Talk:Writing systems of Africa

This is a quick attempt to bring together info on writing systems in Africa. There already was a lot of info - all in individual articles - but no way to relate them to the common continental context. As with all new Wikipedia entries, this can use a lot of work, but I think the page - and the accompanying category - fill a need. --A12n 00:08, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I seriously don't like this statement: "The most common writing system encountered today in Africa in general is the Latin script, although regionally and in some localities others may be more important."

It seems to discount Arabic completely even though it is the most important script for North Africa. I don't think it's wise to follow a "take North Africa out of Africa" policy in this case. I am not gonna change it so I don't ruin your work, but please consider modifying it since it sounds very insulting to us North Africans.karkaron

This was a first cut at an overview perspective, with the entire continent in mind, and not intended to be definitive. For better or worse, it does seem to me that the Latin alphabet is all over the continent to one degree or another. I've been in Egypt a couple of times, northern Sudan (looong time ago) and Morocco, and although it is obvious that Arabic is THE main language & script, there is quite a lot in either French or English. Please tell me if I'm mistaken. (I can read some Arabic, or at least sound it out, so maybe my impression is blurred by not having felt totally lost.) I did try to cover by adding about the regional dominance of other scripts. Maybe that could be spelled out more clearly.

All that said, I encourage you to modify the wording in a way that better encompasses the realities you are calling attention to. (Or else I'll try to get to it later.) --A12n 00:50, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay, just did a quick revision... --A12n 01:54, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Perfect. BTW, I am Egyptian, I understand how someone visiting may be under the impression that Arabic and English are almost equally commonly written. This is perhaps because almost all street signs, banners, ads, and shop signs are either bilingual or mono in English. But in reality the absolute majority of forms and publications are in Arabic.karkaron

Punic

I miss the Punic alphabet. --84.20.17.84 16:44, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi, it may have taken a while, but finally Punic was added. Best Wishes. Gallador (talk) 00:08, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Bad source for indigenous writing systems of Central Africa

It reads "There are various other writing systems native to West Africa [11] and Central Africa.[12]". However, source 12 (https://web.archive.org/web/20110609193734/http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Writing_Systems/Central_Africa.htm) only lists some Central African artwork. That's not a writing system! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Doveofsymplegades (talk • contribs) 20:44, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

Adinkra alphabet

I did not see any source for the Adinkra Nykea syllabary. However, Omniglot displays a separate Adinkra-based alphabet and links to a Facebook page promoting it, https://www.facebook.com/adinkraalphabet/posts/. Among other posts, they post what I presume are traditional Adinkra symbols, with Ghanian proverbs written below in their alphabet, in Latin, and translated into English. The Facebook page, in turn, linked recently to an Akan Twi dictionary with Akan words written in Adinkra alphabet and Latin, e.g. https://www.akandictionary.com/2021/04/16/sen/.

The Facebook page also links to https://www.adinkraalphabet.com/. The front page of that website currently shows the derivation of the letters by simplifying what appear to be traditional Adinkra symbols. (I don't have the knowledge to verify if any of the symbols on Facebook or elsewhere are the traditional Adinkra, except the symbol referring to God.) That website in turn refers to a book which is offered for sale here: https://www.adinkraalphabet.shop/product-page/adinkra-alphabet-fourth-edition and was announced (as the 4th edition) on Facebook August 14, 2021. 3rd edition was announced Nov 17, 2019.

The (1st edition?) book launch was annouced for Nov 26, 2018 in Adabraka. They refer to working on the alphabet since 2015 and posted Aug 23, 2020 "I submitted the final Adinkra Alphabet proposal to Unicode last week." In one post they state that the traditional Adinkra symbols are/were not an alphabet. The system promoted on these webpages is an alphabet, with 10 letters also used as base-10 numerals. Searching for "syllabary" and "nykea" found no results on any of these pages, and by cursory examination (where Latin transliterations are provided) the symbols are consistently used as letters, not syllables.

Since all these websites are evidently maintained by the person or group promoting this alphabet, I don't know whether they meet Wikipedia standards for reliable sources. I do think they clearly demonstrate this alphabet exists currently. I don't see an indication of how much it's used by other people besides the author. 2601:441:4400:1740:A58F:9116:857A:AB26 (talk) 03:30, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

As to the last point, Amazon has 61 ratings and Goodreads has 5 ratings on the main book, but no reviews with more than 1 sentence. At least 1 other book has been published for children. There is an app on Google Play.

But searching Google for the Nykea syllabary, I only found sources based on Wikipedia and Omniglot. So... I don't think that's enough evidence for the syllabary. Even the drawings could just be an early stage of developing the Adinkra-based alphabet. If it is decided to remove reference to the Nykea syllabary, be careful to remove it from other Wikipedia articles too, it's mentioned on at least a few. 2601:441:4400:1740:E886:43B7:D9F9:859D (talk) 14:31, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Oh I forgot to add, Google lists the Adinkra Alphabet book as: "Originally published: October 28, 2015"; "Author: Charles Korankye"; "Editors: Peter Annor, Elizabeth Amoah, Nana Ama Korankye" 2601:441:4400:1740:E886:43B7:D9F9:859D (talk) 14:33, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

!Xoo / Taa Script

Could an editor please add a paragraph about Taa (!Xoo)'s writing system? It shares some Latin letters, but has some borrowed from other African writing systems (primarily for the clicking consonants). There are not many resources with much information about Taa, so this may be difficult. 64.124.38.140 (talk) 13:51, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Additional note: Some of Taa's letters look vaguely similar to the Adinkra writing system, which may be a coincidence but they may also be related somehow. 64.124.38.140 (talk) 13:56, 29 April 2024 (UTC)