215 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education Volume 3, Issue 10, 2025 ISSN (E): 2993-2769 A Proposed Biseni Orthography Worufah, Ebini-Piri Raphael Isaac Jasper Boro College of Education, Sagbama, Bayelsa State, Nigeria Abstract: Biseni is a dialect of the Ijọ language, and is spoken in the Northern extreme of the Taylor Creek in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The dialect is significantly divergent with other Ijọ dialects, except for Okordia and Oruma (also called Yibama) with which it shares significant intelligibility levels; 80% for Biseni and Okordia, 66% for Biseni and Oruma. Biseni has no existing orthography, resulting in different and inconsistent spelling/writing patterns for constructions, words and even names in the dialect. This paper presents a proposed Orthography for Biseni and discusses issues related thereof, as part of efforts at developing and bequeathing a consistent written form for it. Key words: Biseni, Orthography, Lenition, Vowel Harmony, Phonemic Split. 1. INTRODUCTION Orthography design involves reducing languages without any written form into writing. This includes matching the sound system of a language with writing symbols, in such a way that particular writing symbols are used to represent sounds in an accurate manner to guide against misrepresentation, ambiguity and inconsistency. Bangbose (1965, p.1) posits that a “…good orthography should represent all and only the significant sounds in the language”, just as Williamson (1984, p.1) indicates that “in developing a written form of a language, our aim should be to make the written form agree closely with the spoken form”, so people should be able to read the language the same way it is spoken, in that, every phonetic sound in the language is represented with a corresponding orthographic symbol. The design and bequeathal of an orthography is a major language development effort, as the existence of an orthography for any language is a determinant of whether a language is developed or undeveloped. Thus, this paper presents a comprehensive proposal on the orthography of Biseni, developed for the purposes of a unified standard writing system for education, the benefit and advancement of its speakers, general society and also contribute to linguistic knowledge. 2. METHODOLOGY Data were collected through elicitation in the form of oral interview, group discussions and applying the intuition of the researcher as well. Published and non-published materials relating to orthography design were consulted, while some audio recordings of connected speech and Biseni written scripts of our language consultants were also collected. 3. BISENI ORTHOGRAPHIC CONVENTION Hitherto, Biseni had no existing orthographic convention. For this reason, many speakers struggle with the spelling of indigenous Biseni words and personal names, such that it is fairly common to find bearers of same name have different and very divergent spellings. In order to solve this problem, 216 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us this study presents a proposed orthography for Biseni as part of efforts at developing a written form and creating consistency in writing the dialect. The orthography applies the principles of harmonisation with existing Ijo̩ and other neighbouring orthographies and also applies the principles of economy and convenience in the use of diacritics like the subdot such that when one vowel sound in a simple word is spelt with a subdot it implies that other vowel sounds in the word also belong to the same set of contracted or [-ATR] vowels and assumed to have been subdotted and be pronounced accordingly. It should also be noted that when there is sameness or correspondence in sound segment between Biseni and English, the English letter is used to spell the sound, but a different letter or convention used when there is no such equivalence. 3.1 SOUND SEGMENTS 3.1.1 Implosives Biseni has the voiced bilabial, alveolar and velar implosives: [ɓ ɗ ɠ]. It also has the voiceless and voiced labial-velar implosives: [ƙƥ ɠɓ]. Following the principle of harmonisation with other established Ijọ and Nigerian languages orthographic conventions, these sounds are represented as follows: (1) [b] → ḅ [ɗ] → ḍ [ɠ] → ɡ̩ [ƙƥ] → k̩p̩ [ɠɓ] → ɡ̩ḅ 3.1.2 Fricatives The voiceless glottal fricative [h] occurs only in rallying calls in Biseni and indeed in other Ijọ dialects, like in háán [ha ̃́a ̃́] Izọn or híín [h̃́ i ̃́i ̃́] Izọn; the rallying call for the Ijaw ethnic nationality and all its people. Unlike many other Ijọ dialects where the voiced alveolar fricative [z] is very rare or a non-existent sound, Biseni attests this sound in its phonemic inventory: (2) a. [izi] ‘fish’ b. [zimini] ‘black’ c. [za] ‘show’ d. [áziza] ‘broom’ e. [zikezike] ‘red’ f. [zinizini] ‘each other’ It is represented orthographically as ‘z’ 3.1.3 Affricates Biseni also attests the voiceless and voiced palato-alveolar affricates [ʧ] and [ʤ] which are represented in the orthography as ‘ch’ and ‘j’. Worufah (2007, p. 36-37) argues that the occurrence of these affricates in Biseni alone of all Ijọ dialects, except Okrika can be traced to language contact with Ogbah and Ekpeye that share common borders with it at the eastern periphery. However, this present study has sufficient reasons to believe otherwise and argue that the occurrence of these sounds in Biseni is as a result of a paradigmatic phonological change called affrication (the conversion of another sound into an affricate), which may have stretched over a very long time. These are lenition and phonological split. 