Ditema tsa Dinoko (

Sesotho Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free St ...

for "Ditema syllabary"), also known by its

IsiZulu Zulu (), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 12 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal o ...

name, ''Isibheqe Sohlamvu'', and various other related names in different languages, is a constructed writing system (specifically, a featural

syllabary In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optiona ...

) for the ''siNtu'' or

Southern Bantu languages The Southern Bantu languages are a large group of Bantu languages, largely validated in Janson (1991/92).Tore Janson (1991-92) "Southern Bantu and Makua", ''Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika'' (''SUGIA'') Vol. 12/13: 63-106, Rüdiger Köppe Verla ...

(for example, for

Setswana Tswana, also known by its native name , and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It belongs to the Bantu language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zon ...

IsiXhosa Xhosa (, ) also isiXhosa as an endonym, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a secon ...

SiSwati The Swazi or siSwati language is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Eswatini and South Africa by the Swati people. The number of speakers is estimated to be in the region of 2.4 million. The language is taught in Eswatini and so ...

, SiPhuthi,

Xitsonga Tsonga () or Xitsonga ( ''Xitsonga'') as an endonym, is a Bantu language spoken by the Tsonga people of southern Africa. It is mutually intelligible with Tswa and Ronga and the name "Tsonga" is often used as a cover term for all three, al ...

EMakhuwa Makhuwa (''Emakhuwa''; also spelt Makua and Macua) is the primary Bantu language of northern Mozambique. It is spoken by 4 million Makua people, who live north of the Zambezi River, particularly in Nampula Province, which is virtually entirely e ...

, ChiNgoni,

SiLozi Lozi, also known as siLozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language of the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho–Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30), that is spoken by the Lozi people, primarily in southwestern Zambia and in surrounding co ...

, or Tshivenḓa), developed in the 2010s from antecedent

ideographic An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek "idea" and "to write") is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept, independent of any particular language, and specific words or phrases. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarit ...

traditions of the Southern African region. Its visual appearance is inspired by these, including the traditional litema arts style. It was developed between 2014 and 2016 by a group of South African linguists and software programmers with the goal of creating a denser writing system to avoid the slowness in reading caused by the word length and visual homogeneity of

written in the Roman alphabet. The Ditema / Isibheqe syllabary has the capacity to represent the full phonological range of these ''sintu'' languages (in the

Nguni Nguni may refer to: *Nguni languages *Nguni cattle *Nguni people *Nguni sheep, which divide into the Zulu, Pedi, and Swazi types *Nguni stick-fighting * Nguni shield * Nguni homestead *Nguni (surname) Nguni is an African surname. Notable people ...

, Sotho-Tswana, Venḓa,

Tsonga Tsonga may refer to: * Tsonga language, a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa * Tsonga people, a large group of people living mainly in southern Mozambique and South Africa. * Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (born 1985), French tennis player See also * ...

and Tonga-Inhambane groups) consistently under one

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...

. This includes languages that are unstandardised in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

such as the East Sotho languages (Sepulana, Sekutswe and Hipai), or the

Tekela languages The Nguni languages are a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa by the Nguni peoples. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele (sometimes referred to as "Northern Ndebele"), and Swazi. The appellation "Nguni" ...

, which, with the exception of

, are not official languages. Orthographic support for these languages is for instance evidenced in the ''ingungwana''

grapheme In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other names of emic units. The study of graphemes is called ''graphemics' ...

, which indicates vowel nasality — a feature of Tekela languages. Ditema-tsa-dinoko_s_c_(1)

Description

The script operates as a

, as each freestanding symbol represents a

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of Phone (phonetics), speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered t ...

, with

graphemes In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other names of emic units. The study of graphemes is called ''graphemics' ...

for consonant and vowel sounds combined into syllable blocks (''amabheqe''), in a similar fashion to

Hangeul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

. When the syllable being represented is not a

syllabic nasal A syllabic consonant or vocalic consonant is a consonant that forms a syllable on its own, like the ''m'', ''n'' and ''l'' in some pronunciations of the English words ''rhythm'', ''button'' and ''bottle''. To represent it, the understroke diacr ...

, these symbols are formed from a triangular or chevron-shaped grapheme representing the

nucleus Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucle ...

of the syllable, with the attached ''ongwaqa'' or consonant graphemes representing the

onset Onset may refer to: *Onset (audio), the beginning of a musical note or sound *Onset, Massachusetts, village in the United States ** Onset Island (Massachusetts), a small island located at the western end of the Cape Cod Canal *Interonset interval, ...

of the syllable or its mode of articulation. Syllabic nasals are represented as circles that fill the whole ''ibheqe'' or syllable block. Xilo_Vhathu_Ho_tlêtse

Vowels

The vowel graphemes (''onkamisa'') form the basis of each ''ibheqe'' or syllable block, as the nucleus of each syllable, with the ''ongwaqa'' or consonant graphemes positioned in and around them. The direction of each ''ibheqe'' indicates the quality of the vowel for each of the seven vowel

phonemes In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...

: *''Intombi'', the upward facing triangle: /i/ *''Isoka'', the downward facing triangle: /a/ *''Umkhonto'', the upward facing chevron: /u/ *The leftward facing triangle: /ɛ/ *The rightward facing triangle: /ɔ/ *The leftward facing chevron: /e/ *The rightward facing chevron: /o/ There is an eighth "vowel" represented by the downward facing chevron, which is an ''empty vowel'', and is mostly used for foreign words to represent a standalone consonant, often as a

syllable coda A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "b ...

