About AYNEHA

A gap, and an answer

Songhay, of which Zarma and Dendi are regional varieties, is spoken by several million people in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin and their diasporas. Today it is written with the Latin alphabet, adapted according to the conventions set in Mali in 1993, or in Arabic script (Ajami).

AYNEHA is an original writing system designed for Songhay. It offers a new graphic solution, distinct from the Latin conventions and from the Arabic-script writing practices used for this language.

A borrowed alphabet forces compromises: several Songhay sounds have no Latin letter and require combinations or special conventions. This observation, and the wish to give the Songhay community a lasting writing tool, led to the creation of AYNEHA: a script tailored to the sounds, structure and culture of Songhay.

One sound, one character

AYNEHA was designed from the Songhay of Gao. Its principle is to assign one character to each sound retained in its writing system, rather than a combination of letters borrowed from another alphabet. This correspondence avoids spelling hesitations. The project will be able to document regional variants and the necessary adaptations.

AYNEHA is written and read entirely from right to left, letters and digits alike. This is not only an aesthetic choice: it is a deliberate break with the visual heritage of the Latin alphabet, asserting the graphic independence of the language.

Which variety of Songhay does AYNEHA use?

• The name of the language: in Songhay, it is pronounced and written sɔŋɔy.
• Reference: the Songhay spoken in Gao, Koyraboro Senni.
• Other varieties: their speakers are free to use AYNEHA to write their own speech.
• Tones: they are not marked at this stage; a notation may be added according to users' needs.
• Work in progress: documenting the differences in pronunciation and vocabulary between varieties, such as Zarma or Dendi, and the adaptations they require.

Shapes tried by hand

Before any digital font, the characters were written for months with pencil, ballpoint pen and felt pen, slowly and then quickly. Dozens of shapes were removed, changed or replaced until the letters were easy to trace by hand, clearly distinct from one another and pleasant on screen. The font, keyboard and apps came afterwards, built on what already worked on paper.

The creator

AYNEHA was designed and created by Mahamadou Issiaka MAIGA, known as MAIGUS, creator of the AYNEHA script, from Gao, Mali. He is its sole designer. The system was officially created on 2 August 2026.

He also develops the project's digital tools. They are designed so that anyone can learn and practise AYNEHA alone, at their own pace, and ask for help only when needed.

Recognition

AYNEHA is featured on Omniglot, the reference online encyclopedia of writing systems. In the long term, the goal is the official encoding of AYNEHA in the Unicode standard, as the Adlam script achieved for Fula.

Free software

The code of the apps and of this website is free software, under the GNU GPL v3 or later. The Ayneha Pro font is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, and logos, images and texts under CC BY-SA 4.0. The AYNEHA name and logo are reserved for the official apps: a modified version must use another name.

The AYNEHA apps are developed by MAIGUS with the help of artificial intelligence tools (Claude, by Anthropic).