Vai Syllable Ndee

It represents the Vai syllable “ndee.”

Vai is a syllabary: its writing is organized around syllables rather than separate letters for each consonant and vowel. A short syllable is usually one character; a long one can use two. In the standard Latin transcription “ndee,” “nd” marks n immediately followed by d, and “ee” represents the vowel. Together they form one syllable, not an English translation; its meaning depends on the Vai word.

When did Vai writing begin?

It took shape in Liberia in the early 1830s. The Vai language is spoken in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The script was developed mainly by Momolu Duwalu Bukẹlẹ, from Jondu, who said its inspiration came in a dream. Reports from 1833 describe the new writing, and a surviving manuscript from 1834 gives an early example.

Early texts also used logograms: signs that represented a whole syllable together with an associated meaning. Standardization efforts followed in 1899 and 1962; a standard Vai syllabary was published after the 1962 conference.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Vai’s syllabic organization inspired the Mende, Loma, and Kpelle writing systems; their creators made distinct characters rather than borrowing Vai signs. The designs’ exact origins remain uncertain: possible influences from Latin and Arabic, a Cherokee connection, and an earlier picture-based system have all been proposed.