Yi Syllable Vux

It writes one Nuosu syllable, not an English word. This Yi syllable is spelled vux in the standard Liangshan Yi romanization, also called Yi Pinyin; its final x marks secondary-high tone. The modern Liangshan Yi syllabary is a writing system with one sign for each permitted syllable. Which word ꃵ contributes depends on its surrounding Yi text.

Yi script history predates ꃵ’s standardized syllabary. Traditional Yi writing varied by region and was used by village priests for ritual, medical, magical, and genealogy texts; many signs represented ideas rather than one spoken syllable. Some inscriptions proposed as Yi writing are dated to the Western Han period (206 BCE–9 CE), but their identification is disputed. The Unicode Standard cites a bronze bell from 1485 as the earliest surviving example; some scholars propose earlier inscriptions, but their identification remains disputed.

The modern Liangshan system drew on local Yi script traditions but recast them as a phonetic syllabary. Liangshan Yi romanization began in 1956; the syllabary was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to aid literacy and fit the Liangshan dialect. It was designed for this variety, not as one script for every Yi language.