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A lot of people (altbeit not nearly enough) know that Nubian has an ancient script that language activists still use to write the language: what is less known, however, is the way the orthography of the language has changed.
A thread on new Nubian orthography:
A thread on new Nubian orthography:
The Islamization of Nubia created a gap in the history of the Nubian script: more or less abandoned by Nubians as Arabic grew in popularity, with there even being an 1899 Gospel of Mark written in Nubian with Arabic characters.
However, starting in '89, there was a surge of interest by Nubian-language activists in the Old Nubian script: from Khartoum, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi, various Nubian-language associations took it upon themselves to revive the writing system.
In each of these cities, there were efforts among educated Nubians to learn the Old Nubian script: however, the big shift happened when Mukhtar Khalil Kabbara, a Nobiin specialist based in Cairo, worked with Abdelgadir Shalabi from Abu Dhabi...
...to make a book entitled: "ⲛⲟⲃⲓ̄ⲛ-ⲅⲁ ⲥⲓⲕ-ⲕⲓⲣ ⲫⲁⲓ̈-ⲱⲁ?" ("How do we write Nobiin?" This, along with Kabbara's Nobiin-German dictionary, which also used the script, served as tools for Nubian activists to spread Nubian literacy...
...however, Kabbara made some rather significant changes to the orthography. The main reason he gives is simplifying the script and making it more harmonious with Nubian phonology...
You see, Old Nubian features a lot of redundant characters, a lot of which have little purpose other than for usage in Greek loanwords: on the left, you have the chart of glyphs used in Old Nubian, whereas on the right you have those used in modern Nubian...
...there is also a clear influence of English pronounciation of certain letters on Kabbara's orthography, which is why the Old Nubian "ⲟⲩⲉⲓⲉⲣⲁ" (weera, meaning "one") is rendered "ⲱⲉ̄ⲣⲁ" in Kabbara's book.
Also worth noting is that Kabbara uses the macron/superlinear stroke to represent the lengthening of the vowel. This sign is present in Old Nubian, but it's used to indicate that a consonant is preceded by a short "i" sound, with the doubling of vowel letters...
...being more commonly used to represent long vowels. Kabbara also uses "ⲱ," which represents "o" in Old Nubian, for the "w" sound, whereas Old Nubian more commonly uses the diagraph "ⲟⲩ" or the Meroitic character "ⳣ."
And while Kabbara mostly does away with the characters only used in Greek loanwords, he keeps "ⲫ," using it to represent "f," as opposed to the Old Nubian use of "ⲡ," which was also used to represent "b" and "p."
The changes Kabbara made ultimately make it so there are less letters that make the same sound, but also less letters that represent multiple different sounds (i.e. "ⲡ").
For a visual example, here's one word written in two different orthographies:
"ⲇⲱⲧⲁⳣⳣⲟ" (Old Nubian)
"ⲇⲟⲧⲁⲱⲟ" (New Nubian Orthography)
"ⲇⲱⲧⲁⳣⳣⲟ" (Old Nubian)
"ⲇⲟⲧⲁⲱⲟ" (New Nubian Orthography)
Kabbara's orthography has been tremendously influential, and most Nubian writing I've encountered on the internet or in print is generally harmonious with it, although many adopt el-Shafie el-Guzuuli's modification of using the Coptic "ϭ" to represent "ch..."
...which Kabbara represented with a "ⳝⳝ."
Additionally, new Nubian orthography uses Western punctuation, not the few punctuation signs actually present in Old Nubian.
While the changes may be disappointing to some...
Additionally, new Nubian orthography uses Western punctuation, not the few punctuation signs actually present in Old Nubian.
While the changes may be disappointing to some...
...personally, I think they make Nubian easier to read, providing a more consistent and efficient orthography. The fact that the change happened at all is, to me, an evidence of the vitality of Nubian, and the ability of Nubian language speakers to not...
...just relive a glorious past with their language, but to envision a Nubian future. Languages and orthography change, and the activists mentioned in this thread are just SOME who have helped bring Nubian writing into the modern age.
