The logograph for Nsibiri

Nsibidi (also known as nsibiri,[2] nchibiddi or nchibiddy[3]) is a system of symbols indigenous to what is now southeastern Nigeria that is apparently ideographic, though there have been suggestions that it includes logographic elements.[4] 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, dating between 400 and 1400 CE.[5] Nsibidi's origin is generally attributed to the Ekoi people of southern Nigeria. Alternatively J. K. Macgregor claimed in 1909 that it is traditionally said to have come from the Uguakima, Ebe or Uyanga tribes of the Igbo people, which legend says were taught the script by baboons,[3] although one writer believes Macgregor had been misled by his informants.[6]

There are thousands of nsibidi symbols, of which over 500 have been recorded. They were once taught in a school to children. Many of the signs deal with love affairs; those that deal with warfare and the sacred are kept secret.[7] Nsibidi is used on wall designs, calabashes, metals (such as bronze), leaves, swords, and tattoos.[2][8] It is primarily used by the Ekpe leopard secret society (also known as Ngbe or Egbo), which is found across Cross River among the Ekoi, Efik, Igbo people, and related peoples.

Outside knowledge of nsibidi came in 1904 when T.D. Maxwell noticed the symbols.[4] Before the British colonisation of the area, nsibidi was divided into a sacred version and a public, more decorative version which could be used by women.[8] Aspects of colonisation such as Western education and Christian doctrine drastically reduced the number of nsibidi-literate people, leaving the secret society members as some of the last literate in the symbols.[9] 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.[10][11]

The origin of the word nsibidi is not known. One theory traces the word to the Ekoid languages, where it means "cruel letters", reflecting the harsh laws of the secret societies that hold nsibidi knowledge.[12][13] In Calabar, nsibidi is mostly associated with men's leopard societies such as Ekpe. The leopard societies were a legislative, judicial, and executive power before colonisation, especially among the Efik who exerted much influence over the Cross River.[5]

Origin

The origin of nsibidi is most commonly attributed to the Ejagham people of the northern Cross River region, mostly because colonial administrators found the largest and most diverse nsibidi among them. Nsibidi spread throughout the region over time and mixed with other cultures and art forms such as the Igbo uli graphic design.[5]

Status

Nsibidi has a wide vocabulary of signs usually imprinted on calabashes, brass ware, textiles, wood sculptures, masquerade costumes, buildings and on human skin. Nsibidi has been described as a "fluid system" of communication consisting of hundreds of abstract and pictographic signs. Nsibidi was described in the colonial era by P.A. Talbot as a "a kind of primitive secret writing", Talbot explained that nsibidi was used for messages "cut or painted on split palm stems". J.K. Macgregor's view was that "The use of nsibidi is that of ordinary writing. I have in my possession a copy of the record of a court case from a town of Enion [Enyong] taken down in it, and every detail ... is most graphically described". Nsibidi crossed ethnic lines and was a uniting factor among ethnic groups in the Cross River region.[5]

Uses

Court Cases - "Ikpe"


The Ikpe from Enyong written in nsibidi as recorded by J. K. Macgregor

Nsibidi was used in judgement cases known as 'Ikpe' in some Cross River communities. Macgregor was able to retrieve and translate an nsibidi record from Enyong of an ikpe judgement.



The record is of an Ikpe or judgement case. (a) The court was held under a tree as is the custom, (b) the parties in the case, (c) the chief who judged it, (d) his staff (these are enclosed in a circle), (e) is a man whispering into the ear of another just outside the circle of those concerned, (f) denotes all the members of the party who won the case. Two of them (g) are embracing, (h) is a man who holds a cloth between his finger and thumbs as a sign of contempt. He does not care for the words spoken. The lines round and twisting mean that the case was a difficult one which the people of the town could not judge for themselves. So they sent to the surrounding towns to call the wise men from them and the case was tried bv then (j) and decided; (k) denotes that the case was one of adultery or No. 20.[14]

Ukara Ekpe

[b]The Igbo 'Ukara' cloth of the Ekpe society, covered in nsibidi
Nsibidi is used to design the 'ukara ekpe' woven material which is usually dyed blue (but also green and red) and is covered in nsibidi symbols and motifs. Ukara ekpe cloths are woven in Abakaliki, and then they are designed by male nsibidi artists in the Igbo-speaking towns of Abiriba, Arochukwu and Ohafia to be worn by members of the Ekpe society. [/b]Symbols including lovers, metal rods, trees, feathers, hands in friendship war and work, masks, moons, and stars are dyed onto ukara cloths. The cloth is dyed by post-menopausal women in secret, and young males in public. Ukara was a symbol of wealth and power only handled by titled men and post-menopausal women.[15]


The Igbo 'Ukara' cloth of the Ekpe society, covered in nsibidi

Ukara can be worn as a wrapper (a piece of clothing) on formal occasions, and larger version are hung in society meeting houses and on formal occasions. Ukara motifs are designed in white and are placed on grids set against an indigo background. Some of the designs include abstract symbols representing the Ekpe society such as repeating triangles representing the leopard's claws and therefore Ekpe's power. Ukara includes naturalistic designs representing objects such as gongs, feathers and manilla currency, a symbol of wealth. Powerful animals are included, specifically the leopard and crocodile.[5]


The name of a boy called 'Onuaha' as recorded by J. K. Macgregor in 1909. Macgregor interpreted the first two symbols as corruptions of the English letters 'N' and 'A' and the last symbol a generic nsibidi. Macgregor noted the growing European influence on nsibidi.

