Kyeame#12,

Modernizing Yoruba with kasahorow Yoruba

In mid-2012, we added Yoruba to our list of supported languages.

Yoruba (ede Yorùbá, i.e. 'the Yoruba language') is a language of West Africa. It is the first language of many people in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Small communities also speak Yoruba in Brazil. In Cuba it is called Nago.

Writing Convention

kasahorow Yoruba is a modern, simpler spelling system for Yoruba that uses just the standard Yoruba alphabet.

Modern Yoruba can be used to write ede Yoruba and Nago.

Yoruba was an interesting choice because it had a proud community, who were insistent on using tone marks to distinguish between various Yoruba words. But as we mentioned in our spelling note, we think using diacritics to preserve pronunciation slows down the development of a language.

However, kasahorow Yoruba can represent diacritics where it helps to disambiguate a word. The disambiguation happens with the help of a silent 'h' or 'r'.

rorpoh

is the kasahorow Yoruba equivalent of

rọ́pò

i.e.
ọ́ is written in simple characters as ọr
ò is written in simple characters as oh

If you don't already speak Yoruba, we encourage you to find a friend who does and learn their pronunciation. Your friend will be flattered, and learning their accent will bring you and your friend closer together!

References

<< Last | Next >>