Bété syllabary

The Bété syllabary was created for the Bété language of Ivory Coast (in West Africa) in the 1950s by artist Frédéric Bruly Bouabré.

It consists of about 440 pictographic characters, which represent scenes from life and stand for single-syllable words in Bété. Bouabré created it to help Bété people learn to read in their language.

References

• La méthodologie de la nouvelle écriture africaine Onestar Press PDF
• Smith, Roberta, "ART REVIEW; A Bonding of Different Cultures," New York Times, December 9, 1994
• Schuster, Clayton, "A Visual Alphabet for an Oral Language from the Ivory Coast", Hyperallergic, December 5, 2018
• First Run Icarus Films (brochure) "Bruly Bouabré's Alphabet: A Film by Nurith Aviv"
• Dia Center for the Arts press release 9/3/94, "WORLDS ENVISIONED: ALIGHIERO E BOETTI AND FRÉDÉRIC BRULY BOUABRÉ"
• La Méthodologie de la Nouvelle Écriture Africaine “Bété”
• Unicode Technical report Report on the Bété script, Charles Riley, September 9, 2017