Use accesskey "n" to jump to the internal navigation links at any point. Right now you can
Updated 10 December, 2024 • recent changes scripts/arab/ff • leave a comment
This page brings together basic information about the Arabic script and its use for the Adamawa Fulfulde variant of the Fula language. It aims to provide a brief, descriptive summary of the modern, printed orthography and typographic features, and to advise how to write Fulfulde using Unicode.
The orthography described is largely reliant on Scott Clark's description for SIL in 2007,2 and relates to usage for Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and the Central African Republic.
Note: Due to the difficulty in finding lists of Fulfulde Ajamiya words that are associated with IPA pronunciations, most of the examples shown here show the equivalent Latin spelling as the transcription. In a small number of cases, IPA transcriptions were generated from that.
Richard Ishida, Adamawa Fulfulde (Ajamiya) Orthography Notes, 10-Dec-2024, https://r12a.github.io/scripts/arab/ff
Click to toggle Table of Contents.
Phonological transcriptions should be treated as a guide, only. They are taken from the sources consulted, and may be narrow or broad, phonemic or phonetic, depending on what is available. They mostly represent pronunciation of words in isolation. For more detailed information about allophones, alternations, sandhi, dialectal differences, and so on, follow the links to cited references.
This is an interactive document. Click/tap on the following to reveal detailed information and examples for each character: (a) coloured characters in examples and lists; (b) link text on character names. If your browser supports it, your cursor will change to look like as you hover over these items.
Languages using the Arabic script • Adamawa Fulfulde picker • Terms list • Character notes • Arabic links • Other orthography notes
عِنَّمَ عَادٜىٰجِ ڢٛڢ ݠٛتِ، ندِمْطِدِ عٜ جِبِنَنْندٜ تٛ بَنْنغٜ حَکّٜىٰجِ ⸫ عٜࢡٜ نغٛودِ مِيجٛ عٜ حَکِّلَنْتَاغَلْ عٜتٜ عٜࢡٜ ݠٛتِ حُوڢٛ ندِرْدٜ عٜ ندٜرْ ࢡ عِينغُيُمَّاغُ ⸫
Source: UDHR in Wikipedia, Fula Language (transliterated from Latin).
Origins of the Arabic script, 6thC – today.
Phoenician
└ Aramaic
└ Nabataean
└ Arabic
Fulfulde can be written in the Latin script, but also (less commonly) using the Arabic ajami script. Use of ajami tends to be restricted to Muslim contexts.
The Arabic script was introduced to Africa between the 10th to 16th centuries, and was the precursor to many Latin orthographies in pre-colonial times. Different languages have developed slightly different implementations of the Arabic script, and often the usage is not fully standardised. The Arabic language, being Semitic, is built on consonant patterns and therefore usually omits vowel diacritics and gemination marks, but African languages typically need to show all diacritics, including some additional marks to represent their full phonetics.
In 1998, at the JCMWA/MICCAO conference in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon, over 100 representatives from 14 West African countries agreed that the orthography described here would be a good standard for writing the Fulfulde language with Arabic script (called Ajamiya).2
For information about the script in general, see the Arabic overview.
Script code | arabd |
---|---|
Language code | ff-arab |
Script type | alphabet |
Origin | wasia |
Native speakers | 5,673,600 |
Total characters | 79 |
Letters | 36 |
Combining marks | 11 |
Punctuation | 10 |
Numbers | 10 |
Other | 12 |
Possible other | 0 |
Unicode blocks | 7 |
Character counts above are for this orthography but exclude ASCII. | |
Text direction | rtl |
Post-consonant vowels | letters marks |
Standalone vowels | |
Case distinction | no |
Cursive script | yes |
Combining marks | >1 per base |
Clusters marked | yes |
Consonant Clusters | diacritics |
Other ligatures | yes |
Word separator | space |
Wraps at | word |
Hyphenation | false |
G Clusters OK? | yes |
Justification | spaces baseline stretching |
Baseline | romn |
The Arabic script is commonly used as an abjad, which means that in normal use the script represents only consonant and long vowel sounds. However, since Fulfulde Ajamiya normally shows all the vowel diacritics, it actually functions as an alphabet. See the table to the right for a brief overview of features for Fulfulde using the Arabic script.
Fulfulde is written right to left in horizontal lines, but numbers and embedded Latin text are read left-to-right.
Letters are joined (cursive) as is usual for the Arabic script. There is no case distinction. Words are separated by spaces.
The orthography for Fulfulde described here has 22 basic consonants. 8 more consonants are applied to write Arabic loan words or names from the Qur'an.
Fulfulde has prenasalised consonants, but they are spelled out using normal consonant letters (as in the Latin orthography). Doubled consonants are indicated using the diacritic ◌ّU+0651 SHADDA.
Fulfulde is an alphabet where vowel sounds are written using a mixture of combining marks and letters. Unlike Semitic languages such as Arabic that build words on consonant patterns and so normally hide vowel diacritics in the Arabic script, it can be difficult to read Fulfulde text without the full vowel information, and therefore Fulfulde retains all vowel diacritics in the text. Fulfulde has more vowel sounds than Arabic, so additional diacritics are used to write those.
The way a given vowel is written depends on its joining behaviour (initial, medial, or final). In some cases a vowel is written using just a diacritic, in others it is via combinations of letters and diacritics. Most of the letters also double as consonants. 8 combining marks are used to write vowels, and 6 letters, only 1 of which is a dedicated vowel letter.
