Loma
Script details
See all script details: code, region, status and more
| Code | Loma |
| 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 | 437 (syllabic) |
Script description
The Loma script is a syllabary, like some of the other Mande scripts to which it is related (K’pelle, Mende and Vai) and is indigenous to Liberia.
Read the full description…
Widɔ Zɔbɔ is believed to have had a dream in which he accused God of consigning the Loma people to ignorance by depriving them of a writing system. God subsequently gave him the script on the condition that the Loma people would not forsake their traditions, nor teach any woman to read and write it. Learners were sworn to pass their knowledge on to others, which facilitated the spread of the script, and at one point it was popular for personal correspondence. It has since fallen out of use, in favour of the Latin script.
The Loma script contained 185 characters, each representing a CV syllable without any derivation in form. It was written from left to right. Tone was not indicated.
Languages that use this script
| Language | Writing System Code | Writing System Status | SLDR/CLDR locale | Regional variants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loma | lom-Loma | in use | lom-Loma-LR (Liberia) |
Unicode status
The Loma script is not yet in Unicode. The script has a tentative allocation at U+1E300..U+1E41F in the Roadmap to the SMP
for the Unicode Standard.
Resources
- ScriptSource page for Loma - all about scripts, languages, and writing systems
- Wikipedia article on Loma