The Pollard (also called Miao, Pollard Miao, Simple Miao or Old
Miao) script was created by Samuel Pollard, a missionary working
with the A-Hmao (or Large Flowery Miao) language in southern
China, in the early 20th century. The script has been adapted
for use by other languages in Southeast Asia. It has been
revised a number of times since its inception - the form used in
the 1936 Western Hmong translation of the New Testament became
widespread, until the Chinese authorities in 1957 began to
object to the script on the grounds of religious association and
introduced a pinyin-style system. In 1988 however, Pollard's
script underwent a final reform to yield the version currently
in use, alongside the previous version and the pinyin system.
The Pollard Miao script is used for tonal languages and
represents syllables containing an initial consonant followed by
a vowel or vowel cluster. Consonants and vowels must each be
explicitly expressed. There are 32 "big letters" for writing
consonants and 37 "small letters