Oduduwa script

Yoruba has two Latin alphabets, one used in Nigeria and one in Benin. The Oduduwa script is also alphabetic, and is inspired by Latin orthography (e.g. is written as a single letter, but as a digraph of the letters for and , paralleling the Nigerian Yoruba alphabet; similarly, the letters for ⟨ẹ, ọ, ṣ⟩ are derived from those for ⟨e, o, s⟩, and nasal vowels are written with the letter for ⟨n⟩, again as in the Nigerian Yoruba alphabet). Oduduwa differs from Latin in being written right-to-left.

The Oduduwa script is being taught to children at schools in Porto-Novo, Benin and in Ifẹ, Nigeria.

Ligatures

Adjacent letters form ligatures: when one letter ends in a long vertical stroke (i.e. ⟨⟩ d, ⟨⟩ e, ⟨⟩ h, ⟨⟩ i, ⟨⟩ m, ⟨⟩ n, ⟨⟩ o) and the next begins with a such a stroke (i.e. ⟨⟩ b, ⟨⟩ ẹ, ⟨⟩ l, ⟨⟩ ọ, ⟨⟩ r, ⟨⟩ u, ⟨⟩ w), the two lines are conflated into a single stroke, joining the letters. This occurs for example in the sequence du in the name Oduduwa (see info box above). Where a horizontal line meets another (as in ⟨⟩ w and ⟨⟩ a), or with a sharp angle (as in ⟨⟩ n and ⟨⟩ i), they may also join; thus iwe forms a double ligature (see image at right). Where letters do not touch, as in ⟨⟩ t and ⟨⟩ i, they may kern together so that part of one tucks under the other. The comma also connects to letters such as n and i that have a terminal vertical stroke.