Garay alphabet

Garay
Garay;
Script type	alphabet
Creator	Assane Faye
Created	1961
Direction	Right to left
Languages	Wolof
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Gara (164), Garay
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Garay alphabet was designed in 1961, as a transcription system "[marrying] African sociolinguistic characteristics" according to its inventor, Assane Faye. This alphabet has 25 consonants and 14 vowels.^[1] It is used in particular for the writing of the Wolof language, spoken mostly in Senegal, although it is more often written in the Latin alphabet and to a lesser extent in the Arabic (Wolofal) alphabet. It is written from right to left, and distinguishes letter case.

A proposal to encode Garay in Unicode was submitted in 2012, and it was included in Unicode 16.0.0.^[2]

Letters

Consonants

The consonants are written as standalone letters and are not joined as in Arabic.

There is a mark above some letters to show pre-nasalization. The letter labeled alif is used like its counterpart in Arabic, coming before an initial vowel. Extra to the standard Wolof set is /ħ/, available for Arabic loan words. Lacking is /q/, but /k/ may suffice for that. Also lacking is /nk/, but that may easily be formed with a mark above, like /mb/ etc.^[3]

In Garay, uppercase letters are distinguished from lowercase letters by a swash added to one side or the other of the letter. Each sentence begins with a capital letter. Personal names are likewise capitalized.^[4]

Nasals
IPA	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩	ɲ ⟨ñ⟩	ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Prenasalized plosives
IPA	mb ⟨mb⟩	nd ⟨nd⟩	ɲɟ ⟨nj⟩	ŋɡ ⟨ng⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Voiced plosives
IPA	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩	ɟ ⟨j⟩	ɡ ⟨g⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Voiceless plosives
IPA	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	c ⟨c⟩	k ⟨k⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Fricatives
IPA	f ⟨f⟩	s ⟨s⟩	x~χ ⟨x⟩	ħ ⟨h⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Liquids and semivowels
IPA	r ⟨r⟩	w ⟨w⟩	l ⟨l⟩	j ⟨y⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Misc.
	Alif
Lowercase
Uppercase

Vowels

a ⟨a⟩	i ⟨i⟩	ɛ ⟨e⟩	ɔ ⟨o⟩

ə ⟨ë⟩	ü	e ⟨é⟩	u ⟨u⟩

Numbers

References

^ The Garay alphabet can contribute to the rebirth of Africa, according to its inventor , Birane Hady Cissé, on fr.allafrica.com (April 21, 2009, accessed November 7, 2018).
^ Unicode 16.0.0 Changelog
^ Garay script for Wolof, Ian James, March 2012
^ Garay Alphabet: a Wolof Script, 6 May 2019

Bibliography

Everson, Michael (April 26, 2012). Preliminary proposal for encoding the Garay script in the SMP of the UCS (PDF).
Pandey, Anshuman (May 9, 2011). Introducing the Wolof Alphabet of Assane Faye (PDF).

External links

Discover Garay^{[permanent dead link]}, Movement of Teachers of African Languages in Senegal (MELAS).
James, Ian (March 2012). "Garay script of Wolof". SkyKnowledge.com.
"Wolof (Wollof)". Omniglot.

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[APS-1] The Garay alphabet can contribute to the rebirth of Africa, according to its inventor , Birane Hady Cissé, on fr.allafrica.com (April 21, 2009, accessed November 7, 2018).

[2] Unicode 16.0.0 Changelog

[3] Garay script for Wolof, Ian James, March 2012

[4] Garay Alphabet: a Wolof Script, 6 May 2019

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