Nika is written in Hangeul, which is a hybrid between an alphabet and a syllabary. Here is an example text (Lorem Ipsum) in Nika to illustrate how it looks:
First, you read the rightmost column from top to bottom →
로러무이뿌쑤무도로루씨뚜아머뚜、꼬누써꾸떠뚜루아지삐씨니어이뚜、써두도어유쑤모두떠무뽀루이누찌지두누뚜우뚜라보러어뚜도로러마냐아이까。우뚜어니무아두미니무버 니아무、찌쑤노쑤뚜루두어써루찌따쪼누우루라무꼬라보이쑤니씨우뚜아이찌뿌어쑤어아꼬무모도꼬누써까뚜
지쑤아우떠이루러도로루이누러뿌러어누더이뚜이누보루뿌따떠버 이뚜어쑤써찌루루무도로러어우뿌자뚜누루라빠이아뚜루。어씨뿌떠우루씨누뚜오꾸쩌까뚜꾸삐다따뚜노누뿌로이더누뚜、쑤누뚜이누꾸루빠찌오삐짜더써루누뚜모루이뚜아니무 이두어쑤뚜라보루무
무쑤뿌이무러로
| Latin | Hangeul | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing system type | alphabet | alphabet |
| Writing mode | horizontal (rows) |
vertical (columns) |
| Writing direction | characters: left to right rows: top to bottom |
characters: top to bottom columns: right to left |
| Number of characters | 26 | 19 |
| Syllable blocks | no | yes |
| Uppercase/lowercase distinction | yes | no |
| Spaces as word separators | yes | no |
| Punctuation | complex | simplified |
| Full stops ending sentences | mandatory | mandatory (but the last one is usually dropped) |
Each character is a square block which represents a syllable in Nika. However, it is internally composed of two elements: syllable initial and syllable final. The former stands for a consonant that starts a syllable (there is a special null symbol used when a syllable doesn’t have such a consonant), and the latter for a vowel alone or a vowel combined with a semivowel (preceding the vowel).
In order to read and write Nika, you need to learn only 19 symbols:
10 syllable finals to write:
- 5 simple vowels (ㅏ a, ㅓ e, ㅗ o, ㅜ u, ㅣ i),
- 4 vowels combined with a semivowel y (ㅑ ya, ㅕ ye, ㅛ yo, ㅠ yu),
- 1 vowel combined with a semivowel w (ㅡ wa);
9 syllable initials to write:
- 5 consonants (ㅂ b, ㄷ d, ㄱ g, ㅈ j, ㅅ z) that are voiced and can be doubled to turn them into their voiceless counterparts (ㅃ p, ㄸ t, ㄲ k, ㅉ ch, ㅆ s),
- 3 consonants (ㅁ m, ㄴ n, ㄹ r) that are voiced and cannot be doubled since they do not have voiceless counterparts,
- and a lack of initial consonant (ㅇ).
Syllable Nuclei
There are 5 vowels: a /a/, e /e/, i /i/, o /o/ and u /u/. They are the most important part of a syllable that is called a nucleus, and it’s the only mandatory part of a syllable.
| Latin | Pronunciation | IPA (phonetic) |
IPA (phonemic) |
Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | father | [ä] | /a/ | 아 a /a/ |
| e | leg | [e̞] | /e/ | 어 e /e/ |
| i | feet | [i] | /i/ | 이 i /i/ |
| o | dog | [o̞] | /o/ | 오 o /o/ |
| u | root | [ü] | /u/ | 우 u /u/ |
Syllable Medials
Some of the vowels may be combined with a semivowel y /j/: a /a/, o /o/ and u /u/, which yield ya /ja/, yo /jo/ and yu /ju/, respectively. The vowel a /a/ can be combined with a semivowel w /w/, which produces wa /wa/. This optional element of a syllable is called a medial.
| Latin | Pronunciation | IPA (phonetic) |
IPA (phonemic) |
Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| y | yarn | [j] | /j/ | 야야 yaya /ja.ja/ |
| w | woman | [w] | /w/ | 으으 wawa /wa.wa/ |
Syllable Finals
The syllable medial and nucleus together constitute a syllable final. All Hangeul vowel characters are associated with a complete final of syllable, not only a nucleus (that is why they combine vowels with semivowels). Each character is based on a single stroke, which may be written vertically or horizontally. If a vowel stroke is vertical, the character block is divided into two columns: left and right, and the left one is used for a syllable initial, and the right one for a syllable final. If a vowel stroke is horizontal, the character block is divided into two rows: top and bottom, and the top one is used for a syllable initial, and the bottom one for a syllable final.
