and occur only in the Southern Tujia dialects. and are in free variation. is an allophone of . has allophones before and before . Vowels Combinations with oral vowels and nasal vowel occur only in the Southern dialects. Combinations with vowels and coda occur only in the Northern dialects. Orthography Ye (1995) One system of writing Tujia in Latin script is based on Hanyu Pinyin and uses letters as tone markers, namely, x, r, v, f. Brassett, Brassett, & Lu (2006) Philip Brassett, Cecilia Brassett and Lu Meiyan have proposed an experimental Pinyin orthography for the Tujia language, as follows: Tujia numerals Possible Ancient Tujia script The Tujia have been known as an ethnic minority (historically) without a written language. However, a succession of ancient undeciphered books with glosses presented in Chinese characters have been found in the Youyang Tujia habitation straddling the borders of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou provinces and Chongqing City. Language preservation Although only a small percentage of Tujia people speak the Tujia language, Tujia language enthusiasts work hard on to preserve it, both in Hunan and Hubei. According to news reports, two Tujia language instruction books have been published and work continues on a Tujia dictionary. The Tujia language scholar Chu Yongming (储永明) works with children at the Baifusi Ethnic Minorities School (百福司民族小学) in Baifusi Town, Laifeng County, Hubei to promote the language use. References Bibliography . . . . . . . . . External links Tujia basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database ELAR archive of Documentation of the Southern Tujia Language of China Proto-Tujia reconstruction (Sino-Tibetan Branches Project) Languages of China Unclassified Sino-Tibetan languages Tujia people Endangered Sino-Tibetan languages