N’Ko

N’Ko and the Manding koiné

As mentioned above, N’Ko is a literary orthography that is tied to a standard or common Manding dialect which has arisen as a result of the contact, mixing, and often simplification of the various distinct, but mutually intelligible, varieties of Manding. This koiné may be referred to as Kangbe (kãɡ͡be).

“When Mandens from different sub-groups talk to each other, it is common practice for them to switch, consciously or sub-consciously, from one's own dialect to a conventional dialect known as N’Ko or Kangbe (the clear language). This is even true, sometimes, during conversations between the Bamanans of Mali, the Maninka-Moris of Guinea, and the Maninkos of Gambia or Senegal although pronunciations are practically the same. As an example, the word “Name” in Bamanan is “Toko” and in Maninka it is “Toh”. In written communications each will write it as Tô (ߕߐ߮) in N’Ko, and yet read and pronounce it differently.”nfb

Additionally, N’Ko reduces different phones into a single grapheme. For example, when writing Bamanan the following words are all spelled differently in the Latin orthography, reflecting the different pronunciations, but are spelled using the same letter in N’Ko:

Letters

Combining marks

Numbers

Punctuation

Symbols

Other

Vowel sounds

Consonant sounds

	labial	alveolar	post- alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
stop	p b	t d			k
affricate			t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
fricative	f	s				h
nasal	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
approximant	w	l		j
trill/flap		r

Tone

Manding languages have two basic tones, high and low. A low-high combination (rising) may also occur with short and long vowels, and a high-low combination (falling) with long vowels.ws

Structure

tbd

Vowel summary table

The following table summarises the main vowel to character assigments.

Each of the following can carry a tone mark and a nasalisation mark which are not shown here. The choice of tone mark also indicates whether the vowel is long or short. See tones.

For additional details see vowel_mappings.

The following is the set of characters needed to write vowels, as described in this section, grouped by general category.

Post-consonant vowels

Vowels that follow consonants are written using 7 letters. ߳U+07F3 NKO COMBINING DOUBLE DOT ABOVE is used above N’Ko letters to represent 3 foreign sounds (particularly from French and Arabic). Another diacritic produces nasalisation of the vowel sound.

N’Ko has 7 combining marks that convey vowel length and tone at the same time.

Nasalisation

߲

The low diacritic 07F2 is applied to a vowel to indicate nasalisation. This may produce multiple combining marks attached to a single character.

This mark should be typed and stored before any tone mark to preserve the canonical order.u

Standalone vowels

Standalone vowels are written using ordinary vowel letters and require no special arrangements.

ߊߡߌ߯ߣߊ߫

ߍߛߑߞߌߡߏߞߊ

Tones & vowel length

In the N’Ko orthography, each of the above diacritics indicates both vowel length and tone. Manding languages have two basic tones, high and low. A low-high combination may also occur with short and long vowels, and a high-low combination with long vowels.ws

Tone marks should be typed and stored after any nasalisation marker.

Several of these diacritics are also used over consonants to extend the repertoire when translitering foreign sounds (see extendedC).

Although some of the N’Ko diacritics look like those in general use with the Latin script, the ones provided in this block are typically drawn higher and bolder, and have a wider range of glyph variation.u

See also tone_letters.

Vowel absence

An absence of vowels between two consonants can be indicated using ߑu. However, this is not often needed, given that Manding words are normally composed of CV syllables, and is used in words from other languages, eg. ߍߛߑߞߌߡߏߞߊ ߛߑߔߌߣߏߖ߭ߊ߫

However, when writing N’Ko, when two adjacent consonants are followed by the same vowel the vowel is omitted after the first consonantu, eg. ߛߓߊ߬

There is no ambiguity here with regards to consonant clusters, since in the case of a cluster ߑ would appear between the two letters.

This does not happen, however, if the two consonants are the samecd,xvii, eg. ߝߊߝߊ

Vowel sounds to characters

This section maps N’Ko vowel sounds to common graphemes in the N’Ko orthography. Sounds listed as 'infrequent' are allophones, or sounds used for foreign words, etc.

