N'Ko script

N'Ko (N'Ko: ߒߞߏ) is an alphabetic script devised by Solomana Kanté in 1949, as a modern writing system for the Manding languages of West Africa.[1][2] The term N'Ko, which means I say in all Manding languages, is also used for the Manding literary standard written in the N'Ko script.

Not to be confused with N'Ko language.
N'Ko
ߒߞߏ
Script type
CreatorSolomana Kanté
Time period
1949–present
Directionright-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesN'Ko, Manding languages (Mandingo, Maninka,
Bambara, Dyula)
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Nkoo (165), ​N’Ko
Unicode
Unicode alias
NKo
U+07C0–U+07FF

The script has a few similarities to the Arabic script, notably its direction (right-to-left) and the letters that are connected at the base. Unlike Arabic, it is obligatory to mark both tone and vowels. N'Ko tones are marked as diacritics, in a similar manner to the marking of some vowels in Arabic.

History
Grave of Solomana Kanté. The French at the bottom reads "Inventor of the N'Ko alphabet".

Kanté created N'Ko in response to erroneous beliefs that no indigenous African writing system existed, as well as to provide a better way to write Manding languages, which had for centuries been written predominantly in Ajami script, which was not perfectly suited to the tones unique to Mandé and common to many West African languages. A widely told story among N'Ko proponents is that Kanté was particularly challenged to create a distinct system when he, in Bouake, stumbled upon a book by a Lebanese author who dismissively equated African languages "like those of the birds, impossible to transcribe"[3] despite said Ajami history.[4] Kanté devised N'Ko as he was in Bingerville, Côte d'Ivoire and later brought to Kanté's natal region of Kankan, Guinea.[5]

N'Ko began to be used in many educational books when the script is believed to have been finalized[6] on April 14, 1949 (now N'Ko Alphabet Day);[7] Kanté had transcribed from religious to scientific and philosophical literature, even a dictionary.[8] These materials were given as gifts into other Manding-speaking parts of West Africa. The script received its first specially made typewriter from Eastern Europe back when Guinea had ties with the Soviet Union in the 1950s.[9]

The introduction of the script led to a movement promoting literacy in N'Ko among Mandé speakers in both Anglophone and Francophone West Africa. N'Ko literacy was instrumental in shaping the Maninka cultural identity in Guinea, and it has also strengthened the Manding identity in other parts of West Africa.[10]

Current use
Smartphone with a N'Ko class via WhatsApp

As of 2005, it was used mainly in Guinea and the Ivory Coast (respectively by Maninka and Dyula speakers), with an active user community in Mali (by Bambara speakers). Publications include a translation of the Quran, 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. Though taught mostly informally through N'ko literacy promotion associations, N'ko has also been introduced more recently into formal education through private primary schools in Upper Guinea.[11] It has been classed as the most successful of the West African scripts.[12]

N'Ko literature generally uses a literary language register, termed kangbe (literally, 'clear language'), that is seen as a potential compromise dialect across Mandé languages.[13] For example, the word for 'name' in Bamanan is tɔgɔ and in Maninka it is tɔɔ. N'Ko has only one written word for 'name', but individuals read and pronounce the word in their own language. This literary register is thus intended as a koiné language blending elements of the principal Manding languages, which are mutually intelligible, but has a very strong Maninka influence.

There has also been documented use of N'Ko, with additional diacritics, for traditional religious publications in the Yoruba and Fon languages of Benin and southwestern Nigeria.[14]

Letters

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

Vowels
ɔouɛiea
ߐ‎ߏ‎ߎ‎ߍ‎ߌ‎ߋ‎ߊ‎

Consonants
rtdt͡ʃd͡ʒpb
ߙ‎ߕ‎ߘ‎ߗ‎ߖ‎ߔ‎ߓ‎
mg͡blkfsrr
ߡ‎ߜ‎ߟ‎ߞ‎ߝ‎ߛ‎ߚ‎
ŋhjwnɲ
ߒ‎ߤ‎ߦ‎ߥ‎ߣ‎ߢ‎

Tones

N'Ko uses 7 diacritical marks to denote tonality and vowel length. Together with plain vowels, N'Ko distinguishes four tones: high, low, ascending, and descending; and two vowel lengths: long and short. Unmarked signs designate short, descending vowels.

high low rising falling
short ߫‎ ߬‎ ߭‎
long ߯‎ ߰‎ ߱‎ ߮‎

Numbers
0123456789
߀‎߁‎߂‎߃‎߄‎߅‎߆‎߇‎߈‎߉‎

Non-native sounds and letters

N'Ko also provides a way of representing non-native sounds through the modification of its letters with diacritics.[15][16] These letters are used in transliterated names and loanwords.

