠꇽꈘꈱꉌꉞꉰ ie
iep
ꀇꀝꀾꁝꁼꂗꂴ ꃩꄆꄠꄼ ꅯꆃꆝꆾꇡꇾꈙ ꉍꉟ iep
at
ꀈꀞꀿꁞꁽꂘꂵꃑꃪꄇꄡꄽꅗꅰ ꆞꆿꇢꇿꈚꈲꉎꉠꉱꊀat
ax
ꀉꀟꁀꁟꁾꂙꂶꃒꃫꄈꄢꄾꅘꅱꆄꆟꇀꇣꈀꈛꈳꉏꉡꉲꊁax
a
ꀊꀠꁁꁠꁿꂚꂷꃓꃬꄉꄣꄿꅙꅲꆅꆠꇁꇤꈁꈜꈴꉐꉢꉳꊂa
ap
ꀋꀡꁂꁡꂀꂛꂸꃔꃭꄊꄤꅀꅚꅳꆆꆡꇂꇥꈂꈝꈵꉑꉣꉴꊃap
uot
 ꂹ ꄥ ꇃꇦ ꈞ ꉒꉤꉵ uot
uox
ꀌꀢꁃꁢ ꂜꂺ ꄋꄦꅁ ꅴꆇꆢꇄꇧꈃꈟꈶꉓꉥꉶꊄuox
uo
ꀍꀣꁄꁣ ꂝꂻ ꄌꄧꅂ ꅵꆈꆣꇅꇨꈄꈠꈷꉔꉦꉷꊅuo
uop
ꀎꀤꁅꁤ ꂞꂼ ꄨꅃ ꆉꆤꇆꇩꈅꈡꈸꉕ ꉸꊆuop
ot
ꀏꀥꁆꁥꂁꂟꂽ ꃮꄍꄩꅄꅛꅶꆊ ꇇꇪꈆꈢꈹꉖꉧꉹ ot
ox
ꀐꀦꁇꁦꂂꂠꂾꃕꃯꄎꄪꅅꅜꅷꆋꆥꇈꇫꈇꈣꈺꉗꉨꉺꊇox
o
ꀑꀧꁈꁧꂃꂡꂿꃖꃰꄏꄫꅆꅝ ꆌꆦꇉꇬꈈꈤꈻꉘꉩꉻꊈo
op
ꀒꀨꁉꁨꂄꂢꃀꃗꃱꄐꄬꅇꅞꅸꆍꆧꇊꇭꈉꈥꈼꉙꉪꉼꊉop
–b
p
bb
nb
hm
m
f
v
d
t
dd
nd
hn
n
hl
l
g
k
gg
mg
hx
ng
h
w
et
 ꇮꈊꈦ et
ex
ꀓꀩ ꁩ ꃁ ꃲꄑꄭꅈꅟꅹꆎꆨꇋꇯꈋꈧꈽꉚꉫꉽꊊex
e
ꀔꀪ ꁪ ꃂ ꄒꄮꅉꅠꅺꆏꆩꇌꇰꈌꈨꈾꉛꉬꉾꊋe
ep
 ꀫ ꁫ ꃳꄓꄯꅊꅡꅻꆐꆪꇍꇱꈍꈩꈿꉜꉭꉿꊌep
ut
 ꀬꁊꁬꂅꂣꃃꃘꃴꄔꄰꅋꅢꅼꆑꆫꇎꇲꈎꈪꉀ ut
ux
 ꀭꁋꁭꂆꂤꃄꃙꃵꄕꄱꅌꅣ ꆒꆬꇏꇳꈏꈫꉁ ux
u
 ꀮꁌꁮꂇꂥꃅꃚꃶꄖꄲꅍꅤ ꆓꆭꇐꇴꈐꈬꉂ u
up
 ꀯꁍꁯꂈꂦꃆꃛꃷꄗꄳꅎꅥ ꆔꆮꇑꇵꈑꈭꉃ up
urx
 ꀰꁎꁰꂉꂧꃇꃜꃸꄘꄴꅏꅦ ꆕꆯꇒꇶꈒꈮꉄ urx
ur
 ꀱꁏꁱꂊꂨꃈꃝꃹꄙꄵꅐꅧ ꆖꆰꇓꇷꈓꈯꉅ ur
yt
 ꀲꁐꁲꂋ ꃉꃞꃺ ꆱꇔ yt
yx
 ꀳꁑꁳꂌꂩꃊꃟꃻ ꆲꇕ yx
y
 ꀴꁒꁴꂍꂪꃋꃠꃼ ꆳꇖ y
yp
 ꀵꁓꁵꂎꂫꃌꃡꃽ ꆴꇗ yp
yrx
 ꀶꁔ ꂏꂬ ꃾ ꆵꇘ yrx
yr
 ꀷꁕ ꂐꂭ ꃿ ꆶꇙ yr
–b
p
bb
nb
hm
m
f
v
d
t
dd
nd
hn
n
hl
l
g
k
gg
mg
hx
ng
h
w
-



