Editing African Reference Alphabet (section)

==1978 proposals==
Separate versions of the conference's report were produced in English and French. Different images of the alphabet were used in the two versions, and there are a number of differences between the two.

The English version was a set of 57 letters, given in both upper-case and lower-case forms.  Eight of these are formed from common Latin letters with the addition of an [[macron below|underline mark]]. Some (the uppercase letters alpha, eth ([[Image:Latin capital letter african Eth.svg|x12px]]), esh, and both lower- and upper-case [[File:Latin capital letter Z with tophook.svg|20px]], [[File:Latin small letter Z with tophook.svg|20px]]) cannot be accurately represented in [[Unicode]] (as of version 15, 2023). Others do not correspond to the upper- and lower-case identities in Unicode, or (e.g. Ʒ) require [[character variant]]s in the font.<ref name=Niamey1978>{{cite web |publisher=www.bisharat.net |title=Presentation of the "African Reference Alphabet" (in 4 images) from the Niamey 1978 meeting|url=http://www.bisharat.net/Documents/Niamey78annex.htm |access-date=2013-05-10 |language=en}}</ref>

This version also listed eight diacritical marks ([[acute accent]] (´), [[grave accent]] (`), [[circumflex]] (ˆ), [[caron]] (ˇ), [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] (¯), [[tilde]] (˜), [[Diaeresis (diacritic)|trema]]  (¨), and a [[Overdot|superscript dot]] (˙) and nine punctuation marks (? ! ( ) « » , ; .).

The letters presented in the Annex 1 of the 1978 Niamey meeting report are slightly different from the ones presented on page 34 (page 32 in the French version)  which omitted the hooktop-z but included two apostrophe-like letters (for ʔ and ʕ). Five of the letters were written with a subscript dot instead of a subscript dash as in the English version (ḍ ḥ ṣ ṭ and ẓ). The French and English sets are otherwise identical.

[[File:African reference alphabet as presented 1978 on the Niamey meeting.png|thumb|upright=1.6|African Reference Alphabet, as presented on the 1978 Niamey conference Annex 1 (printed English version)<ref name=Niamey1978 /><ref name="Unesco1981a">{{cite work|title=African languages: proceedings of the meeting of experts on the transcription and harmonization of African languages, Niamey (Niger), 17-21 July 1978|publisher=Unesco|year=1981|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000060064}}</ref>]]
[[File:African reference alphabet as presented 1978 on the Niamey meeting (French).png|thumb|upright=1.6|African Reference Alphabet, as presented on the 1978 Niamey conference (handwritten French version)<ref name=Niamey1978 /><ref name="Unesco1981b">{{cite work|title=Langues africaines : documents de la réunion d’experts sur la transcription et l’harmonisation des langues africaines, Niamey (Niger), 17-21 juillet 1978|publisher=Unesco|year=1981|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000060064_fre}}</ref>]]
[[File:African reference alphabet as presented 1978 on the Niamey meeting (English).png|thumb|upright=1.6|African Reference Alphabet, as presented on the 1978 Niamey conference (handwritten English version)<ref name=Niamey1978 /><ref name="Unesco1981b"/>]]