Examples of Nsibidi

Here are some examples of nsibidi recorded by J. K. Macgregor (1909)[14] and Elphinstone Dayrell (1910 and 1911)[1][16] for The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and Man. Both of them recorded symbols from a variety of locations around the Cross River, and especially the Ikom district in what is now Cross River State. Both of the writers used informants to retrieve nsibidi that were regarded as secret and visited several Cross River communities.

"Nsibidi"

"Welcome"

"Two men talking"

"Door"

"Gun"

"Crossbow"

"Calabash"

"Big drum"

"Etak Ntaña Nsibidi — Nsibidi's bunch of plantains. When the head of the house wants plantains he sends this sign to the head boy on the farm."[16]

"Umbrella"

"Toilet soap"

"Matchet"

"Woman"

"Man"

"Moon"

"Tortoise"[1][14][16]

More Examples

There have been various attempts to revive the writing for daily use, one such site with this goal is http://nsibiri..com

The site author's mission statement:

Mission

Objective

The mission of the Nsibiri Project (the name 'nsibiri' chosen for no particular reason apart from the fact that nsibidi was an already occupied /domain name) is to record, modernise, and make the nsibidi ideographic symbols relevant for communication in the Igbo language and Cross River languages such as Efik, Kwa and Ejagham, by transitioning it into a (fully) logographic script. Nsibidi is also meant to inspire and encourage Igbo descendants, and people in general, to learn the languages it will be used in, and to attempt to add the Igbo and other related cultures to the worlds general consciousness, in a positive light, overtly!

Why not just the current önwu script?

I don't know about you, but I know quite a few fluent Igbo speakers that have trouble reading a sentence in the önwu (very ironic name) Latin-derived alphabet. If you give an average Igbo speaker a novel in Igbo, even with all the accents, 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 of those who wanted to tell Igbo speakers that they have a new queen. Using Latin in Igbo is like using a nice silver Italian (wait for it...) designer fork to eat some extra spicy, thick, meaty, and flavourful pepper soup made with aged ingredients (sorry...).

Do you ever wonder why most African cultures never independently developed a writing system above the level of ideographs?

(nothing really wrong with that) I believe this has something to do with many of the languages being tonal. I believe a Chinese speaker fluent in the Latin alphabet will not be able read any of the Chinese languages in Latin, I found a perfect example of why this is on Wikipedia:

妈妈骂马的麻吗?/媽媽罵馬的麻嗎?
Pinyin: māma mà mǎ de má ma?
English: "Is Mother scolding the horse's hemp?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_%28linguistics%29

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 a word, but, rather, to understand the word which is important in languages with lots of homophones (where multiple words have the same phonemes). Ákwà, Àkwá, Ákwá are popular examples of Igbo tonality. Let's not forget the issue of Igbo languages, central Igbo, and general intelligibility; 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 nsibidi, you'll only have to teach the person the word and the nsibidi that goes with it and they'll have no problem understanding it somewhere else where it is written in nsibidi.

With a logographic script, backed by a simpler yet relevant syllabary derived from the grapheme's of nsibidi, Igbo writing can go places that it may have never gone before.

Why use nsibidi?

Because nsibidi is a legacy and cultural artefact that the Igbo/Efik/Efut-speaking ancestors developed with their own ideas independently. It is a window into the genuine and independent ideas of these cultures and the people who developed the cultures. Nsibidi was a channel for the ancestors to communicate their love, their spirituality, their fears, their greed, their lust, their wants, their needs, their knowledge, their anger, their sorrow; it documented their organisational skills, their marriages, court cases and other sorts of thing. Why not nsibidi? Why has it died in the first place? Nsibidi has been used for over a thousand and a half years as we now know, and Igbo has been using a Latin-based orthography for roughly a hundred and a half years. Something invested in and passed on for countless generations should not be discarded and forgotten so easily, this is 'why use nsibidi'.

How many characters will there be

Hundreds, or probably thousands of current old nsibidi characters as well as compounds and simplified characters. Where there's an Igbo word, there ideally should be a unique character/compound for it.

How will people remember all these characters

They won't have to, there would a standard set of nsibidi people would learn, then they will be given a nsibidi-derived syllabary to use when they don't have an nsibidi character for something. For example, a computer keyboard will have a basic form of the syllabary (plus computer combinations/short-cuts) to use in digital typing. There can be a software for locating nsibidi symbols if the user wants. All this will be done if the nsibidi script is successful in capturing the imagination of Igbo speakers and if it is taken further as a serious and legible writing system; nsibidi and its syllabary can be created digitally with a special unicode for it to be distributed in computers and other digital products. The syllabary will also be used to pronounce words that are foreign to Igbo ('London', 'Ferrari', 'Snow', etc).

Will the Latin script be thrown away?

The Latin script will have its paramount status demoted, but it will be at the same level as nsibidi (and derived syllabary). This project is not an attempt at isolationism, but a language preservation action.

If it is accepted, when/where will nsibidi (or neo-nsibidi) be taught

The same place it has been taught in for hundreds (if not thousands) of years, which is school. Igbo language, I believe is a compulsory subject in Igbo-speaking states of Nigeria up till a certain level when it can be dropped; nsibidi can be taught here, just like önwu is being taught in Igbo classes.

