Displayed below is the estimated frequency of different types of characters by Holm:[4] According to Bauer, Sawndip characters can be categorized using a more complex system than the six traditional classification principles:[5] The script has been used for centuries, mainly by Zhuang singers and shamans, to record poems, scriptures, folktales, myths, songs, play scripts, medical prescriptions, family genealogies and contracts, but exactly when it came into being is not known.

[13][14] Chinese characters were already in use in the Zhuang area, as illustrated by two Tang dynasty steles entitled 'Eulogy of the six-sided courtyard' (六合坚固大宅颂; Liù hé jiāngùdàzhái sòng) in 682 and 'Monument of Zhi Cheng city' (智城碑; Zhì chéng bēi) in 697.

[18] Several Song dynasty Han Chinese authors give examples of 'vernacular characters' (土俗字; Tǔsúzì) used in Guangxi such as Zhou Qufei in Lingwai Daida and Fan Chengda in the Guihai yuheng zhi (桂海虞衡志) saying that such characters were common in the area and used in legal documents such as indictments, complaints, receipts and contracts.

Fwen Caeg "Songs of War" (贼歌; Zéi gē) from Pingguo which is considered to be such despite some lines which are later additions.

[27][28] Fwen nganx 欢𭪤 ('The Dragon Eye Fruit Song'), a love story, is also from the Ming era.

[32] Another source is the Huayu yiyu (華夷譯語 'Barbarian vocabulary') compiled by the Bureau of Translators in the mid-18th century on the order of the Qianlong Emperor, and now held in the archives of the Imperial Palace Museum.

The survey of western Guangxi (Tàipíng fǔ yíyǔ tōngyì) was less thorough than other parts of the empire, consisting of just 71 to 170 items from three locations.

For over one thousand years the Zhuang have used Sawndip to write a wide variety of literature, including folk songs, operas, poems, scriptures, letters, contract, and court documents.

[41] In 2013, David Holm reported a geographical survey of the script, comparing characters used for 60 words in texts from 45 locations in Guangxi and neighbouring areas.

[42] However, he claims to have found a clear geographical division in terms of the branch of Chinese that provided the pronunciation of borrowed characters.

In Guizhou and northern Guangxi, character readings correspond to Southwest Mandarin, which was brought to the area by the armies of the Ming dynasty.

In central and southwest Guangxi, they closely match Pinghua, which is derived from the speech of Han dynasty immigrants.

Holm states that while both Pinghua and Zhuang have changed over this period, this has generally been in parallel, making it difficult to date the readings.

[43] Scholars studying the script used in Guizhou associate its origins with the introduction of Chinese officials in the early Qing dynasty.