N’Ko is unusual in that it expresses vowel length using the same diacritic as used for tone. See the section lower down for how to produce these combinations.

Click on a grapheme to find other mentions on this page (links appear at the bottom of the page). Click on the character name to see examples and for detailed descriptions of the character(s) shown.

Consonant summary table

The following table summarises the main consonant to character assigments.

The second column shows extensions to the repertoire produced by adding diacritics.

For more details see consonant_mappings.

Basic consonants

These basic letters are extended to cover additional sounds used in loan or foreign words by adding combining marks (see extendedC).

Nasal syllabic

07D2 is considered to be neither a consonant nor a vowel. It represents an alveolar or velar syllabic nasal sound.u

This character may carry a tone diacritic, eg. ߒ߬.

Abstract consonants

The 'abstract' consonants 07E0 and 07E7 are used where allophonic variants of 07DF and 07E6 after a nasal or nasalisation produce the sounds n and ɲ, respectively, either word-internally or across word boundaries.u They are generally transcribed using n and y, respectivelycd,xviii.

Consonant repertoire extension

Three diacritics, two of them tone markers, are used to represent foreign sounds (particularly Arabic and French) in conjunction with existing N’Ko letters, eg. ߛ߳ represents the θ sound of the Arabic letter ث.u

The diacritics used are 07EB, 07ED, or 07F3.

For example:

ߓߐߗ߭ߎߙ. ߓߌߢߍ߲ ߝ߭ߋߣߎ߳.

Consonant clusters

Adjacent consonants with no intervening vowel sound are indicated using 07D1. The following example, is pronounced with the vowel after the first letter, even though none is present, because of the vowel letter omission rule explained in novowel.

ߓߟߏ blo bolo

To show that this should be pronounced without the vowel you need the following.u

ߓߑߟߏ bˣlo blo

Archaic consonants

Consonant sounds to characters

This section maps N’Ko consonant sounds to common graphemes in the N’Ko orthography. Sounds listed as 'infrequent' are allophones, or sounds used for foreign words, etc.

Click on a grapheme to find other mentions on this page (links appear at the bottom of the page). Click on the character name to see examples and for detailed descriptions of the character(s) shown.

Digits

N’Ko uses native digits.

However, unlike other right-to-left scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, Thaana, the numbers are displayed right-to-left, with the most significant digit first.u This means that numbers don't produce bidirectional text in N’Ko.

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are indicated using diacritics.

The first ordinal is produced using 07EDu.

߁߭ first

Others use 07F2.

߂߲ second

When there are multiple digits in a number, the diacritic appears only under the last in sequenceu, eg. ߁߂߃߲ 123rd

Currency

Unicode 11 introduced 2 currency symbols to represent the dorome and taman.e4 The symbols precede the numeric amounts, eg. ߾߅،߿߉߅

Observation: It's not clear who uses these currency denominations.

Managing text direction

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.

202B (RLE), 202A (LRE), and 202C (PDF) are in widespread use to set the base direction for an inline range of characters. RLE/LRE come at the start, and PDF at the end of a range of characters for which the base direction is to be set.

More recently, 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 2067 (RLI), 2066 (LRI), and 2069 (PDI). The Unicode Standard recommends that these be used instead.

There is also 2068 (FSI), used initially to set the base direction according to the first recognised strongly-directional character.

200F (RLM) and 200E (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.

Font styles

See type samples.

N’Ko is usually cursive, ie. letters in a word are joined up (see cursive).

However, non-cursive fonts are sometimes used.

Non-cursive font style

Fonts containing non-joining glyphs are often used for such things as headings, and book and article titlesu (see fig_unjoined).