Are you not messing original nsibidi up?

[b]No, did the person who added a steam boats wheel to the nsibidi script mess it up? That will be the latest addition to nsibidi I hope will be accepted, because I don't think adding Martini glasses and car engines to the script will do it much good. The project is not to completely recreate nsibidi characters, but to utilise them in the creation of compounds (multiple grapheme's), if there are no characters good enough (or not existing at all) they will be made from the radicals (basic characters) that the ancestors used in making the other characters. [/b]For example the straight line with one horizontal bar at its top and bottom is a common radical and will be looked at, as well as other old characters, for inspiration when creating new characters.

This is silly, how can we write with drawings?

Look @ these signs & tell me if they R not = to logographs, or ideographs!(?) + there R plenty > you use without knowing. In fact lift your Panasonic radio, see 'drawings' full, open your Sony TV manual, see 'drawings' full.

What about Ekpe, Okonko, Ojuju Calabar, etc?

If this project gets attention, and is recognised by a good amount of Igbo language key connects and contacts (whatever that is), then the nsibidi characters, all of them, will be reviewed with societies along with all other nsibidi fluent people, to see if any symbols are too personal to them for them to released, or for any other corrections. The project does its best to steer away from any Ekpe/Egbo/Okonko characters to avoid any possible future conflict. I would like to remind people that Ekpe/Egbo/Okonko really isn't necessarily a religion. As for ojuju Calabar, and any other spirits that anyone thinks is a part of nsibidi (because we all know African things are usually demonic, true?) they should answer whether they want their children to be greeting them in "Hi".

What about other languages that use(d) nsibidi, and possibly even created it?

The plan is to consult them to plan how this script can be used for those languages if they are interested. This project focuses on developing nsibidi for tonal Igbo language, true, but the other Cross River languages that used nsibidi are also in mind and they can't be forgotten as they played the biggest role in developing nsibidi. It would be an easy transition from Igbo characters to ______ characters as this is a logographic script, an Igbo/Cross river language speaker may even be able to read a Igbo/Cross river language book written in nsibidi, depending on the languages' patterns.

Show your face!
No!

http://nsibiri..com

Nsibiri conjunctions
[img]http://4.bp..com/_jeBv7EEofYQ/TPrIXLGH0eI/AAAAAAAAANk/zNFHmRl5o10/s400/Conjuctions.png[/img]

Some conjunctions in Igbo and English.

'And' has already been explained.

'Or' is made out of Nsibiri 'talk' (top), 'question' (bottom left) and 'unity' (bottom right). So it is interpreted literally as 'Speech question unity', e.g 'Decision conjunction'.

'But' is made out of Nsibiri 'talk' (top), 'fight' (bottom left) and 'unity' (bottom right). Interpreted as 'Talk fight unity', e.g 'Conflict conjunction'.

'So' is made out of Nsibiri 'support stick' (e.g fall, left), 'talk' and 'unity'. 'Fall/Drop/Come out (from Igbo fùtàrà) talk unity', e.g 'Conclusion conjunction'.

'For/Because' is made out of Nsibiri 'talk', 'path/journey' (middle) and unity. 'Talk journey unity', 'The point, the mission conjunction'.

Character Sheet 1

Many of the characters I have created so far will change as I try to simplify nsibidi (most won't change). Apart from this, the following will probably no change.

[img]http://1.bp..com/-UxYJbfa6MLs/TXq0bOH4toI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/Zsi7dtX6Cxw/s400/Nsibidi%2BSheet%2B1.png[/img]

Break down
'Market' - The character on the left (a straight line with a bar on top and on the bottom) is a very common nsibidi radical. Depending on the context it can mean anything from human to a pillar. In this context it is one of its other uses, this time a house. The character on the left is the old nsibidi sign for 'trade' probably used frequently in public. Together it is understood as 'trade house', 'market'.

'Entrance' - The top character is the old nsibidi for 'door', the bottom character is a woman or just a general person. The compound character (njíkọ) is understood as 'door of people', 'entrance'.

'Beauty' - The old characters for 'woman' (big left-facing curve) and 'mirror' together make 'beauty'.

'Chief' - Old character for a chief.

'Feather' - Old character for feather.

'House' - The straight line with bars can be a house in nsibidi writing, so can a square or an oval.

'Leopard' - From nsibidi motifs representing the leopard.

'Water' - From water depicted in nsibidi documents.

All derived from 20th century sources.

Warrior
[img]http://3.bp..com/-uMuC5G27XiM/TXVBsZmCvEI/AAAAAAAAAQc/yhHm6QpnPC0/s400/Dike.png[/img]

"Watchman/guard" + "Sword/Matchet".

Sorry the spambot must have found the updates a little too much at one time

More...

