The Bassa language is a

Kru language The Kru languages are spoken by the Kru people from the southeast of Liberia to the west of Ivory Coast. Classification According to Güldemann (2018), Kru lacks sufficient lexical resemblances and noun class resemblances to conclude a relatio ...

spoken by about 783,000 Bassa people in

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, and

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Phonology

Consonants

* /ʄ/ can be heard as a glide intervocalically within compound words. * /ɡ͡b/ when followed by a nasal can be heard as . * /h/ only rarely occurs.

Vowels

Bassa alphabets

It has an indigenous alphabet, Vah, first popularized by Thomas Flo Lewis, who has instigated publishing of limited materials in the language from the mid-1900s through the 1930s, with its height in the 1910s and 1920s. It has been reported that the alphabet was influenced by the

Cherokee syllabary The Cherokee syllabary is a syllabary invented by Sequoyah in the late 1810s and early 1820s to write the Cherokee language. His creation of the syllabary is particularly noteworthy as he was illiterate until its creation. He first experimen ...

created by

Sequoyah Sequoyah ( ; , , or , , ; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and Constructed script, neographer of the Cherokee Nation. In 1821, Sequoyah completed his Cherokee syllabary, enabl ...

. The Vah alphabet has been described as one which, "like the system long in use among the Vai, consists of a series of phonetic characters standing for syllables." In fact, however, Vah is alphabetic. It includes 30 consonants, seven vowels, and five tones that are indicated by dots and lines inside each vowel. In the 1970s the

United Bible Societies The United Bible Societies (UBS) is a global fellowship of around 150 Bible societies operating in more than 240 countries and territories. It has working hubs in England, Singapore and Nairobi. The headquarters are located in Swindon, England. ...

(UBS) published a translation of the New Testament. June Hobley, of Liberia Inland Mission, was primarily responsible for the translation. The

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...

(IPA) was used for this translation rather than the Vah alphabet, mostly for practical reasons related to printing. Because the Bassa people had a tradition of writing, they quickly adapted to the new alphabet, and thousands learned to read. In 2005, UBS published the entire Bible in Bassa. The translation was sponsored by the Christian Education Foundation of Liberia, Christian Reformed World Missions, and UBS. Don Slager headed a team of translators that included Seokin Payne, Robert Glaybo, and William Boen. The IPA has largely replaced the Vah alphabet in publications. However, Vah is still highly respected and is still in use by some older men, primarily for record keeping.

Latin Bassa orthography

Letters

* A - a - * B - be - * Ɓ - ɓe - �/ⁿb* C - ce - * D - de - * Đ - ɖe - �/ɺ* Dy - dye - ʲ/ɲ* Ɛ - ɛ - �* E - e - * F - ef - * G - ge - * Gb - gbe - �͡b/ŋ͡m* Gm - gme - ͡m* H - ha - * Hw - hwa - ʷ* I - i - * J - je - �* K - ka - * Kp - kpe - ͡p* M - em - * N - en - * Ny - eny - �* Ɔ - ɔ - �* O - o - * P - pe - * S - es - * T - te - * U - u - * V - ve - * W - we - * Xw - xwa - ʷ* Z - ze -

Other letters

* ã - �* ẽ - ��* ĩ - �* ɔ̃ - �̃* ũ - � Some Bassa speakers write nasalised vowels as an, en, in, ɔn, and un.

Tones

* á - ˥* à - ˨* a - ˧* ǎ - ˨˧* â - ˥˩ref>

References

External links

Omniglot: Bassa alphabetBrief Summary of Liberian Indigenous ScriptsGbokpasom - Non-Profit
Languages of Liberia Kru languages {{kru-lang-stub