Fluxus Editions

Abstract. In order for traditional culture, as reflected in manuscripts, to make the transition to the digital age, there is a need to use modern technology to make them available. This means more than simply making scans of the manuscripts—it means storing the manuscripts in a digital format which will allow them to be searched, to have concordances and frequency lists compiled, and so on. Where the script used for the traditional material is the same as the current script, this may present few difficulties, but in cases where the traditional material uses a script that is no longer used for the language, this may present difficulties. This paper presents free (GPL3) tools to address these issues for the Swahili language of East Africa (though the general principles are applicable elsewhere), so that heritage material written in a displaced (Arabic) script (S1) can be easily converted to digital form and automatically transliterated to the contemporary (Roman) script (S2).

References References in BIB How to cite How to cite in BIB

: Chtatou, Mohamed (2010). Using Arabic script in writing African languages, revisiting ISESCO’s experience 25 years later: Field successes and shortcomings. Paper presented at the workshop “The Arabic Script In Africa: Diffusion, Usage, Diversity And Dynamics Of A Writing System,” University Of Cologne.
: Donnelly, Kevin and Yahya Ali Omar (1982). “Structure and association in Bajuni fishing songs.” In: Genres, Forms, Meanings: Essays in African Oral Literature. Ed. by Veronika Görög-Karady. Vol. 1. JASO Occasional Papers, pp. 109–122.
: Harries, Lyndon (1967). Utenzi wa Mkunumbi. A Swahili Potlatch—The Poem about Mkunumbi. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau.
: Hichens, William (1939). Al-Inkishafi: The Soul’s Awakening. London: Sheldon Press.
: Hinnebusch, Thomas J. (2003). “Swahili.” In: International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Ed. by William J. Frawley. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 99–106.
: Knappert, Jan (1967). Traditional Swahili Poetry. Leiden: Brill.
: _____________ (1968). “The Hamziya deciphered.” In: African Language Studies 9, pp. 52–81.
: _____________ (1971). Swahili Islamic Poetry. Leiden: Brill.
: _____________ (1972). A Choice of Flowers: Swahili Songs of Love and Passion. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
: _____________ (1982). Four Centuries of Swahili Verse: A Literary History and Anthology. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
: Mumin, Meikal (2014). “The Arabic script in Africa: Understudied literacy.” In: The Arabic Script in Africa: Studies in the Use of a Writing System. Ed. by Meikal Mumin and Kees Versteegh. Leiden: Brill, pp. 41–76.
: Omar, Yahya Ali and P. J. L. Frankl (1997). “An historical review of the Arabic rendering of Swahili, together with proposals for the development of a Swahili writing system in Arabic script.” In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 3rd ser. 7.1, pp. 55–71.
: Ottenheimer, Harriet J. (2012). “Ideology and orthography. Dictionary construction and spelling choice in the Comoro Islands.” In: Études océan Indien 48. doi: https://doi.org/10.4000/oceanindien.1521.
: Parkar, Ahmed (2020). “Manuscripts and Transmission of Knowledge in Swahili Society: A Comparative Analysis of Form and Usage of Qaṣīda al-Hamziyya.” PhD thesis. University of Hamburg.
: Sacleux, Charles (1939). Dictionnaire swahili-français. Vol. 36. Travaux et mémoires de l’Institut d’Ethnologie. Paris: Institut d’Ethnologie.
: Sperl, Stefan and Christopher Shackl, eds. (1995). Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa. Leiden: Brill.
: van Kessel, Leo (1979). Utenzi wa Rasi ʾlGhuli. Dar-es-Salaam: Tanzania Publishing House.
: Vierke, Clarissa (2014). “Akhi patia kalamu: Writing Swahili poetry in Arabic script.” In: The Arabic Script in Africa: Studies in the Use of a Writing System. Leiden: Brill, pp. 319–339.
: wa Mutiso, Kineene (1996). “Archetypal Motifs in Swahili Islamic Poetry: Kasida ya Burudai.” PhD thesis. University of Nairobi.
: Warren-Rothlin, Andy (2014). “West African scripts and Arabic-script orthographies in socio-political context.” In: The Arabic Script in Africa: Studies in the Use of a Writing System. Leiden: Brill, pp. 261–289.