{|class="wikitable Unicode"
|+English variant of 1978 proposal<ref name=Niamey1978/>
| '''lowercase''' || a || ɑ ||  b || ɓ || c || c̠ || d || ḍ || ɖ || ɗ || ð
|- style="border-bottom: solid"
| '''uppercase''' || [[A]] || [[Ɑ]] ||  [[B]] || [[Ɓ]] || [[C]] || C̠ || [[D]] || Ḍ || [[Ɖ]] || [[Ɗ]] ||[[Ꝺ]]
|-
| '''lowercase''' || e || ɛ || ǝ || f|| ƒ || ɡ || ɣ || h || ḥ || i || ɪ
|- style="border-bottom: solid"
| '''uppercase''' || [[E]] || [[Ɛ]] || [[Ǝ]] || [[F]] || [[Ƒ|Ғ]] || [[G]] || [[Latin gamma|Ɣ]] || [[H]] || Ḥ || [[I]] || [[Ɪ]]
|-
| '''lowercase''' || j || k || ƙ || l || m || n || ŋ || o || ɔ || p || q
|- style="border-bottom: solid"
| '''uppercase''' || [[J]] || [[K]] || [[Ƙ]] || [[L]] || [[M]] || [[N]] || [[Eng (letter)|Ŋ]] || [[O]] || [[Ɔ]] || [[P]] || [[Q]]
|-
| '''lowercase''' || q̠ || r || ɍ || s || s̠ || ʃ || t || ṭ || ƭ || ʈ || ө || u
|- style="border-bottom: solid"
| '''uppercase''' || Q̠ || [[R]] || [[Ɍ]] || [[S]] || S̠ || [[Esh (letter)|Ʃ]] || [[T]] || Ṭ || [[Ƭ|<span style="{{mirrorH}}">Ƭ</span>]] || [[Ʈ|Ŧ]] || {{not a typo|[[Latin theta|ϴ]]}}
| [[U]]
|-
| '''lowercase''' || ᴜ || v || ʋ || w || x || x̠ || y || ƴ || z || ẓ || [[file:Latin small letter Z with tophook.svg|16x16px]] || ʒ
|- style="border-bottom: solid"
| '''uppercase''' || [[Ʊ]] || [[V]] || [[Ʋ]] || [[W]] || [[X]] || X̠ || [[Y]] || [[Ƴ]] || [[Z]] || Ẓ || | [[file:Latin capital letter Z with tophook.svg|18x18px]] || [[Ʒ|<span style="{{mirrorH}}">Ʃ</span>]]
|}

Notes:

* [[Latin alpha|Ɑ/ɑ]] is "Latin alpha" ([[File:Latin uppercase alpha.svg|x15px]][[File:Latin lowercase alpha.svg|x15px]]) not "Latin script a" ([[File:Latin uppercase script a.svg|x15px]][[File:Latin lowercase script a.svg|x15px]]). In Unicode, Latin alpha and {{nowrap|script a}} are not considered as separate characters.
* The upper case I, the counterpart of the lower case i, does not have crossbars ([[File:I without crossbars.svg|x15px]]) while the upper case counterpart of the lower case ɪ has them ([[File:I with crossbars.svg|x15px]]).
* The letter "Z with tophook" ([[Image:LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH TOPHOOK.svg|20px]]) is not included in [[Unicode]].
*c̠, q̠, x̠ represent [[click consonant]]s (ǀ, ǃ, ǁ respectively), but the line under is optional, and usually not used.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Niamey 1978 report|url=http://www.bisharat.net/Documents/Niamey78en.htm|access-date=2021-08-18|website=www.bisharat.net}}</ref>
*The pharyngeal ḥ and pharyngealized ḍ, ṣ, ṭ, ẓ are presented with lines below as h̠ and d̠, s̱, t̠, z̠ in the Annex 1 but with dots in the other parts of the 1978 Niamey meeting report (both in the French and English versions) These represent Arabic-style [[emphatic consonant]]s.
*c, j represent either palatal stops or postalveolar affricates. ɖ, ʈ are the retroflex stops, as in the IPA.
*ƒ, ʋ represent bilabial fricatives.
*ө is a dental fricative, not a vowel.
*Although digraphs using h are normally used to represent aspirated consonants, in languages in which those are absent, the digraphs can be used instead of ʒ, ʃ, ө, ɣ...<ref name=":0" />
*Digraphs with m or n are used for prenasalized consonants, with w and y for labialized and palatalized consonants; kp and gb are used for labial-velar stops; hl and dl are used for lateral fricatives.<ref name=":0" />
*ɓ, ɗ are used for implosives, and ƭ, ƙ for either ejectives or voiceless implosives. ƴ is used for [ʔʲ].
*Nasalization is either written with a nasal consonant following the vowel, or with a tilde. Tone is indicated using the acute accent, grave accent, caron, macron, and circumflex. Diaeresis is used for centralized vowels, and vowel length is indicated by doubling the vowel.
*Segmentation should be done according to each language's own phonology and morphology.