ߝߘߊ߬ߝߌ߲߬ߠߊ߫ ߕߟߋ߬ߓߋ
ߥߊߘߌ߫ ߞߎߘߊ

ߋߞߏ ߦߋ߫ ߝߊ߬ߘߊ߬ߞߊ߬ ߖߊߕߋߘߐߛߌ߮ ߘߏ߫ ߟߋ߬ ߕߐ߮ ߘߌ߫߸ ߡߍ߲ ߓߟߏߘߐߓߍ߲ ߒߎ߬ ߦߴߌߘߐ߫ ߞߵߊ߬ ߓߍ߲߬ ߂߀߂߀ ߡߊ߬، ߞߊ߬ߕߎ߲߯߸ ߊߟߎ߫ ߓߍ߯ ߦߴߊ߬ ߞߊ߬ߟߊߡߊ߬ ߞߊ߬ߞߘߐ߬߸ ߞߏ߫ ߖߡߊ߬ߣߊ ߕߛߴߊ߬ ߟߊ߫ ߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ߙߐ߲߬ߞߐ߬ߙߐ߲߬ߠߌ߲ ߓߊߛߌ߰ ߟߊ߫߸ ߞߵߊ߬ ߟߊ߫ ߝߊ߬ߘߊ߲߬ߞߊ ߕߏ߫ ߥߊߟߌ ߟߎ߬ ߓߟߏ߫.

Texts based on legacy fonts often create the unjoined effect by using an old non-Unicode font where the glyphs make an attempt to show a baseline but don't actually join. This leads to shapes such as those shown in the title of fig_unjoined_old, where letters have short baseline extensions.

Cursive text

Although the shapes just mentioned can be found quite commonly (see examples), the World Organisation for the Development of N'Ko prefers that unjoined shapes look the same as the isolated forms of letters without the baseline extensions.@GitHub issue #29,https://github.com/w3c/afrlreq/issues/29#issuecomment-1468140413

Expand the control just below to see a figure which compares isolated characters from a cursive font with glyphs from an older font that includes the small horizontal extensions.

Show figure

Joining side:	none	unjoined
07D4	ߔ
07D3	ߓ
07D5	ߕ
07D8	ߘ
07D7	ߗ
07D6	ߖ
07DE	ߞ
07DC	ߜ
07DD	ߝ
07DB	ߛ
07E4	ߤ
07E1	ߡ
07E3	ߣ
07E2	ߢ
07E5	ߥ
07D9	ߙ
07DA	ߚ
07DF	ߟ
07E6	ߦ
07D2	ߒ
07CA	ߊ
07CB	ߋ
07CC	ߌ
07CD	ߍ
07CE	ߎ
07CF	ߏ
07D0	ߐ

It is possible to use CSS to make a font show unjoined letters, if the OpenType features are available. Simply add something like this to your style sheet.

.unjoined { font-feature-settings: "init" 0, "medi" 0, "fina" 0, "isol" 1; }

Here is an example, using the Noto Sans font:

ߡߊ߲߬ߘߋ߲߬ ߛߊ߲ߘߊ ߘߏ߫ ߟߋ߬ ߞߊ߲߫ ߞߏ߫: ߌ ߓߊ߯ ߌ ߢߊ ߟߐ߬ ߕߋ߬ߟߋ ߘߐ߫ ߞߵߌ ߕߊ߯ ߦߙߐ ߡߊߝߟߍ߫߸ ߛߎ߫ ߕߍ߫ ߞߏ߬ ߌ ߡߊ߬.

Joining forms

When N’Ko is cursive (see writing_styles), 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 remains the same. This results in four different glyphs for most letters (including an isolated glyph).

Unlike some other cursive scripts, the cursive treatment doesn't produce significant variations of the essential part of the glyph for a character.

All letters are capable of joining on both sides.

Unlike Arabic or Syriac, joining forms only differ by the addition of a small baseline extension. Also, whereas Arabic and Syriac re-use a number of basic shapes to create additional letters by adding diacritics, in N’Ko each letter shape is different. fig_joining_forms shows the basic shapes in N’Ko and what their joining forms look like.

