Avoiuli
Avoiuli (from Raga 'talk about' and 'draw' or 'paint') is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. 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. 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 and English.
Described at
Avoiuli – Atlas of Endangered Alphabets
endangeredalphabets.net →Many scripts have been created by individuals, and many of these have been created specifically as an alternative to Western or colonial alphabets, but few have been created as recently, or in such a spirit of resolute independence, as the Avoiuli script of the northern part of Pentecost Island. Plus it has its own bank.Drawing inspiration from traditional sand drawings, Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua of the Turaga indigenous movement spent fourteen years developing the script for the Raga language (the word “avoiuli” comes from the Raga words avoi , or “talk about” and uli , “draw” or “paint”) as part of the movement’s aim to reduce the island’s dependence on and therefore vulnerability to outside influences. The script is also remarkable in its resolutely cursive nature: like the culture’s sand drawings, letters are designed so words can be executed in a single stroke — and as such it opposes the current digital trend of dividing words into individual key-strokes. The way the script is taught and learned is also a unique example of one way in which an indigenous culture tries to resist the forces of globalization, recognizing that a culture’s language has value, both intangible and tangible. The script is also used for record-keeping by the Tangbunia Bank, which operates in a similarly indigenous and autonomous spirit: instead of dealing in Western currency it uses local items of value such as hand-woven mats, shells, and pig tusks. Its very name comes from the word for large baskets traditionally used for storing items of value. In recent years, the Avoiuli script has declined as the Turaga movement itself falters in the face of rapid modernization. On Pentecost Island, a few schools still offer courses in the script, often as an addition to their sand-drawing education, but the number of students decreases each year. Still, the fact that Avoiuli is still taught as part of the islanders’ cultural heritage speaks to the commitment of indigenous peoples in Vanuatu to preserving, expanding, and evolving their traditions to meet new challenges.
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4 sectionsContents
- Features
- Letters
- Numerals
- References
Avoiuli (from Raga 'talk about' and 'draw' or 'paint') is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. 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. 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 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 and specific items of traditional value such as pigs and dyed mats. Like the Western orthography used to write Raga, it represents the velar nasal 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 Latin alphabet, Avoiuli has a few distinctive features.