Africana Periodical Literature 
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| Title: | Ingenious Invention: The Indigenous Kpelle Script in the Late Twentieth Century |
| Author: | Stone, Ruth M. |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Periodical: | Liberian Studies Journal |
| Volume: | 15 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Pages: | 135-144 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Liberia |
| Subjects: | writing systems Kpelle History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| Abstract: | Gbili, a paramount chief from Sanoyea, Bong County, Central Liberia, invented the Kpelle script in the 1930s according to all accounts. The script was revealed to Gbili in a dream. The first mention of the script in the literature came in 1937. The script, from the beginning, was intended by the Kpelle as a tool of elite literacy. Sanoyea developed as a centre for the teaching of the new script in the 1930s and 1940s. When the author began work on the script in 1970, it was employed for hut tax records, for the financial records of a store, and for recording court debts. The Kpelle script is conceived as a syllabary that is read from left to right. One of the ingenious features of the system is that where there are mutational pairs, such as 'ta' (town) and 'da' (the town), the syllabary recognizes their close relation and uses the same symbol, thus providing a considerable economy in the number of characters employed. Diacritics may be used to indicate heavy voice, low tone and vowel lengthening. A system of numerals was added later. The author presents a chart of the Kpelle characters, including twelve characters that have not been published previously. In conclusion, she discusses a number of influences that have contributed to the Kpelle script as it exists today, in particular the 'magico-cryptic alphabets and mystical symbols' of Islam, and earlier ideographic and pictographic symbols. Bibliogr., notes. |