Nsibiri conjunctions 2
[img]http://4.bp..com/_jeBv7EEofYQ/TU-LKh00VqI/AAAAAAAAAPE/XQB5g_fCSs0/s400/Conjuctions%2B2.png[/img]

Character Sheet 2
[img]http://4.bp..com/-hDA8r-ztbb8/TYJhkhTRf-I/AAAAAAAAARg/Lo-3uYpnE9c/s400/Nsibidi%2BSheet%2B2.png[/img]

Enugu
[img]http://1.bp..com/-_FtXR0WksPo/TX_H0n4Jx7I/AAAAAAAAARY/MGENb8LOW0A/s400/Enuguwu.png[/img]

I looked for nsibidi for "above/top" and "hill" and could not find any. I decided that from previous radicals in nsibidi, that the simple 'I' shaped radical could be used to depict a hill or a mountain and from these I forged these two characters meaning 'top' and 'hill'. These characters may change if I find out there are characters for 'hill' and 'top/above'.

[img]http://3.bp..com/-CHBIhzT5mSE/TXw6lb2D-aI/AAAAAAAAARM/AuRirsLOFIw/s1600/Ulo%2BNni.png[/img]

Restaurant
[img]http://3.bp..com/-FPUIjNnC8B8/TXq2IJjSUbI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/g6UCoHSFRBE/s400/Restaurant.png[/img]

Igbo
[img]http://4.bp..com/-FzT8I2gnKLM/TZ9QI1DXKqI/AAAAAAAAASg/0-WdYysnlHM/s400/Igbo.png[/img]

Chí
[img]http://1.bp..com/-S8wnyUFIMYc/TYLFiG1YPII/AAAAAAAAARw/k9LXPJN92SQ/s400/Chi.png[/img]

Middle + Fire/energy + Top + Land/Life = Chí

Note - 18 March 2011:
I understand that 'Chí' is a very abstract concept in Igbo culture (among many things), and this character was created to capture the basic "idea" of Chi. Many concepts in Igbo culture may not be able to be explained with words. The characters that will be created do not intend to add any meaning to the concepts, but to create a character that is, in a basic form, relevant to the concept as has been done with old nsibidi. Nsibidi characters used to import words into nsibidi writing will not attempt to explain the complete purpose of the concept it represents, but, instead, to roughly rationalise its use as a representative of that word. A circle with strokes around it will not explain the role of the sun in photosynthesis. Thanks for bringing this to my attention so I could explain.

Scholarly Comparison between Egyptian writing and Nsibiri
[img]http://3.bp..com/-ALjAstudJw0/TYJxGBXqznI/AAAAAAAAARo/4q2vnw5vA1s/s1600/Nsibidi%2Bhieroglyphs.png[/img]

From 'General History of Africa: Methodology and African prehistory', (1981) University of California Press.

Umuahia
[img]http://4.bp..com/-PcjMIHOzZQk/Th3GmVVv5HI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/d55W393srYg/s400/umuahia-01.png[/img]

My hometown. Child in a house = household = children = úmù + Ahiá = market >
Umuahia.
I actually saw an original copy of a symbol where children were in a house which is where I got children from.

Idemili
[img]http://3.bp..com/-i20srvl5Oz8/Th3Lg_HIMyI/AAAAAAAAAaM/8weiKIFen-U/s400/idemili.jpg[/img]

Symbol for Idemili, which literally means "pillar (represented by the symbols on the side) of water (represented by the symbol in the middle)"

Diary Entry
[img]http://2.bp..com/-6gnvd2RT1E0/TmAqNS_aSFI/AAAAAAAAAiM/-r2ck8m2I6Q/s1600/nsibidi%2Bdiary.jpg[/img]

Nsibiri (rough) list (Dictionary)
[img]http://1.bp..com/-AuWbYolfKRw/Tl1_uvCT_WI/AAAAAAAAAiE/QPWOnouALOU/s400/nsibidi%2Bmeanings.jpg[/img]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/63616534/Ikpo-Nsibidi-Dictionary

Ọwụwa Ụwa Òzọ - Anaéto abụzíala nkwákpụ (Movie Poster)
[img]http://1.bp..com/-osGjy8ahUTI/Tlp02WVbVwI/AAAAAAAAAh4/OUGl5Ya5iYo/s1600/rise%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bplanet%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bapes%2Bigbo.png[/img]

Names
[img]http://1.bp..com/-kL3OxriGzH0/TmPc-HBTLdI/AAAAAAAAAjE/vamutUcr3Ng/s400/names.jpg[/img]

Kwụ sị
[img]http://2.bp..com/-UHC18He256I/TmGV2OVK7HI/AAAAAAAAAic/3IgUMeJPBN4/s400/stop.jpg[/img]

Time
[img]http://2.bp..com/-irGe6ByrPCs/ToI6pergBuI/AAAAAAAAAnI/rOS7o_RKDpA/s1600/time.png[/img]

No parking
[img]http://2.bp..com/-IdpUZ6HUJPI/TnVLqFlS9JI/AAAAAAAAAlc/lEePnwVJPK0/s400/noparking.png[/img]

Abia tower
Before:
[img]http://3.bp..com/-0MxqDvdIkFw/Trbg0S_NKVI/AAAAAAAAAxw/NCd8DsJkxu0/s400/abia%2Benglish.jpg[/img]
After:
[img]http://2.bp..com/-CJHj5XAmmRc/Trbg0rh3QJI/AAAAAAAAAx8/-ccEV1LAzjI/s400/abia%2Bnsibidi.jpg[/img]

Happy Birthday
[img]http://4.bp..com/-0-lwzZ87A5Q/Ts7Iw_LcQUI/AAAAAAAAAzs/P92Jwb6ZXC0/s1600/happybirthdaynsibidi.jpg[/img]

how does one go about learnin g this 'cos i'm interested. I mean classroom or any kind of real life tuition. I dont think the internet will cut it for me. Interactiveness is fundamental.

