Difference between revisions of "Mandinka/keyboard"

Revision as of 22:11, 20 February 2026

Justification

The official writing system for the Mandinka language is the Latin script. However, Mandinka has been written in the Arabic script for much longer and continues to be widely used. A third writing system for the Mandinka language is the N'Ko script, a pan-Manding writing system developed in 1949. We wanted to experiment with developing a keyboard layout that utilized both the N'Ko and Arabic scripts together.

Existing Resources

N'Ko Resources:

• N'Ko Keyboard [1] (Windows): This keyboard was developed as part of Microsoft's "Globalization Essentials", a series of resources designed to support a number of languages.

• N'Ko Qwerty [2] (Windows): This keyboard utilizes the QWERTY layout to support N'Ko. The philosophy is to make it easier to type in N'Ko without learning a new keyboard layout, though the question remains of who it would be easier for.

Arabic Script Resources:

• Ajami Keyboard [3] {Boston University}: Developed by Jamra Patel for keyboard

Mandinka Keyboard (Dual)