Inspired by the Hausa Ajami vs. Latin alphabet thread. Someone mentioned Nsibidi and it reminded me of this project...


From Wikipedia:

"Nsibidi (also known as nsibiri, nchibiddi or nchibiddy) is a system of symbols indigenous to what is now southeastern Nigeria that is apparently an ideographic script, though there have been suggestions that it includes logographic elements. The symbols are at least several centuries old: Early forms appeared on excavated pottery as well as what are most likely ceramic stools and headrests from the Calabar region, with a range of dates from 400 to 1400 CE.

Aspects of colonisation such as Western education and Christian doctrine drastically reduced the number of nsibidi-literate people, leaving members of the Ekpe leopard secret society (also known as Ngbe or Egbo), as some of the last literate in the symbols. Nsibidi was and is still a means of transmitting Ekpe symbolism. Nsibidi was transported to Cuba and Haiti via the Atlantic slave trade, where it developed into the anaforuana and veve symbols, respectively."

From the Nsibiri Project:

"The mission of the Nsibiri Project ('nsibiri' is the Igbo variation of nsibidi) is to record and appropriate nsibidi ideographic symbols for a writing system to be used by the Igbo language and Cross River languages such as Efik, Ibibio and Ejagham. This is being done by transitioning nsibidi into a morphographic script. Nsibidi is also meant to inspire and encourage learning of the languages it will be used in.

Why not just the current ọ́nwụ́ script?
I don't know about you, but I know quite a few fluent Igbo speakers that have trouble reading a sentence in the ọ́nwụ́ Latin-derived alphabet. If you give an average Igbo speaker a novel in Igbo, even with all the diacritics in place, they will not be able to read it as fluently as an English speaker reading an English book. The problem, for Latin, is that Igbo is a tonal language and it has limited grapheme's (symbols) to represent the many different tones, phonemes (sounds) and syllables that Igbo utilises. Latin was never made for Igbo, it was there for the convenience.

Chinese, and some other tonal languages are read by billions of people with logographic writing systems. To a certain extent, Igbo/Ibibio was using some logographic symbols. Logographic symbols do not require you to pronounce individual parts of a word, but, rather, to identify the word as a whole which is important in languages with lots of homophones (where multiple words have the same sound). Ákwà, Àkwá, Ákwá are popular examples of Igbo tonality. Let's not forget the issue of Igbo language dialectal intelligibility and Standard Igbo; nsibidi could almost provide a solution to the issue of Igbo literature being unintelligible to certain Igbo languages, and the perceived bias towards certain languages by leaving open the pronunciation and variation of certain words and their tones. Nsibidi also cuts down words/sentences in Igbo, or those new/translated words that are actually sentences and that cannot be understood in one word using the Latin alphabet.

With a logographic script, backed by a simpler yet relevant syllabary (now alphabet) derived from the design of nsibidi, Igbo writing can go places that it may have never gone before."

Mockups of Nsbidi in use, from Nsibidi Wikia:


(me)
Onye wetara oji, wetara ndu.
Mum e achuki lipel, achu le liyil. (my language)
He who brings kola nut, brings life.


(me)
What is mbé?


(Gin)
Street sign


(Gin)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie poster


(omenalamarketplace.com)
E-commerce website


(me)
Anansi the Spider book cover (unfinished)

FP EDIT: To forestall any ignorance, Please do not derail the thread with tribalism. Thank you.

I once subtitled a music video in Nsbidi. Just wanted to see what it would look like.




P-Square's record label took it off YouTube though, and I don't have the file anymore. It was a long time ago.

Gin's humorous response to the Ajami script news:

Every now and again a group of restless Nigerians gather around the witching table to complain about things that they're substituting for more important things they're too afraid to actually...well... complain about. One of these things is the presence of Arabic script on the higher denomination Nigeria Naira notes. This had me thinking, so I sought to make people happy and to make Nigeria a peaceful and developed nation by adding Igbo nsibiri-ohü to the N500 note. The text reads 500 naira; I even translated Nnamdi Azikiwe. All is well now.

Enjoy diversity, best found in Nigeria. We should get printed as soon as possible.

[img]http://4.bp..com/-u3Tm9aOTZs8/UOsJlF2a4qI/AAAAAAAABFU/cLVtH5hsYkU/s280/N500.jpg[/img]
http://nsibiri..com/2013/01/igbo-on-n500-note.html

Last one. Example of a text written in Nsibidi. By Gin.

