The Alphabet — Vowelsߞߊ߲ߜߍߟߞߊ߲ ߗߋߟߋ߲
The Seven Vowels
Meet the 7 vowel letters of NKo — the foundation of every word.
NKo has 7 vowel sounds, each with its own letter. Unlike English, NKo spelling is highly phonetic — one letter almost always means one sound. Learn these 7 shapes first and you can already start sounding out words.
NKo is written and read from right to left, including numbers. Keep that in mind as you look at every example in this course.
A
/a/ · /a/
ala — God
EE
/e/ · /e/
be — goat
I
/i/ · /i/
si — night
E
/ɛ/ · /ɛ/
bɛ — is / exists
U
/u/ · /u/
su — corpse
OO
/o/ · /o/
so — house
O
/ɔ/ · /ɔ/
sɔ — horse
Notice the family resemblance — most vowel letters share a tall right-side stroke with a loop or hook that changes its sound. Practice writing all 7 in order before moving on.
Check your understanding
1. Which letter makes the sound /a/, as in 'father'?
2. How many vowel letters does NKo have?
3. NKo is read in which direction?