Joining side:	none	right	both	left
07D4	ߔ	ߺߔ	ߺߔߺ	ߔߺ
07D3	ߓ	ߺߓ	ߺߓߺ	ߓߺ
07D5	ߕ	ߺߕ	ߺߕߺ	ߕߺ
07D8	ߘ	ߺߘ	ߺߘߺ	ߘߺ
07D7	ߗ	ߺߗ	ߺߗߺ	ߗߺ
07D6	ߖ	ߺߖ	ߺߖߺ	ߖߺ
07DE	ߞ	ߺߞ	ߺߞߺ	ߞߺ
07DC	ߜ	ߺߜ	ߺߜߺ	ߜߺ
07DD	ߝ	ߺߝ	ߺߝߺ	ߝߺ
07DB	ߛ	ߺߛ	ߺߛߺ	ߛߺ
07E4	ߤ	ߺߤ	ߺߤߺ	ߤߺ
07E1	ߡ	ߺߡ	ߺߡߺ	ߡߺ
07E3	ߣ	ߺߣ	ߺߣߺ	ߣߺ
07E2	ߢ	ߺߢ	ߺߢߺ	ߢߺ
07E5	ߥ	ߺߥ	ߺߥߺ	ߥߺ
07D9	ߙ	ߺߙ	ߺߙߺ	ߙߺ
07DA	ߚ	ߺߚ	ߺߚߺ	ߚߺ
07DF	ߟ	ߺߟ	ߺߟߺ	ߟߺ
07E6	ߦ	ߺߦ	ߺߦߺ	ߦߺ
07D2	ߒ	ߺߒ	ߺߒߺ	ߒߺ
07CA	ߊ	ߺߊ	ߺߊߺ	ߊߺ
07CB	ߋ	ߺߋ	ߺߋߺ	ߋߺ
07CC	ߌ	ߺߌ	ߺߌߺ	ߌߺ
07CD	ߍ	ߺߍ	ߺߍߺ	ߍߺ
07CE	ߎ	ߺߎ	ߺߎߺ	ߎߺ
07CF	ߏ	ߺߏ	ߺߏߺ	ߏߺ
07D0	ߐ	ߺߐ	ߺߐߺ	ߐߺ

Managing glyph shaping

200D (ZWJ) and 200C (ZWNJ) are used to control the visual joining behaviour of cursive glyphs. They are particularly useful in educational contexts.

ZWJ permits a letter to form a cursive connection without a visible neighbour.

ZWNJ prevents two adjacent letters forming a cursive connection with each other when rendered.

Observation: The ZWJ only works on the left side of glyphs in fig_joining_forms if the table cell's base direction is set to RTL.

Context-based shaping & positioning

The Noto Sans NKo font changes the height of diacritics according to the height of the base character, but the preferred approach is to maintain the diacritics at the same height all along a line.@GitHub,https://github.com/w3c/afrlreq/issues/30

The only time a base character carries multiple combining characters is when one is a tone mark and the other is 07F2. These diacritics occur on opposite sides of the base letter, so this avoids the difficulties associated with correctly placing marks in the same location. (A letter that carries 07F3 will not usually carry a tone mark as well.@GitHub,https://github.com/w3c/afrlreq/issues/30)

Apart from that, no shaping is needed other than that described for cursive connections.

Letterform slopes, weights, & italics

N’Ko uses italicisation and bolding.

Italics may need to lean to the left, rather than to the right. Neil Patel writes:

Formalized typographic practices for both Adlam and N’Ko are still being developed. When [JamraPatel] reached out to both communities to see if an Italic typeface would be beneficial, both communities expressed a desire to have one. Over the past few years, as the ability to use both of these scripts more readily in computing has increased, the need to be able to set more complex copy has increased as well. Both communities see the benefit of having italic typefaces to add some semantic value to their copy. On-line N’Ko has historically used synthetic obliques for things like by-lines on articles. ...

Since neither script had any precedent for a drawn italic typeface, we asked each community on how they would like to see it drawn. This is how N’Ko ended up with the leftward lean and Adlam with a rightward lean in our typeface. ... To my knowledge our typeface has the first drawn italicized N’Ko and Adlam, so this is all still a bit new.g3,#issuecomment-512911833

Word boundaries

See type samples.

