Written Language And Literacy, Volume 1, Issue 1 (1998). pp. 103-128.
Language:
English
Abstract:
Among several writing systems devised by native speakers of Hmong, the Sayaboury script is of interest because it is the only one in which a body of apparently original mythic religio-political text material has been recorded. It also has an unusually ingenious, elegant, & economical set of vowel symbols, & a convention of doubling all initial consonant symbols in formal writing. Of secondary interest is the fact that this system was produced (& revealed to one of the authors) west of the Mekong River - not in the more focal Hmong areas which funneled refugees through Ban Vinai, Thailand, into the United States. The authors present here their limited joint knowledge about these texts & the system with which they are written, describing how they became known, their messianic nature, the structure of the writing system, its possible origins, & the fit between the writing & the Hmong language. 2 Tables, 7 Figures, 33 References. Adapted from the source document