N'Ko alphabet

N'Ko
Type alphabet
Languages N'Ko
Creator Solomana Kante
Time period 1949 to the present
ISO 15924 Nkoo, 165
Direction Right-to-left
Unicode alias N'Ko
Unicode range U+07C0–U+07FF
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

N'Ko (ߒߞߏ) is both a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949 as a writing system for the Mande languages of West Africa, and the name of the literary language itself written in the script. The term N'Ko means 'I say' in all Manding languages.

The script has a few similarities to the Arabic script, notably its direction (right-to-left) and the connected letters. It obligatorily marks both tone and vowels.

Contents

History

Kante created N'Ko in response to what he felt were beliefs that Africans were a cultureless people, since prior to this time no indigenous African writing system for his language existed. N'Ko came first into use in Kankan, Guinea, as a Maninka alphabet and was disseminated from there into other Mande-speaking parts of West Africa. N'Ko Alphabet Day is April 14, relating to April 14, 1949, the date the script is believed to have been finalized.

The introduction of the alphabet led to a movement promoting literacy in the N'Ko alphabet among Mande speakers in both Anglophone and Francophone West Africa. N'Ko literacy was instrumental in shaping the Mandinka cultural identity in Guinea, and it has also strengthened the Mande identity in other parts of West Africa (Oyler 1994).

Current usage

As of 2005, it is principally used in Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire (respectively by Maninka and Dioula-speakers), with an active user community in Mali (by Bambara-speakers). Publications include a translation of the Qur'an, a variety of textbooks on subjects such as physics and geography, poetic and philosophical works, descriptions of traditional medicine, a dictionary, and several local newspapers. It has been classed as the most successful of the West African scripts.[1] The literary language used is intended as a koine blending elements of the principal Manding languages (which are mutually intelligible), but has a particularly strong Maninka flavour.

The Latin script with several extended characters (phonetic additions) is used for all Manding languages to one degree or another for historical reasons and because of its adoption for "official" transcriptions of the languages by various governments. In some cases, such as with Bambara in Mali, promotion of literacy using this orthography has led to a fair degree of literacy in it. Arabic transcription is commonly used for Mandinka in The Gambia and Senegal.

Letters

The N'Ko alphabet is written from right to left, with letters being connected to one another.

Vowels

ɔ o u ɛ i e a
‎ߐ‏ ‎ߏ‏ ‎ߎ‏ ‎ߍ‏ ‎ߌ‏ ‎ߋ‏ ‎ߊ‏

Consonants

ra da cha ja ta pa ba
‎ߙ ‎ߘ ‎ߗ‏ ‎ߖ‏ ‎ߕ‏ ‎ߔ‏ ‎ߓ
ma la ka fa gba sa rra
‎ߡ ‎ߟ‏ ‎ߞ‏ ‎ߝ‏ ‎ߜ‏ ‎ߛ‏ ‎ߚ‏
n'   ya wa ha na nya
‎ߒ   ‎ߦ‏ ‎ߥ ‎ߤ‏ ‎ߣ‏ ‎ߢ‏
 

N'ko and computers

With the increasing use of computers and the subsequent desire to provide universal access to information technology, the challenge arose of developing ways to use N'ko on computers. From the 1990s on, there were efforts to develop fonts and even web content by adapting other software and fonts. An MS-DOS word processor called Koma Kuda was developed by Prof. Baba Mamadi Diané from the University of Cairo.[2] However the lack of intercompatibility inherent in such solutions was a block to further development.

Pango 1.18 and GNOME 2.20 have native support for the N'ko languages. An iOS app for tweeting in N'ko, TwTool, is available on the Apple app store.

Unicode

N'Ko script was added to the Unicode Standard in July, 2006 with the release of version 5.0.

UNESCO's Programme Initiative B@bel supported the preparation of a proposal to encode N'Ko in Unicode. In 2004, the proposal, presented by three professors of N'Ko (Baba Mamadi Diané, Mamady Doumbouya, and Karamo Kaba Jammeh) working with Michael Everson, was approved for balloting by the ISO working group WG2. In 2006 N'Ko was approved for Unicode 5.0.

The Unicode block for N'Ko is U+07C0–U+07FF:

NKo[1]
Unicode.org chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+07Cx ߀ ߁ ߂ ߃ ߄ ߅ ߆ ߇ ߈ ߉ ߊ ߋ ߌ ߍ ߎ ߏ
U+07Dx ߐ ߑ ߒ ߓ ߔ ߕ ߖ ߗ ߘ ߙ ߚ ߛ ߜ ߝ ߞ ߟ
U+07Ex ߠ ߡ ߢ ߣ ߤ ߥ ߦ ߧ ߨ ߩ ߪ ߫ ߬ ߭ ߮ ߯
U+07Fx ߰ ߱ ߲ ߳ ߴ ߵ ߶ ߷ ߸ ߹ ߺ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 6.0

The literary language

N'Ko is evolving as a standard language of several Manding or N'Ko languages. It is a literary language based on a compromise dialect, which Mandens from different sub-groups use to talk to each other. They switch from their own dialect to a conventional dialect known as N'Ko.[3] N'Ko is also known as Kangbe – the clear language.

For example, the word for 'name' in Bamanan is tɔgɔ and in Maninka it is toh. In written communications each person will write it as tô in N’Ko, and yet read and pronounce it differently.

References

Sources

Notes

  1. ^ Unseth, Peter. 2011. Invention of Scripts in West Africa for Ethnic Revitalization. In The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts, ed. by Joshua A. Fishman and Ofelia García, pp. 23-32. New York: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Personal note from the LISA/Cairo conference, in Dec. 2005, Don Osborn
  3. ^ N'Ko Language Tutorial: Introduction

External links

See also

Overview
Lists