Standalone vowels are written by adding vowel characters to عU+0639 LETTER AIN, rather than the alef used for the Arabic language, apart from a small number of exceptions for Arabic loans or names from the Qur'an.
Vowel absence is indicated using the diacritic ◌ْU+0652 SUKUN.
Fulfulde uses Arabic script digits.
Fula uses a mixture of punctuation from the ASCII, Arabic and other ranges.
Because the Arabic script is 'cursive' (ie. joined-up) writing, letters tend to have different shapes depending on whether they join with adjacent letters or not (see Cursive script). In addition, vowels can be represented using different characters, depending on where in a word they appear.
In scripts such as Arabic, several characters have no left-joining form. In what follows we'll use the characters يU+064A LETTER YEH and دU+062F LETTER DAL to illustrate shapes. The former can join on both sides, but the latter can only join on the right.
Left-joining glyphs are commonly called initial; dual-joining are called medial; and right-joining are called final. Glyphs that don't join on either side are called isolated. However, these glyph shapes can be found in various places within a single word.
Word-initial characters usually have initial glyph shapes (eg. ي ). However, characters that only join to the right will use an isolated glyph shape (eg. د ). Furthermore, words beginning with a vowel are always preceded by a vowel carrier, which is normally اU+0627 LETTER ALEF (eg. ای or اَ ).
Word-medial characters will typically join on both sides (eg. ي ) but those that only join to the right will use a final glyph (eg. د ). However, if either of those is preceded by another character that only joins to the right, the glyph shapes rendered will be initial (eg. ي ) and isolated (eg. د ), respectively.
Word-final characters will typically use a final glyph shape (eg. ي and د ). However, if the previous character joins only to the right, they will use isolated glyph shapes (eg.ي and د ).
In all this contextual glyph shaping the basic shapes used for a character can vary significantly in a script like Arabic. This also includes some characters that only have ijam dots in certain contexts.
The index points to locations where a character is mentioned in this page, and indicates whether it is used by the Arabic orthography described here.
Click on the image to the left to view all the 'main' and 'infrequent' characters in the index in various groupings or open related apps.
These are sounds for the Fula language in text written with the Fulfulde orthography.
Click on the sounds to reveal locations in this document where they are mentioned.
Phones in a lighter colour are non-native or allophones.
Whether the script is Adlam, Latin, or Arabic, the sources of information found for Fula don't provide a great deal of clarity around the precise phonetic pronunciation of the vowel sounds, and, unfortunately, there is no IPA-transcribed data in Wiktionary to help clarify actual pronunciation.
Most sources simply transcribe all vowel sounds as a i e o u, which are the phonemically distinct vowels. However, some sources make a distinction in their transcriptions between short vowels pronounced ɪ ʊ ɛ ɔ a, and long vowels pronounced iː uː eː oː aː.
Furthermore, the phonetic sounds of a vowel may be influenced by the following consonant.6
Examples in this page are drawn from various sources, and may or may not use broad phonemic or narrow(er) transcriptions.
Fula/Fulfulde diphthongs are all vowels followed by a -j or a -w glide. They include the following.5
iw | |
uj | |
ey ew | |
oj ow | |
aj aw | |
uj doesn't occur in word-final position.528
labial | alveolar | post-alveolar | palatal | velar | glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
stop | p b | t d | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | k ɡ | ʔ ʔʲ | |
pre-nasalised | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮd͡ʒ | ᵑɡ | ||
implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||
fricative | f | s z | h | |||
nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
approximant | w | l | j | |||
trill/flap | r ɾ | |||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Fula is reported to be one of only 3 languages that contrast prenasalized consonants and their corresponding clusters (eg. ᵐb versus mb).§
Observation: A few sources mention a letter that represents the sound ɠ, found in Guinea, and written in the Latin orthography with the same symbol (though previously written using q). No examples of this sound have been encountered in my research.
Languages in the Atlantic group of the Niger-Congo family, of which Fula is one, are unusual in that they are not tonal.
Fula has 2 regular syllable types: CV and CVC, where V can be a short or long vowel, and an initial C may be a glottal stop. Only a small number of sounds can occur as a coda, and closed syllables are much less common than open ones.
The distinction between long and short vowels is phonemically distinctive.
Consonant clusters only occur where a syllable follows a closed syllable. Gemination is, however, a distinctive feature.
A syllable can only contain a single vowel.6
Fulfulde is an alphabet where vowel sounds are written using a mixture of combining marks and letters. Unlike Semitic languages such as Arabic that build words on consonant patterns and so normally hide vowel diacritics in the Arabic script, it can be difficult to read Fulfulde text without the full vowel information, and therefore Fulfulde retains all vowel diacritics in the text. Fulfulde has more vowel sounds than Arabic, so additional diacritics are used to write those.
The way a given vowel is written depends on its joining behaviour (initial, medial, or final). In some cases a vowel is written using just a diacritic, in others it is via combinations of letters and diacritics. Most of the letters also double as consonants. 8 combining marks are used to write vowels, and 6 letters, only 1 of which is a dedicated vowel letter.
Standalone vowels are written by adding vowel characters to عU+0639 LETTER AIN, rather than the alef used for the Arabic language, apart from a small number of exceptions for Arabic loans or names from the Qur'an.
Vowel absence is indicated using the diacritic ◌ْU+0652 SUKUN.
The following table summarises the main vowel to character assignments.
