How To Read Likanu

Likanu is an abugida, meaning that each consonant character always expresses a vowel, and that vowel can be modified with diacritics. The base characters all have an inherent /a/ vowel.

To express other vowels, a diacritic is placed to the side of the character.

An accent means that syllable ends in a nasal, often referred to as coda -n. The accent goes directly over the consonant character.

Although the vowel diacritic is placed adjacent to the consonant character, almost like an alphabetical letter, this is not an alphabet like you may be used to. A vowel diacritic cannot be used on its own, it can only be used to modify the vowel of a consonant character. For words that begin with a vowel sound, the null consonant character ⟨o⟩ must be used and then a vowel diacritic can modify it.