I would like to share a writing system that I have developed for the Yoruba language.
Called Yoruba FaYe [meaning "draw it so we can understand it"), it may also be extended to other languages. It comprises 48 characters, alphabet (38) and numerals (10). This is a smaller character set than the 26 capitals, 26 lower-case and 10 numerals in the standard English language, which uses Roman script.
The present Yoruba script was developed by the missionary Ajayi Crowther in 1836. The Ajayi script features a standard Roman script with the addition of diacritical marks to reflect Yoruba tonality and accent, So the Ajayi script is larger than the 62 characters used in English. It has proved difficult to convert Yoruba into computer machine code because of the diacritical marks. Without the diacritical marks, it is very difficult for even accomplished Yoruba linguists to efficiently read or write Yoruba.
The FaYe system does away with diacritical marks altogether. It is phonetic, so that every sound in Yoruba is now represented by a unique character. Research indicates that humans can only delineate between about 34 unique sounds. Yoruba FaYe has a 38 character alphabet and it has a natural rhythm able to accommodate the sophistication of Yoruba's complex and rich oral literature.
It is hoped that Yoruba Faye helps in considerably improving the quantity and quality of literature available to document African Literary Heritage. You can contribute to this heritage by using FaYe script to write a book.
Obtain Yoruba Faye here or here
4 comments:
Has this system in any way been influenced by the Chinese Pinyin system?
I am not familiar with Pinyin.
I was wondering about the origin of the scripts location. Meaning where was this script created?
I would love to know more about your script and your efforts to get it into circulation. Where do things stand at the moment?
Best wishes,
Tim
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