N'Ko script: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:53, 24 April 2024

Revision as of 23:44, 24 April 2024

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{{short description|Alphabet for the Manding languages of West Africa}}

{{distinguish|N'KoNKo language}}

{{Infobox writing system

|name = N'KoNKo

|native_name = ߒߞߏ

|type = [[Alphabet]]

|time = 1949–present

|languages = [[N'Ko language|N'KoNKo]], [[Manding languages]] ([[Mandingo language|Mandingo]], [[Maninka language|Maninka]],<br>[[Bambara language|Bambara]], [[Dyula language|Dyula]])

|creator = [[Solomana Kante|Solomana Kanté]]

|unicode = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U07C0.pdf U+07C0–U+07FF]

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}}

'''N'KoNKo''' ({{Lang-nqo|ߒߞߏ}}), also known as N'Ko, is an [[alphabetic script]] devised by [[Solomana Kante|Solomana Kanté]] in 1949, as a modern [[writing system]] for the [[Manding languages]] of West Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/nqo|title=N'ko|date=2019|editor-last=Eberhard|editor-first=David|editor2-last=Simons|editor2-first=Gary|website=Ethnoloque|access-date=June 12, 2019|editor3-last=Fennig|editor3-first=Charles}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oyler|first=Dianne|date=Spring 2002|title=Re-Inventing Oral Tradition: The Modern Epic of Souleymane Kanté|journal=Research in African Literatures|volume=33|issue=1|pages=75–93 |doi=10.1353/ral.2002.0034|jstor=3820930|s2cid=162339606|oclc=57936283}}</ref> The term ''N'KoNKo'', which means ''I say'' in all Manding languages, is also used for the [[N'KoNKo language|Manding literary standard]] written in the N'KoNKo script.

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 (linguistics)|tone]] and [[vowel]]s. N'KoNKo tones are marked as [[diacritic]]s, in a similar manner to the marking of some vowels in Arabic.

==History==

[[File:Grave of Kanté Soulemane, inventeur de l'alphabet N'Ko.jpg|thumb|Grave of Solomana Kanté. The French at the bottom reads "Inventor of the N'Ko alphabet".]]

Kanté created N'KoNKo 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|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'KoNKo proponents is that Kanté was particularly challenged to create a distinct system when he, in [[Bouake]], stumbled upon a book by a [[Kamel Mrowa|Lebanese author]] who dismissively equated African languages "like those of the birds, impossible to transcribe"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oyler|first=Dianne White|date=2001|title=A Cultural Revolution in Africa: Literacy in the Republic of Guinea since Independence|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3097555|journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies|volume=34|issue=3 |pages=585–600|doi=10.2307/3097555|jstor=3097555|issn=0361-7882}}</ref> despite said Ajami history.<ref name="Donaldson">{{Cite journal|last=Donaldson|first=Coleman|date=2020|title=The Role of Islam, Ajami writings, and educational reform in Sulemaana Kantè's N'ko|journal=African Studies Review|volume=63|issue=3|language=en|pages=462–486|doi=10.1017/asr.2019.59|issn=0002-0206|doi-access=free}}</ref> Kanté devised N'KoNKo as he was in [[Bingerville]], [[Côte d'Ivoire]] and later brought to Kanté's natal region of [[Kankan]], [[Guinea]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The N'ko Alphabet as a Vehicle of Indigenist Historiography |first=Dianne White |last=Oyler |journal=History in Africa |volume=24 |date=January 1997 |pages=239–256 |doi=10.2307/3172028}}</ref>

N'KoNKo began to be used in many educational books when the script is believed to have been finalized<ref>{{cite book|last=Oyler|first=Dianne White|title=The History of N'ko and its Role in Mande Transnational Identity: Words as Weapons|date=November 2005|publisher=Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers|isbn=978-0-9653308-7-9|page=1}}</ref> on April 14, 1949 (now N'KoNKo Alphabet Day);<ref>•&nbsp;{{cite web |url=https://anydayguide.com/calendar/1899 |title=N'Ko Alphabet Day |website=Any Day Guide |quote=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.}}<br>•&nbsp;{{cite web |first=Tapiwanashe S. |last=Garikayi |title=Afrikan Fonts: The N'Ko Alphabet |url=https://www.nan.xyz/txt/designing-afrikan-fonts/ |website=nan.xyz|quote=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)....}}</ref> Kanté had transcribed from religious to scientific and philosophical literature, even a dictionary.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Oyler |first=Dianne White |date=2001 |title=A Cultural Revolution in Africa: Literacy in the Republic of Guinea since Independence |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3097555 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=585–600 |doi=10.2307/3097555 |issn=0361-7882 |jstor=3097555}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|last=Rosenberg|first=Tina|date=9 December 2011|title=Everyone Speaks Text Message|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/magazine/everyone-speaks-text-message.html?|magazine=The New York Times Magazine|page=20}}</ref>

The introduction of the script led to a movement promoting literacy in N'KoNKo among Mandé speakers in both Anglophone and Francophone West Africa. N'KoNKo 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.<ref>Oyler, Dianne White (1994) ''Mande identity through literacy, the N'ko writing system as an agent of cultural nationalism''. Toronto: African Studies Association.</ref>

