The Fula language (, Pulaar, or Pular) is written primarily in the Latin script, but in some areas and contexts is still written in an older Arabic script called the Ajami script or in the recently invented Adlam script.

History Around the 10th century, Islam was introduced to the West African Sahel and became the religion of scholars and merchants in cities which traded extensively with North African traders. At the same time as Islam arrived came the Qur'an and the Arabic script, which was studied by West African scholars who learned to read, write and speak Arabic. Along with this, many students going through Koranic education would write down notes in their native languages, usually in the margins of books.

It is known that some Fulani scholars were among the students studying in cities like Timbuktu and Gao, hence it is possible that Fulfulde would have been written down starting in the 16th-17th century. As Islam arrived to the Fulani lands in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Fula jihads created multiple Islamic states in West Africa which converted the population and created a class of literate scholars who would debate, speak, write and read in Fulani. The states of the Imamate of Futa Jallon from 1725 and the Sokoto Caliphate from 1804 were both epicentres of West African scholarship, with poetry, science, history, philosophy, and religion debated in Fulfulde.

This established Ajami, a modified script that was able to write Fulfulde, as the original and more traditional form of writing Fulfulde across all Fula populations.

With the arrival of Christian missionaries and soon after the invasion of European powers, mostly the French and English, came the introduction of the Latin script to Fula-speaking regions of West and Central Africa. Various missionaries, colonial administrators, and scholarly researchers devised various ways of writing Fulfulde with Latin to ease the efforts of European colonisation. There were several sounds that were unfamiliar to European languages, like the implosive b and d, the ejective y, the velar n (in the initial position), prenasalised consonants, and long vowels.

Currently, Latin alphabets are the default for Fulfulde writing, with most nations in West Africa having standardised Latin alphabets that accommodate Fulfulde and/or other languages, for official use and instruction. Various Fula writers such as Amadou Bampate Ba and Alfa Ibrahim Sow wrote and published in Latin alphabets, and is used across a range of publications from national level literacy materials, periodicals and linguistic studies and textbooks.

Major influences on current forms of writing Fula came from decisions made by colonial administrators in Northern Nigeria and the Africa Alphabet. Major UNESCO-sponsored conferences on harmonising Latin-based African orthographies were held in Bamako in 1966 and Niamey in 1978, which included standards for writing Fula. Nevertheless, orthographies differ for the language and its variants in different regions, determined by country level.

Latin Alphabets

Standard Orthography There are variations depending on the country's policies or the dialect of Fula used. There are some general rules that were established by UNESCO from earlier conventions:

Phonemic orthography, meaning that every letter represents one phoneme/sound without silent letters However prenasalised stops are written as two letters, like in ndiyam (water) But nasalised vowels are not written but inferred from context Double consonants represent geminate consonants, like in sappu (to wash) and sapu (to fold) Double vowels represent the vowel length, like in laamɗo (person)

Alphabet Comparison Below is a table showing the few differences between the different orthographies of Fula alphabets. +Comparisons of Different Orthographies for PularIPA SoundsPulaar Fuuta TooroPular Fuuta JallonFulfulde MassinaFulfulde AdamawaFulfulde BagirimiNotes'—'''The glottalised stop is present in all variations but Pulaar Futa Jallon, where it is palatised and written out as Ƴ.J j—Ƴ ƴJ j—Usually represented by J in the dialects the sound appears, except for Massina which doesn't have the phoneme and decided to use Ƴ in here instead.—Ɠ ɠ———Character and phoneme only exists in Pulaar Fuuta JallonMb mbNb nbMb mbMb mbMb mbPulaar Massina and Pulaar Bagirimi don't include the phoneme on their alphabet but instead write it as convention.Ñ ñÑ ñƝ ɲNy nyN̰ n̰Ñ and N̰ are influenced from Spanish (through French) while the Nigerian Pan-African Alphabet directly uses NyX x——X x—Only a sound in Fuuta Toro and in AdamawaƳ ƴ——Ƴ ƴƳ ƴƳ is a character that was agreed upon in the UNESCO conferences, however different dialects have placed it for different phonemes, specifically Pulaar Fuuta Jallon and Pulaar Massina—Ƴ ƴ———

Pulaar Fuuta Tooro (Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania)

Pulaar Fuuta Tooro is the Fula dialect spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Southern Mauritania. Its Latin alphabet has been standardised by Senegalese government decrees, the latest of which issued in 2005.Gouvernement du Sénégal, Décret N° 2005-990 du 21 octobre 2005.