@MISC{Chtatou2010,
   AUTHOR = {Chtatou, Mohamed},
   TITLE = {{Using Arabic script in writing African languages, revisiting ISESCO's experience 25 years later: Field successes and shortcomings}},
   YEAR = {2010},
   NOTE = {Paper presented at the workshop “The Arabic Script In Africa: Diffusion, Usage, Diversity And Dynamics Of A Writing System,” University Of Cologne},
}

@INCOLLECTION{Donnelly1982,
   AUTHOR = {Donnelly, Kevin and Omar, Yahya Ali},
   EDITOR = {Görög-Karady, Veronika},
   TITLE = {{Structure and association in Bajuni fishing songs}},
   BOOKTITLE = {{Genres, Forms, Meanings: Essays in African Oral Literature}},
   SERIES = {JASO Occasional Papers},
   YEAR = {1982},
   VOLUME = {1},
   PAGES = {109--122},
}

@BOOK{Harries1967,
   AUTHOR = {Harries, Lyndon},
   TITLE = {{Utenzi wa Mkunumbi. A Swahili Potlatch---The Poem about Mkunumbi}},
   PUBLISHER = {East African Literature Bureau},
   ADDRESS = {Nairobi},
   YEAR = {1967},
}

@BOOK{Hichens1939,
   AUTHOR = {Hichens, William},
   TITLE = {{Al-Inkishafi: The Soul's Awakening}},
   PUBLISHER = {Sheldon Press},
   ADDRESS = {London},
   YEAR = {1939},
}

@INCOLLECTION{Hinnebusch2003,
   AUTHOR = {Hinnebusch, Thomas J.},
   EDITOR = {Frawley, William J.},
   TITLE = {{Swahili}},
   BOOKTITLE = {{International Encyclopedia of Linguistics}},
   PUBLISHER = {Oxford University Press},
   ADDRESS = {Oxford},
   YEAR = {2003},
   PAGES = {99--106},
}

@BOOK{Knappert1967,
   AUTHOR = {Knappert, Jan},
   TITLE = {{Traditional Swahili Poetry}},
   PUBLISHER = {Brill},
   ADDRESS = {Leiden},
   YEAR = {1967},
}

@ARTICLE{Knappert1968,
   AUTHOR = {Knappert, Jan},
   TITLE = {{The Hamziya deciphered}},
   JOURNAL = {{African Language Studies}},
   YEAR = {1968},
   VOLUME = {9},
   PAGES = {52--81},
}

@BOOK{Knappert1971,
   AUTHOR = {Knappert, Jan},
   TITLE = {{Swahili Islamic Poetry}},
   PUBLISHER = {Brill},
   ADDRESS = {Leiden},
   YEAR = {1971},
}

@BOOK{Knappert1972,
   AUTHOR = {Knappert, Jan},
   TITLE = {{A Choice of Flowers: Swahili Songs of Love and Passion}},
   PUBLISHER = {Heinemann},
   ADDRESS = {Portsmouth, NH},
   YEAR = {1972},
}

@BOOK{Knappert1982,
   AUTHOR = {Knappert, Jan},
   TITLE = {{Four Centuries of Swahili Verse: A Literary History and Anthology}},
   PUBLISHER = {Heinemann},
   ADDRESS = {Portsmouth, NH},
   YEAR = {1982},
}

@INCOLLECTION{Mumin2014b,
   AUTHOR = {Mumin, Meikal},
   TITLE = {{The Arabic script in Africa: Understudied literacy}},
   BOOKTITLE = {{The Arabic Script in Africa: Studies in the Use of a Writing System.}},
   YEAR = {2014},
   PAGES = {41--76},
}

