There is a particular moment when learning a new script — the moment you write your own name in it for the first time. Something shifts. The script stops being a system of abstract shapes and becomes something that belongs to you. Your identity, rendered in a new alphabet.
This guide is for that moment. By the end of it you will know exactly which Yapiri glyphs correspond to each sound in your name, and you will have seen the process demonstrated on several real names from Tripura and beyond.
One Rule, Total Freedom
Yapiri is a phonemic alphabet: one character per sound, no more, no less. This means writing any name in Yapiri comes down to a single rule — write what you hear, not what you see. Your name's spelling in Bengali, Roman, or any other script is just a starting hint. What matters is how the name actually sounds when spoken aloud.
Say your name slowly. Break it into individual sounds. Find each sound in the reference table below. That sequence of glyphs is your name in Yapiri.
The Complete Sound Reference
Every Yapiri character, its romanization, and a real-name example to place the sound. Find each phoneme in your name here, note its glyph, and you have your transcription.
| Glyph | Sound | Heard in… |
|---|---|---|
| Vowels — 6 full independent letters | ||
| | a | ankita, rama, sanga |
| | e | debbarma, ela, rekha |
| | i | riya, animesh, gita |
| | u | sunil, khushbu, rupa |
| | o | sonam, bok, joti |
| | ə (schwa) | swmai, kwsrang — the mid-word neutral vowel; romanized as w mid-word, never word-initial |
| Plain stops | ||
| | p | priya, purna, paban |
| | t | tarun, tui, tarak |
| | k | kiran, kumar, kabu |
| Aspirated stops — the puff of air | ||
| | ph | phalguni, phul — a single glyph, not p+h |
| | th | thanga, thakur — NOT the English "th"; a sharp t with air |
| | kh | khushbu, khokh, khumar — k with a clear puff |
| Voiced stops | ||
| | b | bikram, baba, debbarma — geminate: two /b/ sounds, two glyphs |
| | d | debbarma, dipali, doti |
| | g | gita, ganesh, ang |
| Affricates | ||
| | ch | chandra, chini — like "ch" in chair |
| | j | jyoti, jaya, raj |
| | chh | chhaya — aspirated ch; a single glyph |
| Nasals | ||
| | m | animesh, mala, ram |
| | n | animesh, nayan, sonam |
| | n′ | palatal nasal — the ny-sound in canyon, magna |
| | ng | sanga, ring, thong |
| Fricatives & approximants | ||
| | s | sunil, sonam, anish — also used for "sh" |
| | r | riya, rekha, tarun |
| | l | lakshmi, palash, lila |
| | v | vijay, varun — extended consonant for loanwords |
| | f | farida, fatema — extended consonant |
| | z | zubin, zara — extended consonant |
| | y | yapiri, yuvraj, jyoti |
| | w | wak, wangchuk |
| | h | himal, huk, ham |
Worked Examples
Watch the process on six names: three from the Tiprasa community, two from across India, and the script's own name.
The final sound depends on how you pronounce the name. If you say Animesh with a clear "sh" at the end, write s + h — two glyphs () — because both sounds are present. If your pronunciation ends with a plain "s" — Animes — write s alone (). Yapiri has no dedicated "sh" glyph since /ʃ/ is not a native Kokborok phoneme, but s + h is a perfectly valid two-character sequence that a reader will naturally interpret as "sh." Write what you actually say.
Short names are some of the most elegant in Yapiri — clean, minimal, immediately beautiful.
Tiprasa speakers pronounce Debbarma with a clearly emphasized double /b/ — a geminate consonant. Yapiri writes what is spoken, so both /b/ sounds are written as two consecutive b-glyphs (). Reducing this to a single glyph would follow a Bengali orthographic habit of collapsing geminates, which does not reflect Tiprasa pronunciation. The officially adopted form is Debbarma as one word — eight sounds, eight glyphs.
The kh is a single Yapiri character () — the aspirated velar stop, not k + h. For the "sh" in the middle: if you pronounce it as a distinct "sh" sound, write s + h () for 6 glyphs total. If it sounds like a plain "s" in your pronunciation, write s alone. The same principle applies here as in Animesh — write what you hear.
Consonant clusters like "pr" are written as two consecutive glyphs with no joining mark. Yapiri's left-to-right linear structure handles clusters naturally — just write each sound in sequence.
Yapiri — footprints in Kokborok — written in the very script it names. Six phonemes, six glyphs, no ambiguity. The word that means "traces we leave behind," leaving its own trace on the page.
"Your name, written in your own script. That is where it was always meant to be."
— On the first moment of seeing your name in YapiriThings to Keep in Mind
Aspirated consonants are single glyphs. This is the point most likely to trip a new writer. When your name contains kh, th, or ph as a distinct aspirated sound, those two Roman letters become one Yapiri character. Do not write k + h separately.
"sh" — write what you pronounce. Yapiri has no dedicated "sh" glyph because /ʃ/ is not a native Kokborok phoneme. But that does not mean you must drop it. If you clearly pronounce "sh" in your name, write s + h as two consecutive glyphs () — two sounds, two characters, which a reader will naturally interpret as "sh." If your pronunciation is a plain "s," write s alone. The script follows your voice, not a convention.
The schwa is your friend. Many Kokborok names contain the mid-central vowel /ə/ — the soft, neutral sound romanized as w mid-word. In Swmai, the first vowel is a schwa: s + ə + m + a + i. In Kwsrang, again the first vowel: k + ə + s + r + a + ng. That schwa () has its own dedicated Yapiri character — do not substitute /a/ or /u/ for it.
Sound it out, then write. If you are unsure about a particular sound in your name, say it slowly and listen. The right glyph will follow from what you actually hear, not from what a Roman spelling suggests.
Now Write Yours
Open the web keyboard — no download needed — and type your name phoneme by phoneme. The keyboard maps each Roman sound exactly as the table above shows: type kh for the aspirated velar, th for the aspirated dental, ng for the nasal. Each digraph resolves to a single Yapiri glyph.
When you have it, copy the glyphs and share them. Drop your name in the comments below — we would love to see the community building its own Yapiri nameboard. The Specification and Script page are there if you want to go deeper into the full system.
Your name has always carried your identity. Now it can carry it in Yapiri too.
Community Thoughts
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