Guinean languages alphabet

Following independence, the government of Guinea adopted rules of transcription for the languages of Guinea based on the characters and diacritic combinations available on typewriters of that period. This included use of various digraphs, some of which represent sounds not present in European languages, and some diacritics, especially for open vowels.

Guinea language orthography

This system was widely used within the country but differed from the orthographies of neighboring countries of West Africa, as developed in the wake of the 1966 Bamako expert meeting on harmonizing orthographies of the cross-border languages of the region.

Following the change of government in 1984, it was decided to adopt an orthography similar to the African reference alphabet used elsewhere in the region.^[1][2]

A tentative and incomplete table follows:

Pre-1985	Post-1985	Language(s)	IPA value
bh	ɓ	Pular	ɓ
dh	ɗ	Pular	ɗ
gh	ɠ	Pular	ɠ
kh	x	Susu	ɣ
nh	ŋ	Pular, Maninka	ŋ
ny	ɲ	Pular, Maninka, Susu	ɲ
yh	ƴ	Pular	/ʔʲ/
è	ɛ	Maninka, Susu	ɛ
ö	ɔ	Maninka, Susu	ɔ
dy	j	Pular, Maninka	dʒ
ty	c	Pular, Maninka	tʃ

References

1. Diallo, Alpha Mamadou, Usages et images des langues en guinée, Université de Conakry.
2. Diallo, Amadou; Étude sur le rôle de l'éducation non formelle dans la stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté (SRP) en Guinée, Ministère du Plan de la République de Guinée/ GTZ, Conakry 3/2006.

• Académie des langues, République de Guinée (1976). Alphabet national des langues de la République de Guinée.