@ARTICLE{Omar1997,
   AUTHOR = {Omar, Yahya Ali and Frankl, P. J. L.},
   TITLE = {{An historical review of the Arabic rendering of Swahili, together with proposals for the development of a Swahili writing system in Arabic script}},
   JOURNAL = {{Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society}},
   SERIES = {3},
   YEAR = {1997},
   VOLUME = {7},
   NUMBER = {1},
   PAGES = {55--71},
}

@ARTICLE{Ottenheimer2012,
   AUTHOR = {Ottenheimer, Harriet J.},
   TITLE = {{Ideology and orthography. Dictionary construction and spelling choice in the Comoro Islands}},
   JOURNAL = {{Études océan Indien}},
   YEAR = {2012},
   NUMBER = {48},
}

@PHDTHESIS{Parkar2020,
   AUTHOR = {Parkar, Ahmed},
   TITLE = {{Manuscripts and Transmission of Knowledge in Swahili Society: A Comparative Analysis of Form and Usage of Qaṣīda al-Hamziyya}},
   SCHOOL = {University of Hamburg},
   YEAR = {2020},
}

@BOOK{Sacleux1939,
   AUTHOR = {Sacleux, Charles},
   TITLE = {{Dictionnaire swahili-français}},
   SERIES = {Travaux et mémoires de l'Institut d'Ethnologie},
   PUBLISHER = {Institut d'Ethnologie},
   ADDRESS = {Paris},
   YEAR = {1939},
   VOLUME = {36},
}

@BOOK{Sperl1995,
   EDITOR = {Sperl, Stefan and Shackl, Christopher},
   TITLE = {{Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa}},
   PUBLISHER = {Brill},
   ADDRESS = {Leiden},
   YEAR = {1995},
}

@BOOK{vanKessel1979,
   AUTHOR = {{van Kessel}, Leo},
   TITLE = {{Utenzi wa Rasi {\hamza}lGhuli}},
   PUBLISHER = {Tanzania Publishing House},
   ADDRESS = {Dar-es-Salaam},
   YEAR = {1979},
}

@INCOLLECTION{Vierke2014,
   AUTHOR = {Vierke, Clarissa},
   TITLE = {{Akhi patia kalamu: Writing Swahili poetry in Arabic script}},
   BOOKTITLE = {{The Arabic Script in Africa: Studies in the Use of a Writing System}},
   PUBLISHER = {Brill},
   ADDRESS = {Leiden},
   YEAR = {2014},
   PAGES = {319--339},
}

@PHDTHESIS{waMutiso1996,
   AUTHOR = {{wa Mutiso}, Kineene},
   TITLE = {{Archetypal Motifs in Swahili Islamic Poetry: Kasida ya Burudai}},
   SCHOOL = {University of Nairobi},
   YEAR = {1996},
}

@INCOLLECTION{Warren2014,
   AUTHOR = {Warren-Rothlin, Andy},
   TITLE = {{West African scripts and Arabic-script orthographies in socio-political context}},
   BOOKTITLE = {{The Arabic Script in Africa: Studies in the Use of a Writing System}},
   PUBLISHER = {Brill},
   ADDRESS = {Leiden},
   YEAR = {2014},
   PAGES = {261--289},
}

Kevin Donnelly (2020), “Digitising Swahili in Arabic Script With Andika!,” in Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, 2020 (Yannis Haralambous, Ed.), Grapholinguistics and Its Applications, Vol. 5, Brest: Fluxus Editions, 963–984.


@INPROCEEDINGS{gla5-donn,
   AUTHOR = {Kevin Donnelly},
   EDITOR = {Haralambous, Yannis},
   TITLE = {{Digitising Swahili in Arabic Script With \‍emph{Andika!}}},
   BOOKTITLE = {{Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, 2020}},
   SERIES = {{Grapholinguistics and Its Applications}},
   VOLUME = {5},
   PUBLISHER = {Fluxus Editions},
   ADDRESS = {Brest},
   YEAR = {2020},
   PAGES = {963--984},
   DOI = {https://doi.org/10.36824/2020-graf-donn},
}