The Oduduwa script was created in 2016 or 2017 by a Beninese Yoruba chief named Tolúlàṣẹ Ògúntósìn for the

Yoruba language Yoruba (, ; Yor. ) is a Niger–Congo languages, Niger-Congo language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West (Nigeria), Southwestern and Middle Belt, Central Nigeria, Benin, and parts of Togo. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. ...

of Nigeria and Benin. Ògúntósìn says that the script was revealed to him by the Yoruba mythic ancestor

Oduduwa Odùduwà (Ooduwa, Odudua or Oòdua) was a Yoruba divine king, a creator deity (orisha) in the Yoruba religion, and the legendary figure who ushered in the classical period that later led to the foundation of the Ife Empire. His earthly orig ...

in a series of dreams from 2011 to 2016. It has received support from other chiefs of

Yorubaland Yorubaland () is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-day countries of Nigeria, Togo and Benin, and covers a total land area of . Of this land area, 106,016 km2 (74.6%) lies within Niger ...

in both countries as an adjunct to or possible replacement of the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

. Yoruba has two Latin alphabets, one used in Nigeria and one in Benin. The Oduduwa script is also alphabetic, and is inspired by Latin orthography (e.g. is written as a single letter, but as a

digraph Digraph, often misspelled as diagraph, may refer to: * Digraph (orthography), a pair of characters used together to represent a single sound, such as "nq" in Hmong RPA * Ligature (writing), the joining of two letters as a single glyph, such as " ...

of the letters for and , paralleling the Nigerian Yoruba alphabet; similarly, the letters for are derived from those for , and nasal vowels are written with the letter for , again as in the Nigerian Yoruba alphabet). Oduduwa differs from Latin in being written

right-to-left A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...

. The Oduduwa script is being taught to children at schools in

Porto-Novo , , ; ; ; also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Benin, second-largest city of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. In 1863, following Bri ...

, Benin and in

Ifẹ Ifẹ̀ (, ''Ilé-Ifẹ̀'') is an ancient Yoruba people, Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria founded sometime between the years 1000 BC and 500 BC. By 900, 900 AD, the city had become an important West African emporium producing sophisticate ...

, Nigeria.

Ligatures

Adjacent letters form

ligature Ligature may refer to: Language * Ligature (writing), a combination of two or more letters into a single symbol (typography and calligraphy) * Ligature (grammar), a morpheme that links two words Medicine * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture us ...

s: when one letter ends in a long vertical stroke (i.e. ''d'', ''e'', ''h'', ''i'', ''m'', ''n'', ''o'') and the next begins with a such a stroke (i.e. ''b'', ''ẹ'', ''l'', ''ọ'', ''r'', ''u'', ''w''), the two lines are conflated into a single stroke, joining the letters. This occurs for example in the sequence ''du'' in the name ''Oduduwa'' (see info box above). Where a horizontal line meets another (as in ''w'' and ''a''), or with a sharp angle (as in ''n'' and ''i''), they may also join; thus ''iwe'' forms a double ligature (see image at right). Where letters do not touch, as in ''t'' and ''i'', they may

kern Kern or KERN may refer to: People * Kern (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies Places * Kern, Alaska, a ghost town in Alaska * Kern, Austria, see Sankt Marienkir ...

together so that part of one tucks under the other. The comma also connects to letters such as ''n'' and ''i'' that have a terminal vertical stroke.non-Unicode fonts and experimental keyboard
at World Scripts Explorer

Digits

There is a series of ten digits for writing decimal numbers, which derive from the Hindu-Arabic numerals (and which are also written right-to-left), and basic punctuation (. , : ; - ? apostrophe and quotation marks).

Tone Tone may refer to: Visual arts and color-related * Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory * Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color * Toning (coin), color change in coins * ...

is not marked.

Gallery

Letters

Oduduwa a.svg, a Oduduwa e.svg, e Oduduwa b.svg, b Oduduwa j.svg, j Oduduwa o.svg, o Oduduwa gb.svg, gb Oduduwa d.svg, d Oduduwa f.svg, f Oduduwa t.svg, t Oduduwa e-dot.svg, ẹ Oduduwa o-dot.svg, ọ Oduduwa l.svg, l Oduduwa w.svg, w Oduduwa u.svg, u Oduduwa m.svg, m Oduduwa n.svg, n Oduduwa i.svg, i Oduduwa h.svg, h Oduduwa r.svg, r Oduduwa s.svg, s Oduduwa s-dot.svg, ṣ Oduduwa k.svg, k Oduduwa g.svg, g Oduduwa y.svg, y Oduduwa p.svg, p

Digits

Oduduwa 0.svg, 0 Oduduwa 1.svg, 1 Oduduwa 2.svg, 2 Oduduwa 3.svg, 3 Oduduwa 4.svg, 4 Oduduwa 5.svg, 5 Oduduwa 6.svg, 6 Oduduwa 7.svg, 7 Oduduwa 8.svg, 8 Oduduwa 9.svg, 9

Punctuation

Oduduwa hyphen.svg, hyphen Oduduwa question mark.svg, question mark

References

{{reflist Writing systems of Africa Yoruba language Right-to-left writing systems Constructed scripts