Avoiuli (from

Raga A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...

'talk about' and 'draw' or 'paint') is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. It was devised by Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua over a 14-year period, based on designs found in traditional sand drawings, and intended as a native alternative to the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

. It is used mainly for writing in the area's native Raga language, although it can also be used for other languages including Apma,

Bislama Bislama ( ; ; also known by its earlier French name, ) is an English-based creole language. It is the national language of Vanuatu, and one of the three official languages of the country, the other ones being English and French. Bislama is the ...

and English.

Features

The Avoiuli alphabet comprises characters equivalent to the letters ''A''–''Z'', decimal numerals and other symbols, including a range of currency symbols representing the

livatu The Livatu is a unit used by the Turaga nation, Turaga indigenous movement and the Tangbunia Bank in Vanuatu to reckon the worth of items of traditional currency such as pigs and textiles. One livatu is equivalent to one fully curved boar's tusk, a ...

and specific items of traditional value such as pigs and dyed mats. Like the Western orthography used to write

, it represents the

velar nasal The voiced velar nasal, also known as eng, engma, or agma (from Greek 'fragment'), is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''E ...

''ng'' and prenasalised consonant ''ngg'' using modified forms of the letters ''n'' and ''g'' respectively, but represents the labiovelar consonants ''bw'', ''mw'' and ''vw'' using digraphs. Although in some respects it is a relatively straightforward imitation of the

, Avoiuli has a few distinctive features.Gray 2013, The Languages of Pentecost Island. Like the sand drawings on which it is based, Avoiuli words are designed to be formed in a single stroke. The script can be written either left-to-right or right-to-left (with the letter shapes reversed, though the majority are symmetrical anyway). It is intended to be written in

boustrophedon Boustrophedon () is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the l ...

style, with alternating lines of left-to-right and right-to-left writing, but it is common for it to follow the left-to-right convention of the Latin script. Capital letters in Avoiuli are similar to lowercase but are enlarged and drawn around a + shaped 'frame', a feature also seen in traditional sand drawings. Capital letters are not used much in everyday writing. Students learn to write in Avoiuli at Turaga's traditional school at Lavatmanggemu in north-eastern Pentecost, and at affiliated 'custom schools', paying substantial school fees for the privilege. Avoiuli is also used in record-keeping by the Tangbunia indigenous bank.

Letters

The letters of Avoiuli script. In the official Latin orthography, the 'NG' and 'NGG' shown here are written and . The Avoiuli digraphs 'BW', 'VW' and 'MW' parallel the Latin convention. There are letters to transliterate the rest of the basic Latin script, as well as additional vowels for other languages of Vanuatu.

Numerals

The numerals of Avoiuli script. There are also numerals for higher numbers.

References

{{list of writing systems Typography Constructed scripts Languages of Vanuatu Penama Province Writing systems introduced in the 1990s 1990s establishments in Vanuatu