==Current use==

[[File:Online N'ko classroom via WhatsApp (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Smartphone]] with a N'Ko class via [[WhatsApp]]]]

{{Anchor|Literary language}}As of 2005, it was used mainly in [[Guinea]] and the [[Ivory Coast]] (respectively by [[Maninka language|Maninka]] and [[Dyula language|Dyula]] speakers), with an active user community in [[Mali]] (by [[Bambara language|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'koNKo literacy promotion associations, N'koNKo has also been introduced more recently into formal education through private primary schools in Upper Guinea.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wyrod|first=Christopher|date=January 2008|title=A social orthography of identity: the N'koNKo literacy movement in West Africa|journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language|volume=2008|issue=192|doi=10.1515/ijsl.2008.033|s2cid=143142019|issn=0165-2516}}</ref> It has been classed as the most successful of the West African scripts.<ref>Unseth, Peter. 2011. Invention of Scripts in West Africa for Ethnic Revitalization. In {{cite book|last1=Fishman|first1=Joshua|author-link1=Joshua Fishman|last2=Garcia|first2=Ofelia|author-link2=Ofelia García (educator)|title=Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts (Volume 2)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUydX_3rG0AC|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-983799-1}}</ref>

N'KoNKo literature generally uses a [[literary language]] register, termed ''kangbe'' (literally, 'clear language'), that is seen as a potential [[compromise dialect]] across [[Manding languages|Mandé languages]].<ref>[http://www.fakoli.net/nko/tutorial/intro.html N'Ko Language Tutorial: Introduction]</ref> For example, the word for 'name' in Bamanan is ''tɔgɔ'' and in Maninka it is ''tɔɔ''. N'KoNKo 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'KoNKo, with additional diacritics, for traditional religious publications in the [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] and [[Fon language|Fon]] languages of [[Benin]] and southwestern [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{cite web |author1=Agelogbagan Agbovi |title=Gànhúmehàn Vodún - Living Sacred Text (completely in Fongbe and N'ko) |url=http://www.restorationhealing.com/ganhumehan-vodun-book |website=Kilombo Restoration & Healing |publisher=Kilombo Restoration and Healing|language=en}}</ref>

==Letters==

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

===Vowels===

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===Tones===

N'KoNKo uses 7 [[diacritic]]al marks to denote [[tone (linguistics)|tonality]] and [[vowel length]]. Together with plain vowels, N'KoNKo distinguishes four tones: high, low, ascending, and descending; and two vowel lengths: long and short. Unmarked signs designate short, descending vowels.

{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center;"

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===Non-native sounds and letters===

N'KoNKo also provides a way of representing non-native sounds through the modification of its letters with diacritics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Doumbouya |first=Mamady |date=2012 |title=Illustrated English/N'Ko Alphabet: An introduction to N'Ko for English Speakers |url=http://cormand.huma-num.fr/maninkabiblio/ouvrages/dunbuya-angile_nko.pdf |___location=Philadelphia, PA, USA |publisher=N'Ko Institute of America |page=29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.culturesofwestafrica.com/nko-alphabet-west-african-script/ |title=N'Ko Alphabet: a West African Script |last=Sogoba |first=Mia |date=June 1, 2018 |website=Cultures of West Africa |access-date=June 2, 2019}}</ref> These letters are used in transliterated names and loanwords.

[[Two dots (diacritic)|Two dots]] above a vowel, resembling a diaeresis or umlaut mark, represent a foreign vowel: u-two-dots for the French [[close front rounded vowel|/y/]] sound, or e-two-dots for the French [[Mid central vowel|/ə/]].

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== Numerals ==

N'KoNKo numerals use [[positional notation]]. Unlike both [[Western Arabic numerals|Western]] and [[Eastern Arabic numerals]], digits decrease in significance from right to left.<ref>https://www.afrikanistik-aegyptologie-online.de/archiv/2012/3553</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse: collapse;text-align:center;"

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

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==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'KoNKo 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]].<ref>Personal note from the LISA/Cairo conference, in Dec. 2005, Don Osborn</ref> However the lack of intercompatibility inherent in such solutions was a block to further development.

===Wikipedia===

There is also a [[:nqo:ߓߏ߬ߟߏ߲߬ߘߊ|N’koNKo version of Wikipedia]] in existence since 26 November 2019, it contains {{NUMBEROF|ARTICLES|nqo|N}} articles, with {{NUMBEROF|EDITS|nqo|N}} edits and {{NUMBEROF|USERS|nqo|N}} users.<ref>[[:nqo:ߞߙߍߞߙߍߣߍ߲:Statistics]]</ref>

==Unicode==

{{Further|NKo (Unicode block)}}

The N'KoNKo 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'KoNKo in [[Unicode]]. In 2004, the proposal, presented by three professors of N'KoNKo (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'KoNKo was approved for Unicode 5.0. The Unicode block for N'KoNKo is U+07C0–U+07FF:

{{Unicode chart NKo}}