Tai Viet script

A script crossing a national border.

Also known as: Tai Dam script

CulturalHistorical & archaeologicalKeyboard & punctuationStandard profile

Meanings

The script used by Tai peoples in north-western Vietnam and neighbouring Laos and Thailand.

Historically documentedVerified fact
Writes Tai languages of north-western Vietnam and the surrounding region.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
Historically documentedVerified fact
Doubles its consonants into two tone classes, so tone is carried by which consonant letter is chosen rather than by a mark — a third solution beside the Thai marks and the Vietnamese diacritics recorded earlier this sprint.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Visual description

Rounded Brahmic letters with separate consonant series for two tone classes, and vowel signs written around the consonant.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright

Confidence

IdentityModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

The world's writing systems and their notation
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and comparable scholarly editions · retrieved 2026-08-27
Scholarly treatment of scripts not covered by a regional source already registered. Cited for the identity, structure and documented use of a script or a mark. Undeciphered and partly deciphered scripts are recorded as such, and a reading that is contested is stated as contested rather than adopted.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27

Help improve this page

Meanings

The script used by Tai peoples in north-western Vietnam and neighbouring Laos and Thailand.

Historically documentedVerified fact

Writes Tai languages of north-western Vietnam and the surrounding region.

Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Historically documentedVerified fact

Doubles its consonants into two tone classes, so tone is carried by which consonant letter is chosen rather than by a mark — a third solution beside the Thai marks and the Vietnamese diacritics recorded earlier this sprint.

Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Confidence

IdentityModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

The world's writing systems and their notation
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and comparable scholarly editions · retrieved 2026-08-27
Scholarly treatment of scripts not covered by a regional source already registered. Cited for the identity, structure and documented use of a script or a mark. Undeciphered and partly deciphered scripts are recorded as such, and a reading that is contested is stated as contested rather than adopted.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27