{"id":55411,"date":"2022-07-25T06:02:51","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T11:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=55411"},"modified":"2022-07-25T06:02:51","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T11:02:51","slug":"latin-letters-as-phonophores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=55411","title":{"rendered":"Latin letters as phonophores"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A sinographic character that pushes the limits of imagination: a phono-semantic compound with &quot;\u4eba, human&quot; as its semantic component and &quot;A&quot; as its phonetic component (\u5f9e\u4eba\u3001A \u8072). This is not fictional. It is used by the Bouyei people (=Northern Zhuang) of Guizhou Province. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aCrpB0WTD4\">pic.twitter.com\/aCrpB0WTD4<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u6234\u5fe0\u6c9b Tai Chung-pui (@taichungpui) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/taichungpui\/status\/1550895641722621952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 23, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\r\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\r\n<p>For more examples and discussion, please read the Twitter thread (the full conversation) that follows the image above.<\/p>\r\n<p>Guy Freeman, who called this Tweet to my attention, observes:<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">It supposedly shows two \"Chinese characters\" used by the Bouyei people which incorporate Latin letters, respectively A and e, as the phonophores of the characters.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Another tweet from a different account gives the source as T\u00e1n Ji\u0101d\u00e0o, W\u00e1ng D\u00ecngc\u00e1i, \u201cB\u00f9y\u012b f\u0101ngku\u00e0i g\u01d4w\u00e9nz\u00ec\u201d <span class=\"mgPWDe\">\u8983\u5bb6\u9053\u3001\u738b\u5b9a\u624d\u8457\u300a\u5e03\u4f9d\u65b9\u5757\u53e4\u6587\u5b57\u300b\uff082020) , but I can't vouch for this.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Assuming this is real, it's quite the continuation of the infiltration of the Latin alphabet into the \"Chinese\" writing system.<\/p>\r\n<p>So as not to prejudice the discussion, I will refrain from giving my opinion concerning the utility of this experiment in combining Sinographic and alphabetic writing.\u00a0 Instead, I will simply provide background about the Bouyei people, their language, and their writing system.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The <b>Bouyei<\/b> (also spelled <i>Puyi<\/i>, <i>Buyei<\/i> and <i>Buyi<\/i>; self called: <b>Buxqyaix<\/b>, <span class=\"IPA\" lang=\"und-Latn-fonipa\" title=\"Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)\"><a title=\"Help:IPA\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Help:IPA\">[pu\u0294jai]<\/a><\/span> or \"Puzhong\", \"Burao\", \"Puman\"; <a title=\"Chinese language\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chinese_language\">Chinese<\/a>: <span lang=\"zh\">\u5e03\u4f9d\u65cf<\/span>; <a title=\"Pinyin\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pinyin\">pinyin<\/a>: <i><span lang=\"zh-Latn-pinyin\">B\u00f9y\u012bz\u00fa<\/span><\/i>; <a title=\"Vietnamese language\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vietnamese_language\">Vietnamese<\/a>: <i lang=\"vi\">ng\u01b0\u1eddi B\u1ed1 Y<\/i>), otherwise known as the Zhongjia, are an <a title=\"Ethnic group\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ethnic_group\">ethnic group<\/a> living in Southern Mainland China. Numbering 2.5 million, they are the 11th largest of the 56 <a title=\"List of ethnic groups in China\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_China\">ethnic groups<\/a> officially recognized by the <a title=\"China\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/China\">People's Republic of China<\/a>. Despite the Chinese considering them a separate group, they consider themselves <a title=\"Zhuang people\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zhuang_people\">Zhuang<\/a> (<a title=\"Tai peoples\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tai_peoples\">Tai peoples<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The Bouyei mostly live in <a title=\"Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Qianxinan_Buyei_and_Miao_Autonomous_Prefecture\">Qianxinan<\/a> and <a title=\"Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Qiannan_Buyei_and_Miao_Autonomous_Prefecture\">Qiannan prefectures<\/a> of Southern <a title=\"Guizhou\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Guizhou\">Guizhou Province<\/a>, as well as in <a title=\"Yunnan\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yunnan\">Yunnan<\/a> and <a title=\"Sichuan\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sichuan\">Sichuan Provinces<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Some 3,000 Bouyei also live in Northern <a title=\"Vietnam\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vietnam\">Vietnam<\/a>, where they are one of that nation's 54 <a title=\"List of ethnic groups in Vietnam\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_Vietnam\">officially recognized ethnic groups<\/a>. In Vietnam, they are known as the <b>B\u1ed1 Y<\/b> and mostly live in <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"M\u01b0\u1eddng Kh\u01b0\u01a1ng District\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/M%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Dng_Kh%C6%B0%C6%A1ng_District\">M\u01b0\u1eddng Kh\u01b0\u01a1ng District<\/a> of <a title=\"L\u00e0o Cai\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/L%C3%A0o_Cai\">L\u00e0o Cai<\/a> and <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"Qu\u1ea3n B\u1ea1 District\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Qu%E1%BA%A3n_B%E1%BA%A1_District\">Qu\u1ea3n