[img]http://1.bp..com/-sJob8eyBfMg/UZfNR-SmrXI/AAAAAAAABKI/93UyMSoVL3c/s1600/Nnena.png[/img]

I'm no longer an active contributor to the project, so for updates and developments go to http://nsibiri..com

Interesting. Just heard about this today. I think I grab the significance of that ifunanya (love) symbol. Kinda speaks out on its own. Mmmm

cococandy:
Interesting. Just heard about this today. I think I grab the significance of that ifunanya (love) symbol. Kinda speaks out on its own. Mmmm

Yeah it doesn't get a lot of attention, unfortunately. I admire the guy working on the project. He's been doing it alone for years. He has some dictionaries available on Scribd.com

Even if it never catches on as a major writing system, I find it fascinating from a historical and artistic perspective. Maybe one day, I can use it in a logo.

Might I point out that the text in Igbo and English do not have the same exact meaning because of some slight misinterpretation in some sentences? No big deal and It wouldn't matter if not that I believe it may have affected the transcription in nsibidi.
Which in turn may not be fair to learners like moi


If the translator wasn't born Igbo,he gets a thumbs up anyway. It is not an easy job

My Friend stop decieving yourself, Nsibidi has its heritage from "efik" and not Igbo

cococandy:
Might I point out that the text in Igbo and English do not have the same exact meaning because of some slight misinterpretation in some sentences? No big deal and It wouldn't matter if not that I believe it may have affected the transcription in nsibidi.
Which in turn may not be fair to learners like moi


If the translator wasn't born Igbo,he gets a thumbs up anyway. It is not an easy job

Oh, I have no idea. You'd have to ask him.

MissMeiya:


Oh, I have no idea. You'd have to ask him.

ok

saaedlee:
My Friend stop Nsibidi has its heritage from "efik" and not Igbo

[s]Good grief. I knew it would only be a matter of time. Did I say it was Igbo? I'm not even Igbo.

Can't you read?

Not to mention I did use quotes and citations, so take it up with whoever I quoted.[/s]

Edit: I'm supposed to be working on my temper.

*smile* You're right. But I didn't say that.

I have a question. Can the Nsibidi used for other languages? It seems Igbo centric. or is it idea based.

This is deep mehn. I need to read this article sloooooowly to grasp what it means

Very informative ....first time I'm hearing about Nsibidi et al

theSpark:
I have a question. Can the Nsibidi used for other languages? It seems Igbo centric. or is it idea based.

First, the only reason you are seeing Igbo mentioned so often is because the guy working on the modern script is Igbo. So, that is what he knows. When I was working on it, I did my work in my own language, which is north Cross-Riverian.

Yes, it can be used for other languages. As you said, it is indeed idea based, or ideographic.

To start, let me explain what an ideographic script is:

An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. So an ideographic writing system uses symbols that represent ideas. Nsibidi was originally an ideographic script, meaning the written language could be understood by anyone who knew the meaning of the symbols, regardless of their spoken language.

Let me give you an example. Some Chinese characters are ideographic. The character 上 represents the concept of "up". So both Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese speakers understand what it means, though they say it differently.

The most famous Nsibidi character, , represents the concept of "love".

Went thru' the blog. Interesting history. Maybe because I'm Igbo. Lol

Not much about the blogger himself though.

cococandy:
Went thru' the blog. Interesting history. Maybe because I'm Igbo. Lol

Not much about the blogger himself though.

Yes, he's very mysterious lol

MissMeiya:


Yes, he's very mysterious lol

hmm. Now I'm getting more interested

Wow, this is impressive! The Nsibidi writing system can be developed and enhanced further as an orthographic system for Igbo and Ibibio/Efik languages!

saaedlee:
My Friend stop decieving yourself, Nsibidi has its heritage from "efik" and not Igbo

No, it didn't originate with the Efik.

Wow, this looks really cool and interesting. I'm amazed and impressed. Nsibidi looks really fascinating and I believe it is something that should be used primarily over the latin alphabet. Chances of that happening though due to Westernisation? 0% sadly. I would really like to see it develop.

I'm envious of how Slavic countries use the Cyrillic alphabet and how Oriental countries like Japan for instance have their Kanji symbols.

Op, this seem a lil bit much for me. I'll go back to the beginning to read slowly again.
My take on "nsibidi" links more to the efiks and ibibios. Heard about this word many/several years back though.

hmmmmmmmmmm

.

FP tinz

Nsibidi === Efik (Southern Cross River State)

Are u expecting me to read this lengthy post.
pls summarise

.

Reading comments

romeo:
Most fools shouting about Nsibidi being their fATHER'S property can not even read or write it lol

Lol

Good to know

Ehen