Two dots above a vowel, resembling a diaeresis or umlaut mark, represent a foreign vowel: u-two-dots for the French /y/ sound, or e-two-dots for the French /ə/.

Diacritics are also placed above some consonant letters to cover sounds not found in Mandé, such as gb-dot for /g/; gb-line for /ɣ/; gb-two-dots for /k͡p/; f-dot for /v/; rr-dot for /ʁ/; etc.

Digitization

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 the N'Ko script on computers. From the 1990s onwards, there were efforts to develop fonts and even web content by adapting other software and fonts. A DOS word processor named Koma Kuda was developed by Prof. Baba Mamadi Diané from Cairo University.[17] However the lack of intercompatibility inherent in such solutions was a block to further development.

Wikipedia

There is also a N’ko version of Wikipedia in existence since 26 November 2019, it contains 975 articles as of 16 August 2021, with 7,880 edits and 2,018 users.[18]

Unicode
Further information: NKo (Unicode block)

The N'Ko script was added to the Unicode Standard in July 2006 with the release of version 5.0. Additional characters were added in 2018.

UNESCO's Programme Initiative B@bel supported preparing 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][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
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 15.1
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References
  1. Eberhard, David; Simons, Gary; Fennig, Charles, eds. (2019). "N'ko". Ethnoloque. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  2. Oyler, Dianne (Spring 2002). "Re-Inventing Oral Tradition: The Modern Epic of Souleymane Kanté". Research in African Literatures. 33 (1): 75–93. doi:10.1353/ral.2002.0034. JSTOR 3820930. OCLC 57936283. S2CID 162339606.
  3. Oyler, Dianne White (2001). "A Cultural Revolution in Africa: Literacy in the Republic of Guinea since Independence". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 34 (3): 585–600. doi:10.2307/3097555. ISSN 0361-7882. JSTOR 3097555.
  4. Donaldson, Coleman (2020). "The Role of Islam, Ajami writings, and educational reform in Sulemaana Kantè's N'ko". African Studies Review. 63 (3): 462–486. doi:10.1017/asr.2019.59. ISSN 0002-0206.
  5. Oyler, Dianne White (January 1997). "The N'ko Alphabet as a Vehicle of Indigenist Historiography". History in Africa. 24: 239–256. doi:10.2307/3172028.
  6. Oyler, Dianne White (November 2005). The History of N'ko and its Role in Mande Transnational Identity: Words as Weapons. Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-9653308-7-9.
  7. • "N'Ko Alphabet Day". Any Day Guide. N'Ko Alphabet Day is celebrated on April 14 in some West African countries, where the Manding languages are spoken. It marks the anniversary of the date the alphabet is believed to have been finalized.
    • Garikayi, Tapiwanashe S. "Afrikan Fonts: The N'Ko Alphabet". nan.xyz. N'Ko started to be utilized in numerous instructive books when the script is believed to have been finalized on April 14, 1949 (presently N'Ko Alphabet Day)....
  8. Oyler, Dianne White (2001). "A Cultural Revolution in Africa: Literacy in the Republic of Guinea since Independence". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 34 (3): 585–600. doi:10.2307/3097555. ISSN 0361-7882. JSTOR 3097555.
  9. Rosenberg, Tina (9 December 2011). "Everyone Speaks Text Message". The New York Times Magazine. p. 20.
  10. Oyler, Dianne White (1994) Mande identity through literacy, the N'ko writing system as an agent of cultural nationalism. Toronto: African Studies Association.
  11. Wyrod, Christopher (January 2008). "A social orthography of identity: the N'ko literacy movement in West Africa". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2008 (192). doi:10.1515/ijsl.2008.033. ISSN 0165-2516. S2CID 143142019.
  12. Unseth, Peter. 2011. Invention of Scripts in West Africa for Ethnic Revitalization. In Fishman, Joshua; Garcia, Ofelia (2011). Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts (Volume 2). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-983799-1.
  13. N'Ko Language Tutorial: Introduction
  14. Agelogbagan Agbovi. "Gànhúmehàn Vodún - Living Sacred Text (completely in Fongbe and N'ko)". Kilombo Restoration & Healing. Kilombo Restoration and Healing.
  15. Doumbouya, Mamady (2012). Illustrated English/N'Ko Alphabet: An introduction to N'Ko for English Speakers (PDF). Philadelphia, PA, USA: N'Ko Institute of America. p. 29.
  16. Sogoba, Mia (June 1, 2018). "N'Ko Alphabet: a West African Script". Cultures of West Africa. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  17. Personal note from the LISA/Cairo conference, in Dec. 2005, Don Osborn
  18. nqo:ߞߙߍߞߙߍߣߍ߲:Statistics

General sources
Wikimedia Commons has media related to N'Ko script.
N’Ko edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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