B\u1ea1 District<\/a> of <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"H\u00e0 Giang Province\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/H%C3%A0_Giang_Province\">H\u00e0 Giang Province<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The Bouyei speak the <a title=\"Bouyei language\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bouyei_language\">Bouyei language<\/a>, which is very close to <a title=\"Standard Zhuang\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Standard_Zhuang\">Standard Zhuang<\/a> language. There is a dialect continuum between these two. The Bouyei language has its own written form which was created by linguists in the 1950s based on the Latin alphabet and with spelling conventions similar for the <a title=\"Pinyin\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pinyin\">Pinyin<\/a> system that had been devised to romanise <a title=\"Mandarin Chinese\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mandarin_Chinese\">Mandarin Chinese<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">(<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bouyei_people\">source<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The <b>Bouyei language<\/b> (<a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"Exonym and endonym\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Exonym_and_endonym\">autonym<\/a>: <b>Haausqyaix<\/b>, also spelled <i>Buyi<\/i>, <i>Buyei<\/i> or <i>Puyi<\/i>; <a title=\"Simplified Chinese characters\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simplified_Chinese_characters\">Chinese<\/a>: <span lang=\"zh-Hans\">\u5e03\u4f9d\u8bed<\/span>; <a title=\"Pinyin\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pinyin\">pinyin<\/a>: <i><span lang=\"zh-Latn-pinyin\">B\u00f9y\u012by\u01d4<\/span><\/i>, <a title=\"Vietnamese language\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vietnamese_language\">Vietnamese<\/a>: <i lang=\"vi\">ti\u1ebfng B\u1ed1 Y<\/i> or <span title=\"Vietnamese-language text\"><i lang=\"vi\">ti\u1ebfng Gi\u00e1y<\/i><\/span>) is a language spoken by the <a title=\"Bouyei people\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bouyei_people\">Bouyei<\/a> ethnic group of Southern <a title=\"Guizhou\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Guizhou\">Guizhou Province<\/a>, China. Classified as a member of the Northern Tai group in the <a title=\"Tai languages\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tai_languages\">Tai language<\/a> branch of the <a title=\"Kra\u2013Dai languages\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kra%E2%80%93Dai_languages\">Tai\u2013Kadai language family<\/a>, the language has over 2.5 million native speakers and is also used by the <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"Giay people\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Giay_people\">Giay people<\/a> (<a title=\"Vietnamese language\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vietnamese_language\">Vietnamese<\/a>: <i lang=\"vi\">Gi\u00e1y<\/i>) in some parts of <a title=\"Vietnam\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vietnam\">Vietnam<\/a>. There are native speakers living in <a title=\"France\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/France\">France<\/a> or the <a title=\"United States\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/United_States\">United States<\/a> as well, which emigrated from China or Vietnam. About 98% of the native speakers are in China.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Bouyei's characteristics are similar to the other members of its language branch. It is generally <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"Monosyllabic\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Monosyllabic\">monosyllabic<\/a> and <a title=\"Word order\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Word_order\">word order<\/a> and <a title=\"Grammatical particle\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grammatical_particle\">particles<\/a> are the main forms of <a title=\"Grammar\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grammar\">grammar<\/a>. Bouyei's <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"Syllable onset\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Syllable_onset\">syllable initials<\/a> match up closely to the other Northern Tai languages, with relatively fast simplification and merging. Bouyei sentences can be shown to contain many different levels of phrasing.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The contemporary Bouyei script was developed after the abandonment of the Bouyei-Zhuang Script Alliance Policy in 1981 and was designed from 1981 to 1985. It is focused and phonologically representative and takes the <a title=\"Wangmo County\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wangmo_County\">Wangmo County<\/a> dialect as its foundation.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">(<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bouyei_language\">source<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Bouyei is a member of the northern branch of the Tai-Kadai language family. It has about 2.6 million speakers and is spoken mainly in southern Guizhou Province in China. There are also some Bouyei speakers, who are known as <em>Gi\u00e1y<\/em>, in northern Vietnam. Bouyei is also known as Buyi, Puyi, \u5e03\u4f9d\u8bed (b\u00f9y\u012b y\u01d4) in Chinese, and <em>ti\u1ebfng B\u1ed1<\/em> or <em>ti\u1ebfng Gi\u00e1y<\/em> in Vietnamese. Bouyei has official status in China and Vietnam.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Bouyei [Haasqyaix] used to be written with a script based on Chinese characters similar to the Sawndip script used for <a href=\"https:\/\/omniglot.com\/writing\/zhuang.htm\">Zhuang<\/a>. In 1956 a way of writing Bouyei using the Latin alphabet was developed, and was based on the Latin alphabet for Zhuang. It was approved by the Chinese government in 1957, but was only used until 1960.