Learn Vai Alphabet 1.0

This application serves as an educational tool for the Vai alphabet, allowing users to familiarize themselves with the sequence of letters, their shapes, and corresponding sounds. It enables users to trace each character repeatedly to build recognition and then assess their knowledge through self-quizzing.

The Vai syllabary is a syllabic writing system developed for the Vai language by Momolu Duwalu Bukele of Jondu, located in present-day Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia. Recognized by both the Vai community and scholars alike, Bukele is credited as the primary inventor and advocate of the script during its first documentation in the 1830s.

The script is written from left to right and encodes CV (consonant-vowel) syllables. Notably, nasal consonants are represented using the same glyph as nasalized vowels. Originally, the syllabary included distinct characters for syllables ending in nasal sounds, long vowels, diphthongs, as well as specific syllables such as don, soo, bai, bili, and sɛli. However, these distinctions have been simplified and are no longer present in modern usage.

The Vai language features seven short vowel sounds, with nasalized variants indicated by a tilde (~) placed above the vowel symbol.