Each table cell shows word-initial, word-medial, and word-final forms from right to left. The glyphs shown are illustrative; alternative shapes may occur (see Joining forms). Click/tap on items to see a list of the components for that cell.
i
عِ
◌ِ
◌ِ
iː عِي ◌ِي ◌ِي |
u
عُ
◌ُ
◌ُ
uː عُو ◌ُو ◌ُو |
e
عٜ
◌ٜ
◌ٜ
eː عٜىٰ ◌ٜىٰ ◌ٜى |
o
عٛ
◌ٛ
◌ٛ
oː عٛو ◌ٛو ◌ٛو |
a
عَ
◌َ
◌َ
aː عَا ◌َا ◌َا |
In word-initial position vowels are attached to a consonant letter which acts as a vowel carrier (see Standalone vowels). Otherwise, unlike orthographies for languages such as Arabic and Urdu, the characters used to represent a vowel are normally the same, regardless of the position within a word. The one exception is the word-final eː, which breaks the regular pattern by dropping the superscript alef.
Note that eː is written using ىU+0649 LETTER ALEF MAKSURA, rather than يU+064A LETTER YEH.
Vowels that follow consonants are written using a mixture of combining marks and letters. Vowel diacritics are not hidden.
The way a given vowel is written depends on its joining behaviour (initial, medial, or final). In some cases a vowel is written using just a diacritic, in others it is via combinations of letters and diacritics. Most of the letters also double as consonants. 8 combining marks are used to write vowels, and 6 letters, only 1 of which is a dedicated vowel letter.
Fulfulde uses the following combining characters for vowels.
ٰU+0670 LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF is never used alone, and is one of 2 diacritics used to write eː (in initial and medial forms only).
The diacritics ٔU+0654 HAMZA ABOVE and ٕU+0655 HAMZA BELOW are only used where إU+0625 LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW and أU+0623 LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA ABOVE are decomposed. Since the latter characters are themselves only used for a few borrowed names or words, these diacritics are very rare.
ىU+0649 LETTER ALEF MAKSURA is the only dedicated letter used for writing vowels in Fulfulde, but it is only used in combination with other diacritics to write the sound eː.
Word initially and medially, eː is written ٜىٰU+065C VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW + U+0649 LETTER ALEF MAKSURA + U+0670 LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF. Word-finally, the ٰU+0670 LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF is dropped.
عٜىٰنغتُغٛ eeŋgtugo to go up
بٜى bee and, with
Fulfulde uses the following consonant characters to write vowels in combination with diacritics.
In a standard Arabic orthography some of these characters would be regarded as matres lectionis, but since Fulfulde shows all vowel diacritics they don't have the same role here. Instead, they form part of a composite that distinguishes one vowel from another (see Composite vowel signs).
ىU+0649 LETTER ALEF MAKSURA is actually not used as a consonant in Fulfulde, and is only used for the sound eː.
عU+0639 LETTER AIN and sometimes اU+0627 LETTER ALEF, and rarely ءU+0621 LETTER HAMZA are used as vowel carriers (see Standalone vowels).
Diphthongs ending with -i follow the initial vowel diacritic with يْU+064A LETTER YEH + U+0652 SUKUN.
يَيْنَنغٛ yaynango to shine
Diphthongs ending with -u follow the initial vowel diacritic with وْU+0648 LETTER WAW + U+0652 SUKUN.
جَوْدِ jawdi wealth
Vowel length is indicated by adding one of the above letters after the vowel diacritic. For details, see the table at Vowel summary table.
These letters don't carry any diacritic, except for eː, where non-final positions use ىٰU+0649 LETTER ALEF MAKSURA + U+0670 LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF.
بِرِيجِ biriiji peanuts
يٜىٰطُغٛ yeeɗugo to live
The 6 composite vowel signs listed here all indicate long versions of the vowels. The vowel diacritic is followed by a letter (and in one case another diacritic). Diphthongs and glides are not included here.
Click on the letters for examples.
How is the inherent vowel killed? What other mechanisms are used to indicate consonant clusters? When are they used and not used?
Fulfulde uses U+0652 SUKUN to indicate that there is no vowel after a consonant. Vowel absence is usually marked (unlike Standard Arabic), including over the YEH or WAW that signal the final part of a diphthong, and at the end of a word.
غِلْطِ gilɗi worms
لٜࢩٛلْ lenyol family, clan
Exceptions are letters used to lengthen vowels and nasal letters indicating prenasalisation. This provides a simple way to tell the pronunciation of the relevant sequences.
نٛوغَسْ noogas twenty
ندِيَمْ ndiyam water
Standalone vowels in Fulfulde normally use عU+0639 LETTER AIN followed by the relevant vowel characters.
عَسَرْ asar waste
مٛعّٜرٜ mo’’ere grace
Occasionally, loan words or names from the Qur'an will use اU+0627 LETTER ALEF, أU+0623 LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA ABOVE, or إU+0625 LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW as the vowel carrier, which are conventional ways of writing the standalone vowels in Arabic. ءU+0621 LETTER HAMZA may also be used.
إِبْرَاهِيمَ Ibraahiima Abraham
الْمَسِيحُ almasiihu Christ
ءَادَمُ Aadamu Adam
This section maps Fulfulde vowel sounds to common graphemes in the Arabic orthography.