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">A new Latin-based script for Bouyei was developed in 1981 and experimental use began in 1982. It was officially adopted in 1985 and continues to be used. It is based on the dialect of Wangmo County (\u671b\u8c1f\u53bf).<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">(<a href=\"https:\/\/omniglot.com\/writing\/bouyei.htm\">source<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n<p>From the above, we see that Bouyei has had long experience both with Sinographic style writing and alphabetic writing, so it is not entirely surprising that someone would come up with the bright idea of combining the two.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p><b>Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Ask Language Log:  The alphabet in China\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=44911\" rel=\"bookmark\">Ask Language Log: The alphabet in China<\/a>\" (11\/6\/19)<\/li>\r\n<li>Mark Hansell, \"<a href=\"http:\/\/sino-platonic.org\/complete\/spp045_chinese_alphabet.pdf\">The Sino-Alphabet: The Assimilation of Roman Letters into the Chinese Writing System<\/a>,\" Sino-Platonic Papers, 45 (May, 1994), 1-28 (pdf)<\/li>\r\n<li>Helena Riha, \"<a href=\"https:\/\/kb.osu.edu\/bitstream\/handle\/1811\/81002\/WPL_59_Winter_2010_044.pdf\">Lettered Words in Chinese:\u00a0 Roman Letters as Morpheme-syllable<\/a>s\" (pdf)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=1188\">Zhao C: a Man Who Lost His Name<\/a>\" (2\/27\/09)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Creeping Romanization in Chinese, part 3\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=40773\" rel=\"bookmark\">Creeping Romanization in Chinese, part 3<\/a>\" (11\/25\/18)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to The actuality of emerging digraphia\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=42080\" rel=\"bookmark\">The actuality of emerging digraphia<\/a>\" (3\/10\/19)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Official digraphia\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=40000\" rel=\"bookmark\">Official digraphia<\/a>\" (9\/13\/18) &#8212; with an extensive bibliography<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Sememic spelling\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=42243\" rel=\"bookmark\">Sememic spelling<\/a>\" (3\/27\/19)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Polyscriptal Taiwanese\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=2478\" rel=\"bookmark\">Polyscriptal Taiwanese<\/a>\" (7\/24\/10)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to The Roman Alphabet in Cantonese\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=3045\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Roman Alphabet in Cantonese<\/a>\" (3\/23\/11)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Love those letters\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=40556\" rel=\"bookmark\">Love those letters<\/a>\" (11\/3\/18)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Acronyms in China\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=44847\" rel=\"bookmark\">Acronyms in China<\/a>\" (11\/2\/19)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_China#List_of_prefixes\">Vehicle registration plates of China<\/a>\" (Wikipedia)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Topolectal traffic sign\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=31407\" rel=\"bookmark\">Topolectal traffic sign<\/a>\" (3\/6\/17)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=7013\">The languages on Chinese banknotes<\/a>\" (9\/16\/13)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Gratitude to the Party\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=53738\" rel=\"bookmark\">Gratitude to the Party<\/a>\" (2\/25\/22)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Pinyin in 1961 propaganda poster art\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=35957\" rel=\"bookmark\">Pinyin in 1961 propaganda poster art<\/a>\" (12\/29\/17)<\/li>\r\n<li><span class=\"m_1025125244955839867st\">\"<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=4129\">Words in Mandarin: twin kle twin kle lit tle star<\/a><span class=\"m_1025125244955839867st\">\" (8\/14\/12)<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Justin Bieber OK infix\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=36693\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D36693&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1638511221692000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Zwo_94RQk0hE9rzryM_l-\">Justin Bieber OK infix<\/a>\" (2\/13\/18)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Chicken hegemon\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52835\" rel=\"bookmark\">Chicken hegemon<\/a>\" (12\/2\/21)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sinographic character that pushes the limits of imagination: a phono-semantic compound with &quot;\u4eba, human&quot; as its semantic component and &quot;A&quot; as its phonetic component (\u5f9e\u4eba\u3001A \u8072). This is not fictional. It is used by the Bouyei people (=Northern Zhuang) of Guizhou Province. pic.twitter.com\/aCrpB0WTD4 &mdash; \u6234\u5fe0\u6c9b Tai Chung-pui (@taichungpui) July 23, 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[210,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alphabets","category-writing-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55411"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55424,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411\/revisions\/55424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}