Vai syllable tha

It marks a Vai syllable, not a standalone English word.

“Tha” is the conventional Latin-letter transliteration—a spelling aid, not an English definition. Vai writing records syllables; tone (the pitch pattern of speech) and word boundaries shape how a character contributes to a word.

Local accounts say Bukele wanted writing for Vai communication after seeing Europeans write; writing was shared property. The earliest surviving sample is a page by Fan Dawo Kelondo, written at John Leighton Wilson’s request in 1834; the handwritten Book of Ndole dates to ca. 1845. Early forms varied; the University of Liberia tried standardization in 1962. Fieldwork from 1975–1978 records correspondence, accounts, plans, family histories, and association rules. Vai’s syllabic structure helped inspire Mende, Loma, and Kpelle scripts in the first half of the twentieth century. A proposed Cherokee connection remains unsettled; resemblance alone does not prove borrowing.

How do I type ꕛ?

Use a Vai transliteration layout: type th, then a.

Short Vai syllables use one character; long vowels, vowel glides, and syllables ending in the nasal written “ng” can require a second.