| Layout | Finals | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| vertical | ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅣ | 가, 냐, 더, 녀, 지 |
| horizontal | ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ | 로, 쑈, 부, 뮤, 으 |
The following table lists all the possible syllable finals in Nika:
| Hangeul | Latin | Pronunciation | IPA (phonetic) |
IPA (phonemic) |
Name | Layout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ㅏ | a | father | [ä] | /a/ | 아 a /a/ |
vertical Final Initial |
| ㅑ | ya ( a )1 |
yarn | [jä] ( [ä] )1 |
/ja/ ( /a/ )1 |
야 ya /ja/ |
vertical Final Initial |
| ㅓ | e | leg | [e̞] | /e/ | 어 e /e/ |
vertical Final Initial |
| ㅕ | ye ( e )1 |
leg | ( [e̞] )2 | ( /e/ )2 | 녀 nye /ȵe/ |
vertical Final Initial |
| ㅣ | i | feet | [i] | /i/ | 이 i /i/ |
vertical Final Initial |
| ㅗ | o | dog | [o̞] | /o/ | 오 o /o/ |
horizontal Initial Final |
| ㅛ | yo ( o )1 |
yon | [jo̞] ( [o̞] )1 |
/jo/ ( /o/ )1 |
요 yo /jo/ |
horizontal Initial Final |
| ㅜ | u | root | [ü] | /u/ | 우 u /u/ |
horizontal Initial Final |
| ㅠ | yu ( u )1 |
yew | [jü] ( [ü] )1 |
/ju/ ( /u/ )1 |
유 yu /ju/ |
horizontal Initial Final |
| ㅡ | wa | one | [wä] | /wa/ | 으 wa /wa/ |
horizontal Initial Final |
Syllable Initials
There are 13 consonants: m, n, p, b, t, d, k, g, s, z, ch, j, and r. They come before syllable finals and constitute the syllable initial.
There are 3 voiced consonants (m, n, and r) that can’t be devoiced and 5 voiced consonants (b, d, g, z, and j) that can be devoiced to p, t, k, s, and c; respectively. There is also a special character for an empty syllable initial (null consonant): ㅇ.
There are 5 unvoiced vowels (p, t, k, s, and c). They are not written using any distinctive characters but with the same symbols as their voiced counterparts, yet doubled.
| Hangeul | Latin | Pronunciation | IPA (phonetic) |
IPA (phonemic) |
Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ㅇ | — 3 | — | — | — | 아아 aa /a.a/ |
| ㅁ | m | man | [m] | /m/ | 마마 mama /ma.ma/ |
| ㅂ | b | big | [b] | /b/ | 바바 baba /ba.ba/ |
| ㅃ | p | pig | [p] | /p/ | 빠빠 papa /pa.pa/ |
| ㄴ | n | nose ( onion )1 |
[n] ( [ȵ] )1 |
/n/ ( /ȵ/ )1 |
나나 (냐냐) nana — ( nyanya ) /na.na/ — ( /ȵa.ȵa/ ) |
| ㄷ | d | dog | [d] | /d/ | 다다 dada /da.da/ |
| ㄸ | t | tail | [t] | /t/ | 따따 tata /ta.ta/ |
| ㅈ | j | jet | [ʥ] | /ʥ/ | 자자 jaja /ʥa.ʥa/ |
| ㅉ | ch | child | [ʨ] | /ʨ/ | 짜짜 chacha /ʨa.ʨa/ |
| ㅅ | z ( zh )1 |
zoo ( vision )1 |
[z] ( [ʑ] )1 |
/z/ ( /ʑ/ )1 |
사사 (샤샤) zaza — ( zhazha ) /za.za/ — ( /ʑa.ʑa/ ) |
| ㅆ | s ( sh )1 |
some ( short )1 |
[s] ( [ɕ] )1 |
/s/ ( /ɕ/ )1 |
싸싸 (쌰쌰) sasa — ( shasha ) /sa.sa/ — ( /ɕa.ɕa/ ) |
| ㄱ | g | get | [g] | /g/ | 가가 gaga /ga.ga/ |
| ㄲ | k | cat | [k] | /k/ | 까까 kaka /ka.ka/ |
| ㄹ | r | rope | [ɻ] | /r/ | 라라 rara /ra.ra/ |
Syllabary
There are 90 syllable characters for building words and particles.
