Vai Syllable Ng

It marks a nasal sound at the end of a Vai syllable.

Vai is a syllabary: its signs usually stand for syllables. ꘋ writes the final nasal, conventionally transcribed “ng,” and usually follows a vowel-bearing sign. That nasal can assimilate to the following consonant, so it may not sound like the “ng” in English “sing,” though the spelling stays ꘋ. On its own, ꘋ can also be the one-syllable first-person pronoun “I.”

How did Vai writing develop?

Vai writing took shape in Liberia in the early 1830s.

The syllabary was developed primarily by Mọmọlu Duwalu Bukẹlẹ, who later said a dream inspired him. The earliest known sample is a manuscript by Fan Dawo Kelondo from 1834. Vai writing served correspondence and record-keeping, especially among merchants and traders.

The manuscript record from 1834–2005 shows written forms changing over time. The origin remains unsettled: Bukẹlẹ may have drawn on Latin, Arabic, or Cherokee writing, or reshaped an earlier picture-based system. In the first half of the twentieth century, Mende, Loma, and Kpelle syllabaries drew on Vai’s design; a Bamana influence is possible. The maker of the Bassa alphabet knew Vai, though that alone does not prove borrowing. Standardization efforts followed in 1899 and 1962.