Review of script displays of African languages by current software

Abstract

All recorded African languages that have a writing system have orthographies which use the Roman or Arabic scripts, with a few exceptions. While Unicode successfully handles the encoding of both these scripts, current software, in particular Web browsers, take little account of users wishing to operate in a minority script. Their use for displaying African languages has been limited by the availability of facilities and the desire to communicate with the ‘world’ through major languages such as English and French. There is a need for more use of the indigenous languages to strengthen their language communities and the use of the local scripts in enhancing the learning, teaching, and general use of their own languages by their speaking communities.