Bassa Vah alphabet
| Bassa Vah | |
|---|---|
| Script type | |
| Direction | Left-to-right |
| Languages | Bassa language |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Bass (259), Bassa Vah |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Bassa Vah |
| Final accepted Unicode proposal, U+16AD0-U+16AFF[1] | |
Bassa Vah (Bassa: , romanized: basoo va), also known as simply Vah (), meaning 'throwing a sign' in Bassa, is an alphabetic script for writing the Bassa language of Liberia.[2] As an old system nearing extinction in the 1900s, it was rediscovered among Bassa in Brazil and the West Indies, then revived in Liberia, by Thomas Flo Lewis.[3] Type was cast for it, and an association for its promotion was formed in Liberia in 1959.[1] It is not used today and has been classified as a failed script.[4]
Letters
[edit]Vah is written from left to right. It is a true alphabet, with 23 consonant letters, 7 vowels, and 5 tone diacritics.
A full-stop/period is represented with .
IPA: [n] n
|
IPA: [k] k
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IPA: [s] s
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IPA: [f] f
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IPA: [b/m] b/m
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IPA: [dj]/[n] dy/ny
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IPA: [g] g
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IPA: [d] d
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IPA: [kp] kp
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IPA: [j] j
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IPA: [xw]/[hw] xw
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IPA: [w] w
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IPA: [z] z
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IPA: [gb/ngm] gb/gm
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IPA: [d/r/r] d
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IPA: [c] c
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IPA: [hw] hw
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IPA: [t] t
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IPA: [b] b
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IPA: [v] v
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IPA: [h] h
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IPA: [p] p
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IPA: [r] r
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IPA: [a] a
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IPA: [o] o
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IPA: [o] o
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IPA: [u] u
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IPA: [e] e
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IPA: [e] e
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IPA: [i] i
|
The letter is pronounced as /b/ when followed by an oral vowel, for example
The letter is pronounced as /dj/
The letter is pronounced as /gb/
The letter is pronounced as /r/ when written after /d/ or /t/ - /toro/ (mountain), and is pronounced as /r/ when written after any other consonants - /furu/ (to float). This letter is never immediately followed by a nasal vowel.
The letter is rarely used. It represents the sound /r/, which is an allophone of /d/, and appears only after /t/ or /d/ in a syllable initial 'cluster'. But this is usually written with the letter .
Nasal vowels are written with the letter (n) after a corresponding vowel letter.[5]
IPA: [a] a
|
IPA: [o] o
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IPA: [u] u
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IPA: [e] e
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IPA: [i] i
|
Tones
[edit]Vah uses five diacritical marks to denote tonality of its vowels. It distinguishes five tones: high, low, mid, mid-rising, and falling.
high * IPA:
|
low * IPA:
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mid * IPA:
|
mid-rising * IPA:
|
falling * IPA:
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a
|
a
|
a
|
a
|
a
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
o
|
u
|
u
|
u
|
u
|
u
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
i
|
i
|
i
|
i
|
i
|
The letters table shows the alphabetic order of the script. The tones above reflect the order they appear in the alphabet order as well. A vowel with tones are ordered before the subsequent vowel. For example, the vowel is followed by and then the next vowel,
Sample texts
[edit]Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
- - , - - - - , -
IPA: [n] (to drink)
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IPA: [k] (to cut open)
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IPA: [s] (to be tired)
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IPA: [f] (to rip)
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IPA: [b/m] (night)
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IPA: [dj]/[n] (to climb up)
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IPA: [g] (to choose)
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IPA: [d] (somewhere)
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IPA: [kp] (to happen)
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IPA: [j] (truth)
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IPA: [xw]/[hw] (hand)
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IPA: [w] (they/them)
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IPA: [z] (to remove)
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IPA: [gb/ngm] (on (a road))
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IPA: [d/r/r] (to call)
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IPA: [c] (to deceive)
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IPA: [hw] (to vomit)
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IPA: [t] (three)
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IPA: [b] (to be rich, plentiful)
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IPA: [v] (green leaf)
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IPA: [h] (hundred)
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IPA: [p] (to drink)
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IPA: [r] (to plant)
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IPA: [a] (we)
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IPA: [o] (he, she, it, his, hers, its, him, her)
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IPA: [o] - (oak tree)
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IPA: [u] (to float)
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IPA: [e] (book)
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IPA: [e] (thing)
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IPA: [i] (angel)
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Unicode
[edit]Bassa Vah was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.
The Unicode block for Bassa Vah is U+16AD0-U+16AFF:
| Bassa Vah[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+16ADx | ||||||||||||||||
| U+16AEx | ||||||||||||||||
| U+16AFx | ||||||||||||||||
Notes
| ||||||||||||||||
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Everson, Michael; Riley, Charles (2010). "Final proposal for encoding the Bassa Vah script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF).
- ^ Coulmas, Florian, ed. (1999). "Bassa alphabet". B. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. p. 39. doi:10.1002/9781118932667.ch2. ISBN 9780631214816.
- ^ "History of the Bassa Script". Bassa Vah Association. Archived from the original on 2007-02-22.
- ^ Unseth, Peter (2011). "Invention of Scripts in West Africa for Ethnic Revitalization". In Joshua A. Fishman; Ofelia Garcia (eds.). Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 23-32. ISBN 9780199837991.
- ^ "Bassa Vah orthography notes". r12a.github.io.
