Contents

Garay alphabet

Arabic-like alphabet for Wolof

Garay
Script type	alphabet
Creator	Assane Faye
Created	1961
Direction	Right to left
Languages	Wolof
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Gara (164), ​Garay
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Garay alphabet was designed in 1961, as a transcription system "[marrying] African sociolinguistic characteristics" according to its inventor, Assane Faye. This alphabet has 25 consonants and 14 vowels.^[1] It is used in particular for the writing of the Wolof language, spoken mostly in Senegal, although it is more often written in the Latin alphabet and to a lesser extent in the Arabic (Wolofal) alphabet. It is written from right to left, and distinguishes letter case.

A proposal to encode Garay in Unicode was submitted in 2012, and it was included in Unicode 16.0.0.^[2]

Letters[edit]

Consonants[edit]

The consonants are written as standalone letters and are not joined as in Arabic.

There is a mark above some letters to show pre-nasalization. The letter labeled alif is used like its counterpart in Arabic, coming before an initial vowel. Extra to the standard Wolof set is /ħ/, available for Arabic loan words. Lacking is /q/, but /k/ may suffice for that. Also lacking is /nk/, but that may easily be formed with a mark above, like /mb/ etc.^[3]

In Garay, uppercase letters are distinguished from lowercase letters by a swash added to one side or the other of the letter. Each sentence begins with a capital letter. Personal names are likewise capitalized.^[4]

Nasals
IPA	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩	ɲ ⟨ñ⟩	ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Prenasalized plosives
IPA	mb ⟨mb⟩	nd ⟨nd⟩	ɲɟ ⟨nj⟩	ŋɡ ⟨ng⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Voiced plosives
IPA	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩	ɟ ⟨j⟩	ɡ ⟨g⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Voiceless plosives
IPA	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	c ⟨c⟩	k ⟨k⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Fricatives
IPA	f ⟨f⟩	s ⟨s⟩	x~χ ⟨x⟩	ħ ⟨h⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Liquids and semivowels
IPA	r ⟨r⟩	w ⟨w⟩	l ⟨l⟩	j ⟨y⟩
Lowercase
Uppercase
Misc.
	Alif
Lowercase
Uppercase

Vowels[edit]

a ⟨a⟩	i ⟨i⟩	ɛ ⟨e⟩	ɔ ⟨o⟩
ə ⟨ë⟩	ü	e ⟨é⟩	u ⟨u⟩

Numbers[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Everson, Michael (April 26, 2012). Preliminary proposal for encoding the Garay script in the SMP of the UCS (PDF).
• Pandey, Anshuman (May 9, 2011). Introducing the Wolof Alphabet of Assane Faye (PDF).

External links[edit]

• Discover Garay^{[permanent dead link]}, Movement of Teachers of African Languages in Senegal (MELAS).
• James, Ian (March 2012). "Garay script of Wolof". SkyKnowledge.com.
• "Wolof (Wollof)". Omniglot.

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