It differs from other alphabets in that it includes diphthongs and prenasalisation in the official list, while other alphabets treat it as an orthographic rule instead of a letter.

+ Pulaar Latin alphabetRépublique du Sénégal, Décret no 2005-988 relatif à l’orthographe et la séparation des mots en pulaar, 21 octobre 2005 A a Aa aa B b Mb mb Ɓ ɓ C c D d Nd nd Ɗ ɗ E e Ee ee F f G g Ng ng H h I i Ii ii J j Nj nj ‍~‍ ~‍ ~ K k L l M m N n Ñ ñ Ŋ ŋ O o Oo oo P p R r S s T t U u Uu uu W w X x Y y Ƴ ƴ ’

Pular Fuuta Jalon (Guinea)

Pular Fuuta Jaloo is the Fula dialect spoken in Guinea. Following independence, the government of Guinea adopted transcription rules for all the languages of Guinea based on the characters and diacritic combinations available on French typewriters from that period. The Guinean languages alphabet was used officially for Guinean indigenous languages until 1989.

A meeting for the reform of the alphabet was established in 1988, and it was decided to adopt an orthography similar to the African reference alphabet which was used elswhere in West Africa.Diallo, Alpha Mamadou, Usages et images des langues en guinée, Université de Conakry. Diallo, Amadou; Étude sur le rôle de l'éducation non formelle dans la stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté (SRP) en Guinée, Ministère du Plan de la République de Guinée/ GTZ, Conakry 3/2006. Effectuated by decree 019/PRG/SGG/89 In the case of Pular, this change brought the official orthography in harmony with those used in other countries.

+ Pular Latin alphabet (Guinea)Sâa Gilbert Ifono. (2015) Le nouvel alphabet des langues guinéennes A a B b Ɓ ɓ C c D d Ɗ ɗ E e F f G g Ɠ ɠ H h Ii J j K k L l M m N n Nb nb Nd nd Ng ng Nj nj Ñ ñ Ŋ ŋ O o P p R r S s T t U u W w Y y Ƴ ƴ

The pre-1989 alphabet was based on the simple Latin alphabet with digraphs for the sounds particular to Pular as opposed to unique letters. This alphabet is still used by some Pular speakers (in part because it can be typed using commercial keyboards).

+ Pre-1989 Pular Latin alphabet (Guinea) A a B b Bh bh D d Dh dh Dy dy E e F f G g Gh gh H h Ii J j K k L l M m Mb mb N n Nd nd Ndy ndy Ng ng Nh nh Ny ny O o P p R r S s T t Ty ty U u W w Y y Yh yh

Maasina Fulfulde (Mali, Burkina Faso) The dominant Fula accent in Mali is referred to as Maasina Fulfulde. Its Latin alphabet was standardized in 1967, and it consists of 32 letters.

+ Maasina Fulfulde Latin alphabetBuddell, S. Hanold, M. Sankare, N, Souster, J. (2010, July) Lisons le fulfulde - Guide pour apprendre à lire en langue peule. Société Internationale de Linguistique (SIL). Bamoko, Mali. Link (Archive) ’ A a B b Ɓ ɓ C c D d Ɗ ɗ E e F f G g H h I i J j K k L l M m Mb mb N n Nd nd Ng ng Nj nj Ɲ ɲ Ŋ ŋ O o P p R r S s T t U u W w Y y Ƴ ƴ

Nigerian Fulfulde and Adamawa Fulfulde (Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso)

A common Latin alphabet is used in Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso is used for writing of Fulfulde dialects in this region. The dialect spoken in Cameroon and Western Nigeria is Adamawa Fulfulde. The dialect spoken in much of Northern and Central Nigeria (Hausaland) is Nigerian Fulfulde. The dialects spoken in Northern Hausaland in Niger are Eastern (Lettugal) and Western (Gorgal) Niger Fulfulde. The Latin alphabet consists of 39 letters, including digraphs and apostrophe.