, which does not occur in siNtu languages having CV phonology. Onkamisa (AmaBheqe)

The apex of the triangle or chevron corresponds to vowel height or frontedness, with

high vowel A close vowel, also known as a high vowel (in U.S. terminology), is any in a class of vowel sounds used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of th ...

s /i/ and /u/ pointing upwards and the

low vowel An open vowel is a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels (in U.S. terminology ) in reference to the low position of the tongue. In the cont ...

/a/ pointing downwards. Likewise, the

front vowel A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would otherw ...

s /ɛ/ and /e/ point leftwards and the

back vowel A back vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the highest point of the tongue is positioned relatively back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be c ...

s /ɔ/ and /o/ point rightwards. Vowel nasality is indicated with the ''ingungwana'' grapheme, which is a solid dot outside the triangle separated from the apex, as in the word ''phãsi'' below:

Consonants

Consonants (''ongwaqa'') are composed of one or more graphemes. At least one of these indicates the place and manner of articulation. If more than one such consonant grapheme is superimposed, this represents a co-articulation, e.g. an

affricate An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair ...

(formed of superimposed stop and fricative graphemes), or an onset cluster. Other overlaid dots and strokes indicate articulatory mode, whether that be

voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refe ...

, prenasalised,

implosive Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants (and possibly also some affricates) with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism.''Phonetics for communication disorders.'' Martin J. Ball and Nicole Müller. Ro ...

ejective In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some ...

modal voice Modal voice is the vocal register used most frequently in speech and singing in most languages. It is also the term used in linguistics for the most common phonation of vowels. The term "modal" refers to the resonant mode of vocal folds; that ...

, or a combination thereof. The position of the consonant graphemes largely corresponds to the

place of articulation In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is a location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a passive articula ...

: * Labials and

nasals In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast major ...

are positioned outside the triangle at the apex. * Alveolars are across the middle of the triangle from side to side. *

Velars Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...

and palatals are at the base. * Laterals are outside the triangle on one side. * Dentals are two lines across the triangle from side to side, parallel to each other. The shape of the consonant grapheme corresponds to the

manner of articulation In articulatory phonetics, the manner of articulation is the configuration and interaction of the articulators (speech organs such as the tongue, lips, and palate) when making a speech sound. One parameter of manner is ''stricture,'' that is, h ...

: *Curved lines indicate

fricatives A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in ...

. *Their straight line counterparts in the same positions indicate

plosives In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...

. * Approximants and trills are represented with two lines either parallel or at a right angle to each other, with a tap or flap being the latter arrangement, one line bisecting the other at its centrepoint without crossing it. *

Retroflex A retroflex ( /ˈɹɛtʃɹoːflɛks/), apico-domal ( /əpɪkoːˈdɔmɪnəl/), or cacuminal () consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the ha ...

whistled consonants and

postalveolar Postalveolar or post-alveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the ''back'' of the alveolar ridge. Articulation is farther back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but ...

fricatives are represented as loops. *

Nasals In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast major ...

are represented as circles at the apex of the triangle. Lines inside the circles distinguish the nasals from each other. * Clicks are a bottomless hourglass shape. *

Affricate An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair ...

s are spelled by placing both the corresponding stop and fricative graphemes in the triangle. Onset clusters use the same technique. *Syllabic laterals and trills are represented with duplication of the ordinary lateral and trill graphemes. Syllabic nasals or ''amaqanda'' are unique in that they occupy the entire ''ibheqe'' space as circles. They are distinguished from each other with lines inside them that operate according to the same principles as above. These graphemes can combine with each other in an order in accordance with the phonotactics of sintu languages, and they also can combine with the articulatory mode graphemes.

Articulatory mode

There are three graphemic markers of articulatory mode: *For unvoiced consonants, a solid dot within the triangle indicates a glotallised (

ejected Ejection or Eject may refer to: * Ejection (sports), the act of officially removing someone from a game * Eject (''Transformers''), a fictional character from ''The Transformers'' television series * "Eject" (song), 1993 rap rock single by Senser ...

) consonant or a modal click consonant. *For voiced consonants the solid dot inside the triangle indicates an

consonant or, in the case of languages where there are no implosives, a modal consonant. *The absence of the dot indicates

breathy voice Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...

in the case of voiced consonants, and aspiration in the case of voiceless consonants. *''Uphimbo'', or the voicing line, running from the apex of the triangle to the base (or until inline with the ends of the chevron), indicates consonant voicing. *If the voicing line occurs as the only ''ungwaqa'' in the ''ibheqe'', it indicates a

voiced glottal fricative The voiced glottal fricative, sometimes called breathy-voiced glottal transition, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant ''phonologically'', but often lacks the usual ''phonetic ...

/ɦ/. *In languages that distinguish between breathy voiced and modal nasals/trills, the voicing line indicates breathy voice when occurring with these consonant graphemes. * Prenasalised consonants are marked with an open circle at the apex of the triangle called ''ingungu''. These occur with other consonant graphemes, and are distinct from the

bilabial nasal The voiced bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m. The bilabial nasal occurs in ...

/m/ that occurs on its own. No additional lines need be added to the ''ingungu'' when it occurs with other ''ongwaqa'' as the place of articulation is given by them and need not be marked in the nasal grapheme. *For clicks, the ''ingungu'' marks a nasal click consonant, with the prenasalised clicks (e.g. ) requiring the addition of a solid dot (glottalisation), in which case the ''ingungu'' denotes prenasalisation.

References

External links

Ditema (Ditema tsa Dinoko / Isibheqe Sohlamvu)
at Omniglot {{List of writing systems Writing systems of Africa Syllabary writing systems Constructed scripts Venda language Tswana language Zulu language Xhosa language Swazi language