The World’s First (and Only) Truly Phonemic Alphabet


HOW NAVLIPI WRITES TONES OF TONAL LANGUAGES
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All tone markers in NAVLIPI appear after the syllable they act upon.

E.g. the tone marker in Mandarin for the 3rd tone (falling-rising) is written in NAVLIPI as   , so the word for “you”, which uses this tone is written as nii in NAVLIPI.

 

MANDARIN (Chinese-Simplified Transcription):  

  • |  (1st Mandarin tone, high and level.)
  • ´ (2nd  Mandarin tone,  rising.)
  • (3rd  Mandarin tone, falling-rising.) 
  • `  (4th   Mandarin tone, falling.)

 

CANTONESE

  • |  (1st Cantonese tone, level, high.)
  • ´ (2nd  Cantonese tone, rising, low-mid to high.)
  •   (no tone mark) (3rd  Cantonese tone, level, mid.) 
  • `  (4th   Cantonese  tone, falling, low-mid to low.)
  •  ̉  (5th   Cantonese  tone, rising, low to low-mid.)
  • .  (6th   Cantonese  tone, level, low-mid.)

 

VIETNAMESE

  • (no tone mark) (1stVietnamese tone, level, high.)
  • ´ (2nd  Vietnamese  tone,  rising, mid to high.)
  • ` (3rd  Vietnamese  tone, falling, low to lower.) 
  • . (4th   Vietnamese  tone, falling, low to very low, very short.)
  • ~ (5th   Vietnamese  tone, falling-rising, with break in between.)
  •  ̉  6th   Vietnamese  tone, falling-rising, low to lower to low.)

       (Note that this exactly follows the current Vietnamese transcription.)

 

THAI

  •  ̉  (1st Thai tone, slightly falling, mid to low.)
  • (no tone mark)  (2nd  Thai  tone,  level, mid.)
  • ´  (3rd Thai  tone, slightly rising, high to higher.) 
  • (4th   Thai  tone, falling-rising.)
  • ´` (5th   Thai  tone, rising-falling.)

 

YORUBA

  • ` (1st Yoruba tone, level, low.)
  • (no tone mark) (2nd Yoruba  tone,  level, mid.)
  • ´ (3rd  Yoruba  tone, level, high.) 

 

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