Writing System
The African Reference Alphabet is used when Ewe is represented orthographically, so the written version is a bit like a combination of the Latin alphabet and the International Phonetic Alphabet.
| A a | B b | D d | Ɖ ɖ | Dz dz | E e | Ɛ ɛ | F f | Ƒ ƒ | G g | Gb gb | Ɣ ɣ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | /b/ | /d/ | /ɖ/ | /d͡z/ | /e/, /ə/ | /ɛ/ | /f/ | /ɸ/ | /ɡ/ | /ɡ͡b/ | /ɣ/ |
| H h | I i | K k | Kp kp | L l | M m | N n | Ny ny | Ŋ ŋ | O o | Ɔ ɔ | P p |
| /h/ | /i/ | /k/ | /k͡p/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /ɲ/ | /ŋ/ | /o/ | /ɔ/ | /p/ |
| R r | S s | T t | Ts ts | U u | V v | Ʋ ʋ | W w | X x | Y y | Z z | |
| /l/ | /s/ | /t/ | /t͡s/ | /u/ | /v/ | /β/ | /w/ | /x/ | /j/ | /z/ |
An n is placed after vowels to mark nasalization. Tone is generally unmarked, except in some common cases which require disambiguation, e.g. the first person plural pronoun mí 'we' is marked high to distinguish it from the second person plural mi 'you', and the second person singular pronoun wò 'you' is marked low to distinguish it from the third person plural pronoun wó 'they/them'
- ekpɔ wò — 'he saw you'
- ekpɔ wo — 'he saw them'
Read more about this topic: Ewe Language
Famous quotes containing the words writing and/or system:
“When, said Mr. Phillips, he communicated to a New Bedford audience, the other day, his purpose of writing his life, and telling his name, and the name of his master, and the place he ran from, the murmur ran round the room, and was anxiously whispered by the sons of the Pilgrims, “He had better not!” and it was echoed under the shadow of the Concord monument, “He had better not!””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The system was breaking down. The one who had wandered alone past so many happenings and events began to feel, backing up along the primal vein that led to his center, the beginning of hiccup that would, if left to gather, explode the center to the extremities of life, the suburbs through which one makes one’s way to where the country is.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)