Vai syllabary

Vai
ꕙꔤ
Vai; ꕙꔤ
Script type	Syllabary
Time period	1830s–present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Vai
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Vaii (470), Vai
Unicode
Unicode alias	Vai
Unicode range	U+A500–U+A63F
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Vai syllabary is a syllabic writing system devised for the Vai language by Momolu Duwalu Bukele of Jondu, in what is now Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia.^[1]^[2]^[3] Bukele is regarded within the Vai community, as well as by most scholars, as the syllabary's inventor and chief promoter when it was first documented in the 1830s. It is one of the two most successful indigenous scripts in West Africa in terms of the number of current users and the availability of literature written in the script, the other being N'Ko.^[4] ^[5]

^ Migeod, F.W.H. (1909). "The syllabic writing of the Vai people". Journal of the African Society. 9 (33): 46–58. JSTOR 715184.
^ Massaquoi, Momolu (1911). "The Vai people and their syllabic writing". Journal of the African Society. 10 (40): 459–466. JSTOR 714743.
^ Coulmas, Florian (1996). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 537–539. ISBN 978-0-631-21481-6.
^ Unseth, Peter (2011). "Invention of Scripts in West Africa for Ethnic Revitalization". In Fishman, Joshua A.; García, Ofelia (eds.). Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts. Vol. 2. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 23–32. ISBN 978-0-19-983799-1.
^ "British Library Documents showing the Vai script". www.bl.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2022.

[1] Migeod, F.W.H. (1909). "The syllabic writing of the Vai people". Journal of the African Society. 9 (33): 46–58. JSTOR 715184.

[massaquoi-2] Massaquoi, Momolu (1911). "The Vai people and their syllabic writing". Journal of the African Society. 10 (40): 459–466. JSTOR 714743.

[coulmas-3] Coulmas, Florian (1996). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 537–539. ISBN 978-0-631-21481-6.

[4] Unseth, Peter (2011). "Invention of Scripts in West Africa for Ethnic Revitalization". In Fishman, Joshua A.; García, Ofelia (eds.). Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts. Vol. 2. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 23–32. ISBN 978-0-19-983799-1.

[5] "British Library Documents showing the Vai script". www.bl.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2022.

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