Oduduwa script

{{Short description|Writing system for Yoruba}} {{Infobox Writing system | name = Odùduwà | altname = ''Alifabeeti Oduduwa''<br>''Aebajiogbe Oduduwa'' | type = alphabet | typedesc = | time = 2017–present | languages = Yoruba | direction = right-to-left | sample = Oduduwa in Oduduwa script.svg | imagesize = | unicode = none | iso15924 = | note = no | footnotes = frameless|center|upright=1.5 }}

The '''Oduduwa script''' ({{IPAc-en|ou|'|d|u:|d|u:|w|ɑː}}) was created in 2016 or 2017 by a Beninese Yoruba chief named Tolúlàṣẹ Ògúntósìn for the Yoruba language of Nigeria and Benin. Ògúntósìn says that the script was revealed to him by the Yoruba mythic ancestor Odùduwà in a series of dreams from 2011 to 2016,<ref name="Yooba2020">{{cite news |author1=Adéṣínà Ọmọ Yoòbá |title=This chief hopes Yorùbá speakers adopt his newly invented 'talking alphabet' |url=https://globalvoices.org/2020/03/10/this-chief-hopes-yoruba-speakers-adopt-his-newly-invented-talking-alphabet/ |access-date=4 April 2021 |work=Global Voices |date=10 March 2020 |language=en}}</ref> though many of the letter shapes derive from Latin script. Oduduwa has received support from other chiefs of Yorubaland in both countries as an adjunct to or possible replacement of the Latin script.<ref name="Yooba2020"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Yoruba Monarchs Commends New Oduduwa Alphabets, Hail Aregbesola |url=http://www.osundefender.com/yoruba-monarchs-commends-new-oduduwa-alphabets-hail-aregbesola/ |date=1 November 2017|newspaper=Osun Defender}}</ref>

Yoruba has two Latin alphabets, one used in Nigeria and one in Benin.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hartell, Rhonda L.|title=Alphabets of Africa|chapter=Benin: Yoruba|url=https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_yor_ortho-2|location=Dakar|publisher=UNESCO Regional Office|year=1993|pages=37}}</ref> The Oduduwa script is also alphabetic, and is inspired by Latin orthography (e.g. {{IPA|/k͜p/}} is written as a single letter, but {{IPA|/ɡ͜b/}} as a digraph of the letters for {{IPA|/ɡ/}} and {{IPA|/b/}}, paralleling the Nigerian Yoruba alphabet; similarly, the letters {{angbr|ẹ, ọ, ṣ}} are derived from {{angbr|e, o, s}}, and nasal vowels are written with the letter for {{angbr|n}}, again as in the Nigerian Yoruba alphabet). Oduduwa differs from Latin in being written right-to-left.<ref name="Yooba2020"/>

The Oduduwa script is being taught to children at schools in Porto-Novo, Benin<ref>{{cite news |title=Oduduwa Alphabet: Òmìnira èdè ti dé fún Port Novo báyìí |url=https://www.bbc.com/yoruba/46873867 |work=BBC Yoruba |orig-date=15 April 2019 |date=15 December 2020}}</ref> and in Ifẹ, Nigeria.<ref>{{cite news |title=Oduduwa alphabets: Ǹjẹ́ ó mọ̀ nípa Álífábẹ́ẹ̀tì Oduduwa àti bí o ṣe lè lòó fi gbé èdè Yorùbá ga? |url=https://www.bbc.com/yoruba/afrika-60418856 |work=BBC Yoruba |date=17 April 2022}}</ref>

== Ligatures == [[File:Oduduwa iwe.svg|thumb|upright|''iwe'' in Oduduwa script. {{angbr|file:Oduduwa i.svg}} ''i'' (right) and {{angbr|file:Oduduwa w.svg}} ''w'' (center) merge due to their parallel vertical strokes; {{angbr|file:Oduduwa w.svg}} ''w'' and {{angbr|file:Oduduwa e.svg}} ''e'' (left) link where the ends of their horizontal strokes touch.]] Adjacent letters form ligatures: when one letter ends in a long vertical stroke (i.e. {{angbr|file:Oduduwa d.svg}} ''d'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa e.svg}} ''e'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa h.svg}} ''h'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa i.svg}} ''i'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa m.svg}} ''m'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa n.svg}} ''n'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa o.svg}} ''o'') and the next begins with a such a stroke (i.e. {{angbr|file:Oduduwa b.svg}} ''b'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa e-dot.svg}} ''ẹ'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa l.svg}} ''l'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa o-dot.svg}} ''ọ'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa r.svg}} ''r'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa u.svg}} ''u'', {{angbr|file:Oduduwa w.svg}} ''w''), the two lines are conflated into a single stroke, joining the letters. This occurs for example in the sequence ''du'' in the name ''Oduduwa'' (see info box above). Where a horizontal line meets another (as in {{angbr|file:Oduduwa w.svg}} ''w'' and {{angbr|file:Oduduwa a.svg}} ''a''), or with a sharp angle (as in {{angbr|file:Oduduwa n.svg}} ''n'' and {{angbr|file:Oduduwa i.svg}} ''i''), they may also join; thus ''iwe'' forms a double ligature (see image at right), though this is optional and is avoided in careful script.<ref name="Yooba2020"/><ref name=font>[https://worldscriptsexplorer.page/odu non-Unicode fonts and experimental keyboard] at World Scripts Explorer</ref>

== Digits == There is a series of ten digits for writing decimal numbers, which derive from the Hindu-Arabic numerals (and which are also written right-to-left), and basic punctuation (. , : ; - ? apostrophe and quotation marks). Tone is not marked.<ref name="Yooba2020"/>

==Gallery==

===Punctuation=== <gallery> Oduduwa hyphen.svg|hyphen Oduduwa question mark.svg|question mark </gallery>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Writing systems of Africa Category:Yoruba language Category:Right-to-left writing systems Category:Constructed scripts