WRITING SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM: A PROCESS by Elke Karan Bachelor of Arts, University of North Dakota, 1996 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of North Dakota in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Grand Forks, North Dakota August 2006 © 2006 Elke Karan Photographs by Mr. Daniel Sayo-Tomte © 2005 ACATBA, Central African Republic, used by permission Map of the Central African Republic © SIL International, used by permission ii This thesis, submitted by Elke Karan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts from the University of North Dakota, has been read by the Faculty Advisory Committee under whom the work has been done and is hereby approved. ____________________________ Dr. David J. Weber, chair ____________________________ Dr. John M. Clifton ____________________________ Dr. J. Albert Bickford This thesis meets the standards for appearance, conforms to the style and format requirements of the Graduate School of the University of North Dakota, and is hereby approved. ____________________________________ Dean of the Graduate School ____________________________________ Date ii i PERMISSION Title Writing System Development and Reform: A Process Department Linguistics Degree Master of Arts In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of this University shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for extensive copying for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my thesis work or, in his absence, by the chairperson of the department or the dean of the Graduate School. It is understood that any copying or publication or other use of this thesis or part thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of North Dakota in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Signature _______________________ Date _______________________ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................ix LIST OF TABLES..............................................................................................................x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, SYMBOLS, AND ACRONYMS....................................xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................xiv ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................xv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................1 2. FROM OBSCURITY INTO THE LIMELIGHT.....................................................4 3. TWO GLOBAL MOVEMENTS.............................................................................8 3.1 Saving languages from death.....................................................................8 3.2 Education for All.....................................................................................13 4. LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................17 4.1 Before 1985.............................................................................................17 4.2 1985–2006...............................................................................................21 4.3 Specific topics.........................................................................................24 5. DEFINITIONS.......................................................................................................29 5.1 Writing.....................................................................................................29 5.2 Writing system.........................................................................................29 v 5.3 Orthography.............................................................................................31 5.4 Script........................................................................................................32 6. WRITING SYSTEM TYPOLOGY.......................................................................34 6.1 The notion of evolution associated with writing systems........................34 6.2 Logographic systems...............................................................................35 6.3 Syllabaries...............................................................................................38 6.4 Abjads......................................................................................................44 6.5 Alphabets.................................................................................................51 6.6 Alphasyllabaries......................................................................................54 6.7 Featural system........................................................................................57 6.8 Mixed systems.........................................................................................59 6.9 Multiple scripts for one language............................................................62 7. PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOGRAPHY DESIGN AND REFORM.........................64 7.1 Design options.........................................................................................65 7.2 Linguistic factors which influence orthographies....................................69 7.3 Synopsis.................................................................................................107 8. NON-LINGUISTIC FACTORS..........................................................................109 8.1 Political factors......................................................................................109 8.2 Social and sociolinguistic factors..........................................................112 8.3 Educational factors................................................................................120 8.4 Technical factors....................................................................................148 v i 9. ADAPTING WRITING SYSTEMS....................................................................155 9.1 Roman alphabets...................................................................................156 9.2 Cyrillic...................................................................................................162 9.3 Arabic....................................................................................................165 9.4 Abugidas................................................................................................170 9.5 Orthography testing...............................................................................177 10. ORTHOGRAPHY REFORM: SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS......................185 10.1 Motivations for reform and revision......................................................186 10.2 Types of reform.....................................................................................194 10.3 Resistance to reform..............................................................................196 11. ORTHOGRAPHY REFORM CASE STUDIES...............................................204 11.1 Script replacements................................................................................204 11.2 Revision as part of the orthography design process..............................213 11.3 Reform of languages with a literary tradition........................................223 12. SANGO ….........................................................................................................238 12.1 Sango: language of wider communication and of the churches............238 12.2 Statistics and the spread of Sango.........................................................240 12.3 Classification and vocabulary base........................................................241 12.4 Sango grammatical structure.................................................................243 12.5 The phonology of Sango........................................................................247 12.6 Literacy rates..........................................................................................251 12.7 Sango literature......................................................................................251 vi i 12.8 The socio-political situation and the status of Sango............................255 12.9 The Sango orthography before 1984.....................................................263 12.10 The 1984 orthography decree................................................................269 12.11 The role of SIL International.................................................................279 12.12 Current practices....................................................................................285 12.13 New developments................................................................................301 12.14 Relating the Sango orthography 1984 reform to other case studies......306 13. SUMMARY.......................................................................................................310 13.1 Appropriate stakeholder involvement...................................................311 13.2 Orthography as a work in progress........................................................311 13.3 Weighing and balancing all the factors.................................................311 13.4 Testing the writing system.....................................................................312 13.5 Anticipating and dealing with conflict..................................................313 13.6 Taking a conservative approach............................................................313 13.7 Exercising patience and diplomacy.......................................................314 13.8 Establishing support structures..............................................................315 13.9 Conclusion.............................................................................................315 APPENDIX A..................................................................................................................316 APPENDIX B..................................................................................................................318 REFERENCES CITED....................................................................................................321 vi ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. World map: number and distribution of languages near extinction........................9 2. German school reader using two scripts.............................................................207 3. Antiqua, Sütterlin, and Latin scripts in an official document.............................209 4. Map of the Central African Republic..................................................................238 5. “No spitting” prohibition....................................................................................293 6. Months of the year..............................................................................................293 7. Information Desk................................................................................................294 8. Clubfoot information poster................................................................................294 9. AIDS: Call to action, Airport Road....................................................................295 10. AIDS: Call to action, Boyrabe District...............................................................296 11. AIDS: Call to action, Avenue des Martyrs.........................................................296 12. Protecting the unborn against AIDS...................................................................297 13. Nursing babies is best.........................................................................................297 14. Advertising..........................................................................................................298 ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Katakana syllables illustrating phonemic similarity but not graphic similarity....39 2. Sample characters from the Mende syllabary.......................................................40 3. Sample Roman script alphabets............................................................................52 4. Sample Amharic syllables.....................................................................................54 5. Sample Cree syllables...........................................................................................57 6. Tone notation in Attie...........................................................................................99 7. UNESCO symbol choice recommendations.......................................................130 8. Symbolization of two common African sounds, /ɓ/ and /ɣ/...............................160 9. The Roman alphabet expanded: miscellaneous practices in Africa....................161 10. A selection of Cyrillic characters not used in Russian........................................164 11. Multi-letter graphemes in Abkhaz and Kabardian..............................................165 12. Arabic variant letter forms of two consonants....................................................167 13. Sample conjuncts from Devanagari....................................................................172 14. Comparison of Amharic and Tigrinya vowel values..........................................176 15. Marking Tagakaulu completive aspect...............................................................219 16. Sango vowels......................................................................................................247 17. Sango consonants................................................................................................248 18. Comparison of old and new conventions............................................................274 x