The Yi scripts, also known as Cuan [tswen] or Wei, are used to write the Yi languages. A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables, which make up words. ... A Chinese logogram A logogram, or logograph, is a single written character which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). ... Yi (also Moso, Lolo, Noso, ) is a family of closely related Tibeto-Burman languages spoken by the Yi people. ... A blonde haired, very skilled worker with a 70s look. ... ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, defines two sets of codes for a number of writing systems (scripts). ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... Yi (also Moso, Lolo, Noso, ) is a family of closely related Tibeto-Burman languages spoken by the Yi people. ...

Classical Yi

Classic Yi is a syllabic logographic system of 8000-10,000 glyphs. Although similar to Chinese in function, the glyphs are independent in form, with little to suggest that they are directly related. The classic script has an attested history of 500 years, but is probably much older. There is significant regional variation, with one extreme example being the glyph for "stomach", with some forty variants. Classic Yi is one of several such non-Chinese logographic scripts used by Tibeto-Burman languages of southwestern China, others being Naxi and Lisu. None of them are widely used today. Egyptian hieroglyphs, which have their origins as logograms. ... The Tibeto-Burman linguistic subfamily of the proposed Sino-Tibetan language family is spoken in various central and south Asian countries: Myanmar (Burmese language), Tibet (Tibetan language), northern Thailand (Mong language), Nepal, Bhutan, India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and the Ladakh region of... Categories: Ethnic groups of China ... Lisu is a Sino-Tibetan tonal language spoken in Yunnan (southwestern China), northern Burma, and Thailand and a small part of India. ...

There is some internal evidence that the Chinese script may not have been originally designed for the Chinese language.^{[citation needed]} Thus we cannot conclude that the Yi got the idea of writing from the Chinese. Indeed, some age estimates would make Yi the older of the two; it's also possible that they derive from a common source.

Modern Yi (ꆈꌠꁱꂷ)

The Modern Yi script (ꆈꌠꁱꂷ nuosu bburma [nɔ̄sū bʙ̝̄mā] 'Nosu script') is a standardized syllabary derived from the classic script in 1974 by the local Chinese government. It was made the official script of the Yi languages in 1980. There are 756 basic glyphs based on the Liangshan (Cool Mountain) dialect, plus 63 for syllables only found in Chinese borrowings. A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables, which make up words. ... “PRC” redirects here. ... Yi (also Moso, Lolo, Noso, ) is a family of closely related Tibeto-Burman languages spoken by the Yi people. ...

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. (Or perhaps a "buzzing" tone that can only occur on two vowels.) Not all combinations are possible.

Although the Liangshan dialect has four tones (and others have more), only three tones (high, mid, low) have separate glyphs. The fourth tone (rising) may sometimes occur as a grammatical inflection of the mid tone, so it is written with the mid-tone glyph plus a diacritic mark (a superscript arc). Counting this diacritic, the script represents 1,165 syllables.

Syllabary

The syllabary of standard modern Yi is as follows:

Yi in Pinyin

The expanded pinyin letters used to write Yi are: Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

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 [h]. 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], p [pʰ], bb [b], nb [m͡b], hm [m̥], m [m], f [f], v [v]

Alveolar: d [t], t [tʰ], dd [d], nd [n͡d], hn [n̥], n [n], hl [l̥], l [l]

Velar: g [k], k [kʰ], gg [g], mg [ŋ͡g], hx [h], ng [ŋ], h [x], w [ɣ]

Affricate series

Alveolar: z [t͡s], c [t͡sʰ], zz [d͡z], nz [nd͡z], s [s], ss [z]

Retroflex: zh [t͡ʂ], ch [t͡ʂʰ], rr [d͡ʐ], nr [nd͡ʐ], sh [ʂ], r [ʐ]

Palatal: j [t͡ɕ], q [t͡ɕʰ], jj [d͡ʑ], nj [nd͡ʑ], ny [ɲ], x [ɕ], y [ʑ]

Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Retroflex consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up and back so the bottom of the tip touches the roof of the mouth. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ...

Vowels

• Identified with the vowel of Mandarin si "four".

Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ...

Tone

An unmarked syllable has mid tone. Other tones are shown by a final consonant:

t (high), p (low).

r ("buzzing" (trilled fricative) tone, as ur, yr [ʙ̝, r̝] only).

A hacek (ě, etc.) over the vowel of a mid-tone or buzzing-tone syllable represents the rising tone which takes the arc diacritic in the Modern Yi syllabary.

Yi in Unicode

The Unicode range for Modern Yi is U+A000 ... U+A4BE. Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ...

Classic Yi has not been assigned a Unicode range.

See also

• Mojikyo

Mojikyo (文字鏡) is a set of computer software and fonts for enhanced ideogram word-processing. ...

External links

Yi script edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Unicode Yi charts (600kB PDF file)
• GB18030 Support Package for Windows 2000/XP, including Chinese, Tibetan, Yi, Mongolian and Thai font by Microsoft