Note that the palatalization n /n/ → n /ȵ/, s /s/ → sh /ɕ/ and z /z/ → zh /ʑ/, as well as other irregularities, are written in bold.
| Fin. → | Han. → | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅗ | ㅜ | ㅣ | ㅑ | ㅛ | ㅠ | ㅕ | ㅡ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ↓ Init. | Lat. → | a | e | o | u | i | ya ( a ) 1 |
yo ( o ) 1 |
yu ( u ) 1 |
ye ( e ) 1 |
wa | |
| ↓ Han. | ↓ Lat. | ↓ IPA → | /a/ | /e/ | /o/ | /u/ | /i/ | /ja/ ( /a/ ) 1 |
/jo/ ( /o/ ) 1 |
/ju/ ( /u/ ) 1 |
( /e/ ) 1 | /wa/ |
| ㅇ | ∅ | /∅/ | 아 a /a/ |
어 e /e/ |
오 o /o/ |
우 u /u/ |
이 i /i/ |
야 ya /ja/ |
요 yo /jo/ |
유 yu /ju/ |
으 wa /wa/ |
|
| ㄴ | n | /n/ ( /ȵ/ ) 1 |
나 na /na/ |
너 ne /ne/ |
노 no /no/ |
누 nu /nu/ |
니 ni /ȵi/ |
냐 nya /ȵa/ |
뇨 nyo /ȵo/ |
뉴 nyu /ȵu/ |
녀 nye /ȵe/ |
|
| ㅅ | z ( zh ) 1 |
/z/ ( /ʑ/ ) 1 |
사 za /za/ |
서 ze /ze/ |
소 zo /zo/ |
수 zu /zu/ |
시 zhi /ʑi/ |
샤 zha /ʑa/ |
쇼 zho /ʑo/ |
슈 zhu /ʑu/ |
셔 zhe /ʑe/ |
|
| ㅆ | s ( sh ) 1 |
/s/ ( /ɕ/ ) 1 |
싸 sa /sa/ |
써 se /se/ |
쏘 so /so/ |
쑤 su /su/ |
씨 shi /ɕi/ |
쌰 sha /ɕa/ |
쑈 sho /ɕo/ |
쓔 shu /ɕu/ |
쎠 she /ɕe/ |
|
| ㅂ | b | /b/ | 바 ba /ba/ |
버 be /be/ |
보 bo /bo/ |
부 bu /bu/ |
비 bi /bi/ |
뱌 bya /bja/ |
뵤 byo /bjo/ |
뷰 byu /bju/ |
||
| ㅃ | p | /p/ | 빠 pa /pa/ |
뻐 pe /pe/ |
뽀 po /po/ |
뿌 pu /pu/ |
삐 pi /pi/ |
뺘 pya /pja/ |
뾰 pyo /pjo/ |
쀼 pyu /pju/ |
||
| ㅁ | m | /m/ | 마 ma /ma/ |
머 me /me/ |
모 mo /mo/ |
무 mu /mu/ |
미 mi /mi/ |
먀 mya /mja/ |
묘 myo /mjo/ |
뮤 myu /mju/ |
||
| ㅈ | j | /ʥ/ | 자 ja /ʥa/ |
저 je /ʥe/ |
조 jo /ʥo/ |
주 ju /ʥu/ |
지 ji /ʥi/ |
|||||
| ㅉ | ch | /ʨ/ | 짜 cha /ʨa/ |
쩌 che /ʨe/ |
쪼 cho /ʨo/ |
쭈 chu /ʨu/ |
찌 chi /ʨi/ |
|||||
| ㄷ | d | /d/ | 다 da /da/ |
더 de /de/ |
도 do /do/ |
두 du /du/ |
||||||
| ㄸ | t | /t/ | 따 ta /ta/ |
떠 te /te/ |
또 to /to/ |
뚜 tu /tu/ |
||||||
| ㄹ | r | /r/ | 라 ra /ra/ |
러 re /re/ |
로 ro /ro/ |
루 ru /ru/ |
||||||
| ㄱ | g | /g/ | 가 ga /ga/ |
거 ge /ge/ |
고 go /go/ |
구 gu /gu/ |
||||||
| ㄲ | k | /k/ | 까 ka /ka/ |
꺼 ke /ke/ |
꼬 ko /ko/ |
꾸 ku /ku/ |