Alphabet Key To History Of Mankind

Author(s): David Diringer
Publisher: Hutchinsons Scientific and Technical Publications

Page 565

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THE ALPHABET
ObƐri OkaimƐ Script
IN THE Appendices to some chapters scripts have been examined, which in one way or another seem to have been dependent on writings dealt with in the preceding chapter. It is obvious that a "universal" alphabet like Latin must have influenced the creation of some scripts, although its main importance lies in the fact that, as already said and as will be shown in the following Conclusion, it has been adopted for, and adapted to a great number of languages and dialects.
However, in Chapter X of Part I, a script (the Cherokee syllabary) has been examined, which originated under the influence of the Latin alphabet. Here a most recent creation may be mentioned.
A new script and language are reported by R. F. G. Adams (in an article published in "AFRICA," pp. 24-34, 1947: Oberi Okaims: A New African Language and Script) from the Itu Division of Calabar Province, in the extreme south-eastern part of Nigeria. They are or were employed by a sect of believers in spirits of good or evil, founded about the year 1928 in the village of Ikpa near Iyere in the Itu Division. Both the language and the script, termed Oberi Okaime-name supposed to be given by Seminant or the "holy spirit" of the sect-seem to have originated about the year 1931.
In 1936 the followers of the sect founded a school in which the new language and script were employed. The leaders of the movement were prosecuted and fined for offences against the Education Code. The head of the sect declared that he received his teachings from the spirit, whereas the script "appeared in dreams" to his assistant and was recorded the following day. The new language is different from Ibibio, the form of speech which is spoken in south-east Nigeria, and R. F. G. Adams has noted even the introduction of new speech-sounds.
According to Adams, the script seems to consist of thirty-two main letters, which have both small and capital forms. Diacritical marks and some special symbols are also used. Some signs represent combinations of two consonants, such as sk, sw, ks, pt. In Mr. Adams' view, the script bears no resemblance to any known form of writing, although in the samples of what was said to be the original spirit-writing he recognized the letters x, h, c, z, u, inverted u with two small dashes beneath it, variations of the figure 6, the symbol generally used as the "neutral vowel," and variations of c and s. The comma, called apin, is employed as in European scripts, but the full stop consists of two small parallel dashes.