Yi Syllable Kuox

It writes the Liangshan Yi syllable romanized as kuox.

Say kuox in one syllable, roughly “kwo,” with the vowel gliding from “oo” toward “oh.” Final x marks a secondary-high tone, not a spoken consonant. This standard is for Liangshan Yi, not every Yi dialect.

How did the Yi writing tradition develop?

The Liangshan standard grew from older Northern Yi forms.

The oldest securely dated example is an inscription on a bronze bell from 1485. Traditional Yi writing served bimo—Yi religious specialists—for religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts. Reforms in 1974 and 1980 brought the Liangshan standard into textbooks and adult education. Its lineage runs through earlier Yi writing, not Han characters.