African American History Culture : Reviving tifinagh, the ancient script of the Tuareg

[Omowale Jabali]

Some two-thirds of the estimated 1.5 million Tuareg living in Niger use their traditional language, Tamajaq, on a daily basis. Although Tamajaq’s ancient script, Tifinagh, continues to be transmitted to children as a means of preserving Tuareg identity, the unusual script is rarely used nowadays in Niger. This project aimed to revitalize Tifinagh.


http://www.unesco.org/new/en/cultur...ng_tifinagh_the_ancient_script_of_the_tuareg/

 

[Omowale Jabali]

Some two-thirds of the estimated 1.5 million Tuareg living in Niger use their traditional language, Tamajaq, on a daily basis. Although Tamajaq’s ancient script, Tifinagh, continues to be transmitted to children as a means of preserving Tuareg identity, the unusual script is rarely used nowadays in Niger. This project aimed to revitalize Tifinagh.


http://www.unesco.org/new/en/cultur...ng_tifinagh_the_ancient_script_of_the_tuareg/

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~gene/papers/Buckley2010_tifinagh_poster.pdf

 

[Omowale Jabali]

Ancient African Writing Systems

I wonder if I am the only one that gets seriously disturbed when I see claims that ancient Africans (excluding the Egyptians of course) were not using any writing systems before Arabs came into the continent bringing Arabic script. I believe such an assumption taken as fact is not only erroneous but is also one in several attempts to paint Africans as “lesser” in that everyone else in the world had writing systems except ancient Africans.

The truth of the matter is that ancient Africans were writing and there are several African writing systems even though most of them may be forgotten now. I have been following with keen interest Naijablog’s posts on the Nsibidi script yet the Nsibidi is not the only script that I’ve come across, there is also Tifinagh or Shifinagh, the written form of Tamasheq which is the language spoken by the Tuareg a nomadic people scattered through West and North Africa. Tamasheq is a southern Berber language and apparently bears significant resemblance to Pharaonic Egyptian. The roots of the Tamasheq writing system can be traced directly to the ancient Berber script that was used by the Numidians in pre-Roman times.

http://www.blacklooks.org/2010/10/ancient-african-writing-systems/

 

[Omowale Jabali]

Northern Songhay Languages in Mali and Niger

http://www.sil.org/silesr/1999/008/nsonghay.pdf

 

[cherryblossom]

Thank you for sharing, Bro. O.


I found this video and wondered is it the same Tifinagh language/script as the people in Niger...