The columns run right to left and indicate typical word-initial, word-medial, and word-final usage. The joining forms shown are illustrative; alternative shapes may occur (see Joining forms).
initial عِ U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+0650 KASRA eg. عِتُّغٛ ittugo to take out
medial ◌ِU+0650 KASRA eg. کِرْکٜ kirke saddle
final ◌ِU+0650 KASRA eg. لٜکِّ lekki tree
initial عِي U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+0650 KASRA + U+064A LETTER YEH eg. عِينَاطٛ iinaaɗo promised one
medial ◌ِي U+0650 KASRA + U+064A LETTER YEH eg. بِرِيجِ biriiji peanuts
final ◌ِيU+0650 KASRA + U+064A LETTER YEH eg. ࢡِي ɓii son of...
initial عُ U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+064F DAMMA eg. عُرْدِ urdi perfume
medial ◌ُU+064F DAMMA eg. وُجَاغٛ wujaago to rub
final ◌ُU+064F DAMMA eg. ݠُشُّ puccu horse
initial عُوU+0639 LETTER AIN + U+064F DAMMA + U+0648 LETTER WAW eg. عُورْغٛ uurgo to smell good
medial ◌ُوU+064F DAMMA + U+0648 LETTER WAW eg. مِحُووِ mi huuwi I worked
final ◌ُوU+064F DAMMA + U+0648 LETTER WAW eg. ڢُو fuu all
initial عٜ U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+065C VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW eg. عٜنْطَمْ enɗam mercy
medial ◌ٜU+065C VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW eg. جٜمَّ jemma night
final ◌ٜU+065C VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW eg. دٜڢْتٜرٜ deftere book
initial عٜىٰ U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+065C VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW + U+0649 LETTER ALEF MAKSURA + U+0670 LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF eg. عٜىٰنغتُغٛ eeŋgtugo to go up
medial ◌ٜىٰ U+065C VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW + U+0649 LETTER ALEF MAKSURA + U+0670 LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF eg. رَنٜىٰرٜ raneere white
final ◌ٜىU+065C VOWEL SIGN DOT BELOW + U+0649 LETTER ALEF MAKSURA
initial عٛ U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+065B VOWEL SIGN INVERTED SMALL V ABOVE eg. عٛݠّٜرٜ oppere fever
medial ◌ٛU+065B VOWEL SIGN INVERTED SMALL V ABOVE eg. دٛکَّلْ dokkal gift
final ◌ٛU+065B VOWEL SIGN INVERTED SMALL V ABOVE eg. حٛکُّغٛ hokkugo to give
initial عٛو U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+065B VOWEL SIGN INVERTED SMALL V ABOVE + U+0648 LETTER WAW eg. عٛورُغٛ oorugo to graze
medial ◌ٛو U+065B VOWEL SIGN INVERTED SMALL V ABOVE + U+0648 LETTER WAW eg. کِيتٛووٛ kiitoowo judge
final ◌ٛوU+065B VOWEL SIGN INVERTED SMALL V ABOVE + U+0648 LETTER WAW eg. بٛو boo also
initial عَ U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+064E FATHA eg. عَلْکَوَلْ alkawal promise
medial ◌َU+064E FATHA eg. عَسَرْ asar waste
final ◌َU+064E FATHA eg. رٜىٰتَ reeta half
initial عَا U+0639 LETTER AIN + U+064E FATHA + U+0627 LETTER ALEF
medial ◌َا U+064E FATHA + U+0627 LETTER ALEF eg. نَانٜ naane previously
final ◌َاU+064E FATHA + U+0627 LETTER ALEF eg. ندَا ndaa here
medial ◌َيْ U+064E FATHA + U+064A LETTER YEH + U+0652 SUKUN eg. يَيْنَنغٛ yaynango to shine
medial ◌َوْ U+064E FATHA + U+0648 LETTER WAW + U+0652 SUKUN eg. جَوْدِ jawdi wealth
The orthography for Fulfulde described here has 22 basic consonants. 8 more consonants are applied to write Arabic loan words or names from the Qur'an.
Fulfulde has prenasalised consonants, but they are spelled out using normal consonant letters (as in the Latin orthography). Doubled consonants are indicated using the diacritic ◌ّU+0651 SHADDA.
The following table summarises the main consonant to character assigments.
The consonants in the right column include letters used for Arabic loan words and names from the Qur'an, but not usually used for native Fulfulde text. In some cases, Fulfulde text may substitute basic Fulfulde letters for these.
Stops | 11 ݠppp0760 بbbb0628 ࢡɓɓɓ08A1 تttt062A دddd062F طɗ ɗ0637 کkkk06A9 غɡgg063A عʔ-’ʔ0639 شt͡ʃ ʃcc0634 جd͡ʒjʤ062C |
3 ذloand͡ʒjʤ̣0630 زloand͡ʒjz0632 ظloand͡ʒjẓ0638 |
---|---|---|
4 مبᵐbmbmb0645 0628 ندⁿdndnd0646 062F نغᵑɡŋng0646 063A نجᶮd͡ʒnjnʤ0646 062C |
||
Fricatives | 3 ڢfff06A2 سsss0633 حhhh062D |
5 ثloanθthθ062B صloans sˤsṣ0635 خloanxkhx062E قloanχk gχ0642 هrarehhḥ0647 |
Nasals | 4 مmmm0645 نnnn0646 ࢩɲnyɲ08A9 نغɲŋng0646 063A |
|
Other | 6 وwww0648 رɾrɾ0631 رّrrrr0631 0651 لlll0644 يjyy064A ࢨʔʲƴƴ08A8 |
For additional details see Consonant sounds to characters.
These consonants are a basic set used for the native Fulfulde orthography.
Some sounds are represented by combinations of characters. The trilled r is written رّU+0631 LETTER REH + U+0651 SHADDA.
