Yi syllable mgie

Liangshan Yi reads ꈱ as the Nuosu word mgie: “tell lies.” The standard reading begins with a nasal sound made at the back of the mouth, followed by a hard g and an open “eh.” Keep the pitch level and mid.

Yi writing took different local forms rather than one uniform script. Priestly families copied local forms for religious, magical, medical, and family-history texts. The oldest reliably dated surviving Yi inscription is on a bronze bell from 1485.

Nuosu oral tradition links the script’s beginnings with Aki. The standardized Liangshan syllabary was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to support literacy. It drew on older local Yi writing and was not designed for every Yi variety.

Why does ꈱ show as a square?

A font without Yi coverage cannot display the character. Choose a font that includes standardized Yi characters; a missing-glyph box does not change the character itself.

The standardized form belongs to Liangshan/Nuosu Yi. Other Yi writing traditions can differ in repertoire, shape, and phonetic value. For someone outside the Nuosu language context, a translation makes the intended word clearer.