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Writing Systems Technical Resources

Mende Kikakui

"Mɛɛnde yia" in Mende script Kikakui (read from right to left)

Script details

See all script details: code, region, status and more
Code Mend
Script type syllabary
Region African
Status Current
Direction RTL
Baseline bottom
Case no
White space unspecified
Complex behaviors diacritics, required ligatures
OpenType code mend
ISO 15924 Numeric Code / Key 438 (syllabic)

Explanation of script details

Script description

The Mende (also called Kikakui) script was devised by Mohammed Turay for writing the Sierra Leonean language, Mende, spoken by almost 1.5 million people.

Read the full description…It was modified by one of Turay’s students, Kisimi Kamara, in 1921 to produce the form currently used. It is an abugida; each of the 195 symbols represents a consonant with an inherent vowel. Symbols are sometimes formed by adding diacritics to a basic consonant sign to indicate the quality of the vowel; more often, every legitimate consonant+vowel syllable is represented by a unique, underived sign. It is the only West African syllabary to be written from right to left, which is attributed to Kamara’s Islamic heritage and familiarity with the Arabic script, also written from right to left. It is generally believed that the inventors also had some knowledge of the Vai script of Liberia, as the two scripts share significant similarities both in form and in origin.

The script was widely used for a time, and was a source of great national pride. However in the 1940s the British set up the Protectorate Literacy Bureau, with the aim of spreading literacy in the Latin script. As a result, the Mende script was largely replaced by a modified version of the Latin script, and is now estimated to be used by fewer than 500 people.

Languages that use this script

LanguageWriting System
Code		Writing System
Status		SLDR/CLDR
locale		Regional
variants
Mendemen-Mendin use men-Mend-SL (Sierra Leone)

Unicode status

In The Unicode Standard, Mende Kikakui script implementation is discussed in Chapter 19:Africa.

Resources