Editing Yoruba language (section)

== Writing systems ==
{{Main|Yoruba alphabet|Oduduwa script}}
{{see also|Nigerian braille#Yoruba Braille}}
[[File:Church of the Visitation 12.jpg|thumb|Yoruba hymn, [[Church of the Visitation]], Jerusalem]]
The earliest evidence of the presence of Islam and literacy goes back to the 14th century. The earliest documented history of the people, traced to the latter part of the 17th century, was in the Yoruba but in the Arabic script called [[Ajami script|Ajami]]. This makes Yoruba one of the oldest African languages with an attested history of Ajami (Cf. Mumin & Versteegh 2014; Hofheinz 2018). However, the oldest extant Yoruba Ajami exemplar is a 19th-century Islamic verse (waka) by Badamasi Agbaji (d. 1895- Hunwick 1995). There are several items of Yoruba Ajami in poetry, personal notes, and esoteric knowledge (Cf. Bang 2019). Nevertheless, Yoruba Ajami remained idiosyncratic and not socially diffused, as no standardized orthography existed. The plethora of dialects and the absence of a central promotional institution, among others, are responsible.

In the 17th century, Yoruba was written in the [[Ajami script]], a form of [[Arabic script]].<ref>"Yoruba...written in a version of the Arabic script known as Ajami (or Ajamiyya)."[https://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/afs/NigerianSurveyTour2007/NigerianSurveyTour.html]</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jep3DAAAQBAJ&q=yoruba+ajami&pg=PA194|title=Encyclopedia of the Yoruba|last1=FALOLA|first1=TOYIN|last2=AKINYEMI|first2=AKINTUNDE|date=2016-06-20|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253021564|pages=194|language=en}}</ref> It is still written in the Ajami writing script in some Islamic circles. Standard Yoruba [[orthography]] originated in the early work of [[Church Mission Society]] missionaries working among the ''Aku'' (Yoruba) of [[Freetown]]. One of their [[informant (linguistics)|informants]] was Crowther, who later would proceed to work on his native language himself. In early grammar primers and translations of portions of the English Bible, Crowther used the [[Latin alphabet]] largely without tone markings. The only diacritic used was a dot below certain vowels to signify their [[open vowel|open]] variants {{IPA|[ɛ]}} and {{IPA|[ɔ]}}, viz. {{angbr|ẹ}} and {{angbr|ọ}}. Over the years, the orthography was revised to represent tone, among other things. In 1875, the [[Church Missionary Society]] (CMS) organized a conference on Yoruba Orthography; the standard devised there was the basis for the orthography of the steady flow of religious and educational literature over the next seventy years.

The current orthography of Yoruba derives from a 1966 report of the Yoruba Orthography Committee, along with Ayọ Bamgboṣe's 1965 ''Yoruba Orthography'', a study of the earlier orthographies and an attempt to bring Yoruba orthography in line with actual speech as much as possible. Still similar to the older orthography, it employs the [[Latin alphabet]] modified by the use of the [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]] {{angbr|gb}} and certain [[diacritic]]s, including the [[underdot]]s under the letters {{angbr|ẹ}}, {{angbr|ọ}}, and {{angbr|ṣ}}. Previously, the vertical line had been used to avoid the mark being fully covered by an [[underline]], as in ⟨e̩⟩, ⟨o̩⟩, ⟨s̩⟩; however, that usage is no longer common.

{| cellpadding="3"
|A||B||D||E||Ẹ||F||G||Gb||H||I||J||K||L||M||N||O||Ọ||P||R||S||Ṣ||T||U||W||Y
|-
|a||b||d||e||ẹ||f||g||gb||h|| I ||j||k||l||m||n||o||ọ||p||r||s||ṣ||t||u||w||y
|}

The Latin letters {{angbr|c}}, {{angbr|q}}, {{angbr|v}}, {{angbr|x}}, {{angbr|z}} are not used as part of the official orthography of Standard Yoruba and only occur in loan words from English. However, {{angbr|z}} is used in certain Yoruba dialects, like the Ao dialect.

