| Odùduwà Alifabeeti Oduduwa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Time period | 2017–present |
| Direction | Right-to-left |
| Languages | Yoruba |
 | |
The Oduduwa script was created in 2016 or 2017 by a Beninese Yoruba chief named Tolúlàṣẹ Ògúntósìn for the Yoruba language of Nigeria and Benin. Ògúntósìn says that the script was revealed to him by the Yoruba mythic ancestor Oduduwa in a series of dreams from 2011 to 2016.[1] It has received support from other chiefs of Yorubaland in both countries as an adjunct to or possible replacement of the Latin script.[1][2]
Yoruba has two Latin alphabets, one used in Nigeria and one in Benin.[3] The Oduduwa script is also alphabetic, and is inspired by Latin orthography (e.g. /k͜p/ is written as a single letter, but /ɡ͜b/ as a digraph of the letters for /ɡ/ and /b/, paralleling the Nigerian Yoruba alphabet; similarly, the letters for ⟨ẹ, ọ, ṣ⟩ are derived from those for ⟨e, o, s⟩, and nasal vowels are written with the letter for ⟨n⟩, again as in the Nigerian Yoruba alphabet). Oduduwa differs from Latin in being written right-to-left.[1]
The Oduduwa script is being taught to children at schools in Porto-Novo, Benin[4] and in Ifẹ, Nigeria.[5]
- ^ a b c Adéṣínà Ọmọ Yoòbá (10 March 2020). "This chief hopes Yorùbá speakers adopt his newly invented 'talking alphabet'". Global Voices. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ "Yoruba Monarchs Commends New Oduduwa Alphabets, Hail Aregbesola". OsunDefender. 1 November 2017.
- ^ Hartell, Rhonda L. (1993). "Benin: Yoruba". Alphabets of Africa. Dakar: UNESCO Regional Office. p. 37.
- ^ "Oduduwa Alphabet: Òmìnira èdè ti dé fún Port Novo báyìí". BBC Yoruba. 15 December 2020 [15 April 2019].
- ^ "Oduduwa alphabets: Ǹjẹ́ ó mọ̀ nípa Álífábẹ́ẹ̀tì Oduduwa àti bí o ṣe lè lòó fi gbé èdè Yorùbá ga?". BBC Yoruba. 17 April 2022.