The seven vowels in the N’Ko writing system are the characters that can be sounded alone without association with other others. The following are the vowels of the alphabet. The vowels, their closet English counterparts and pronunciations are listed in the vowel table below.
Q O U X I E A
As one can see from the chart below, the English equivalent of N’Ko letter Ais A. It is pronounced the same as the a in Papa. Unlike in English, whereas the English letter A can have different sounds depending on the consonant it is associated with, the N’Ko letter Ais always pronounced, “AH,” with the mouth open. Letter E is equal to the English letterE, and it is pronounced, “ay,” as one will pronounce Pay.
The letter Iperform about the same function in the N’Ko alphabet as the I does in the English language. Like the other characters in the Manden language, it has only one pronunciation, EE. On the other hand, in English the sound of I is different in the words “iron” and “is“.
