Wancho Tone Tup

It signals a drop in pitch through the syllable.

Wancho is tonal: a word’s pitch pattern can distinguish it from another. In Lower Wancho examples, Tup marks the falling contour.

The Wancho tone mark attaches to a vowel and follows the vowel it marks in the text sequence. In a diphthong—a vowel sound that glides within one syllable—it follows the first vowel.

Does Wancho Tone Tup work in every variety?

Tup belongs to the Southern pair; Northern Wancho uses another pair.

The four marks are grouped by variety: Tup and Tupni for Southern Wancho, Koi and Koini for Northern Wancho. Follow the tone spelling used for the variety represented in the text.

Why was the Wancho script developed?

To represent Wancho sounds that English-letter spellings could miss.

Teacher Banwang Losu devised the Wancho script between 2001 and 2012. It gave written Wancho a way to represent sounds that English-letter spellings could miss.

An earlier Northern Wancho spelling marked tones by repeating vowel letters. That proved cumbersome, so four tone marks were devised with Losu for varieties with different tone patterns. Losu’s naming note calls the single dot Tup and the double dot Tupni.