N'Ko
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| N'Ko | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type: | alphabet | |
| Languages: | N'Ko | |
| Created by | Solomana Kante | |
| Time period: | 1949 to the present | |
| Parent writing systems: | artificial script N'Ko |
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| ISO 15924 code: | Nkoo | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
| N'Ko | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali | |
| Region: | West Africa | |
| Total speakers: | c. 27 million (mother tongue and second language); see Bambara, Mandinka, Maninka, and Dioula | |
| Language family: | Niger-Congo Mande West Mande Manding N'Ko |
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| Official status | ||
| Official language of: | none | |
| Regulated by: | Kurukan fuwa gbara (Association Kurukan fuwa gbara - [1]) | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | - | |
| ISO 639-2: | nqo | |
| ISO 639-3: | — | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
N'Ko 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 alphabet, notably its direction (right-to-left) and the connected letters. It obligatorily marks both tone and vowels.
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[edit] History
Kante created N'Ko in response to what he felt were beliefs that Africans were a "cultureless people" since there was prior to this time no indigenous African writing system for his language. N'Ko came first into use in Kankan, Guinea, as a Maninka alphabet and 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 Maninka cultural identity in Guinea, and has also strengthened the Mande identity in other parts of West Africa (Oyler 1994).
[edit] Current usage
As of 2005, it is principally used in Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire (respectively by Maninka and Dyula-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. 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 (perhaps as they felt it was advantageous to continue to use something similar to the alphabet of French and English). 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 Gambia and Senegal.
[edit] Letters
The N'Ko alphabet is written from right to left, with letters being connected to one another.
[edit] Vowels
| ɔ | o | u | ɛ | i | e | a |
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[edit] Consonants
| ra | da | cha | ja | ta | pa | ba |
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| ma | la | ka | fa | gba | sa | rra |
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| n' | ya | wa | ha | na | nya | |
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[edit] N'ko and computers
With increasing access to information technology, ways to use N'ko on computers was a challenge. From the 1990s on, there were efforts to develop fonts and even web content by adapting other software and fonts. A pre-Windows word processor called "Koma Kuda" was developed by Prof. Baba Mamadi Diané from the University of Cairo.[citation needed] However the lack of intercompatibility inherent in such solutions was a block to further development.
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 ballotting by the ISO working group WG2. In 2006 N'Ko was approved for Unicode 5.0.
[edit] 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. [2]. N'Ko is also known as Kangbe - the clear language.
For example, the word for 'name' in Bamanan is toko and in Maninka it is toh. In written communications each will write it as tô in N’Ko, and yet read and pronounce it differently.
[edit] References
- Dalby, David (1969) 'Further indigenous scripts of West Africa: Mandin, Wolof and Fula alphabets and Yoruba 'Holy' writing', African Language Studies, 10, pp. 161–181.
- Everson, Michael, Mamady Doumbouya, Baba Mamadi Diané, & Karamo Jammeh. 2004. Proposal to add the N’Ko script to the BMP of the UCS
- Oyler, Dianne White (1994) Mande identity through literacy, the N'ko writing system as an agent of cultural nationalism. Toronto : African Studies Association.
- Oyler, Dianne White (1997) 'The N'ko alphabet as a vehicle of indigenist historiography', History in Africa, 24, pp. 239–256.
- Singler, John Victor (1996) 'Scripts of West Africa', in Daniels, Peter T., & Bright, William (eds) The World's Writing Systems, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 593–598.
- Vydrine, Valentin F. (2001) 'Souleymane Kanté, un philosophe-innovateur traditionnaliste maninka vu à travers ses écrits en nko', Mande Studies, 3, pp. 99–131.
- Wyrod, Christopher (2003) 'The Light on the Horizon: N'ko Literacy and Formal Schooling in Guinea', MA Thesis, George Washington University. link to text
- B@bel and Script Encoding Initiative Supporting Linguistic Diversity in Cyberspace 12-11-2004 (UNESCO)
[edit] External links
- N'Ko Institute
- Kanjamadi
- Omniglot page on N'ko, with more links
- N'ko tutorial site with information on N'ko publications and contacts
- Information about Manding languages
- An introduction to N'Ko
- "Casablanca Statement" (on localization of ICT) translated & written in N'Ko
- PanAfriL10n page on N'Ko