The pronunciation of the letters without diacritics corresponds more or less to their [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] equivalents, except for the [[labial–velar consonant]] {{IPA|[k͡p]}} (written {{angbr|p}}) and {{IPA|[ɡ͡b]}} (written {{angbr|gb}}), in which both consonants are pronounced simultaneously rather than sequentially. The [[diacritic]] underneath vowels indicates an [[open vowel]], pronounced with the [[advanced and retracted tongue root|root of the tongue retracted]] (so {{angbr|ẹ}} is pronounced {{IPA|[ɛ̙]}} and {{angbr|ọ}} is {{IPA|[ɔ̙]}}). {{angbr|ṣ}} represents a [[postalveolar consonant]] {{IPA|[ʃ]}} like the English {{angbr|sh}}, {{angbr|y}} represents a [[palatal approximant]] like English {{angbr|y}}, and {{angbr|j}} a [[voiced palatal stop]] {{IPA|[ɟ]}}, as is common in many African orthographies.

In addition to the underdots, three further diacritics are used on vowels and syllabic [[nasal consonant]]s to indicate the language's tones: an [[acute accent]] {{angbr|'''´'''}} for the high tone, a [[grave accent]] {{angbr|'''`'''}} for the low tone, and an optional [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] {{angbr|'''¯'''}} for the middle tone. These are used in addition to the underdots in {{angbr|ẹ}} and {{angbr|ọ}}. When more than one tone is used in one syllable, the vowel can either be written once for each tone (for example, *{{angbr|òó}} for a vowel {{IPA|[o]}} with tone rising from low to high) or, more rarely in current usage, combined into a single accent. In this case, a [[caron]] {{angbr|ˇ}} is used for the rising tone (so the previous example would be written {{angbr|ǒ}}), and a [[circumflex]] {{angbr|ˆ}} for the falling tone. <!-- However, this is not a part of the standard orthography. -->

{| cellpadding="3"
|Á||À||Ā||É||È||Ē||Ẹ||Ẹ́||Ẹ̀||Ẹ̄||Í||Ì||Ī
|Ń
|Ǹ
|N̄
|Ḿ
|M̀
|M̄
|Ó||Ò||Ō||Ọ||Ọ́||Ọ̀||Ọ̄||Ú||Ù||Ū||Ṣ
|-
|á||à||ā||é||è||ē||ẹ||ẹ́||ẹ̀||ẹ̄||í||ì||ī
|ń
|ǹ
|n̄
|ḿ
|m̀
|m̄
|ó||ò||ō||ọ||ọ́||ọ̀||ọ̄||ú||ù||ū||ṣ
|}

In [[Benin]], Yoruba uses a different orthography. The Yoruba alphabet was standardized along with other Benin languages in the [[National Languages Alphabet (Benin)|National Languages Alphabet]] by the [[National Language Commission]] in 1975, and revised in 1990 and 2008 by the [[National Center for Applied Linguistics]].
 
{| cellpadding="3"
|+ Benin alphabet	
|-	
|A||B||D||E||Ɛ||F||G||Gb||H||I||J||K||Kp||L||M||N||O||Ɔ||P||R||S||Sh||T||U||W||Y	
|-	
|a||b||d||e||ɛ||f||g||gb||h|| I ||j||k||kp||l||m||n||o||ɔ||p||r||s||sh||t||u||w||y
|}

In 2011, a Beninese priest-chief by the name of Tolúlàṣẹ Ògúntósìn devised a new script for Yoruba, based on a vision received in his sleep which he believed to have been granted by [[Oduduwa]]. This [[Oduduwa script]] has also received support from other prominent chiefs in the [[Yorubaland]] region of both countries.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Adéṣínà Ọmọ Yoòbá |title=This chief hopes Yorùbá speakers adopt his newly invented 'talking alphabet' |url=https://globalvoices.org/2020/03/10/this-chief-hopes-yoruba-speakers-adopt-his-newly-invented-talking-alphabet/ |access-date=4 April 2021 |work=Global Voices |date=10 March 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Yoruba Monarchs Commends New Oduduwa Alphabets, Hail Aregbesola |url=http://www.osundefender.com/yoruba-monarchs-commends-new-oduduwa-alphabets-hail-aregbesola/ |work=OsunDefender |date=1 November 2017}}</ref>