Interesting!! I see where you said it was before contact with white people but did this method of writing and communication continue after the arrival of the white man?

Dudu_Negro: Interesting!! I see where you said it was before contact with white people but did this method of writing and communication continue after the arrival of the white man?

Among the general population no, but it still exists in secret societies.

kwangi: how does one go about learnin g this 'cos i'm interested. I mean classroom or any kind of real life tuition. I dont think the internet will cut it for me. Interactiveness is fundamental.

You can go to these sites

http://nsibiri..com/
http://nsibidi.wikia.com/wiki/Nsibidi_Wiki

To see a frequently updated dictionary as well as the blog to see how the characters are put together to make readable sentances

Anansi book cover

You guys need to stop deceiving yourself. This is one of the many projects championed by Chinua Achebe to raise the historical value and age of the Igbo clans in antiquity.

Every culture of people in Africa had symbols and inscriptions in ancient times. Tattoos, house paintings, tie-dyed clothings, batiks and adire. . .these were all artifacts of writings and communication. So nothing unique or special about nsibidi that other cultures lacked. However, it is worth commending that Mr Achebe has made good progress to revive and create a new way of communicating for your clans. It is hoped that you can standardize and develop it into something exclusive to your ethnic group.

Do they want me to start writing like the Chinese?

Dudu_Negro: You guys need to stop deceiving yourself. This is one of the many projects championed by Chinua Achebe to raise the historical value and age of the Igbo clans in antiquity.

Every culture of people in Africa had symbols and inscriptions in ancient times. Tattoos, house paintings, tie-dyed clothings, batiks and adire. . .these were all artifacts of writings and communication. So nothing unique or special about nsibidi that other cultures lacked. However, it is worth commending that Mr Achebe has made good progress to revive and create a new way of communicating for your clans. It is hoped that you can standardize and develop it into something exclusive to your ethnic group.

What are you talking about?

Achebe has nothing to do with this nor has he ever mentioned Nsibiri, he has mentioned being against attempts to forcefully standardize the Igbo language or suggesting that one version of Igbo should be the standard (which has allowed other dialects to continue but as a consequence prohibits groups from being to always understand each other)

And furthermore no one ever claimed that other cultures did not have writing or symbols that depicted though, Vai exists in Liberia, the Benin Empire had its own script, and so did the Sokoto Caliphate which took Arabic and created Ajami. The South East had Nsibiri, the only difference is that the fact that secret societies as well as recordings by missionaries and others has allowed the script to not fade into obscurity so that this blogger can build upon it. Benin wrote their script on the ground from what I know which is prone to destruction without upkeep and we will never know the full extent of what was lost during the British Expedition.

From your tone I detect a hint of jealousy, if you are willing to do the research I'm sure you can find and equivalent for the Yoruba people no need to deride the people for the East for having easier access to their own.

Further more Nsibiri if you actually read what I posted is not exclusive to anyone group, hence the title South Eastern People which includes Igbo, Ibibio, Efik, and other related groups. Nsibiri was as close to a common "language" in the region with minor variations reflecting the ethnic group who was using it.

Please remove the chip off your shoulder and study the history and culture of your country. I have no problem going through the Benin and Yoruba art threads so what is your excuse?

Obiagu1: Do they want me to start writing like the Chinese?

Lol no, but in order to create new words symbols must be combined like Chinese and Japanese do. But at times I do see where one can wonder if this is Igbo or Japanese

Diagram of what Nsibiri would look like on a Building
[img]http://3.bp..com/-Hnb4qWMMO5k/TuFIbBE7u3I/AAAAAAAAA0o/5S7oIkN11Ss/s1600/tower.png[/img]
[img]http://2.bp..com/-eBQA8cxE8zc/TuEoIUJVvjI/AAAAAAAAA0c/5ZO4fFQ9qW4/s1600/mall.jpg[/img]

Compounds
[img]http://3.bp..com/-wcpJKkoGEeE/TpcMv2kGbWI/AAAAAAAAAow/VXVvL37RHvI/s1600/words.png[/img]

Directions/Coordinates
[img]http://3.bp..com/-oXDa5y8A3nM/ToIg6R-tHdI/AAAAAAAAAm8/idfkar_ksds/s1600/direction.png[/img]

Street Sign
[img]http://4.bp..com/-b_I_cwAnaX0/TnUqeVMfM2I/AAAAAAAAAlU/xMKX5qFFUK4/s400/paak%2Bwalala.png[/img]

@ Dudu, when you dig up yoruba script, i will hail you. Your problem probably is that your claims that yorubas are the most literate tribe in the country is under threat by this script. FYI, such scripts have been found in virginia usa and is said to have been from igbo slaves brought there. Lemme tell you what you are dreading to hear; while igbos were already reading and writting from antiquity, your tribe was busy trying to figure out how to cook Yoruba stop hatting igbos and humble yourselves to learn from us cos we are special people!

Malawian: @ Dudu, when you dig up yoruba script, i will hail you. Your problem probably is that your claims that yorubas are the most literate tribe in the country is under threat by this script. FYI, such scripts have been found in virginia usa and is said to have been from igbo slaves brought there. Lemme tell you what you are dreading to hear; while igbos were already reading and writting from antiquity, your tribe was busy trying to figure out how to cook Yoruba stop hatting igbos and humble yourselves to learn from us cos we are special people!

