The Yapiri Script — Kokborok Alphabet, Letters & Sounds

The Characters

Full Glyph Inventory

Stops — Voiceless, Aspirated, Voiced

󱲧pU+F1CA7

󱲨tU+F1CA8

󱲩kU+F1CA9

󱲭phU+F1CAD

󱲮thU+F1CAE

󱲯khU+F1CAF

󱲪bU+F1CAA

󱲫dU+F1CAB

󱲬gU+F1CAC

Affricates

󱲰chU+F1CB0

󱲱jU+F1CB1

Nasals

󱲲mU+F1CB2

󱲳nU+F1CB3

󱲴n′U+F1CB4

󱲵ngU+F1CB5

Note on n′ (palatal nasal): The n′ character is a distinct sound from the plain n. The prime mark (′) signals a palatal nasal — a different point of articulation in the mouth. It has its own dedicated glyph in Yapiri and is never a modifier of n.

󱲢󱲴 in′ — "yes" 󱲢󱲴󱲹󱲡 in′he — "no"

Fricatives & Approximants

󱲶sU+F1CB6

󱲷rU+F1CB7

󱲸lU+F1CB8

󱲺yU+F1CBA

󱲻wU+F1CBB

󱲹hU+F1CB9

Secondary Characters — loanword and scientific use

󱲼vU+F1CBCsecondary

󱲽zU+F1CBDsecondary

v and z are secondary characters for loanword and scientific transcription — both fill phonetic gaps that native Kokborok characters cannot adequately cover. /v/ cannot be rendered by /b/, and /z/ is too distant from /j/ for scientific names such as Zea mays, zinc, or enzyme. See Spec §5 for full classification rationale.

Independent Vowels

󱲠aU+F1CA0

󱲡eU+F1CA1

󱲢iU+F1CA2

󱲣uU+F1CA3

󱲤oU+F1CA4

󱲥əU+F1CA5

Digits 0–9

󱳀0U+F1CC0

󱳁1U+F1CC1

󱳂2U+F1CC2

󱳃3U+F1CC3

󱳄4U+F1CC4

󱳅5U+F1CC5

󱳆6U+F1CC6

󱳇7U+F1CC7

󱳈8U+F1CC8

󱳉9U+F1CC9

Punctuation

󱳋commaU+F1CCB

󱳌full stopU+F1CCC

󱳍exclamationU+F1CCD

󱳎quotationU+F1CCE

󱳏questionU+F1CCF

High Tone Mark

󱳑high toneU+F1CD1

High tone mark (U+F1CD1). Yapiri's only combining mark. It is placed directly over the vowel of a high-tone syllable. In Kokborok Latin romanization, a vowel followed by 'h' conventionally signals high tone (e.g. oh); in Yapiri, the 'h' is dropped and the mark sits over the vowel instead.

Example — bohrok (they): 󱲪󱲤󱳑󱲷󱲤󱲩 b · ó · r · o · k — high tone mark over the first vowel o

Design Philosophy

Built from First Principles

Every glyph in Yapiri was drawn from scratch — no shapes borrowed from Bengali, Roman, Devanagari, or any other script. The forms emerged from a consistent calligraphic stroke system designed specifically for Kokborok phonology.

Phonological Completeness

Every sound in Kokborok — including aspirates, affricates, and the schwa — has its own dedicated character. No ambiguity, no compromise.

Visual Distinctiveness

Each glyph is designed to be immediately distinguishable from every other. High contrast between similar-sounding pairs prevents reading errors.

Digital Readiness

PUA-encoded for immediate use, with a Unicode submission roadmap in progress. OpenType GPOS anchors ensure correct diacritic placement across rendering engines.

Modern Vocabulary Support

V and Z are included as secondary characters for loanword and scientific transcription — making Yapiri ready for contemporary use, not just heritage preservation.

Context

Yapiri vs Other Kokborok Scripts

Feature	Yapiri	Bengali Script	Roman Script	Aima	Kókmari	Hachukma
Designed for Kokborok phonology	✓ Yes	✗ No	✗ No	✓ Yes	✓ Yes	✓ Yes
Aspirate consonants	✓ Dedicated glyphs	Approximate	Digraphs	✓ Yes	✓ Yes	Yes
Tonal diacritics	✓ Yes	✗ No	✗ No	Partial	Partial	Yes
Custom numerals	✓ Yes	✗ No	✗ No	✓ Yes	✗ No	Yes
Unicode roadmap	✓ In progress	✓ Encoded	✓ Encoded	✗ No	✗ No	Not sure
Downloadable font	✓ Free	✓ Available	✓ Available	✗ Limited	✗ Limited	Yes