Language, Script and Vernacular Literature in West Africa

0. In recent years, the problems of script, orthographies and subsequently of the written form of vernacular languages in West Africa have attracted considerable attention from linguists. Interest has been shown in the analysis of hitherto unknown or little known indigenous scripts, including the problems of their origin, occurrence and usage and the history of their discovery (cf. Klingenheben, ¹ Dalby, ² etc.). Problems of applied character have arisen, on the other hand, in connection with mass literacy campaigns, involving the introduction of new written forms of languages as well as putting existing written forms on a new quantitative basis, where these have existed hitherto in restricted functions and quality. ³ In a third category are scholars interested in the creation or description of literature in West African vernaculars, who obviously approach this complex of problems from another methodological point of view. ⁴