تٛرَّاغٛ torrago to trouble
The sound ŋ is written as the combination نغU+0646 LETTER NOON + U+063A LETTER GHAIN. That combination is also used to indicate the prenasalised sound ᵑɡ. See Prenasalised consonants for other prenasalised combinations.
نغَرٛلْ ŋarol beauty
نغَيْنَاکَ ngaynaaka pasture
Arabic loan words and names from the Qur'an may be written with addtional letters shown below, but they are not usually used for native Fulfulde text. In some cases, Fulfulde text may substitute basic Fulfulde letters for these.
Word-initial consonant clusters are not common in Fulfulde, with the exception of those involving prenasalisation.
Do syllable onsets support consonant clusters, or other features (such as prenasalisation, aspiration, devoicing, etc.)? If so, how are these managed by the orthography
Fulfulde has the following prenasalised consonants. They are simply written using a sequence of letters, in both the Arabic and Latin orthographies. Note that there is no sukun over the initial nasal letter; this distinguishes the prenasalised sound from a consonant cluster.
مبَرُغٛ mbarugo to kill
نجَارٜىٰندِ njaareendi sand
Syllable- and word-final consonants are written as a normal consonant with U+0652 SUKUN above.
عَلْکَوَلْ alkawal promise
The syllable-final sukun also distinguishes nasal phonemes from prenasalised sounds (see Prenasalised consonants), and diphthongs from long vowels (see Diphthongs & glides).
دِمْبَاغٛ dimbaago to shake
جَوْدِ jawdi wealth
Consonant clusters are written by adding ْU+0652 SUKUN, over the consonant letters that are not followed by a vowel.
جَرْنٜ jarne garden
دٜڢْتٜرٜ deftere book
Geminated consonants are indicated using ◌ّU+0651 SHADDA.
دٛکَّلْ dokkal gift
جٜمَّ jemma night
This section maps Fulfulde consonant sounds to common graphemes in the Arabic orthography.
The right-hand column shows the various joining forms.
Sounds listed as 'infrequent' are allophones, or sounds used for foreign words, etc. Light coloured characters occur infrequently.
ݠݠݠ ݠ consonant ݠU+0760 LETTER FEH WITH TWO DOTS BELOW
ببب ب consonant بU+0628 LETTER BEH
ࢡࢡࢡ ࢡ consonant ࢡU+08A1 LETTER BEH WITH HAMZA ABOVE
تتت ت consonant تU+062A LETTER TEH
ششش ش consonant شU+0634 LETTER SHEEN
ششش ش consonant شU+0634 LETTER SHEEN
د د consonant دU+062F LETTER DAL
ضضض ض consonant ضU+0636 LETTER DAD Arabic loan words only.
ججج ج consonant جU+062C LETTER JEEM
ذ ذ consonant ذU+0630 LETTER THAL Arabic loan words only
ز ز consonant زU+0632 LETTER ZAIN Arabic loan words only
ظظظ ظ consonant ظU+0638 LETTER ZAH Arabic loan words only
ططط ط consonant طU+0637 LETTER TAH
ککک ک consonant کU+06A9 LETTER KEHEH
غغغ غ consonant غU+063A LETTER GHAIN
ࢨࢨࢨ ࢨ consonant ࢨU+08A8 LETTER YEH WITH TWO DOTS BELOW AND HAMZA ABOVE Cameroon
ععع ع glottal stop عU+0639 LETTER AIN Before standalone a, i, u
glottal stop ءU+0621 LETTER HAMZA Arabic loan words or Qur'anic names only
أ أ glottal stop أU+0623 LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA ABOVE Loan words or names from the Qur'an.
إ إ glottal stop إU+0625 LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW Loan words or names from the Qur'an.
مبمب مب pre-nasalised consonant مبU+0645 LETTER MEEM + U+0628 LETTER BEH
ندند pre-nasalised consonant ندU+0646 LETTER NOON + U+062F LETTER DAL
نجنج نج pre-nasalised consonant نجU+0646 LETTER NOON + U+062C LETTER JEEM
نغنغ نغ consonant نغU+0646 LETTER NOON + U+063A LETTER GHAIN Note that this is distinct from nɡ, which is written with a sukun, ie. نغْU+0646 LETTER NOON + U+063A LETTER GHAIN + U+0652 SUKUN.
ڢڢڢ ڢ consonant ڢU+06A2 LETTER FEH WITH DOT MOVED BELOW
ثثث ث consonant ثU+062B LETTER THEH Arabic loan words only.
سسس س consonant سU+0633 LETTER SEEN
ثثث ث consonant ثU+062B LETTER THEH Arabic loan words only.
صصص ص consonant صU+0635 LETTER SAD Arabic loan words only.
صصص ص consonant صU+0635 LETTER SAD Arabic loan words only.
ششش ش consonant شU+0634 LETTER SHEEN
خخخ خ consonant خU+062E LETTER KHAH Arabic loan words only.
ققق ق consonant قU+0642 LETTER QAF Arabic loan words or Qur'anic names only.
ححح ح consonant حU+062D LETTER HAH
ههه ه consonant هU+0647 LETTER HEH Rare, and mostly used for important Qur'anic names only.
