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Beta Testing: Improving Hmong RPA With Diacritics

History
The Hmong Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) was first created in the 1950s.
At that time, typewriters limited what letters and symbols could be used.

Today, the world is changing rapidly. Languages evolve, and technology gives us new opportunities.
With the advancements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the rich set of Unicode codepoints now available, we can enhance the Hmong writing system.
By adopting diacritical marks, we can simplify spelling, create more compact words, and improve readability.

Prenasal Consonants
In the current RPA system, prenasal consonants are written with the letter n at the beginning, examples: nc, nk, np.
Research shows that the initial n sound in these combinations does not carry distinct meaning for most of these consonants.

To improve readability, all prenasal consonant, except the single letter n, can instead use the Unicode combining tilde U0303 placed above the following letter.

For example of current prenasal consonants: Nc, nch, ndl, ndlh, nk, nkh, np, nph, npl, nplh, nq, nqh, nr, nrh, nt, nth, nts, ntsh, ntx, ntxh, ny

Improved: Written with tilde above the base consonant.
In total, 21 prenasal consonants are standardized in this system.

Phonetic Simplifications
1. np to b, npl to bl, and nplh to blh
2. nts to j and ntsh to jh

These simplifications make words shorter, easier to read, and more consistent for testing.

Aspirated Consonants
Consonants that begin with the letter h, except the single letter h,  can be simplified using the Unicode combining ring above U030A.

Example: instead of writing hl with two letters, we would use a ring diacritic above the consonant.

Consonants that end with the letter h (e.g., ph, kh, th) will remain the same.

Tone Markers
Currently, RPA uses letters at the end of words to indicate tones. In the improved system, each tone will instead use a unique diacritical mark placed above the vowel.

This makes words easier to read and allows AI systems to parse Hmong text more accurately and consistently.

Why this matters:
Shorter, cleaner words.
Easier to learn and read.
Better compatibility with modern technology and AI.

We invite you to join the beta testing of this improved RPA with diacritics. Your feedback will help shape the future of the Hmong writing system.
