Yi Syllable Tix

ꄛ writes the Yi syllable tix; context supplies its meaning. In Yi Pinyin, a Latin-letter system for writing Yi syllables, final x marks a pitch between mid and high; it adds no separate consonant sound. A single Nuosu syllable can stand for different words, so this character alone has no fixed English translation.

One Yi origin tradition credits the script to Aki during the Tang dynasty; the Nuosu Book of Origins, a traditional Nuosu text, recounts stone and bronze examples from the Western Han period. The earliest surviving monumental example is a bronze-bell inscription dated 1485; paper and sheepskin Yi texts are attested around 1500.

Older Yi writing varied by locality and served religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts, often transmitted by bimo, Yi ritual specialists. The standardized Liangshan form was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to improve literacy. It standardizes one Yi variety, not every local Yi form. Traditional Yi writing developed as its own script tradition alongside Han Chinese writing.

How do I type ꄛ?

Use a Yi input method: enter Yi Pinyin tix and select ꄛ.

A Yi input method converts Yi Pinyin into characters; an ordinary text field leaves Latin tix as letters. Choose ꄛ from the candidate list. If the font lacks Yi coverage, the character may appear as a box or blank: Unicode assigns the character, and the font supplies its glyph.

Standardized Yi text usually runs left to right, though top-to-bottom layouts also occur. Traditional Yi writing used additional directions.