Fraser script

Fraser
Script type	Abugida
Creator	James O. Fraser
Period	c. 1915–present
Direction
Languages	Lisu, Naxi, Zaiwa
Related scripts
Parent systems	Phoenician script Greek script Latin script Fraser
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Lisu (399), ​Lisu (Fraser)
Unicode
Unicode alias	Lisu
Unicode range	U+A4D0–U+A4FF, U+11FB0–U+11FBF

The Fraser or Old Lisu script is an artificial abugida for the Lisu language invented around 1915 by Sara Ba Thaw, a Karen preacher from Myanmar, and improved by the missionary James O. Fraser. It is a single-case (unicameral) alphabet. It was also used for the Naxi language, e.g. in the 1932 Naxi Gospel of Mark, and used in the Zaiwa or Atsi language, e.g. in the 1938 Atsi Gospel of Mark.

The script uses uppercase letters from the Latin script (except for the letter Q) and rotated versions thereof (except for the letters M, Q and W) to write consonants and vowels. Tones and nasalization are written with Roman punctuation marks, identical to those found on a typewriter. Like the Indic abugidas, the vowel is not written. However, unlike those scripts, the other vowels are written with full letters.

The local Chinese government in Nujiang de facto recognized the script in 1992 as the official script for writing in Lisu, although other Lisu autonomous territories continue to use the New Lisu (Latin script) for official matters.

Consonants

Note: You may need to download a Lisu-capable Unicode font if not all characters display.

Fraser consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Alveolar sibilant	Post- alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	Tenuis	ꓑ [p]	ꓔ [t]	ꓝ [ts]	ꓚ [tʃ]	ꓗ [k]	ꓮ [ʔ]1
	Aspirate	ꓒ [pʰ]	ꓕ [tʰ]	ꓞ [tsʰ]	ꓛ [tʃʰ]	ꓘ [kʰ]
	Voiced	ꓐ [b]	ꓓ [d]	ꓜ [dz]	ꓙ [dʒ]	ꓖ [ɡ]	ꓨ [ɦ]3 4
Fricative	Voiceless	ꓩ [f]4		ꓢ [s]	ꓫ [ʃ]	ꓧ [x]
	Voiced			ꓤ [z]4	ꓣ [ʒ]	ꓭ [ɯ]?, [ɣ]2
Nasal		ꓟ [m]	ꓠ [n]		ꓠꓬ [ɲ]	ꓥ [ŋ]	ꓦ [h̃]3
Approximant	Tenuis	ꓪ [w], [u̯]2	ꓡ [l]		ꓬ [ʝ], [i̯]2
	Aspirate				𑾰 [ʝʰ], [i̯ʰ]2 5

1. Initial glottal stop is only written when the inherent vowel [ɑ] follows, and just like all consonants, the inherent vowel suffix ˍ must not be written as that would indicate another [ɑ] follows ( instead of ). It is automatic before all initial vowels but [ɯ] and [ə].
2. ꓭ represents a "vowel" in the Naxi language, presumably [ɯ], and a consonant [ɣ] in the Lisu language. ꓪ, ꓬ and 𑾰 are likewise ambiguous.
3. ꓨ only occurs in an imperative particle. It is an allophone of ꓦ [h̃], which causes nasalization to the syllable.
4. ꓤ, ꓨ and ꓩ are used only in Lisu language.
5. 𑾰 is used only in Naxi language.

Vowels

File:Manuscripts in the Yunnan Nationalities Museum - DSC03963.JPG

Lisu language Bible in the Fraser script

Fraser vowels

	Front			Central/back
High	ꓲ [i]	ꓵ [y]		ꓶ [ɯ]	ꓴ [u]
Mid	ꓰ [e]	ꓱ [ø]	ꓬꓱ [i̯ø]	ꓷ [ə]	ꓳ [ʊ]	ꓮꓳ []/[ɔ]
Low	ꓯ [ɛ]			ˍ** [ɑ]	ꓪ []	ꓬ [i̯ɑ]

**Only written after a syllable (consonant letter) to indicate a second vowel. Other vowels do not have special letters to emphasize a secondary vowel without glottal stop initial, such as ꓡꓷꓰꓹ () is not written as ꓡꓷˍꓰꓹ and can only be distinguished from ꓡꓷ ꓰꓹ () by a space.

For example, ⟨ꓗ⟩ is , while ⟨ꓗꓲ⟩ is .

When consonant ꓠꓬ, ꓬ is used with vowel ꓬꓱ, ꓬ, without being ambiguous only one ꓬ is written.

When transcribing diphthongs and nasal codas, letters ꓮ and ꓬ can work like vowels just like English letter Y, making Fraser script behave like an abjadic alphabet like the Roman instead of an abugida like Tibetan; meanwhile space works like a delimiter like a Tibetan tseg, making a final consonant (such as ꓠ) possible without necessity of a halanta sign: 凉粉 ꓡꓬꓮꓳ ꓩꓷꓠ reads as rather than as ꓡꓬ ꓮ ꓳ ꓩꓷ ꓠ .

Tones

Tones are written with standard punctuation. Lisu punctuation therefore differs from international norms: the comma is ⟨꓾⟩ (hyphen period) and the full stop is ⟨꓿⟩ (equal sign).

Diacritics on the syllable ꓝ

ꓝ	ꓝꓸ	ꓝꓹ
ꓝꓻ *	ꓝꓺ	ꓝʼ
ꓝꓼ	ꓝꓽ	ꓝˍ

*It is not clear how the ⟨ꓻ⟩ mid tone differs from the unmarked mid tone.

The tones ⟨ꓸ⟩, ⟨ꓹ⟩, ⟨ꓺ⟩, ⟨ꓻ⟩ may be combined with ⟨ꓼ⟩ and ⟨ꓽ⟩ as compound tones. However, the only compound tone still in common use is ⟨ꓹꓼ⟩.

The apostrophe indicates nasalization. It is combined with tone marks.

The low macron indicates the Lisu "A glide", a contraction of without an intervening glottal stop. The tone is not always falling, depending on the environment, but is written ⟨ˍ⟩ regardless.

Letter forms

Lisu alphabet

Naxi alphabet

Although Fraser published a serif form of the script, almost all typesetting today is done in a sans-serif typeface.

Unicode

The Fraser script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for the Fraser script, called 'Lisu', is U+A4D0–U+A4FF:

Lisu[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+A4Dx

ꓐ

ꓑ

ꓒ

ꓓ

ꓔ

ꓕ

ꓖ

ꓗ

ꓘ

ꓙ

ꓚ

ꓛ

ꓜ

ꓝ

ꓞ

ꓟ

U+A4Ex

ꓠ

ꓡ

ꓢ

ꓣ

ꓤ

ꓥ

ꓦ

ꓧ

ꓨ

ꓩ

ꓪ

ꓫ

ꓬ

ꓭ

ꓮ

ꓯ

U+A4Fx

ꓰ

ꓱ

ꓲ

ꓳ

ꓴ

ꓵ

ꓶ

ꓷ

ꓸ

ꓹ

ꓺ

ꓻ

ꓼ

ꓽ

꓾

꓿

Notes 1.^Template:Unicode version

An additional character, the inverted Y used in the Naxi language, was added to the Unicode Standard in March, 2020 with the release of version 13.0. It is in the Lisu Supplement block (U+11FB0–U+11FBF):

See also

• OMF International

External links

• Omniglot entry on Fraser script
• Proposal for encoding the Old Lisu script in the BMP of the UCS
• Lisu Unicode, Open source font for users of the Lisu script
• Issues in orthography development and reform by David Bradley
• Sample text from Michael Everson's website