Kpelle
Script details
See all script details: code, region, status and more
| Code | Kpel |
| Script type | syllabary |
| Region | African |
| Status | Current |
| Direction | LTR |
| Baseline | bottom |
| Case | no |
| White space | unspecified |
| Complex behaviors | |
| OpenType code | unspecified |
| ISO 15924 Numeric Code / Key | 436 (syllabic) |
Script description
The Kpelle script was created by Chief Gbili, from the town of Sanoyie in Liberia, for writing the Kpelle language.
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It was used in the 1930s and early 1940s around Gbili’s local area for sending messages, keeping tax and store records, and recording legal debts, but by the late 1940s had been replaced by the Latin script.
Kpelle writing uses 88 symbols, each representing a pair of syllables dubbed ‘mutational pairs’ by the linguist David Dalby. These pairs are related by the phonological similarity of their initial consonants or consonant clusters. For example, the syllables kpi and gbi are identical except in voicing, and are represented by a single symbol. Some pairs are written with two symbols, for example, ti and di, but either symbol can be used for either sound.
The script is written from left to right, without the use of punctuation. Numbers from 1-10 can be written, but there is no symbol for writing the number zero.
Languages that use this script
| Language | Writing System Code | Writing System Status | SLDR/CLDR locale | Regional variants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kpelle, Liberia | kpe-Kpel | in use | kpe-Kpel-LR (Liberia) |
Unicode status
The Kpelle script is not yet in Unicode. The script has a tentative allocation at U+16C00..U+16C7F in the Roadmap to the SMP
for the Unicode Standard.
Resources
- ScriptSource page for Kpelle - all about scripts, languages, and writing systems
- Wikipedia article on Kpelle