Shimaore was traditionally written with an informal
French-based
Latin alphabet. On , the ''Conseil de la Culture, de l'Éducation et de l'Environnement de Mayotte
introduced an official alphabet developed by Association ShiMé'' that utilizes the basic Latin alphabet without c, q, and x and adds three letters: ɓ, ɗ, and v̄. On , the Conseil départemental de Mayotte announced the adoption of official orthographies in both Latin and Arabic scripts for Shimaore.
Maore Latin Alphabet Maore Arabic Alphabet Maore Arabic Alphabet, officially recognized alongside Latin since 2020, consists of 35 letters, of which 27 are from the original Arabic script, and 9 are created for sounds not found in Arabic. However, many of the letters in Maore have a different pronunciation than their Arabic counterpart. Whereas in Arabic there are 3 vowels, in Maore there are 5. While the common convention in
Swahili Ajami orthography has been to use two new
diacritics, which are modified varieties of two existing diacritics, in Maore Arabic alphabet, only the 3 original Arabic diacritics are used. Arabic vowels themselves represent vowels [a], [u], and [i]. The vowel [o] is created by adding a
waw "و" and a
zero-vowel diacritic (sukun) after the consonant. The vowel [e] is created by adding a
ya' "ي" and a
zero-vowel diacritic (sukun) after the consonant. In Maore Arabic Alphabet, (similar to
Swahili Ajami Script) stressed syllables are marked, either with
alif "ا" (if the vowel of the syllable is [a]),
waw "و" (if the vowel of the syllable is [u]), or
ya' "ي" (if the vowel of the syllable is [i]). These letters are written with no diacritic, not even
zero-vowel diacritic (sukun). (the existence or lack thereof of the zero-vowel diacritic is what distinguishes between [e] and a stressed [i]). This does not apply to stressed syllables containing vowels [o] or [e]. In most cases, the stressed syllable happens to be the one before last. Whereas in Arabic, the letter
ʿayn is used as a
pharyngeal consonant, in Maore it has a unique role of being the carrier for nasal vowels. Meaning that with the use of
diacritics (and the letter
waw "و" and
ya' "ي" as needed), nasal vowels are written. When non-nasal vowels are at the beginning of a word,
alif-hamza "أ / إ" is used as a carrier of the appropriate diacritic (followed by the letter
waw "و" and
ya' "ي" as needed.) ==Grammar==