Vai language

 ( Mande Languages ) 

The Vai language, also called Vy or Gallinas, is a Mande language spoken by the Vai people, roughly 104,000 in Liberia, and by smaller populations, some 15,500, in Sierra Leone. Ethnologue report for Vai

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Writing system Vai is noteworthy for being one of the few African languages to have a writing system that is not based on the Latin script or Arabic script. This Vai syllabary is a syllabary invented by Momolu Duwalu Bukele around 1833, although dates as early as 1815 have been alleged. The existence of Vai was reported in 1834 by American missionaries in the Missionary Herald of the ABCFM and independently by Rev. Sigismund Koelle, a Sierra Leone agent of the Church Missionary Society of London.

The Vai script was used to print the New Testament in the Vai language, dedicated in 2003.

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Phonology Vai is a tonal language and has 11 and 31 , which are tabulated below.

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Vowels

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Consonants

		~

and  occur only in recent [[loanword]]s.
     

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Sample text The following is a sample text in Vai of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Vai: "ꕉꕜꕮ ꔔꘋ ꖸ ꔰ ꗋꘋ ꕮꕨ ꔔꘋ ꖸ ꕎ ꕉꖸꕊ ꕴꖃ ꕃꔤꘂ ꗱ, ꕉꖷ ꗪꗡ ꔻꔤ ꗏꗒꗡ ꕎ ꗪ ꕉꖸꕊ ꖏꕎ. ꕉꕡ ꖏ ꗳꕮꕊ ꗏ ꕪ ꗓ ꕉꖷ ꕉꖸ ꕘꕞ ꗪ. ꖏꖷ ꕉꖸꔧ ꖏ ꖸ ꕚꕌꘂ ꗷꔤ ꕞ ꘃꖷ ꘉꔧ ꗠꖻ ꕞ ꖴꘋ ꔳꕩ ꕉꖸ ꗳ."

IPA:

English original: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

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See also

• Vai syllabary

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Further reading

• (1976). 9780520095557, University of California Press. ISBN 9780520095557

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External links

• Vai Script workshop
• Omniglot entry on Vai script
• Smithsonian exhibit on Vai and other African scripts
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Vai

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