[2] As an old system nearing extinction in the 1900s, it was rediscovered among Bassa in Brazil and the West Indies, then revived in Liberia, by Thomas Flo Lewis.

[3] Type was cast for it, and an association for its promotion was formed in Liberia in 1959.

It is a true alphabet, with 23 consonant letters, seven vowels and five tone diacritics.

It distinguishes five tones: high, low, mid, mid-rising, and falling.

Bassa Vah was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.