Nuigul (뉘글)

The Nuigul alphabet is a way of writing the Rapanui language with the Korean Hangeul script. It was created by Camila Jacob, a Chilean polyglot who is fluent in Spanish, English, Portugese and Korean.

Rapanui is the native name of Easter Island. It means "big Rapa". Hangul (한글) is the name of the Korean alphabet. "Han" means "great" and "gul" means in script. Therefore, Nuigul means "Big script".

The Nuigul alphabet should only be used to write the Rapanui language. Any loanword from Spanish or English should be written in the Latin alphabet.

Nuigul

Nuigul alphabet

Notes

Includes three obsolete archaic consonants, ㅸ, ㆁ and ᅇ, and one archaic vowel, ㆍ
Letters are written in syllable blocks, as in Korean
Given the fact that Rapanui is a C+V language and consonant clusters don't exist, Nuigul is written in the same fashion as a syllabary, however, remains an alphabet.
Because of this, not only are we fitting Rapanui to Hangul, but Hangul to Rapanui by restoring obsolete consonants to cover every possible sound.
ㆍ(아래아) is an archaic vowel, which is only preserved in the Jeju language. In mainland Korean dialects, it can be seen as a replacement for the [a] vowel, or aesthetic purposes, such as dividing words like this: 한국어ㆍ영어ㆍ일본어.
Rapanui vowels can be normal in length or extended. Vowel extension is sometimes avoided when writing Rapanui with the Latin alphabet, which can lead to problems within translation. In Nuigul, ㆍ serves as a vowel extension tool. This is done by adding an aditional stroke to the original vowel. In the Latin alphabet: A, Ā, E, Ē, O, Ō, U, Ū, I, Ī. In Nuigul alphabet; 아, 야, 에, 예, 오, 요, 우, 유 이, 의. The rule would be: ㅇ + ㅏ + ㆍ = 야 Ā. The exception would be: ㅇ + ㅣ + ㅡ = 의 Ī.

Download an alphabet chart for Nuigul (Excel)

Sample text in Nuigul

데 하나우 헤누아, 마이 데 보레고 하ㆁㅏ, 헤 마누 데레, 마누 라라마 에 마누 마나ᅇㅜ; 고 두ᅇㅜ 비루 아나 다ᅇㅏ도ᅇㅏ. 마이 아이 헤 하나우 에 하가 도바 로 아 이 데 마나ᅇㅜ, 에 헤레, 에 모ᅇ아, 에 다부 기 아 라우ᅇㅏ.

Transliteration

Te hanau henua, mai te poreko hanga, he manu tere, manu rarama e manu mana’u; ko tu’u piru ana ta’ato’a. Mai ai he hanau e haka topa ro a i te mana’u, e here, e mo’a, e tapu ki a raua ‘a.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Information about Rapa Nui | Phrases | Numbers | Rongorongo script | Books

[top]

You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, and if you like what you see on this page, you can use the buttons below to share it with people you know.

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

[top]