Alphabet

Our Massalit alphabet has 34 letters.

There are 10 vowels:

  • 5 are 'light' or 'open' vowels: a, e, i, o, u
  • 5 are 'heavy' or 'closed' vowels: â, ê, î, ô, û

There are 24 consonants:

  • b, c, ch, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, mb, n, nd, n̰, nj, ŋ, ŋg, r, s, t, w, y, z

Among the consonants,

  • These special letters are not found in English: n̰ and ŋ (n̰ is like 'ny' in English, ŋ is like 'ng' in English)
  • These letters are made up of 2 symbols but they represent one sound: ch, mb, nd, nj, ŋg

Study the Alphabet Chart below:

Alphabet chart 2022

 

Study the alphabet chart to see how the letters are used:

You can also watch the same videos on Youtube:

Massalit Alphabet

Massalit vowels

Writing the "sagi" vowels

Massalit consonants: b / mb

Massalit consonants: d / nd

Massalit consonants: j / nj

Massalit consonants: ŋ / g / ŋg

Massalit consonants: n̰ / ŋ / c