The Xi'an alphabet ( Xi'an: kyexiin (Proper); literally script / alphabetic letter; ) is a writing system to write the Xi'an language.
The alphabet has over 200 "letters", symbols or glyphs. A letter is referred to as a kyexiin, which translates as "written symbol" Each letter has more than one form (basic, block, corner). The Xi'an writing system also has a hyphen, 'comma' (epentheses and pause), quotation and a period (full stop) mark. Proper nouns are also marked in the Xi'an script. There are a special glyph for vowel muting and a glyph equal to the ampersand (&).
Some glyphs can occur in different shapes or variants. Glyphs are grouped into blocks which form individual syllables. Often a single syllable represents an 'elemental' concept in the language, and is thus called a tai ( Xi'an: tai (Proper); ). Multiple tai can combine to form compound words. The block format is always:
- V, Vowel
- VC, Vowel - Consonant
- CV, Consonant - Vowel
- CVC, Consonant - Vowel - Consonant
Only a certain set of consonants (denoted below as those that have a 'corner form') are permitted to come at the end of a syllable. This applies to both CVC and VC syllables. Occasionally, and particularly within proper names, syllables will be compressed into a minimised number of blocks. An example of this is the word Xi'an, which in-lore has historically been written as ( Xi'an: 9xi2an (Proper); ) but is now most commonly written as ( Xi'an: 9xyan2 (Proper); ).
It is important to note that pitch diacritics can fundamentally change the meaning of a word. It can be sometimes very tricky to distinguish these diacritics from each other.[1]
Components
Vowels
| SRX | Basic | Block | Corner | Simple pronunciation | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | a8 | a | 77a | a in father | ɑ (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
| Ā | aa8 | aa | 77aa | extended a in father | ɑː (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
| Â | â | c in but and cut | ə (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen)/ʌ (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) | ||
| O | o8 | o | 77o | o in cone and bone | o (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
| Ō | oo8 | oo | 77oo | extended o in cone and bone | oː (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
| E | e8 | e | 77e | e in bet, set and let | ɛ (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
| Ē | ee8 | ee | 77ee | ay in day, say and slay | eː (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) / e⁀ɪ |
| I | i8 | i | 77i | ee in spree only slightly shorter | i (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
| II | ii8 | ii | 77ii | ee in spree | iː (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
| U | u8 | u | 77u | u in flu | u (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
| Ū | uu8 | uu | 77u | extended u in flu | uː (File:Loudspeaker.svg listen) |
Consonants
Diphtongs
| SRX | Basic | Block | Corner | Variant | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AO | ao8 | ao | 77ao | /ɑo/ | |
| ĀO | aao8 | aao | 77aao | /ɑːo/ | |
| OA | oa8 | oa | 77oa | /oɑ/ | |
| ŌA | ooa8 | ooa | 77ooa | /oːɑ/ | |
| AI | ai8 | ai | 77ai | ai6 | /ɑi/ |
| ĀI | aai | aai | 77aai | aai6 | /ɑːi/ |
| EA | ea8 | ea | 77ea | ea6 | /ɛɑ/ |
U-Diphtongs
| SRX | Basic | Block | Corner | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UA | ua8 | ua | 77ua | /wɑ/ |
| UĀ | uaa8 | uaa | 77uaa | /wɑː/ |
| UO | uo8 | uo | 77uo | /wo/ |
| UŌ | uoo8 | uoo | 77uo | /woː/ |
| VU | vu8 | vu | /vu/βu/ - Unclear whether this is the bilabial fricative or the labiodental fricative | |
| UE | ue8 | ue | 77ue | /wɛ/ |
| UĒ | uee8 | uee | 7uee | /wɛː/ |
| UI | ui8 | ui | 7ui | /wi/ |
| UII | uii8 | ui | 7ui | /wiː/ |
| UAO | uao8 | uao | 77uao | /wɑo/ |
| UĀO | uaao8 | uao | 77uao | /wɑːo/ |
| UOA | uoa8 | uoa | 77uoa | /woɑ/ |
| UŌA | uooa8 | uooa | 77uooa | /woːɑ/ |
| UAI | uai8 | uai | 77uai | /wɑi/ |
| UĀI | uaai8 | uai | 77uai | /wɑːi/ |
| UEA | uea | /wɛɑ/ |
Y-Diphtongs
| SRX | Basic | Block | Corner | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YA | ya8 | ya | 77ya | /ja/ |
| YĀ | yaa8 | yaa | 77yaa | /ja:/ |
| YO | yo8 | yo | 77yo | /jo/ |
| YŌ | yoo8 | yoo | 77yoo | /jo:/ |
| YU | yu8 | yu | 77yu | /ju/ |
| YŪ | yuu8 | yuu | 77yuu | /ju:/ |
| YE | ye8 | ye | 77ye | /yɛ/ |
| YĒ | yee8 | yee | 77yee | /yɛ:/ |
| YI | yi8 | yi | 77yi | /ji/ |
| YII | yii8 | yii | 77yii | /jiː/ |
| YAO | yao8 | yao | 77yao | /jɑo/ |
| YĀO | yaao8 | yaao | 77yaao | /jɑːo/ |
| YOA | yoa8 | yoa | 77yoa | /joɑ/ |
| YŌA | yooa8 | yooa | 77yooa | /joːɑ/ |
| YAI | yai8 | yai | 77yai | /jɑi/ |
| YĀI | yaai8 | yaai | 77yaai | /jɑːi/ |
| YEA | yea | /jɛɑ/ |
Special glyphs
| SRX | Glyph | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| UTH | uth | |
| E'E | e2e | |
| 0 | (Vowel muting) |
Numbers
| SRX | Basic | Pronunciation | SRX | Basic | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 8 | 8 | ||
| 4 | 4 | 9 | 9 | ||
| 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Punctuation
| Symbol | Notes |
|---|---|
| . | Full stop |
| , | Pause |
| ) | Epenthesis |
| ? | Question mark |
| " " | Quotation marks |
Pitch and 'Capitalisation'
These examples all use the character a as the example.
| Symbol | Notes |
|---|---|
| 9a | Proper name, i.e. Capitalisation |
| a1 | Low pitch |
| a3 | High pitch |
| a2 | Normal Fall |
| 4a5 | Normal Rise |
| 4a3 | Rise-to-high |
| a2 a1 | Fall-to-low |
| 4a2 | Rise-to-fall |
See also
References
