Below is a guide to the Yammaninke Alphabet (also called Zadacha, for the first three characters) that appears in Theonite: Planet Adyn and Theonite: Orbit. The ‘Original Alphabet’ encompasses only the sounds of Yammaninke while the ‘Additional Characters’ were added later in the script’s history to accomodate the writing of non-Yammaninke languages.

AlphabetPrint

When used to write Yammaninke, Zadacha usually reads horizontally right to left, though it can also be written vertically from top to bottom. Vertical script is commonly used by artists to fit text in certain dimensions (i.e. the numu and senkuli signatures on jewelry).

When used to write languages other than Yammaninke, Zadacha may sometimes read left to right.

Author’s Note:

This alphabet is a calculated mashup of ten(ish) indigenous African scripts (the K’pelleVaiMendeLoma, and Bamun syllabaries, and the N’koNeo-TifinaghAncient BerberEgyptian hieratic and Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabets) that took years to put together. Someday, I’ll make a series of diagrams showing how I came up with each letter. Someday.