Ditema (Ditema tsa Dinoko / Isibheqe Sohlamvu)

Ditema is a featural syllabic script developed in the 2010s to write southern Bantu languages such as Sesotho, Tswana, Zulu, Xhosa and Swati. It was inspired by the traditional litema art style.

This script is known as Ditema tsa Dinoko (Ditema syllabary) in Sesotho, or Isibheqe Sohlamvu in Zulu. It has other names in other languages.

Notable features

• Type of writing system: featural syllabary
• Writing direction: left to right horizontally, or vertical from top to bottom
• Used to write: Sesotho and other southern Bantu languages
• Symbols are combined into syllable blocks (amabheqe)
• A dot (ingungwana) attached to a vowel indicates that it is nasal

Ditema / Isibheqe syllabary

Sample texts

Source: http://www.isibheqe.org/

Links

Information about the Ditema / Isibheqe syllabary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditema_tsa_Dinoko
http://www.isibheqe.org/
https://matthewdea.com/blog/2017/5/12/writing-systems-of-africa

Information about Litema art
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litema

Abugidas / Syllabic alphabets

Ahom, Aima, Arleng, Badagu, Badlit, Basahan, Balinese, Balti-A, Balti-B, Batak, Baybayin, Bengali, Bhaiksuki, Bhujimol, Bilang-bilang, Bima, Blackfoot, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Chakma, Cham, Cree, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dham Lipi, Dhankari / Sirmauri, Ditema, Dives Akuru, Dogra, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Fraser, Gond, Goykanadi, Grantha, Gujarati, Gunjala Gondi, Gupta, Gurmukhi, Halbi Lipi, Hanifi, Hanuno'o, Hočąk, Ibalnan, Inuktitut, Jaunsari Takri, Javanese, Kaithi, Kadamba, Kamarupi, Kannada, Kawi, Kerinci, Kharosthi, Khema, Khe Prih, Khmer, Khojki, Khudabadi, Kirat Rai, Kōchi, Kulitan, Kurukh Banna, Lampung, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Lota Ende, Magar Akkha, Mahajani, Malayalam, Manpuri / Meitei (Modern), Manpuri (Old), Marchen, Meroïtic, Masarm Gondi, Modi, Mon, Mongolian Horizontal Square Script, Multani, Nandinagari, Newa, New Tai Lue, Ojibwe, Odia, Pahawh Hmong, Pallava, Phags-pa, Purva Licchavi, Qiang / Rma, Ranjana, Rejang (Kaganga), Sasak, Savara, Satera Jontal, Shan, Sharda, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sukhothai, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagbanwa, Takri, Tamil, Tanchangya (Ka-Pat), Tani, Thaana, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigalari, Tikamuli, Tocharian, Tolong Siki, Vatteluttu, Warang Citi

Other writing systems

Page last modified: 16.03.23

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