Yi syllable zy

It is a Nuosu Yi syllable meaning “to plant.”

Nuosu is one of the Yi languages. Yi Pinyin is a Latin-letter spelling system for Nuosu. Here, zy has no final tone letter and carries the mid-level tone; other final letters distinguish other tones. In documented phrases, ꊪ follows the word for potato or vegetables, so the object comes before the verb.

How did the Liangshan Yi standard develop?

Yi writing predates the modern Liangshan standard by centuries.

A bronze-bell inscription from 1485 is the earliest dated example of Yi writing; paper texts appear around 1500. Older regional Yi forms were used for religious, magical, medical, and genealogical writing.

The Liangshan standard for one Nuosu dialect grew from the older Classical Yi written tradition. It was devised in 1974 and became official in 1980 to support literacy. Traditional Yi writing developed independently of Chinese characters, despite some visual similarities.