N’Ko has word units that are separated by spaces.

Graphemes

Phrase & section boundaries

See type samples.

N’Ko uses punctuation marks from the ASCII, N’Ko, and and Arabic Unicode blocks.u

߸ and ، are sometimes used distinctively within the same textu (see fig_contrasting_commas) .

߸ is normally separated from the previous word by a space, but in some texts is not, If no space is used, the baseline line below the dot doesn't join with the preceding letter.

߷ is used to end major sections of the text, and represents the three stones that hold a cooking pot over the fireu.

Mirrored characters

The words 'left' and 'right' in 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.

(␣)␣⸜␣⸝␣<␣>␣[␣]␣{␣}␣«␣»␣‹␣›

Quotations & citations

See type samples.

N'Ko texts may use guillemets or native marks around quotations.

The quotation marks in the first two rows above are also mirrored as the directionality changes (see mirrored_characters). Those in the bottom row are not mirrored during display, which means that for them LEFT means use on the left, and RIGHT means use on the right.

⸜ and ⸝ are used as a pair to indicate indirect quotationsep, eg. ⸜ߒߞߏ⸝

Observation: ﴾ and ﴿ derive from Arabic, and appear to be used for quotations in Islamic texts. The appearance of these brackets can vary from the shapes used in Arabicu,774. Note also that they are encoded among presentation forms, but it is normal to use these particular code points as if they were normal characters. See examples here.

Emphasis

N'Ko authors commonly apply bolding and sometimes italics to emphasise text (see fontstyle).

Abbreviation, ellipsis & repetition

See type samples.

07FD is used to abbreviate units of measure.e4 The table shows some examples from a long list by Eversone4:

Other inline features

Line breaking & hyphenation

Lines are mostly broken at inter-word spaces. As in almost all writing systems, certain punctuation characters should not appear at the end or the start of a line.

Text alignment & justification

See type samples.

The most common approach to justification relies on adjustment of spaces.u

Sometimes, however, ߺ is used like arabic tatweel to stretch the intra-word baseline.u

Observation: The N’Ko comma is separated from the preceding word by a space, which appears to stretch during justification in various samples. It's not clear whether that is expected, or simply because an ordinary space was used, rather than, say, a NNBSP.

Text spacing

See type samples.

Text may be stretched, like in Arabic, using ߺ to fit a given space or make a heading stand out, eg. fig_letter_spacing shows a streched version of the title, ߞߏ߲.

This corresponds to the Arabic ـU+0640 ARABIC TATWEEL.

Baselines, line height, etc.

N'Ko uses the so-called 'alphabetic' baseline, which is the same as for Latin and many other scripts.

N'Ko places diacritics above and below the base characters, but they don't stack. Diacritics can, however, appear above and below the same base. The letters themselves are relatively uniform in height, and have no descenders. There is no upper- vs. lowercase distinction.

To give an approximate idea, fig_baselines compares Latin and N'Ko glyphs from the Noto Sans font. The basic height of N'Ko letters is typically around the Latin cap-height, however combining marks and the dorome sign reach beyond the Latin ascenders, creating a need for larger line spacing. (Note that the preference of users is for the tone marks to all appear at the higher position shown here, but this version of the Noto font drops them when the base is less tall.)

fig_baselines_other shows similar comparisons for the Ebrima and Conakry fonts.

Counters, lists, etc.

See type samples.

You can experiment with counter styles using the Counter styles converter.

The N'Ko orthography uses 2 numeric styles with native digits. The first uses cardinal numbers, the second ordinal.

General page layout & progression

N’Ko 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.

Layout direction

The right-to-left orientation of the script affects the direction of page layout, and of the layout of items within the page.

An N’Ko web page should be the mirror-image of pages in, say, French. This includes the various navigation items on the page, and the placement of other panels on the page.

The following show a meter control, a progress control, and an input slider as they would appear in an N'Ko web page. The quantity represented increases from right to left.

On the other hand, the video controls assume a LTR direction. This is mostly constrained by technology at the moment, and whether or not this is acceptable is still being debated.