Vai syllable Di

It marks one Vai syllable, not a whole word. Its first sound is like d, but made with inward airflow; the syllable ends in i. Vai uses syllable signs, each usually representing a consonant-and-vowel unit, and does not mark tone. Alone, ꔹ gives a sound; the surrounding Vai spelling shows the full word.

The script emerged among six to eight Vai speakers in Liberia around 1833; Momolu Duwalu Bukele is usually credited with its creation. The earliest known surviving sample is a one-page manuscript dated 1834, written by Fan Dawo Kelondo at John Leighton Wilson's request.

Vai writing first served practical needs: keeping records, exchanging correspondence and supporting trade. It later appeared in schools and in translations of the Qur'an and New Testament. In 1962, a University of Liberia standardization aimed for one sign per syllable, setting aside alternate signs for the same syllable. Unicode, a shared standard computers use to represent text, encoded Vai in 2008, drawing mainly on the modern standard and some older material. That computer milestone was not the script's beginning. Vai also helped inspire later writing systems for Mande languages.

How do I type ꔹ?

Use a Vai transliteration layout.