Nigerian Fulfulde is written using
Ajami and
Latin scripts. The use of Arabic script to write local languages of West Africa, especially in Northern
Nigeria, started by the Islamic clerics in Hausa city states since the large-scale arrival of Islam in the region through Malian cleric merchants in the 14th century. Although not initially widely used, it nevertheless provided those fluent in its script with a literacy device that enabled them to exchange written communication, without necessarily being fluent in the Arabic. Interestingly, for many centuries, the sedentary rural and urban population of the Hausa city-states used Arabic as the main literary language, as it was seen as the more prestigious means of communication. It was in fact the semi-nomadic Fulfulde community of Northern Nigeria that wrote its native language in 'Ajami script' than the urban-rural Hausa community. Fulɓe people of Northern Nigeria have a rich literary and poetry tradition.. Since 2003, a standardized derivation of the
Arabic script with the
Ajami variant, in the
Hafs tradition, but with 13 adaptations has been used to write the language. This includes a Fulfulde translation of the Bible as well. Nigerian Fulfulde is also written with Latin Script in line with the
Pan-Nigerian alphabet.
Nigerian Fulfulde Ajami alphabet Table below illustrates the Nigerian Fulfulde Ajami alphabet, the yellow highlights indicating letters that are exclusively used for writing loanwords and do not correspond to independent
phonemes, 9 in total. Green highlights letters and digraphs that are either adaptations of the 28 original Arabic letters or are brand new letters for phonemes unique to Fulfulde, 13 in total. 4 of the 13 consist of
digraphs representing the 4 prenasalized consonants present in Fulfulde. The first letter of the digraph representing a prenasalized consonant cannot take any diacritic, not even a zero-vowel diacritic
sukun ''.
Fulfulde Latin Alphabet ==Sample Text==