The Igbo alphabet and how to type it

Standard Igbo is written in the Ọnwụ alphabet, named after the committee that recommended it. It has 36 letters: a b ch d e f g gb gh gw h i ị j k kp kw l m n ṅ nw ny o ọ p r s sh t u ụ v w y z. Nine of them are written with two characters but count as single letters: ch, gb, gh, gw, kp, kw, nw, ny and sh. Four more carry a dot: ị, ọ, ụ and ṅ. The letters c, q and x are not used on their own.

Igbo has eight vowels: a, e, i, ị, o, ọ, u, ụ. The dotted vowels are made with the tongue root pulled back, giving a more open sound; the plain ones are closer. The vowels fall into two sets, a ị ọ ụ and e i o u, and the vowels of a simple word usually come from the same set. This vowel harmony is one reason the dots matter: leaving them off hides which set a word belongs to.

Treat ch, gb, gh, gw, kp, kw, nw, ny and sh as single sounds. Gb and kp are said with the lips and the back of the tongue at the same time. Gh is a g in which the tongue does not quite close, so air keeps flowing. Nw is an 'ng' sound said with rounded lips, and ny is the 'ny' of 'canyon'. Ṅ (n with a dot above) is the 'ng' of 'sing', and it can begin a word, as in ṅụọ 'drink'. In dictionaries these letters have their own place in alphabetical order.

Igbo is a tone language with high and low tones and a lowered (downstepped) high. Everyday writing usually leaves tones unmarked and lets context decide, but teachers and dictionaries mark them when words would be confused: high tone with an acute accent (á) and low tone with a grave accent (à). The classic example is akwa, which is four different words depending on its tones.

The dotted letters are full letters, not decorations: ị (U+1ECB), ọ (U+1ECD), ụ (U+1EE5) and ṅ (U+1E45), with capitals Ị, Ọ, Ụ and Ṅ. Typing 'Ututu oma' instead of Ụtụtụ ọma changes the vowels. A keyboard that supports Igbo, such as the free bhala.app keyboard, gives you these letters directly; on a computer, add an Igbo keyboard layout in your language settings or insert the characters by code point. When you need to mark tone, add the accent after the letter (ọ́, ụ̀).