Obɛri ɔkaimɛ ( Oberi Okaime ) - the name of the writing, invented around 1931 by the religious sect Obɛri ɔkaimɛ for the language of this sect Obɛri ɔkaimɛ .
| Obɛri ɔkaimɛ | |
|---|---|
| Type of letter | consonant-vocal writing |
| Languages | Obɛri ɔkaimɛ |
| Place of origin | Itu County in Nigeria |
| Territory | Itu County in Nigeria |
| Creator | sect Obɛri ɔkaimɛ |
| date of creation | about 1931 |
| Period | - |
| Letter direction | from left to right |
| Signs | 86 |
| Origin | north semitic alphabet
|
Content
History
The first to mention this writing was in 1947 R. F. J. Adams in the African Journal . It was created around 1931 by the Obɛri ɔkaimɛ sect for the eponymous language, which was probably created at the same time as the script. The sect was located in the village of Ikpa, near the town of Yery, in the Itu district of the province of Calabar in southeastern Nigeria . The name itself, according to sectarians , was given by the Seminant - the “holy spirit” of the sect. According to the head of the sect, he was taught this language by the spirit, and the writing appeared in a dream to his student, who remembered and wrote it down. In 1936, the sect was founded a school in which they taught a new language and writing, but sect leaders were subject to persecution and fines because the opening of the school violated the Nigerian law on education. According to Adams, Obɛri ɔkaimɛ is different from ibibio , the spoken language of that area.
Alphabet
The alphabet consists of 86 characters: 32 uppercase letters (M, S, V, W, AT, S, KP, P, T, G, F, I, K, A, J, E, B, C, U, YU, L, Q, H, Ñ, X, D, O, N, R, O, I, Y), 32 lowercase, differing in form from uppercase, 20 digits for numbers from 0 to 19, comma, used as in European languages, and two parallel lines, replacing the punctuation mark point.
Origin
Obɛri ɔkaimɛ writing is not similar to any of the existing writing systems of the world, however, in certain signs one can see the influence of the Latin alphabet. According to Adams, two basic theories of the origin of this letter can be distinguished: the first theory is the connection of Obɛri ɔkaimɛ with the nsibidi letter, according to another theory, Obɛri ɔkaimɛ is a kind of mirror letter, the secret of which can be revealed by placing the signs of this letter in front of a mirror. However, Adams himself does not accept any of these theories. According to the British linguist David Deeringer , this letter is a newly created mystery writing, and most of its characters could have been created arbitrarily on the basis of European or other scripts.
Literature
- RFG Adams. Obɛri ɔkaimɛ: A New African Language and Script // African Journal. - 1947.
- Deeringer, David. Letters of Southeast Asia // Alphabet. - M .: Foreign Literature Publishing House, 1963. - p. 520-521. - 656 s.
- Gregersen, Edgar A. Language in Africa. - NY, 1979.
Links
- Edgar Gregersen. Language in Africa (1979). - Book Language in Africa at books.google.com. The appeal date is April 27, 2009.