I think it was the comparison to Egyptian script that got to him

No Igbo people did not come from Egypt Nts_Negro, but it is interesting to note the similarities in the script which some academic did

Go easy, Its not that serious I don't know why he got upset but no need to play the tribal game

@ Zeruchi and Crayola

Superb job!

Nsibidi is an important part of the religious and political structures of the people's occupying the Cross River region. I have recognized some of these pictograms as those painted on the ekpe meeting hall in my village in Arochukwu. The ironic thing is that the ekpe secret society has a strict secrecy policy but yet the type of information you posted still finds a way to get leaked.

I like the idea that you guys have. However, making Nsibidi script the replacement for Latin script in Igboland (and adjacent lands) seems thoroughly impractical. Nsibidi is much more complex than the Latin alphabet and is still an integral part of Cross Riverian ekpe secret societies. Imagine the type of cultural upheaval that would result in making such revered arts widely known?

Greetings to all. Check out this new site I found that speaks about African royalty around theworld. It is called Afrikan Royals http://www.afrikanroyals.com

Peace and blessings to all. I remember last year our study group was discussing ancient African communication systems. We briefly went over nsibiri. This is a reminder that I need to get with the people and strike this convo back up.

odumchi: @ Zeruchi and Crayola

Superb job!

Nsibidi is an important part of the religious and political structures of the people's occupying the Cross River region. I have recognized some of these pictograms as those painted on the ekpe meeting hall in my village in Arochukwu. The ironic thing is that the ekpe secret society has a strict secrecy policy but yet the type of information you posted still finds a way to get leaked.

I like the idea that you guys have. However, making Nsibidi script the replacement for Latin script in Igboland (and adjacent lands) seems thoroughly impractical. Nsibidi is much more complex than the Latin alphabet and is still an integral part of Cross Riverian ekpe secret societies. Imagine the type of cultural upheaval that would result in making such revered arts widely known?

Crayola1 and I are the same lol spambot got me for posting too much at one time.
Actually in one of the post I put up the author of the blog mentions the fact that the script is still used by secret societies and that he will do his best to avoid those scripts.
Also like you said Nsibiri is not as handy so the guy is developing a shorthand called Akagu which is simplied characters more practical for everyday use.
I just haven't gotten around to posting that part yet. Akagu is also similar to Katana (Japanese script) that is used for foreign words.

I'll post that stuff soon enough

For Odumchi
Akagu
The name I chose for the script is 'akagu', it has a very simple meaning and if you read Igbo (in the horrible, evil, terrible, Latin script of course) you would know that this means 'Leopards hand'. The name was coined as a homage to the leopard societies that developed and maybe even invented nsibidi, so it's supposed to be be understood as 'the hand of the leopard', 'the writing of the leopard', or even 'the writing from the leopard people'.

The grapheme's or 'letters' aren't just direct copies of the current Igbo-Latin alphabet (Önwu), new phonemes (fancy talk for sounds) have also been added, including one that could be represented in Latin by an X! More on that later.

First, let's see what the characters look like and what their Latin equivalents are, and then we will look at how we got these characters.

[img]http://1.bp..com/-bc5GhtPTsew/TcmcxuwbkqI/AAAAAAAAAWY/GanCuMU6trA/s1600/Akagu.JPG[/img]


You may have noticed that letter C has been knocked out. Who ever uses c in Igbo except for 'chi'? Why was left put in? The other characters are acceptably explained with the Latin script except the XI, this is typically found in the dialects around Umuahia and some other parts of the Igbo speaking area of Nigeria. An example for 'Xi' is found in the word for 'zi' (show) in a particular type of Igbo (such as Ohühü) the sond is also found in 'ezì' (pig), the sound is comparable to French 'je' but more specifically 'ji'.

Nwa, nwe, et is a commonly repeating phoneme so it has been made into characters. Ch you may remember is from the made up character for the concept of chi, this chi is differentiated because the chi is not in their 'house' (the box that surrounds it). When spelling 'chi', the 'i' in akagu is not needed as 'ch' is 'chi'. The Hā, hē, et is typically found in Abia state and in the Ika speaking region of Delta state. The hnwā, hnwē, et is typically found in Ngwa. The ñ is found in the 'ñu' ('drink').

The tones explain themselves, the high and low tone come before and after the vowels or the 'n' or 'm' respectively, the symbols for 'ạ' and 'ȧ' are representations of the nasal tones and the 'ä' is the mid nasal tone, e.g in hä (them).

There are two types of the script which can be compared to capitals and lower case. The first kind is the 'normal' script (top) and it is this that is used for formal writing and for a computer unicode (typing). The second is 'Akagụ ȯsȯ' ('Fast akagu') is the less formal way of writing, maybe in a situation like at school or a letter to a friend. The main akagu is also used to write foreign words and the quick hand is used to write Igbo, which is similar to Japanese kana.

