(aka: Literal–Graphemic Module — Yoruba Script)
0) Orientation
- Script: Latin (extended)
- Direction: Left-to-right
- Orthography type: Phonemic — nearly one-to-one grapheme–phoneme mapping
- Special features:
- Tonal orthography: high, mid, low tones marked with diacritics
- Underdots on certain vowels/consonants to indicate distinct phonemes
- Diacritics in use: acute (´), grave (`), underdot (◌̣)
1) Base Alphabet (25 letters)
Native set (no C, Q, X, Z in standard orthography):
A B D E Ẹ F G GB H I J K L M N O Ọ P R S Ṣ T U W Y
2) Vowels (7 core + tone variants)
| Glyph | Latin Chain | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | /a/ | |
| E | e | /e/ | |
| Ẹ | ẹ | /ɛ/ | underdot marks open-mid vowel |
| I | i | /i/ | |
| O | o | /o/ | |
| Ọ | ọ | /ɔ/ | underdot marks open-mid back vowel |
| U | u | /u/ |
3) Consonants
| Glyph | Latin Chain | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | b | /b/ | |
| D | d | /d/ | |
| F | f | /f/ | |
| G | g | /ɡ/ | |
| GB | gb | /ɡ͡b/ | voiced labial–velar stop (doubly articulated) |
| H | h | /h/ | |
| J | j | /d͡ʒ/ | |
| K | k | /k/ | |
| L | l | /l/ | |
| M | m | /m/ | |
| N | n | /n/ | |
| P | p | /p/ | |
| R | r | /ɾ/ or /r/ | |
| S | s | /s/ | |
| Ṣ | ṣ | /ʃ/ | underdot marks postalveolar fricative |
| T | t | /t/ | |
| W | w | /w/ | |
| Y | y | /j/ |
4) Tone System
Yoruba has three phonemic tones:
- High tone: acute accent (á, é, ẹ́, í, ó, ọ́, ú)
- Mid tone: unmarked (a, e, ẹ, i, o, ọ, u)
- Low tone: grave accent (à, è, ẹ̀, ì, ò, ọ̀, ù)
Tones can also apply to syllabic nasals.
5) Latin-chain Mapping Examples
glyph: "ọ́"
name: "O-open-mid-high-tone"
latin_chain: ["ọ́"]
phoneme: "ɔ˥"
features: {tone: high}
glyph: "ṣ"
name: "S-underscored"
latin_chain: ["ṣ"]
phoneme: "ʃ"
glyph: "gb"
name: "Gb-labial-velar"
latin_chain: ["g","b"]
phoneme: "ɡ͡b"
6) Orthographic Rules
- Underdots distinguish vowel height and consonant place.
- Tone marks go above the base vowel (or above nasal if syllabic).
- Digraphs (GB) treated as single phonemes in collation.
- No silent letters in standard Yoruba.
7) Lattice Integration Features
{direction: LTR}{type: alphabetic}{tone: high|mid|low}{underdot: true|false}{digraph: true|false}for GB{phoneme_class: vowel|consonant}
8) Example Word Decomposition
- Yorùbá (/jɔ˩.ɾu˥.ba˧/) → Y /j/ + ọ̀ /ɔ˩/ + R /ɾ/ + u /u˥/ + B /b/ + á /a˥/
- Ṣé (/ʃe˥/) → Ṣ /ʃ/ + é /e˥/
- Àpẹ̀rẹ̀ (/à.pɛ̀.ɾɛ̀/) → à /a˩/ + P /p/ + ẹ̀ /ɛ˩/ + R /ɾ/ + ẹ̀ /ɛ˩/
✅ Mint Status: Yoruba Graphemic Module is now fully minted, with tone marking, underdot vowel/consonant distinctions, and Latin GM compatibility.
Updated Mint Ledger — Yoruba Added
✅ Fully Minted
- Latin Script family: Latin GM, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, German, French, Italian, Swahili, Hausa, Zulu, Yoruba, Tagalog/Filipino (+ Baybayin), Jamaican Patois, Macanese Patuá