Yi syllable zzyp

ꋪ marks a Nuosu syllable; words give it meaning. The Liangshan standard writes the syllable as zzyp. It starts with a voiced sound close to “dz,” followed by a high, unrounded vowel; the tone falls from low, marked by final p. A Nuosu word list glosses one lexical item using this syllable as “trot,” a slow run by animals such as horses. The surrounding word or sentence supplies the full meaning.

Yi writing includes several local traditions. Bimo, Yi ritual specialists, copied local forms into religious, magical, medical, and genealogical texts; the forms differed in glyphs, reading direction, and repertoire. Possible Western Han-era inscriptions have been proposed; a surviving bronze-bell inscription dates to 1485.

The standardized Liangshan syllabary was devised in 1974 and officially promulgated in 1980 to improve literacy. It was selected from traditional Liangshan forms, but it is not a universal system for every Yi variety; other communities retain distinct traditions and glyph variants. Older Yi ideographs—signs used for words or ideas—are described as apparently independent of Han Chinese characters.

How do I type or display ꋪ?

Use a Yi input method and a font with Yi coverage.

Microsoft Word's Unicode input accepts the hexadecimal value A2EA followed by Alt+X. A Yi keyboard layout such as SIL's covers the Yi Syllables block.

A square or blank means the current font cannot draw this glyph; the text can still contain ꋪ. Nuosu SIL and Noto Sans Yi are fonts with Yi coverage.