COMPLEX CHARACTERS AND VOWELS


One of the biggest differences to the Latin script is the creation of complex characters using vowels on consonants. To make a long explanation....not long, in Igbo we know that some vowels are dropped when a sentence is made with a word ending in a vowel and a next character starting with a vowel (I can't be bothered to do fancy words), a sentence like 'Ọ gà na írú' ('progression'), has become a word in Igbo but the current writing system is so inconsistent, and the lack of management for Igbo is so little that it can be written anyhow, anyway, short story, short story. Another way of writing it would be 'Ọganíru', notice how the a from 'na' has been dropped? In akagu the 'a' is written in the quick hand form and then placed at the top right of the consonant before it, the superior vowel (in this case 'i') is written normally and the spaces are removed from the two words. Why do this? Sometimes when Igbo words are joined together in Latin, the original meaning is hard to decipher especially when most people who write Igbo leave accents off certain words, e.g n'ime is 'na ime' (inside) and could be read also as 'na ímé' ('to do...'). In akagu the vowel that would have been left out is added to a consonant almost as an accent, more appropriately a complex character that's similar to a ligature. This preserves the whole original word from the complex character to the beginning of the word, and also signals to the reader to add an extra stretch or to add that little sound that indicates a vowel skipped. The only way I can explain is in an English name like Michael, you almost say My-kel, but you say My-kol because of that 'a', well depending on you English accent, but you should have a rough understanding of what I mean.

In the picture below, the vowels that makes up the complex characters are circled in red. Try and see if you can read it, it may seem a bit awkward at first, but what doesn't?!

[img]http://2.bp..com/-2Xyc5VSQyK0/TcmmfQRxIaI/AAAAAAAAAWg/kr6P-cw9yrw/s400/akagucomplex.JPG[/img]

I understand that the writing system will have to be explained orally for better understanding.

ORIGINS


This post is long enough so this is the origins of the script condensed:
The characters were taken from original nsibidi characters and then simplified by writing the nsibidi characters over and over again in a style that mimicks shorthand or everyday use.

The characters produced from this shorthand use is then assigned to a phoneme (sound) that is similar to the first used in the nsibidi it was derived from, e.g the 's' phoneme was from 'osisi' ('tree or wood', the 'o' phoneme was from 'ogbakọ' (meeting), et.

The quick hand nsibidi were the first created. They didn't look formal or nsibidi-like enough so some were simplified further and they were all given bars at their ends, similar to many nsibidi characters.

And that was it.

Below is a comparison of the akagu script to the nsibidi characters they were derived from. Some of the nsibidi characters were forged (or merged) here on this blog, some of them were simplified, some are completely original, some are not nsibidi characters but motifs.

[img]http://3.bp..com/-3eOQbP5Fm1w/Tcmo1UxyE3I/AAAAAAAAAWs/mdNLd0TVVOc/s1600/Derivative.JPG[/img]


This is Akagu, a proposed Igbo script. As you may have seen, akagu can be put into different weights, sizes, cases and more. It is dynamic and also unique. One of the disadvantages it has to Latin is that it cannot be recognised as easily as Latin in the lowest text size possible, apart from that I'll let the readers (and the people who may be manipulating it one day) decide. There are probably many errors and this post is very long, so I'll end it here. More updates will be coming for nsibidi and akagu later, in the meantime your feedback would be appreciated.

[img]http://1.bp..com/-KIBhv1vWm44/TlbaabOzPTI/AAAAAAAAAhE/18L406rvWlc/s1600/25-01.png[/img]

If i ever got a tatoo if would be a Nsibidi letter.

This post got me thinking, Nsibidi would have been a good national alphabet for a S.E Nigerian state. I was previously unaware that it had any connection to the Igbo language, but if it is something common to all the tribes of the S.E it could have been a good unifying agent.

It is very heartening to see that people are building upon and investing in this, keep up the good work.

Crayola1: For Odumchi
Akagu
The name I chose for the script is 'akagu', it has a very simple meaning and if you read Igbo (in the horrible, evil, terrible, Latin script of course) you would know that this means 'Leopards hand'. The name was coined as a homage to the leopard societies that developed and maybe even invented nsibidi, so it's supposed to be be understood as 'the hand of the leopard', 'the writing of the leopard', or even 'the writing from the leopard people'.

The grapheme's or 'letters' aren't just direct copies of the current Igbo-Latin alphabet (Önwu), new phonemes (fancy talk for sounds) have also been added, including one that could be represented in Latin by an X! More on that later.

First, let's see what the characters look like and what their Latin equivalents are, and then we will look at how we got these characters.

[img]http://1.bp..com/-bc5GhtPTsew/TcmcxuwbkqI/AAAAAAAAAWY/GanCuMU6trA/s1600/Akagu.JPG[/img]


You may have noticed that letter C has been knocked out. Who ever uses c in Igbo except for 'chi'? Why was left put in? The other characters are acceptably explained with the Latin script except the XI, this is typically found in the dialects around Umuahia and some other parts of the Igbo speaking area of Nigeria. An example for 'Xi' is found in the word for 'zi' (show) in a particular type of Igbo (such as Ohühü) the sond is also found in 'ezì' (pig), the sound is comparable to French 'je' but more specifically 'ji'.

Nwa, nwe, et is a commonly repeating phoneme so it has been made into characters. Ch you may remember is from the made up character for the concept of chi, this chi is differentiated because the chi is not in their 'house' (the box that surrounds it). When spelling 'chi', the 'i' in akagu is not needed as 'ch' is 'chi'. The Hā, hē, et is typically found in Abia state and in the Ika speaking region of Delta state. The hnwā, hnwē, et is typically found in Ngwa. The ñ is found in the 'ñu' ('drink').

