Garay alphabet
| Garay | |
|---|---|
| Script type | alphabet
|
| Creator | Assane Faye |
| Created | 1961 |
| Direction | Right to left |
| Languages | Wolof |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Gara (164), Garay |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Garay |
| U+10D40–U+10D8F | |
| This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
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The Garay alphabet was designed in 1961, as a transcription system "[marrying] African sociolinguistic characteristics" according to its inventor, Assane Faye. This alphabet has 25 consonants and 14 vowels.[1] It is used in particular for the writing of the Wolof language, spoken mostly in Senegal, although that language is more often written in the Latin alphabet and to a lesser extent in the Arabic (Wolofal) alphabet. It is written from right to left, and distinguishes letter case.
Letters
[edit ]Consonants
[edit ]The consonants are written as standalone letters and are not joined as in Arabic.
There is a mark above some letters to show pre-nasalization. The letter labeled alif is used like its counterpart in Arabic, coming before an initial vowel. Extra to the standard Wolof set is /ħ/, available for Arabic loan words. Lacking is /q/, but /k/ may suffice for that. Also lacking is /nk/, but that may easily be formed with a mark above, like /mb/ etc.[2]
In Garay, uppercase letters are distinguished from lowercase letters by a swash added to one side or the other of the letter. Each sentence begins with a capital letter. Personal names are likewise capitalized.[3]
| Nasals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ɲ ⟨ñ⟩ | ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩ |
| Lowercase | ||||
| Uppercase | ||||
| Prenasalized plosives | ||||
| IPA | m b ⟨mb⟩ | n d ⟨nd⟩ | ɲ ɟ ⟨nj⟩ | ŋ ɡ ⟨ng⟩ |
| Lowercase | ||||
| Uppercase | ||||
| Voiced plosives | ||||
| IPA | b ⟨b⟩ | d ⟨d⟩ | ɟ ⟨j⟩ | ɡ ⟨g⟩ |
| Lowercase | ||||
| Uppercase | ||||
| Voiceless plosives | ||||
| IPA | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | c ⟨c⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ |
| Lowercase | ||||
| Uppercase | ||||
| Fricatives | ||||
| IPA | f ⟨f⟩ | s ⟨s⟩ | x ~χ ⟨x⟩ | ħ ⟨h⟩ |
| Lowercase | ||||
| Uppercase | ||||
| Liquids and semivowels | ||||
| IPA | r ⟨r⟩ | w ⟨w⟩ | l ⟨l⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ |
| Lowercase | ||||
| Uppercase | ||||
| Misc. | ||||
| Alif | ||||
| Lowercase | ||||
| Uppercase |
Vowels
[edit ]
Numbers
[edit ]
Unicode
[edit ]The Garay alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September 2024 with the release of version 16.0.
The Unicode block for Garay is U+10D40–U+10D8F:
References
[edit ]- ^ The Garay alphabet can contribute to the rebirth of Africa, according to its inventor , Birane Hady Cissé, on fr.allafrica.com (April 21, 2009, accessed November 7, 2018).
- ^ Garay script for Wolof, Ian James, March 2012
- ^ Garay Alphabet: a Wolof Script, 6 May 2019
Bibliography
[edit ]- Everson, Michael (April 26, 2012). Preliminary proposal for encoding the Garay script in the SMP of the UCS (PDF).
- Pandey, Anshuman (May 9, 2011). Introducing the Wolof Alphabet of Assane Faye (PDF).
External links
[edit ]- Discover Garay [permanent dead link ], Movement of Teachers of African Languages in Senegal (MELAS).
- James, Ian (March 2012). "Garay script of Wolof". SkyKnowledge.com.
- "Wolof (Wollof)". Omniglot.
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