Ajami script
Ajami (Arabic: عجمي, ʿajamī) or Ajamiyya (Arabic: عجمية, ʿajamiyyah), which comes from the Arabic root for foreign or stranger, is an Arabic-derived script used for writing African languages, particularly those of Mandé, Hausa and Swahili, although many other African languages are written using the script, including Yoruba, Mooré, and Pulaar. It is considered an Arabic-derived African writing system. Since many African languages include phonetic sounds and systems not found in the standard Arabic language, an adapted Arabic script is used to transcribe those sounds not normally found in Arabic. Similar modified Arabic scripts exist in Iran, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
The West African Hausa is an example of a language written using Ajami, especially during the pre-colonial period when Qur'anic schools taught Muslim children Arabic and, by extension, Ajami. Following Western colonization, a Latin orthography for Hausa was adopted and the Ajami script declined in popularity. Ajami remains in widespread use among Islamic circles, but exists in digraphia among the broader populace - Ajami is used ceremonially and for specific purposes, such as for local herbal preparations in the Jula language.[1]
Hausa Ajami Script
There is no standard system of using Ajami, and different writers may use letters with different values. Short vowels are written regularly with the help of vowel marks (which are seldom used in Arabic texts other than the Quran). Many medieval Hausa manuscripts, similar to the Timbuktu Manuscripts written in the Ajami script, have been discovered recently and some of them describe constellations and calendars.[2]
In the following table, some vowels are shown with the Arabic letter for t as an example.
| Latin | IPA | Arabic ajami |
|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | ـَ |
| a | /aː/ | ـَا |
| b | /b/ | ب |
| ɓ | /ɓ/ | ب (same as b), ٻ (not used in Arabic) |
| c | /tʃ/ | ث |
| d | /d/ | د |
| ɗ | /ɗ/ | د (same as d), ط (also used for ts) |
| e | /e/ | تٜ (not used in Arabic) |
| e | /eː/ | تٰٜ (not used in Arabic) |
| f | /ɸ/ | ف |
| g | /ɡ/ | غ |
| h | /h/ | ه |
| i | /i/ | ـِ |
| i | /iː/ | ـِى |
| j | /(d)ʒ/ | ج |
| k | /k/ | ك |
| ƙ | /kʼ/ | ك (same as k), ق |
| l | /l/ | ل |
| m | /m/ | م |
| n | /n/ | ن |
| o | /o/ | ـُ (same as u) |
| o | /oː/ | ـُو (same as u) |
| r | /r/, /ɽ/ | ر |
| s | /s/ | س |
| sh | /ʃ/ | ش |
| t | /t/ | ت |
| ts | /(t)sʼ/ | ط (also used for ɗ), ڟ (not used in Arabic) |
| u | /u/ | ـُ (same as o) |
| u | /uː/ | ـُو (same as o) |
| w | /w/ | و |
| y | /j/ | ی |
| z | /z/ | ز ذ |
| ʼ | /ʔ/ | ع |
See also
References
- ^ Donaldson, Coleman (1 October 2013). "Jula Ajami in Burkina Faso: A Grassroots Literacy in the Former Kong Empire". Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL). 28 (2): 19–36. ISSN 1548-3134.
- ^ "Saudi Aramco World : From Africa, in Ajami". Archived from the original on 2014-11-30. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
Literature
- Bonate, Liazzat JK. "The use of the Arabic script in northern Mozambique." Tydskrif vir letterkunde 45, no. 1 (2008): 133-142.
- Dobronravine, Nikolai, and John E. Philips. "Hausa ajami literature and script: Colonial innovations and post-colonial myths in northern Nigeria." Sudanic Africa 15 (2004): 85-110.
- Hegyi, O. (1979). "Minority and restricted uses of the Arabic alphabet: the aljamiado phenomenon". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 99 (2): 262–269. doi:10.2307/602662. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 602662. S2CID 163610376. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
- Lüpke, Friederike. "Language planning in West Africa-who writes the script?." Language documentation and description 2 (2004): 90-107.
- Mumin, Meikal. "The Arabic Script in Africa: Understudied Literacy." In The Arabic Script in Africa, pp. 41-76. Brill, 2014.
- Naim, Mohammed C. "Arabic Orthography and Some Non-Semitic Languages." Islam and its Cultural Divergence. Ed. Girdhari L. Tikku. University of Illinois Press: Chicago (1971).
- Ngom, Fallou. "Ajami scripts in the Senegalese speech community." Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 10 (2010): 1-23.
- Robinson, David. "Fulfulde literature in Arabic script." History in Africa 9 (1982): 251-261.
External links
- "Notes on sub-Saharan languages written in Arabic script". A-label: African Languages Between the Lines.
a research blog associated with the Ajami Lab at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures at the Universität Hamburg
, a research blog associated with the Ajami Lab at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures at the Universität Hamburg - PanAfrican L10n page on Arabic script and "Ajami"
- Omniglot page on Hausa Ajami Script
| Europe |
|
|---|---|
| Asia |
|
| Africa | |
