________________
SYLLABIC SYSTEMS OF WRITING
179
The Script
The Vai script was discovered in 1848 by Commodore F. E. Forbes and reported in 1849 by the missionary S. W. Koelle. The writing consists of two hundred and twenty-six symbols representing vowels or open syllables (one or more consonants followed by a vowel). Many signs are very complicated. Some syllables can be expressed by more than one symbol. Many symbols have a number of variants, some being used rarely, others no longer employed. The whole script is in continuous evolution, as can be seen from Fig. 92, 1 and 2. The direction of writing is from left to right.
Origin
The origin of the Vai syllabary is uncertain. A native, named Momoru Doalu Bukere or Momolu Duwalu Bukele is said to have invented this writing about 1829 or 1839. According to a native tradition, on the other hand, it was invented by eight Vai negroes; while there is another tradition that it had already been in existence for at least two centuries, having been invented by a people living in the neighbourhood of the source of the river Niger. The solution of the problem seems to be a compromise between the various suggestions; that is, it seems that the writing had been in existence for some time, but it was ideographic and was finally reduced to a syllabic writing by Momolu Duwalu Bukele.
This theory being right, the Vai syllabary should be dealt with in Part 1, Chapter IX (before the Bamun script). It is, however, far from certain, and therefore I prefer to treat of it on the basis of its present, that is syllabic, character.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Norris, Despatch Communicating the Discovery of a Native Written Character at Bohmar, etc., London, 1849.
S. W. Kelle, Narrative of an Expedition into the Vy country of West Africa and the Discovery of a System of Syllabic Writing, etc., London, 1849; Outlines of a Grammar of the Vei Language, etc., London, 1854.
H. Steinthal, Die Mande-Neger-Sprachen, etc., Berlin, 1867.
M. Delafosse, Ler Vai, leur Langue et leur système d'écriture, "L'ANTHROPOLOGIE," Paris, 1899.
H. Johnston, Liberia, London, 1906.
F. W. H. Migcod, The Syllabic Writing of the Vai People, "JOURN. OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETY," London, 1909-1910; The Languages of West Africa, 2 vols., London, 1911-1913
M. Massaquoi, The Vai People and their Syllabic Writing, "JOURN. OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETY," 1910-1911.
C. Meinhof, Zur Entstehung der Schrift, "ZEITSCHRIFT FUER EGYPTISCHE SPRACHE UND ALTERTUMSKUNDE," 1911.
A. Klingenheben, The Vai Script, "AFRICA," London, 1933.
