Southern-Berber Latin Alphabet (Tuareg)
The Southern-Berber (Tuareg) Latin alphabet is made of 36 letters. They are mostly Latin letters with one IPA character and one Greek letter incorporated.
The vowel O is used only in the Latin alphabet of Southern Berber (Tamasheq), not in Northern-Berber. The vowel "O" in Tuareg words mostly corresponds to "U" in Northern Berber words.
| 36-Letter alphabet for Tuareg-Berber (Tamasheq) as recognized in Mali since 1982 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Ă | B | D | Ḍ | E | Ǝ | F | G | Ɣ | H | Ḥ | I | J | K | L | Ḷ | M | N | Ŋ | O | Q | R | S | Ṣ | Š | T | Ṭ | U | W | X | Y | Z | Ž | Ẓ | ʔ |
| a | ă | b | d | ḍ | e | ǝ | f | g | ɣ | h | ḥ | i | j | k | l | ḷ | m | n | ŋ | o | q | r | s | ṣ | š | t | ṭ | u | w | x | y | z | ž | ẓ | ɂ |
| 36-Letter Latin alphabet for Tuareg-Berber (Tamasheq), official in Niger since 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Ă | Ǝ | B | C | D | Ḍ | E | F | G | Ǧ | H | I | J | ǰ | Ɣ | K | L | Ḷ | M | N | Ŋ | O | Q | R | S | Ṣ | Š | T | Ṭ | U | W | X | Y | Z | Ẓ |
| a | ă | ǝ | b | c | d | ḍ | e | f | g | ǧ | h | i | j | ǰ | ɣ | k | l | ḷ | m | n | ŋ | o | q | r | s | ṣ | š | t | ṭ | u | w | x | y | z | ẓ |
The Malian national literacy program DNAFLA has proposed a standard for the Latin alphabet, which is used with modifications in Karl G. Prasse's Tuareg French Dictionary and the government literacy program in Burkina. In Niger a slightly different system was used. There is also some variation in Tifinagh and in the Arabic script.
The DNAFLA system is a somewhat morphophonemic orthography, not indicating initial vowel shortening, always writing the directional particle as < dd>, and not indication all assimilations (e.g.
In Burkina Faso the emphatics are denoted by "hooked" letters, as in Fula, e.g. <ɗ ƭ>.
Read more about this topic: Berber Latin Alphabet
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