Pahawh Hmong script

The Pahawh Hmong script is an alphabet writing system for the Hmong language invented by Yang Shong Lue in 1959. Yang Shong Lue and many others believed that the script was given to him by God. The Pahawh Hmong script is written from left to right. Since 1959, many missionaries went to Laos and invented a language system for the Hmong people. Althought the Hmong people can communicate effectively with the non-Yang's writing system (Romanized Hmong), Hmong still lack their own writing system, but after Yang Shong Lue introduced Pahawh Hmong, Hmong can finally celebrate their own writing system. Yet there are some Hmong who disapproved of the prophet Yang Shong Lue and his Pahawh Hmong and tried to destroy Pahawh Hmong. Pahawh Hmong is still in its infancy compare to the world's language/writing, but it is a mature writing language to the Hmong people because it is a language that governed all of Hmong communication, culture, and religion. What make Pahawh Hmong unique compare to that of the world's writing language is that each character is its own word, with its own complete definition. At is fundamental level, there are 148 characters that control the basic of communication, and if they can not form new word or sound, the Yu and La are then mix to form new word or sound. As a result, the total number of sound or tone in the Hmong language is 15,609. This is a complete set, what is beyond this is not a part of Hmong's communicating language. There may be special symbols used to emphasize special sound used when reading foreigner's text or verbal communication with foreigners. There are no ending sound in Pahawh Hmong, the sound are heard in the beginning of the word.

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Here is a link to a pdf format of Pahawh Hmong. [1]

• 148 characters. There are 91 characters called Yu and the remaining 57 are called La. Each character represent a word. Yu can be combined with La to form more words. The maximum characters that can be used to form a word is 2. There are a total of 15,609 sound (tone) when combining Yu with the La to form new sound or new word.
• The 7 tones of the Hmong language are distinguished with diacritics.
• The digits 0-9 are all represented.
• Graphical appearance:
  • Vertical and horizontal lines are more common than diagonal lines
  • Curved lines
  • Small loops and circles

Literature

• Ratliff, Martha. 1996. "The Pahawh Hmong Script," in The World's Writing Systems, edited by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright. University of Oxford Press: New York, NY, pp. 619-624.
• Rogers, Henry. 2005. Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach. Blackwell Publishing. Pp. 260-262.
• Smalley, William A.; Chia Koua Vang; and Gnia Yee Yang. 1990. Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.