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The word Xi'an written in kyexiin in xiinthle'a.

The Xi'an alphabet ( Xi'an: kyexiin(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(Xi'an) (Proper); ) but is now most commonly written as ( Xi'an: 9xyan2(Xy'an) (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 (About this sound listen)
Ā aa8 aa 77aa extended a in father ɑː (About this sound listen)
 â c in but and cut ə (About this sound listen)/ʌ (About this sound listen)
O o8 o 77o o in cone and bone o (About this sound listen)
Ō oo8 oo 77oo extended o in cone and bone  (About this sound listen)
E e8 e 77e e in bet, set and let ɛ (About this sound listen)
Ē ee8 ee 77ee ay in day, say and slay  (About this sound listen) / e⁀ɪ
I i8 i 77i ee in spree only slightly shorter i (About this sound listen)
II ii8 ii 77ii ee in spree  (About this sound listen)
U u8 u 77u u in flu u (About this sound listen)
Ū uu8 uu 77u extended u in flu  (About this sound listen)

Consonants

SRX Basic Block Corner Pronunciation
P p [p] (About this sound listen)
K k 7k [k] (About this sound listen)
T t [t] (About this sound listen)
S s [s] (About this sound listen)
H h [h] (About this sound listen)
M m 7m [m] (About this sound listen) in him /ˈhɪm/, alt: /əm/
N n 7n [n] (About this sound listen)
NG ng 7g [ŋ] (About this sound listen) in Song /sɒŋ/ alt: /sɔŋ/, /sɑŋ/ and singing /ˈsɪŋɪŋ/
TH th 7th [θ] (About this sound listen) or [ð] (About this sound listen) n with /wɪð/, thin /ˈθɪn/
L l 7l [l] (About this sound listen) in tell /tɛl/ or /tɛɫ/ , lit /ˈlɪt/ ; in dialect: [r] (About this sound listen)
R r 7r [ɾ] (About this sound listen) or [r] (About this sound listen) in ital. 'rosa' /ˈrɔ.za/
THL thl or thl6 (rare) [θ] (About this sound listen) + [l] (About this sound listen) = with love
X x [ʂ] (About this sound listen)
XY xy [ʃ] (About this sound listen)
CH ch [ʈʂ] (About this sound listen)
CHY No discret glyph. CH in "Cheat"
KL kl /kl/
KR kr /kɾ/ or /kr/
Y 7y [j] (About this sound listen) in PYU /pjuː/ , KYU /kjuː/, HYUN /hjuːn/, NYU /njuː/ or /nju/, mutant /ˈmjuːtənt/ or /ˈmjuʔn̩(t)/

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/
uaa8 uaa 77uaa /wɑː/
UO uo8 uo 77uo /wo/
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/
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/
yaa8 yaa 77yaa /ja:/
YO yo8 yo 77yo /jo/
yoo8 yoo 77yoo /jo:/
YU yu8 yu 77yu /ju/
yuu8 yuu 77yuu /ju:/
YE ye8 ye 77ye /yɛ/
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

  1. An Overview of the Xi'an Language for Diplomats


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