Afak ( afaka sikifi ) is a syllable letter, invented in 1908 for the Juka language - a Creole language common in Suriname on an English basis. The writing was named after its creator, Afak Atumisi . AFAK has been used to date, but the literacy level of native speakers is low and is less than 10%. Afak is the only form of writing used specifically for Creole.
| Afak | |
|---|---|
| Type of letter | syllable |
| Languages | Juka |
| Place of origin | Suriname |
| Creator | Afak Atumisi |
| date of creation | 1908 (according to other data - 1910 ) |
| Period | used to the present |
| ISO 15924 | |
Content
Origin
According to the creator, writing was created as a result of divine revelation. It consists of 56 characters derived from Latin and Arabic letters and numbers, as well as traditional African pictograms.
The origin of many alpha characters is unclear. Some of them may be symbolic images originating in Africa . In particular, the sign for the syllable [be] can be derived from a symbolic image of a child ( English ba by ) in the womb of the mother ( English be lly ). Two connected circles correspond to the syllable [wi] ( English we - we). Two connected horizontal lines correspond to the syllable [tu] ( English two - two), and four - to the syllable [fo] ( English four - four). The syllable [ne] is written as + and comes from the word name - the name (because of illiteracy, the Creoles instead of the signature put a cross).
The only letters that correspond to the Latin alphabet are the signs for the vowels a and o , although the latter may be derived from the conventional image of the lips pronouncing this sound.
Principles
Alphabet writing does not reflect the entire sound system of the Juka language, in particular, the tone system. The final consonants (for example, nasal [n] ) are not indicated in the letter. Long vowels are written by adding after a syllable a vowel. Prenazalizovannye and voiced consonants are denoted by the same characters. Syllables containing the vowels [u] and [o] are usually denoted by the same characters, with the exception of the syllables [o] / [u] , [po] / [pu] and [to] / [tu] (thus, the name language can be read as joke and jock). After the consonants [l, m, s, w] , the syllables with [e] and [i] also do not differ. One character is used to write [ba] and [pa] , as well as [u ] and [ku] . There is no symbol to indicate the combination [gw] ( [gb] )
A number of consonants has only one character. These are:
- [ty] , contained only in the syllable [tya] .
- [kw] ( [kp] ) in the syllable [kwa ~ kpa]
- [ny] in the syllable [nya]
- [dy] in the syllable [dyu / dyo]
Thus, differences (with the exception of tonal ones) do not exist only for syllables beginning with the consonants [y] and [t] .
There is a single punctuation mark (|), which corresponds to a comma or a period .
Afak writing is not supported in Unicode . The only existing font is poorly designed.
Literature
- Cornelis Dubelaar & André Pakosie, Het Afakaschrift van de Tapanahoni rivier in Suriname . Utrecht 1999. ISBN 90-5538-032-6 .