The long march to Unicode: a digital approach to variability in Icibemba orthography
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The study examined the orthography of Icibemba, a Bantu language spoken in Zambia and Congo─Kinshasa. The findings recommended adopting Unicode standards wherever different letters (graphemes) represented the same speech sound (allophone). For example, the monograph symbol and the digraph symbol represented the same speech sound, i.e. the voiceless affricate as in batch (IPA [tʃ]), the starred form (*) being inconsistentCl.3/4 → [umucila] → /u─mu─cila/’tail’Cl.3/4 * → [umucila] → /u─mu─cila/’tail’Secondly, the monograph symbol and the digraph symbol were not being used to distinguish short and long vowels, contrary to the syllable structure of IcibembaCl.14 → [uβuci] → /u─bu─uci/’honey’Cl.14 * → [uβuci] → /u─bu─uci/’honey’Thirdly, certain graphemes represented allophones in an irregular manner by ignoring the existence of more suitable options dictated by the particular structural environment. Examples included(1) The use of instead of *< Mporokoso> → → [mpolokoso] → /Ø–mpolokoso/’a district in northern Zambia’;(2) The use of instead of *< Luwingu> → → [luβingu] → /Ø–luβingu/’a district in northern Zambia’.
Source: Cogent Arts and Humanities
Author: Alex Kasonde
Institution: Chalimbana University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,165
OpenAlex ID: W4408882972