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Summary

Vietoaq (Toaq: mı fỉetōaq ‘Ugly-language’) is a Roman alphabet-only method of writing Toaq – it can represent any Toaq utterance with just the letters of the Latin alphabet. Its end purpose is to be integrated into an IME (Input Method Editor) for quick, strainless Toaq keyboard input; for now, though, it doubles as a romanisation of Toaq for those who aren’t able to write tones at the moment. The name ‘Vietoaq’ is a portmanteau of ‘Vietnamese’ and ‘Toaq’ – ‘Vietnamese’ corresponding to the Telex input method which, similarly to Vietoaq, doesn’t require any special keystrokes despite the heavily accented language it is used for.

Vietoaq is easy to learn: after each vowel sequence in a syllable – where the final -q would normally come – a consonant which encodes both tone and the presence or absence of the -q is inserted. Consult the list below:

• Eighth  tone (particle       ): da␣ → da, daq → daq (*)
• Fourth  tone (predicate      ): dan → dả, dam → dảq
• First   tone (compound       ): dar → dā, dal → dāq
• Second  tone (argument       ): dap → dá, dab → dáq
• Fifth   tone (content clause ): dat → dâ, dad → dâq
• Sixth   tone (preposition    ): dak → dà, dag → dàq
• Seventh tone (adverb         ): daf → dã, dav → dãq
• Third   tone (relative clause): dax → dä, daz → däq

(*) The space is not required. In fact, Vietoaq can be written without any spaces.

The astute (obviously) reader will notice the patterns hidden within the 16 assignments. For example, nasal endings (-q as in daq, as opposed to e.g. da) correspond to letters typically assigned to voiced consonants: p–b, t–d, k–g, f–v. There are other patterns – try to look for them yourself and you might find that you’re learning Vietoaq faster than you should. You can notice the weird assignments for the third tone – they’re here because c and s would create ambiguity with the ch- and sh- onsets (gic-hal or gi-chal?), and there aren’t many other consonant letters to choose from.

You can convert Vietoaq to fully accented, aesthetically pleasing Toaq either on the Discord guild/Telegram group with the ? command (handy when you forget to bring your accented keyboard with you) or with this weblet.

Interjections

It has become increasingly common to use syllables with empty onsets (i.e., without a consonant at the start) for interjections – for example, è (hesitation), â (realisation), ỏı (‘I’m British’). What’s more, nasal consonants have been being used for this exact purpose, too: ḿ (acknowledgement), q̀ (contemplation), f̄ (mı sẻaqtāq). In order to represent these extralinguistic interjections while preserving Vietoaq’s unambiguity, the letter y as the ‘ghost vowel’ or the letter w as the ‘ghost consonant’ should be used: wek, wat, woin, myp, qyk, fyr. (This proposal has not yet been made official or final, nor has it been yet implemented anywhere).

Example

Pufjaor bi mien sa ship ruainjoal doax tik tu lup pam hoap guap na, duatgir hoap da.

pũjāo bı mỉe sa shí rủaıjōaq döa tì tu lú pảq hóa gúa na, dûagī hóa da.

Bun gain hop sia raip na, ru dun tintuar bab cu hop nibdaor raz hoap sob shuin na, peok riop da.

bủ gảı hó sıa ráı na, ru dủ tỉtūa báq cu hó níqdāo räq hóa sóq shủı na, pèo río da.

Keo dum hop sa juap da.

keo dủq hó sa júa da.

Raok tu chab biek chud hop reobhal na, raok titshear tobfuar na, ru tin sia meapheor bi, duain tintuar sa ship cheam luemcher sa ship meanheor ham da.

rào tu cháq bìe chûq hó réoqhāq na, rào tîshēa tóqfūa na, ru tỉ sıa méahēo bı, dủaı tỉtūa sa shí chẻaq lủeqchē sa shí mẻahēo hảq da.

Keo mu tien mab na, ru juam bun duan luebcher hed mab hi raip da.

keo mu tỉe máq na, ru jủaq bủ dủa lúeqchē hêq máq hı ráı da.