Vai syllable nyo

Nyo is the Latin-based transcription of this complete Vai syllable. Its opening consonant is similar to Spanish ñ in niño. Vai is a syllabary: each character represents a syllable rather than one consonant or vowel. Some longer syllables use a second character for a long vowel, a two-vowel sound, or a final nose sound marked by ꘋ.

The earliest surviving descriptions and manuscript evidence date to 1834. Historians place the script's beginning around 1832–1833, so no exact invention year is settled. Bukẹlẹ is the best-known figure credited with creating it, though accounts also mention collaborators and disagree about its origins.

Vai writing was made for correspondence, record-keeping, and trade, and later influenced other Indigenous West African scripts. Latin and Arabic writing are documented as possible influences; links to Cherokee writing and an earlier picture-based script are less certain. A reform in 1899 and a University of Liberia conference in 1962 aimed to reduce ambiguity and regularize the syllabary.