ممم م consonant مU+0645 LETTER MEEM
ننن ن consonant نU+0646 LETTER NOON
ࢩࢩࢩ ࢩ consonant ࢩU+08A9 LETTER YEH WITH TWO DOTS BELOW AND DOT ABOVE
نغنغ نغ consonant نغU+0646 LETTER NOON + U+063A LETTER GHAIN
و و consonant وU+0648 LETTER WAW
ر ر consonant رU+0631 LETTER REH
رّرّ consonant رّU+0631 LETTER REH + U+0651 SHADDA
للل ل consonant لU+0644 LETTER LAM
ييي ي consonant يU+064A LETTER YEH
In the Fulfulde orthography different sequences of Unicode characters may produce the same visual result. Here we look at those, and make notes on usage.
Unicode support for the various uses of the hamza is complicated.undefined384 In general, the Unicode Standard recommends to use ◌ٔU+0654 HAMZA ABOVE in combination with a base character. However, there are a few exceptions to consider.
A number of combinations with the hamza diacritic can be represented as either an atomic character or a decomposed sequence, where the parts are separated in Unicode Normalisation Form D (NFD) and recomposed in Unicode Normalisation Form C (NFC), so both approaches are canonically equivalent. These include the following:
Atomic | Decomposed |
---|---|
أU+0623 LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA ABOVE | أU+0627 LETTER ALEF + U+0654 HAMZA ABOVE |
إU+0625 LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW | إU+0627 LETTER ALEF + U+0655 HAMZA BELOW |
The single code point per vowel-sign is the form preferred by the Unicode Standard but is rarely used in Fula text, and the decomposed form is even rarer.
When typing and in storage, combining marks always follow the base character they are associated with.
In principle, if more than one combining mark appears on the same side of the base character, Unicode expects applications to render the marks such that those marks closer to the base character in memory appear closer to the base character when rendered. (This is called the inside-out rule
.) However, due to the reordering applied by the Unicode normalisation forms, some of the Arabic script diacritics end up in an inappropriate order on display.
For example, if a user types the sequence of characters in Figure 2, the order of the marks will be changed such that applying the inside-out rule would render the shadda above the vowel (which is incorrect). (In fact, most application renderers have special rules to correct this.)
The Unicode Standard formally addresses this anomaly in the Technical Annex Unicode® Arabic Mark Rendering (AMTRA), with a set of rules for how to render sequences of Arabic characters. The rules generally move shadda, hamza, round dots, etc. so that they are close to the base character.
User input | Post-normalisation output |
---|---|
بُّ |
بُ͏ّ |
In the rare exceptions where the AMTRA rules should not change the rendering, this can be achieved by placing an invisible U+034F COMBINING GRAPHEME JOINER character between the combining marks. (In fact, this is what was done to simulate the incorrect appearance in Figure 2, because otherwise the browser rendering engine would have automatically produced the same output as in the first column. Clicking on the example will show the sequence used.)
This section describes typographic features related to digits, dates, currencies, etc.
Fulfulde uses the following Arabic digits.
Fulfulde Ajamiya text is written horizontally and right to left in the main but, as in most right-to-left scripts, numbers and embedded text in other scripts are written left to right (producing 'bidirectional' text).
The Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm automatically takes care of the ordering for all the text in Figure 3, as long as the 'base direction' (ie. the surrounding directional context) is set to right-to-left (RTL).
Characters are all stored in the order in which they are spoken (and typed). This so-called 'logical' order is then rendered as bidirectional flows by the application at run time, as the text is displayed or printed. The relative placement of characters within a single directional flow is based on strong directional properties (RTL or LTR) assigned to each Unicode character by the Unicode Standard. There exist, however a set of neutral direction property values, mostly for punctuation, where the placement of characters depends on the base direction.
Show default bidi_class
properties for characters in this orthography.
If the base direction is not set appropriately, the directional runs will be ordered incorrectly as shown in Figure 4, making it very difficult to get the meaning.
In some circumstances the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm requires additional assistance to correctly render the directionality of bidirectional text. For such cases the Unicode Standard provides invisible formatting characters for use in plain text. See Managing text direction.
In HTML the base direction and higher level controls can be set using the dir
or bdi
attributes. CSS should not be used to control direction. Unicode formatting codes should also not be used where markup is available.
For more information about how directionality and base direction work, see Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm basics. For information about plain text formatting characters see How to use Unicode controls for bidi text. And for working with markup in HTML, see Creating HTML Pages in Arabic, Hebrew and Other Right-to-left Scripts.
For authoring HTML pages, one of the most important things to remember is to use <html dir="rtl" … >
at the top of a right-to-left page, and then use the dir
attribute or bdi
tag for ranges within the page, but only when you need to change the base direction. Also, use markup to manage direction, and do not use CSS styling.
For other aspects of dealing with right-to-left writing systems see the following sections:
Unicode provides a set of 10 formatting characters that can be used to control the direction of text when displayed. These characters have no visual form in the rendered text, however text editing applications may have a way to show their location.
U+202B RIGHT-TO-LEFT EMBEDDING (RLE),
U+202A LEFT-TO-RIGHT EMBEDDING (LRE), and
U+202C POP DIRECTIONAL FORMATTING (PDF) are in widespread use to set the base direction of a range of characters. RLE/LRE comes at the start, and PDF at the end of a range of characters for which the base direction is to be set.
In Unicode 6.1, the Unicode Standard added a set of characters which do the same thing but also isolate the content from surrounding characters, in order to avoid spillover effects. They are U+2067 RIGHT-TO-LEFT ISOLATE (RLI),
U+2066 LEFT-TO-RIGHT ISOLATE (LRI), and
U+2066 LEFT-TO-RIGHT ISOLATE (PDI). The Unicode Standard recommends that these be used instead.
There is also U+2068 FIRST STRONG ISOLATE (FSI), used initially to set the base direction according to the first recognised strongly-directional character.
