This article is a stub.
The Xi’an alphabet ( Xi'an: kẽxÌN (Proper); literally script / alphabetic letter; ) is a writing system to write the Xi’an language.
The alphabet has over 200 "letters", symbols or glyphs. Each letter has more than one form (basic, block, corner). Kyexiin has also 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 and form 'words'. The block format is always:
- V, Vowel
- VC, Vowel - Consonant
- CV, Consonant - Vowel
- CVC, Consonant - Vowel - Consonant
Therefore some words can be written differently. Xi’an tries to minimize the number of blocks.
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.Template:RSI
Components
Vowels
| SRX | Basic | Block | Corner | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | á | à | [a] ( listen)
|
| Ā | A | Á | À | [ɑː] ( listen) - long a - in father /fɑː.ðə*/
|
| Â | % | [ʌ] ( listen) in but /bʌt/, cut /kʌt/
| ||
| O | o | ó | ò | [ɛ] ( listen) in set /sɛt/, net /nɛt/, met /mɛt/
|
| Ō | O | Ó | Ò | [ɛː] ( listen) - long ɛ -
|
| E | e | é | è | [i] ( listen)
|
| Ē | E | É | È | [iː] ( listen) - long i - in spree /spɹiː/
|
| I | i | í | ì | [o] ( listen)
|
| II | I | Í | Ì | [oː] ( listen) - long o -
|
| U | u | ú | ù | [u] ( listen), in some cases [w] ( listen)
|
| Ū | U | Ú | Ù | [uː] ( listen)
|
Consonants
| SRX | Basic | Block | Corner | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | p | [p] ( listen)
| ||
| K | k | K | [k] ( listen)
| |
| T | t | [t] ( listen)
| ||
| S | s | [s] ( listen)
| ||
| H | h | [h] ( listen)
| ||
| M | m | M | [m] ( listen) in him /ˈhɪm/, alt: /əm/
| |
| N | n | N | [n] ( listen)
| |
| NG | g | G | [ŋ] ( listen) in Song /sɒŋ/ alt: /sɔŋ/, /sɑŋ/ and singing /ˈsɪŋɪŋ/
| |
| TH | þ | Þ | [θ] ( listen) or [ð] ( listen) n with /wɪð/, thin /ˈθɪn/
| |
| L | l | R | [l] ( listen) in tell /tɛl/ or /tɛɫ/ , lit /ˈlɪt/ ; in dialect: [r] ( listen)
| |
| R | r | R | [ɾ] ( listen) or [r] ( listen) in ital. 'rosa' /ˈrɔ.za/
| |
| THL | ð | Ð | [θ] ( listen) + [l] ( listen) = with love
| |
| X | x | [ʂ] ( listen)
| ||
| XY | X | [ʃ] ( listen)
| ||
| CH | ç | [ʈʂ] ( listen)
| ||
| CHY | No discret glyph. CH in "Cheat" | |||
| KL | ļ | /kl/ | ||
| KR | ŗ | /kɾ/ or /kr/ | ||
| Y | ĩ | j | [j] ( listen) in PYU /pjuː/ , KYU /kjuː/, HYUN /hjuːn/, NYU /njuː/ or /nju/, mutant /ˈmjuːtənt/ or /ˈmjuʔn̩(t)/
|
Diphtongs
U-Diphtongs
| SRX | Basic | Block | Corner | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UA | ä | â | ạ | /wɑ/ |
| UĀ | Ä | Â | Ạ | /wɑː/ |
| UO | ö | ô | ọ | /wo/ |
| UŌ | Ö | Ô | Ọ | /woː/ |
| VU | v | q | /vu/βu/ - Unclear whether this is the bilabial fricative or the labiodental fricative | |
| UE | ë | ê | ẹ | /wɛ/ |
| UĒ | Ë | Ê | Ẹ | /wɛː/ |
| UI | ï | î | ị | /wi/ |
| UII | Ï | Î | Ị | /wiː/ |
| UAO | ẅ | ŵ | ẉ | /wɑo/ |
| UĀO | Ẅ | Ŵ | Ẉ | /wɑːo/ |
| UOA | ø | œ | æ | /woɑ/ |
| UŌA | Ø | Œ | Æ | /woːɑ/ |
| UAI | ÿ | ŷ | ỵ | /wɑi/ |
| UĀI | Ÿ | Ŷ | Ỵ | /wɑːi/ |
| UEA | ùĕ | /wɛɑ/ |
Y-Diphtongs
Special glyphs
| SRX | Block | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| UTH | & | |
| E’E | ė | |
| 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 |
Puncuation and pitch
| SRX | Symbol | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| . (as full stop) | . | Full stop | |
| , | Pause. | ||
| – | Epenthesis | ||
| @ | @á | Proper name | |
| “ ” | “á” | Quotation | |
| # | á# | Low pitch | |
| » | á» | High pitch | |
| ’ | á’ | Normal Fall | |
| $ *
|| $á* || Normal Rise | |||
| ’ # | á’ k#
|| Fall-to-low | ||
| $ »
|
$á»
|
Rise-to-high | |
| $ ’ | $á’ | Rise-to-fall |