Orthography Development as an
Ongoing Collaborative Process:
Lessons from Bangladesh
John M Clifton
SIL International and
University of North Dakota
Orthography based on Linguistics
• The reform of the orthographies of the Eastern
Tucanoan languages is a good example of the
need for a thorough linguistic analysis as a basis
for orthography development and for the
advantage of an orthography that respects the
particular structure of the languages as opposed
to the one that uses conventions of
orthographies of surrounding languages with
established orthographies. (Siefart 2006:288)
Foundations of Traditional Model
• Language community plays secondary
role
• Based on technical linguistic analysis
• Linguistic analysis done by an outside
linguist
• Linguist develops proposal for community
approval
• Orthography is viewed as a final product
Foundations of Collaborative Model
• Practical orthography based on local
practices
• Orthography development proceeds in
parallel with orthography use
• Linguist works with orthography users to
determine distribution of letters
• Users determine problem points
• Orthography is an evolving system
Languages in Project
Tibeto-Burman
Lolo-Burmese
Bodo-Garo
Kuki-Chin
Isolate
Indo-Aryan
Bengali-Assamese
Marma
Kok Borok
Bawm
Khyang
Mru
Chakma
Tanchangya
Previous Orthographies
•
•
•
•
•
•
Marma: Burmese
Kok Borok: Bangla, switching to Latin
Bawm/Khyang: Latin
Mru: Latin & Unique (t g y M b d a f k h i)
Chakma: Unique (k Ki gu G AM ce CR j JZ Y)
Tanchangya: Unwritten
Orthography Development
Workshops
• Five day workshops
• Representatives from multiple languages
at each
• Concurrent literacy materials workshop
• Three activities:
– Consultant/participant sessions
– Participants work on orthography assignment
– Participants work on literacy materials
Workshop Objectives
• Identify digraphs
‒ /pʰ tʰ kʰ/ are <ফ থ খ> in Bangla but <ph th kh>
in Bawm
• Compile lists of symbols in relevant
environments
– Language specific criterion: Syllable-final
consonants in Chakma are identified by ‘killer
bar’: knF /kɑn/ ‘ear’, rmFjune /rɑmʤuni/ ‘rainbow’
• Identify overdifferentiation; indeterminacy
Workshop Objectives
• Identify underdifferentiation
‒ Ask for lists of words, one for each sound
Kok Borok: <awan> ‘rice cake’ /ɑwɑn/
<san> ‘bush sp.’ /sɑ̃/
‒ Give options: underdifferentiation, digraph,
diacritic
‒ Group decides how to represent
Kok Borok decision: <awan> vs. <sân>
Khyang Multiple Orthographies
• Currently use Latin orthography
• Minority opinion: Develop unique alphabet
..\..\..\..\..\Desktop\New Khyang.pdf
• No diacritics, plus resolves multiple uses of <h>
–
–
–
–
/h/ (syllable initial)
voiceless aspirates
part of <ch> digraph for affricate /ʧ/
Mark syllable-final /ʔ/: <zeh> /zeʔ/ 'loved'
Conclusions
• People are willing to change when they
determine there are good reasons to.
• Native speakers can be brought into the process
at an early stage if the object of analysis is the
orthography, not the linguistic system.
• Both native speakers and linguists are needed
for the process to work.
• Orthography should be viewed not as a final
product, but as an evolving process.