N'Ko script: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:01, 27 August 2024

Revision as of 12:31, 10 September 2024

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[[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’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|Ajami]] script, which was not perfectly suited to the [[Tone (linguistics)|tones]] unique to Mandé and common to other [[West African languages]]. An anecdote popular with N'Ko proponents is that Kanté was particularly challenged to create the distinct system when, while in [[Bouake]], he found a book by a [[Kamel Mrowa|Lebanese author]] who dismissed African languages as “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 then devised N’Ko while he was in [[Bingerville]], [[Côte d'Ivoire]] and later brought it to his native [[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|jstor=3172028 }}</ref>

N’Ko began to be used in many educational books, and 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 – a date now celebrated as N’Ko 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 initially used the system to transcribe religious, scientific, and philosophical literature, and 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 texts were then distributed as gifts across the Manding-speaking parts of West Africa. The script received its first dedicated [[typewriter]] from [[Eastern Europe]] as [[Guinea]] had ties to 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>

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This introduction of the script led to a movement promoting N’Ko literacy among Mandé speakers in both Anglophone and Francophone West Africa. N’Ko literacy was thus instrumental in shaping Maninka cultural identity in Guinea, and strengthened Manding identity in wider 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>

On June 27, 2024, the [[N'Ko language|N’Ko literary standard]] was added to [[Google Translate]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://blog.google/products/translate/google-translate-new-languages-2024/ |title=110 new languages are coming to Google Translate |date=27 June 2024 |access-date=2024-06-27 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://support.google.com/translate/answer/15139004?visit_id=638550958236798747-1807070892&p=TranslateNewLanguages2024&rd=1 |title=What’sWhat's new in Google Translate: More than 100 new languages |access-date=2024-06-27 }}</ref>

==Current use==

[[File:Online N'ko classroom via WhatsApp (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Smartphone]] with a NKo 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 NKo literacy promotion associations, NKo 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 NKo 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>

NKo 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''. NKo 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.

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=== General sources ===

* {{cite web |last=Condé |first=Ibrahima Sory 2 |date=2008-09-17 |lang=fr |title=Soulemana Kanté entre Linguistique et Grammaire : Le cas de la langue littéraire utilisée dans les textes en N'Ko |trans-title=Solomana Kante between Linguistics and Grammar: The case of the literary language used in texts in N'Ko |url=http://mandelang.kunstkamera.ru/files/mandelang/konde.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120210054/http://mandelang.kunstkamera.ru/files/mandelang/konde.pdf |archive-date=2012-11-20}}

* {{cite journal |last=Conrad |first=David C. |date=2001 |title=Reconstructing Oral Tradition: Souleymane Kanté's Approach to Writing Mande History |journal=Mande Studies |volume=3 |pages=147–200|doi=10.2979/mnd.2001.a873349 }}

* {{cite journal |last=Dalby |first=David |date=1969 |title=Further indigenous scripts of West Africa: [[Mandin]], [[Wolof language|Wolof]] and [[Fula language|Fula]] alphabets and [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] 'Holy' writing |journal=African Language Studies |volume=10 |pages=161–181}}

* {{cite web |url=http://mandelang.kunstkamera.ru/files/mandelang/davydov.pdf |last=Davydov |first=Artem |title=On Souleymane Kanté's 'Nko Grammar' |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023153/http://mandelang.kunstkamera.ru/files/mandelang/davydov.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04}}

* {{Citation |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI10681364 |last=Donaldson |first=Coleman |date=2017 |title=Clear Language: Script, Register and the N'ko Movement of Mandé-Speaking West Africa. |others=Doctoral Dissertation |___location=Philadelphia, PA |institution=University of Pennsylvania}}

* {{cite journal |doi=10.1086/702554|title=Linguistic and Civic Refinement in the N'ko Movement of Manding-Speaking West Africa|year=2019|last1=Donaldson|first1=Coleman|journal=Signs and Society|volume=7|issue=2|pages=156–185|s2cid=181625415}}

