N'Ko script

Not to be confused with N'Ko language.
NKo
ߒߞߏ
Script type
CreatorSolomana Kanté
Time period
1949–present
DirectionRight-to-left script Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesNKo, Manding languages (Mandingo, Maninka,
Bambara, Dyula)
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Nkoo (165), ​N’Ko
Unicode
Unicode alias
NKo
U+07C0–U+07FF
 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.

NKo (ߒߞߏ), also spelled N'Ko, is an alphabetic script devised by Solomana Kanté in 1949, as a modern writing system for the Manding languages of West Africa.[1][2] The term NKo, which means I say in all Manding languages, is also used for the Manding literary standard written in the NKo script.

The script has a few similarities to the Arabic script, notably its direction (right-to-left) and the letters that are connected at the base. Unlike Arabic, it is obligatory to mark both tone and vowels. NKo tones are marked as diacritics.

  1. ^ Eberhard, David; Simons, Gary; Fennig, Charles, eds. (2019). "N'ko". Ethnoloque. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  2. ^ Oyler, Dianne (Spring 2002). "Re-Inventing Oral Tradition: The Modern Epic of Souleymane Kanté". Research in African Literatures. 33 (1): 75–93. doi:10.1353/ral.2002.0034. JSTOR 3820930. OCLC 57936283. S2CID 162339606.