Sunuwar Letter Imar

It writes the “ee” vowel in Sunuwar.

In Sunuwar, also called Sunwar, imar marks the vowel heard in English “machine.” Its conventional Latin transliteration is i. A following colon marks a long vowel: 𑯃:.

By itself, 𑯃 is a letter, not a greeting. The separate Sunuwar sign Pvo has a documented role in salutations and benedictory phrases, or blessing formulas.

Why was Sunuwar writing developed?

It gave Sunuwar a community writing system.

The modern alphabet is attributed to Jentich and documented from 1942. A community account describes older writing in the Koĩts-BreɁse language on animal skins, with examples copied and discussed in the 1940s.

Later users expanded the script for primers, poetry, histories, newspapers, government records, and digital type. It does not descend from Limbu or Latin, though the Sunuwar long-a letter 𑯖 was borrowed from Limbu. Community digitization presents the script as part of language preservation and written identity.

Why do Sunuwar spellings differ between Nepal and Sikkim?

The traditions parse neighboring letters by different rules.

In the Nepal-oriented Hamso tradition, vowels are written as separate letters. In the Sikkim Herald tradition, a consonant can carry an unwritten vowel; a cancellation mark removes it when consonants form a cluster. Imar still writes the “ee” vowel, but surrounding rules affect its Latin transliteration.

There is no single formal standard for Sunuwar spelling. Later writing traditions added letters and marks for vowel length, nasalization, and tone, so publications can spell the same language differently.