Yi Syllable Ra

It represents the Liangshan Yi syllable ra at mid-level tone.

In standard Yi Pinyin, ra is the Latin-letter spelling of that syllable, not an English translation. Mid-level tone means the spoken pitch stays around the middle of the speaker’s range instead of rising or falling.

Did every Yi community use this same script?

No; older Yi writing had many local traditions. Historically called Cuan or Wei, these scripts varied in their characters, shapes, and writing directions. In traditional Yi society, village priests mainly passed them down in religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts. The earliest surviving inscription usually cited is on a bronze bell dated 1485; earlier attributions are disputed.

To improve literacy, a standardized form of Liangshan Yi was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980. This syllabary is also known as Nuosu writing, after the name used by Liangshan Yi speakers. It developed from the traditional script but is meant for Liangshan Yi, not for all Yi varieties.