z
c
zz
nz
s
ss
zh
ch
rr
nr
sh
r
j
q
jj
nj
ny
x
y
it
ꊍꊮꋐꋭꌉꌪ ꏠꏼꐘꐱꑊꑝꑱit
ix
ꊎꊯꋑꋮꌊꌫ ꏡꏽꐙꐲꑋꑞꑲix
i
ꊏꊰꋒꋯꌋꌬ ꏢꏾꐚꐳꑌꑟꑳi
ip
ꊐꊱꋓꋰꌌꌭ ꏣꏿꐛꐴꑍꑠꑴip
iet
 ꊲꋔ ꏤꐀꐜꐵꑎꑡꑵiet
iex
ꊑꊳꋕꋱꌍꌮ ꏥꐁꐝꐶꑏꑢꑶiex
ie
ꊒꊴꋖꋲꌎꌯ ꏦꐂꐞꐷꑐꑣꑷie
iep
ꊓꊵꋗꋳꌏꌰ ꏧꐃꐟꐸꑑꑤꑸiep
at
ꊔꊶꋘꋴꌐꌱꍆꍡ ꎔꎫꏆ at
ax
ꊕꊷꋙꋵꌑꌲꍇꍢꍼꎕꎬꏇ ax
a
ꊖꊸꋚꋶꌒꌳꍈꍣꍽꎖꎭꏈ a
ap
ꊗꊹꋛꋷꌓꌴꍉꍤ ꎗꎮꏉ ap
uot
 ꍥ ꏨꐄ ꑹuot
uox
ꊘꊺ ꋸꌔ ꍊꍦꍾ ꎯꏊꏩꐅꐠꐹꑒꑥꑺuox
uo
ꊙꊻ ꋹꌕ ꍋꍧꍿ ꎰꏋꏪꐆꐡꐺꑓꑦꑻuo
uop
ꊚꊼ ꌖ ꍌꍨ ꎱꏌꏫꐇꐢ ꑔ ꑼuop
ot
ꊛꊽ ꌗꌵꍍꍩꎀ ꎲꏍꏬꐈꐣꐻꑕꑧꑽot
ox
ꊜꊾꋜꋺꌘꌶꍎꍪꎁꎘꎳꏎꏭꐉꐤꐼꑖꑨꑾox
o
ꊝꊿꋝ ꌙꌷꍏꍫꎂꎙꎴꏏꏮꐊꐥꐽꑗꑩꑿo
op
ꊞꋀꋞꋻꌚꌸꍐꍬꎃꎚꎵꏐꏯꐋꐦꐾꑘꑪꒀop
z
c
zz
nz
s
ss
zh
ch
rr
nr
sh
r
j
q
jj
nj
ny
x
y
et
 ꍑꍭꎄꎛꎶ et
ex
ꊟꋁꋟꋼꌛꌹꍒꍮꎅꎜꎷꏑ ex
e
ꊠꋂꋠꋽꌜꌺꍓꍯꎆꎝꎸꏒ e
ep
ꊡꋃꋡ ꌝꌻꍔꍰꎇꎞꎹꏓ ep
ut
ꊢꋄ ꌞꌼꍕ ꎈꎟꎺꏔꏰꐌꐧ ꑙ ꒁut
ux
ꊣꋅꋢꋾꌟꌽꍖꍱꎉꎠꎻꏕꏱꐍꐨꐿꑚ ꒂux
u
ꊤꋆꋣꋿꌠꌾꍗꍲꎊꎡꎼꏖꏲꐎꐩꑀꑛ ꒃu
up
ꊥꋇꋤꌀꌡꌿꍘꍳꎋꎢꎽꏗꏳꐏꐪꑁꑜ ꒄup
urx
ꊦꋈꋥꌁꌢ ꍙꍴꎌꎣꎾꏘꏴꐐꐫꑂ ꒅurx
ur
ꊧꋉꋦꌂꌣ ꍚꍵꎍꎤꎿꏙꏵꐑꐬꑃ ꒆur
yt
ꊨꋊꋧꌃꌤꍀꍛꍶꎎꎥꏀꏚꏶꐒꐭꑄ ꑫꒇyt
yx
ꊩꋋꋨꌄꌥꍁꍜꍷꎏꎦꏁꏛꏷꐓꐮꑅ ꑬꒈyx
y
ꊪꋌꋩꌅꌦꍂꍝꍸꎐꎧꏂꏜꏸꐔꐯꑆ ꑭꒉy
yp
ꊫꋍꋪꌆꌧꍃꍞꍹꎑꎨꏃꏝꏹꐕꐰꑇ ꑮꒊyp
yrx
ꊬꋎꋫꌇꌨꍄꍟꍺꎒꎩꏄꏞꏺꐖ ꑈ ꑯꒋyrx
yr
ꊭꋏꋬꌈꌩꍅꍠꍻꎓꎪꏅꏟꏻꐗ ꑉ ꑰꒌyr
z
c
zz
nz
s
ss
zh
ch
rr
nr
sh
r
j
q
jj
nj
ny
x
y


Unicode

The Unicode block for Modern Yi is Yi syllables, and comprises 1,164 syllables and one syllable iteration mark. In addition, a set of 55 radicals for use in dictionary classification are encoded at U+A490 to U+A4C6. Yi syllables and Yi radicals were added as new blocks to Unicode Standard with version 3.0.
Classical Yi – which is an ideographic script like the Chinese characters, but with a very different origin – has not yet been encoded in Unicode, but a proposal to encode 88,613 Classical Yi characters was made in 2007. They are based on an extended set of radicals.