U+061C LETTER MARK (ALM) is used to produce correct sequencing of numeric data. Follow the link and see expressions for details.
U+200F RIGHT-TO-LEFT MARK (RLM) and
U+200E LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK (LRM) are invisible characters with strong directional properties that are also sometimes used to produce the correct ordering of text.
For more information about how to use these formatting characters see How to use Unicode controls for bidi text. Note, however, that when writing HTML you should generally use markup rather than these control codes. For information about that, see Creating HTML Pages in Arabic, Hebrew and Other Right-to-left Scripts.
This section describes typographic features related to font/writing styles, cursive text, context-based shaping, context-based positioning, letterform slopes, weights & italics, and case & other character transforms.
This section brings together information about the following topics: writing styles; cursive text; context-based shaping; context-based positioning; baselines, line height, etc.; font styles; case & other character transforms.
You can experiment with examples using the Fulfulde ajami character app.
The orthography has no case distinction, and no special transforms are needed to convert between characters.
Do letters in this script join with each other by default? Is the basic shape of a letter radically changed? Is it sometimes not cursive? Are there any special features to note? Are Unicode joiner and non-joiner characters needed to override default joining behaviours?
See type samples.
Arabic script is always cursive, ie. letters in a word are joined up. Fonts need to produce the appropriate joining form for a letter, according to its visual context, but the code point used doesn't change. This results in four different shapes for most letters (including an isolated shape). Ligated forms also join with characters alongside them.
The highlights in the example below show the same letter, عU+0639 LETTER AIN, with three different joining forms.
Most Arabic script letters join on both sides. A few only join on the right-hand side: this involves 4 basic shapes for Fulfulde Ajamiya.
ءU+0621 LETTER HAMZA doesn't join on either side.
Most dual-joining characters add or become a swash when they don't join to the left. A number of characters, however, undergo additional shape changes across the joining forms. Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the basic shapes in Modern Standard Arabic and what their joining forms look like. Significant variations are highlighted.
isolated | right-joined | dual-join | left-joined | Fulfulde letters |
---|---|---|---|---|
ب | ـب | ـبـ | بـ | 4 ت 062A ب 0628 ࢡ 08A1 ثloan062B |
ن | ـن | ـنـ | نـ | ن0646 |
ق | ـق | ـقـ | قـ | قloan0642 |
ف | ـف | ـفـ | فـ | both ݠ0760 ڢ06A2 |
س | ـس | ـسـ | سـ | both س0633 ش0634 |
ص | ـص | ـصـ | صـ | both صloan0635 ضloan0636 |
ط | ـط | ـطـ | طـ | both ط 0637 ظloan0638 |
ک | ـک | ـكـ | كـ | ک06A9 |
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ | ل0644 |
ه | ـه | ـهـ | هـ | هrare0647 |
م | ـم | ـمـ | مـ | م0645 |
ع | ـع | ـعـ | عـ | both ع0639 غ063A |
ح | ـح | ـحـ | حـ | 3 ح 062D خloan062E ج 062C |
ي | ـي | ـيـ | يـ | 4 ي064A ࢨ08A8 ࢩ08A9 ى0649 |
isolated | right-joined | Fulfulde letters |
---|---|---|
ا | ـا | 3 ا 0627 أloan0623 إloan0625 |
ر | ـر | both ر 0631 زloan0632 |
د | ـد | both د 062F ذloan0630 |
و | ـو | و0648 |
U+200D ZERO WIDTH JOINER (ZWJ) and
U+200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (ZWNJ) are used to control the joining behaviour of cursive glyphs. They are particularly useful in educational contexts, but also have real world applications.
ZWJ permits a letter to form a cursive connection without a visible neighbour. For example, the marker for hijri dates is an initial form of heh, even though it doesn't join to the left, ie. ه. For this, use ZWJ immediately after the heh, eg. الاثنين 10 رجب 1415 ه..
ZWNJ prevents two adjacent letters forming a cursive connection with each other when rendered. For example, it is used in Persian for plural suffixes, some proper names, and Ottoman Turkish vowels. Ignoring or removing the ZWNJ will result in text with a different meaning or meaningless text, eg, تنها is the plural of body, whereas تنها is the adjective alone.2 The only difference is the presence or absence of ZWNJ after noon.
U+034F COMBINING GRAPHEME JOINER is used in Arabic to produce special ordering of diacritics. The name is a misnomer, as it is generally used to break the normal sequence of diacritics.
Are special glyph forms needed, depending on the context in which a character is used? Do glyphs interact in some circumstances? Are there requirements to position diacritics or other items specially, depending on context? Does the script have multiple diacritics competing for the same location relative to the base?
In addition to the cursive shaping, Arabic script glyphs also require context-dependent shaping and positioning. For more information, see the Arabic language orthography notes.
The usual mandatory ligature applies for لاU+0644 LETTER LAM + U+0627 LETTER ALEF.
لَامُ laamu kingdom, rule
سِلَاوٛ silaawo basket
Are words separated by spaces, or other characters? Are there special requirements when double-clicking on the text? Are words hyphenated?
Words are separated by spaces.
A number of small words, such as pronouns, may be attached to a following word in the ajamiya orthography (whereas they are separate in the Latin orthography).
مِࢩَوِ mi nyawi I am sick
عٛوَنغْغَ o waŋga he shows
tbd
This section describes typographic features related to word boundaries, phrase & section boundaries, bracketed text, quotations & citations, emphasis, abbreviation, ellipsis & repetition, inline notes & annotations, other punctuation, and other inline text decoration.