* {{cite book |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/gse_grad_pubs/2/ |last=Donaldson |first=Coleman |date=2017 |chapter=Orthography, Standardization and Register: The Case of Mandé |title=Standardizing Minority Languages: Competing Ideologies of Authority and Authenticity in the Global Periphery |editor1=Pia Lane |editor2=James Costa |editor3=Haley De Korne |pages=175–199 |others=Routledge Critical Studies in Multilingualism |issue=2 |___location=New York, NY |publisher=Routledge}}

* {{cite journal |doi=10.1017/asr.2019.59|title=The Role of Islam, Ajami writings, and educational reform in Sulemaana Kantè's N'ko|year=2020|last1=Donaldson|first1=Coleman|journal=African Studies Review|volume=63|issue=3|pages=462–486|doi-access=free}}

* {{cite web |author-link1=Michael Everson |last1=Everson |first1=Michael |author2=Mamady Doumbouya |author3=Baba Mamadi Diané |author4=Karamo Jammeh |date=2004 |url=http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2765.pdf |title=Proposal to add the N'Ko script to the BMP of the UCS}}

* {{cite book |last=Oyler |first=Dianne White |date=1994 |title=Mande identity through literacy, the N'ko writing system as an agent of cultural nationalism |___location=Toronto |publisher=African Studies Association}}

* {{Citation |last=Oyler |first=Dianne |date=1995 |title=For "All Those Who Say N'ko": N'ko Literacy and Mande Cultural Nationalism in the Republic of Guinea |others=Unpublished PhD dissertation |institution=University of Florida}}

* {{cite journal |last=Oyler |first=Dianne White |date=1997 |title=The N’koN'ko Alphabet as a Vehicle of Indigenist Historiography |journal=History in Africa |volume=24 |pages=239–256 |doi=10.2307/3172028 |JSTORjstor=3172028 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3172028 |url-access=registration}}

* {{cite journal |last=Rovenchak |first=Andrij |date=2015 |title=Quantitative Studies in the Corpus of Nko Periodicals |journal=Recent Contributions to Quantitative Linguistics |editor1=Arjuna Tuzzi |editor2=Martina Benešová |editor3=Ján Macutek |pages=125–138 |___location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter|doi=10.1515/9783110420296-012 |isbn=978-3-11-041987-0 }}

* {{cite book |last=Singler |first=John Victor |date=1996 |chapter=Scripts of West Africa |editor-last1=Daniels |editor-first1=Peter T. |editor-last2=Bright |editor-first2=William |title=The World's Writing Systems |___location=New York, NY |publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc. |pages=593–598}}

* {{cite journal |author-link=Valentin Vydrin |last=Vydrine |first=Valentin F |date=2001 |language=fr |title=Souleymane Kanté, un philosophe-innovateur traditionnaliste maninka vu à travers ses écrits en nko |trans-title=Solomana Kante, a Maninka traditionalist philosopher-innovator seen through his writings in N'Ko |journal=Mande Studies |volume=3 |pages=99–131|doi=10.2979/mnd.2001.a873361 }}

* {{Citation |last=Wyrod |first=Christopher |date=2003 |title=The light on the horizon: N'Ko literacy and formal schooling in Guinea |others=MA thesis |institution=George Washington University}}

* {{cite journal |last=Wyrod |first=Christopher |date=2008 |title=A social orthography of identity: the N'Ko literacy movement in West Africa |journal=[[International Journal of the Sociology of Language]] |volumeissue=192 |pages=27–44}}

* {{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041117031918/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D17488%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html |title=B@bel and Script Encoding Initiative Supporting Linguistic Diversity in Cyberspace |date=2004-12-11 |website=[[UNESCO]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041117031918/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D17488%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html |archive-date=2004-11-17 }}

* {{cite encyclopedia|date=2000 |title=Bambara |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bambara |quote=The Bambara, like other West African peoples, use the distinctive N'ko alphabet, which reads from right to left.}}

* {{cite web |title=N'Ko Alphabet |website=N'Ko Institute of America |url=http://nkoinstitute.com/nko-alphabet |access-date=2023-04-10}}