Sango Language - Orthography

Orthography

Sango began being written by French missionaries, with Catholic and Protestant conventions differing slightly. The 1966 bible and 1968 hymnal were highly influential and still used today.

In 1984, President André Kolingba signed 'Décret No 84.025', establishing an official orthography for Sango. The official Sango alphabet consists of 22 letters:

Official 1984 orthography

22-Letter Sango Alphabet

A

B

D

E

F

G

H

I

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

Letters are pronounced as their IPA equivalent, except for , pronounced as . Additionally the digraphs ⟨kp, gb, mb, mv, nd, ng, ngb, nz⟩ are pronounced, and respectively.

⟨’b⟩, ⟨ty⟩, and ⟨dy⟩ may be used in loan words not fully integrated into Sango's phonological system. Additionally, the letters C, J, Q, X may be used in proper names.

The official orthography of Sango contains the following consonants: ⟨p, b, t, d, k, g, kp, gb, mb, mv, nd, ng, ngb, nz, f, v, s, z, h, l, r, y, w⟩, to which some add ⟨’b⟩ for the implosive /ɓ/. Sango has seven oral vowels, /a e ɛ i o ɔ u/, of which five, /ĩ ã ɛ̃ ɔ̃ ũ/, occur nasalized. In the official orthography, ⟨e⟩ stands for both /e/ and /ɛ/, and ⟨o⟩ stands for both /o/ and /ɔ/; nasal vowels are written ⟨in, en, an, on, un⟩.

Sango has three tones: low, mid, and high. In standard orthography, low tone is unmarked, ⟨e⟩, mid tone is marked with diaeresis, ⟨ë⟩, and high tone with circumflex, ⟨ê⟩. So do-re-mi would be written ⟨do-rë-mî⟩.

Sango has little written material apart from religious literature, though some basic literacy material has been developed.