+ Niger / Nigeria / Cameroon Fulfulde Latin alphabetScriptsouce Writing System. Contributor: Lorna Evans Adamawa Fulfulde written with Latin script: fub-Latn Scriptsouce Writing System. Contributor: Lorna Priest Central-Eastern Niger Fulfulde written with Latin script: fuq-Latn A a Aa aa B b Mb mb Ɓ ɓ C c D d Nd nd Ɗ ɗ E e Ee ee F f G g Ng ng H h I i Ii ii J j Nj nj ‍~‍ ‍ K k L l M m N n Ny ny Ŋ ŋ O o Oo oo P p R r S s T t U u Uu uu W w X x Y y Ƴ ƴ ’

Bagirimi Fulfulde (Chad, Central African Republic) The dominant Fulfulde dialect in Chad and Central African Republic, close to Adamawa Fulfulde, is Bagirmi Fulfulde. In 2009, the Chadian government standardized both Latin and Ajami scripts for all indigenous languages of the country, including Bagirmi Fulfulde, in what is known as Chadian National Alphabet. (Archive)

+ Bagirmi Fulfulde Latin alphabet A a AA aa B b Ɓ ɓ C c D d Ɗ ɗ E e EE ee F f G g H h I i II ii J j K k KH kh L l M m ‍~‍ ~‍ ~ MB mb N n ND nd NG ng NJ nj N̰ n̰ Ŋ ŋ O o OO oo P p R r S s T t U u UU uu W w Y y Ƴ ƴ ’

Ajami alphabet

In recent decades, albeit at a slower pace than Fula Latin orthography, there has been conferences, seminars, and attempts by linguists and literaturists in various countries to standardize the Arabic (Ajami) script.

Orthographic similarities

Does not use , , , , , , , these characters are only used for Arabic loanwords across all systems Always uses diacritics for vowels, which is rare among non-African Arabic writing systems which usually imply vowels. E is a vowel that most languages like Fulfulde have, except notably Arabic. One way to tackle this was using Imaala, a phenomenon in Old Arabic where the A vowel fronted to an I. According to the Warsh Qur'anic recitation school, this approximated the E vowel and was usually denoted with a filled dot below an alif. Adamawa, Bagirmi, Futa Jallon, Nigerian and Massina used this style. Another way was to simply invent a new diacritic. In Futa Toro, a diacritic approximating < was used. O is another vowel that Fulfulde has in addition, except without established convention Bagirmi and Futa Jallon simply modified the U diacritic, by adding a dot or shaping it differently Other conventions used different sets of arrows Long vowels are marked with characters after diacritics Alif (ا‎) for aa Ya (ي) for ee and ii Except Nigerian and Adamawa Fulfulde Ajami which had a new character () Wa () for oo and uu

Adamawa Ajami (Cameroon, Nigeria) The dominant Fula accent in Cameroon (Adamawa Region) and Nigeria (Adamawa State) is referred to as Adamawa Fulfulde. the writing conventions of writing in the Arabic script for Adamawa Fulfulde were generally agreed upon and standardized by the 1990s.()

The characters highlighted in red are only used for Arabic loanwords, usually in the religious and scientific vocabulary.

+ Adamawa Fulfulde Arabic alphabet (Cameroon, Nigeria) // / Like Arabic and most other Ajami, the vowels are written with a diacritic marked around a character. In Adamawa, the convention was that vowels in the beginning of the word would be marked with a diacritic and the 'ayn character, which usually signified a glottal stop, and normal use of diacritics in all other contexts. It uses Imaala convention for E. +Vowel Diacritics in Adamawa Ajami.VowelsShort VowelsLong Vowels End Middle Initial Isolated EndMiddleInitialIsolatedae iou ∅ - - Table uses alif masqura (ى) for middle/end, replaceable with any character. 'Ayn () always used as a vowel carrier as an initial