What characters are used to indicate the boundaries of phrases, sentences, and sections?
Fulfulde uses a mixture of ASCII and Arabic punctuation.
phrase | |
---|---|
sentence |
Fulfulde commonly uses ASCII parentheses to insert parenthetical information into text.
start | end | |
---|---|---|
standard |
The words 'left' and 'right' in the Unicode names for parentheses, brackets, and other paired characters should be ignored. LEFT should be read as if it said START, and RIGHT as END. The direction in which the glyphs point will be automatically determined according to the base direction of the text.
The number of characters that are mirrored in this way is around 550, most of which are mathematical symbols. Some are single characters, rather than pairs. The following are some of the more common ones.
Punctuation not already mentioned, such as dashes, connectors, separators, scare quotes, etc.
What characters are used to indicate quotations? Do quotations within quotations use different characters? What characters are used to indicate dialogue? Are the same mechanisms used to cite words, or for scare quotes, etc? What about citing book or article names?
The following quotation marks can be found in Fulfulde texts. (Depending on ease of input, quotations may alternatively be surrounded by ASCII double and single quote marks.)
start | end | |
---|---|---|
primary | » [U+00BB RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK] |
Because they are mirrored, when using these quotation marks, LEFT should be read as if it said START, and RIGHT as END.
This section describes typographic features related to line breaking & hyphenation, text alignment & justification, text spacing, baselines, line height, counters, lists, and styling initials.
Are there special rules about the way text wraps when it hits the end of a line? Does line-breaking wrap whole 'words' at a time, or characters, or something else (such as syllables in Tibetan and Javanese)? What characters should not appear at the end or start of a line, and what should be done to prevent that? Is hyphenation used, or something else? What rules are used? What difficulties exist?
Lines are normally broken at word boundaries.
They are not broken at the small gaps that appear where a character doesn't join on the left.
As in almost all writing systems, certain punctuation characters should not appear at the end or the start of a line. The Unicode line-break properties help applications decide whether a character should appear at the start or end of a line.
Show default line-breaking properties for characters in the Fulfulde language.
The following list gives examples of typical behaviours for characters used in Fulfulde. Context may affect the behaviour of some of these and other characters.
Click on the characters to show what they are.
When a line break occurs in the middle of an embedded left-to-right sequence, the items in that sequence need to be rearranged visually so that it isn't necessary to read lines upwards.
Figure 9 shows how two Latin words are apparently reordered in the flow of text to accommodate this rule. Of course, the rearragement is only that of the visual glyphs: nothing affects the order of the characters in memory.
Does the script have special requirements for baseline alignment between mixed scripts and in general? Is line height special for this script? Are there other aspects that affect line spacing, or positioning of items vertically within a line?
tbd
Fulfulde ajami uses the so-called 'alphabetic' baseline, which is the same as for Latin and many other scripts.
Fulfulde characters have ascenders and descenders, and combining marks appear above and below the lettters. These stretch beyond the ascenders and descenders of Latin text.
To give an approximate idea, Figure 10 compares Latin and Fulfulde glyphs from Noto fonts. The basic height of Fulfulde letters is typically around the Latin x-height, however extenders and combining marks reach well beyond the Latin ascenders and descenders, creating a need for larger line spacing.
Figure 11 shows similar comparisons for the Scheherazade font.
This section describes typographic features related to general page layout & progression; grids & tables, notes, footnotes, etc, forms & user interaction, and page numbering, running headers, etc.
How are the main text area and ancilliary areas positioned and defined? Are there any special requirements here, such as dimensions in characters for the Japanese kihon hanmen? The book cover for scripts that are read right-to-left scripts is on the right of the spine, rather than the left. When content can flow vertically and to the left or right, how to specify the location of objects, text, etc. relative to the flow? Do tables and grid layouts work as expected? How do columns work in vertical text? Can you mix block of vertical and horizontal text? Does text scroll in a different direction?
Arabic script books, magazines, etc., are bound on the right-hand side, and pages progress from right to left.
Columns are vertical but run right-to-left across the page.
Does the script have special requirements for character grids or tables?
Tables, grids, and other 2-dimensional arrangements progress from right to left across a page.
Are vertical form controls needed? Are scroll bars in an unusual position? Other special requirements for user interaction?
Form controls should display Arabic text from right to left, starting at the right side of the input field. Form controls should also usually be arranged from right to left.
Figure 13 shows some form fields from an Arabic language web page. Note the position of the labels relative to the input fields and the checkbox, mirror-imaging a similar page in English. Note also that the input text in the first field appears to the right of the box.
The position of a scrollbar should depend on the user's environment, not on the content of a page. A non-Arab user viewing a web page in Arabic shouldn't have to look for the scroll bar on the left side of the window. In a system that is set up for an Arab user, however, the scrollbar can appear on the left.
1Bernard Comrie, The World's Major Languages, ISBN 978-1138184824
2Scott Clark (2007), Alphabet and Orthography Statement for Fulfulde [FUB] Ajamiya, Found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic, SIL✓
3Wikipedia, Fula language (retr. Nov 2021)
4Ahmed Sosal (2012), Contrastive Analysis: Fulfulde and English Languages, University of Khartoum
5Mary Hollis McIntosh, Aspects of Fulfulde Syntax and Morphology, subtitle, SOAS
6Leslie H Stennes (1967), A Reference Grammar of Adamawa Fulani, subtitle, African Studies Center, Michigan State University