N’Ko Letter Cha

ߗ is pronounced like “ch” in “church.”

N’Ko writing is also used for kángbɛ (“clear language”), a literary form that bridges Manding language varieties. Speakers can write one form and pronounce it differently in their local variety.

Why was N’Ko created?

N’Ko was designed to write Manding languages and support mother-tongue education.

Solomana Kanté tried Arabic-based writing in 1945, then a Latin-based approach in 1948; he created N’Ko in 1949. Those earlier approaches did not capture Malinké’s tone distinctions, so N’Ko uses dedicated letters and tone marks.

ߗ belongs to Kanté’s late-1940s N’Ko design. His N’Ko writings covered religion, Manden history (the history of Manding peoples), traditional medicine, and law.

Why does ߗ change shape in a word?

A joining font changes the shape; the letter stays the same.

N’Ko is written from right to left and normally joins cursively. A shaping font selects one of four forms of ߗ according to which neighboring letters connect. If you control the text layout, mark the paragraph or text span as right-to-left; otherwise the run can appear in the wrong order.

In the extended spelling ߗ߭, the short rising-tone mark ߭ lets the sequence represent Arabic /ð/ (a voiced sound made with the tongue between the teeth) or French /ʒ/ (the voiced, sh-like sound in jour). ߭ is a tone mark, not a second letter.