The tones explain themselves, the high and low tone come before and after the vowels or the 'n' or 'm' respectively, the symbols for 'ạ' and 'ȧ' are representations of the nasal tones and the 'ä' is the mid nasal tone, e.g in hä (them).

There are two types of the script which can be compared to capitals and lower case. The first kind is the 'normal' script (top) and it is this that is used for formal writing and for a computer unicode (typing). The second is 'Akagụ ȯsȯ' ('Fast akagu') is the less formal way of writing, maybe in a situation like at school or a letter to a friend. The main akagu is also used to write foreign words and the quick hand is used to write Igbo, which is similar to Japanese kana.

COMPLEX CHARACTERS AND VOWELS


One of the biggest differences to the Latin script is the creation of complex characters using vowels on consonants. To make a long explanation....not long, in Igbo we know that some vowels are dropped when a sentence is made with a word ending in a vowel and a next character starting with a vowel (I can't be bothered to do fancy words), a sentence like 'Ọ gà na írú' ('progression'), has become a word in Igbo but the current writing system is so inconsistent, and the lack of management for Igbo is so little that it can be written anyhow, anyway, short story, short story. Another way of writing it would be 'Ọganíru', notice how the a from 'na' has been dropped? In akagu the 'a' is written in the quick hand form and then placed at the top right of the consonant before it, the superior vowel (in this case 'i') is written normally and the spaces are removed from the two words. Why do this? Sometimes when Igbo words are joined together in Latin, the original meaning is hard to decipher especially when most people who write Igbo leave accents off certain words, e.g n'ime is 'na ime' (inside) and could be read also as 'na ímé' ('to do...'). In akagu the vowel that would have been left out is added to a consonant almost as an accent, more appropriately a complex character that's similar to a ligature. This preserves the whole original word from the complex character to the beginning of the word, and also signals to the reader to add an extra stretch or to add that little sound that indicates a vowel skipped. The only way I can explain is in an English name like Michael, you almost say My-kel, but you say My-kol because of that 'a', well depending on you English accent, but you should have a rough understanding of what I mean.

In the picture below, the vowels that makes up the complex characters are circled in red. Try and see if you can read it, it may seem a bit awkward at first, but what doesn't?!

[img]http://2.bp..com/-2Xyc5VSQyK0/TcmmfQRxIaI/AAAAAAAAAWg/kr6P-cw9yrw/s400/akagucomplex.JPG[/img]

I understand that the writing system will have to be explained orally for better understanding.

ORIGINS


This post is long enough so this is the origins of the script condensed:
The characters were taken from original nsibidi characters and then simplified by writing the nsibidi characters over and over again in a style that mimicks shorthand or everyday use.

The characters produced from this shorthand use is then assigned to a phoneme (sound) that is similar to the first used in the nsibidi it was derived from, e.g the 's' phoneme was from 'osisi' ('tree or wood', the 'o' phoneme was from 'ogbakọ' (meeting), et.

The quick hand nsibidi were the first created. They didn't look formal or nsibidi-like enough so some were simplified further and they were all given bars at their ends, similar to many nsibidi characters.

And that was it.

Below is a comparison of the akagu script to the nsibidi characters they were derived from. Some of the nsibidi characters were forged (or merged) here on this blog, some of them were simplified, some are completely original, some are not nsibidi characters but motifs.

[img]http://3.bp..com/-3eOQbP5Fm1w/Tcmo1UxyE3I/AAAAAAAAAWs/mdNLd0TVVOc/s1600/Derivative.JPG[/img]


This is Akagu, a proposed Igbo script. As you may have seen, akagu can be put into different weights, sizes, cases and more. It is dynamic and also unique. One of the disadvantages it has to Latin is that it cannot be recognised as easily as Latin in the lowest text size possible, apart from that I'll let the readers (and the people who may be manipulating it one day) decide. There are probably many errors and this post is very long, so I'll end it here. More updates will be coming for nsibidi and akagu later, in the meantime your feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks. This is very interesting. I'll look into it.

pleep: If i ever got a tatoo if would be a Nsibidi letter.

This post got me thinking, Nsibidi would have been a good national alphabet for a S.E Nigerian state. I was previously unaware that it had any connection to the Igbo language, but if it is something common to all the tribes of the S.E it could have been a good unifying agent.

I'm just curious. Do they have nsibidi in your part of the Annang territory?

pleep: If i ever got a tatoo if would be a Nsibidi letter.

This post got me thinking, Nsibidi would have been a good national alphabet for a S.E Nigerian state. I was previously unaware that it had any connection to the Igbo language, but if it is something common to all the tribes of the S.E it could have been a good unifying agent.

Wouldn't it be simply Eastern as oppose to South Eastern?

As for the later, it was a unifying agent and it would have continued to be a unifying agent if many did not forget about it due to Colonization.

@ Crayola

This look complicating, it is like chinese. The history, the writing, they are all interesting.

I might actually get a tattoo in nsibidi.

One_Naira:

Wouldn't it be simply Eastern as oppose to South Eastern?

As for the later, it was a unifying agent and it would have continued to be a unifying agent if many did not forget about it due to Colonization.

well, 'eastern' would include the north east also.