217 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us 3.1.4 Lenition It is also known as weakening and it affects consonants alone. This is as a result of humans preference for the use of less energy in their activities which in this case is the choice for less articulatory energy. An approximant requires less effort than a fricative, and a fricative also needs less articulatory energy than an affricate, just as an affricate requires less effort than a stop. As a deliberate choice for less articulatory effort, lenition is fairly common and pervasive in human speech as the to and fro movement of speech organs between consonants and vowels require more articulatory efforts which lenition tends to ameliorate. It is observed that the words with [ʧ] in Biseni have cognates in other Ijọ dialects that Williamson (1992) referred to as Izọn and Okordia; a sister dialect of Biseni, where the voiceless velar plosive [k] occurs in place of the Biseni voiceless palato-alveolar affricate [ʧ], thus justifying the argument for lenition: (3) Izọn Biseni a. ákí ‘take’ áchí ‘take’ b. ikia ‘friend’ icha ‘friend of the opposite sex’ c. kie̩n ‘count’ che̩n ‘count’ Okordia Biseni d. ákitikí ‘darkness’ áchidichí ‘darkness’ e. ekimu ‘wind’ echimu ‘wind’ f. kie̩n-b̩o ‘return’ chin-b̩o ‘return’ This situation is same with what is reported by Millar (2007, p. 73), where in the the city of Liverpool, word initial /k/ is said to have been lenited to the affricate [kx], and [k] in other positions has changed to [x], such that the following pronunciations are reportedly heard from speakers in that city: (4) a. Key as [kx]ey b. Kill as [kx]ill c. Like as li[x] d. Brick as bri[x] Millar (2007) also reports that in an ancestral form of English, the words cheese, child and chin were also pronounced with an initial [k] as is found in German words where the sound is still retained: (5) a. käse ‘cheese’ b. kind ‘child’ c. kinn ‘chin’ These findings support and consolidate the position that the sound [ʧ] in Biseni was lenited from [k] and that its presence in the phonology was not through borrowing occasioned by language contact. This also explains why the sound is found in basic vocabulary items: (6) a. [áʧí] áchí ‘take’ b. [ʧile̩] chile̩ ‘reject’ c. [iʧa] icha ‘friend of the opposite sex’ 218 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us 3.1.5 Phonemic Split It can be argued that the occurrence of [ʤ] in the phonemic inventory of Biseni is as a result of a phonemic split where the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate split into contrasting voiceless and voiced phonemes /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ in order to create symmetry in the consonant system. Given that all the plosives and fricatives in the dialect have voiced matching counterparts, except /h/ which is, in actual fact, a rare phoneme in Ijọ, occurring only in [ha ̃́a ̃́] or [hi ̃́i ̃́] haan or hiin Izọn rallying call words. The argument is that since plosives and fricatives already have the [+VOICE] and [-VOICE] distinctive features, the lenited [ʧ] has to also acquire a [+VOICE] counterpart for the purpose of avoiding a gap in the plosive/fricative consonant matching pattern, as affricates are a combination of plosive and fricative segments. This position is also supported by Millar (2007, p. 104) which states that “languages show a strong preference for symmetry in their phoneme systems….” 3.1.6 The Alveolar Trill /r/ This sound is not known as a segment that occur word initially in any Ijọ dialect, but it is considered a distinctive sound in Biseni because minimal pairs can be found where its occurrence in one of the pairs results in meaning change: (7) a. iru ‘drink(n)’ igu ‘nail’ b. éré ‘woman/girl’ éfé ‘blow fire’ 3.1.7 Nasalisation The orthography also applies the principle of harmonisation by spelling words containing nasalised vowels with the letter ‘n’ preceding the nasalised vowel sound(s). This is in line with the established spelling convention of Ijọ language where words with such nasalised vowels are spelt thus: (8) a. [ izɔ ] Izọn ‘the name of the Ijaw people’ b. [ ĩĩ ] iin ‘yes’ c. [ eri ̃́i ̃́ ] eríín ‘afternoon’ 3.1.8 Vowel Harmony This is a situation where vowels of a language are divided into distinct sets based on the tongue root feature [ATR] called Advanced Tongue Root. This is such that some of the vowels are produced with an expanded pharynx when the tongue root is advanced and others produced with a contracted pharynx when the tongue root is not advanced. An advanced tongue root vowel is [+ATR], while when the vowel is produced with a contracted pharynx and non-advanced tongue root it is [-ATR]. Vowels of either set do not mix in a simple word, however in Biseni only [a] appears to violate this rule as it co-occurs with both sets of vowels and is as such considered neutral in the nine vowel entry. The four [+ATR] vowels /e i o u/ are approximately the same sounds with their English counterparts and are also given same letters like is in English, but the [-ATR] vowels are spelt with a diacritic subdot placed below the letter thus: (9) [ɛ] → e̩ [ɪ] → i̩ [ɔ] → o̩ [ʊ] → u̩ 3.1.9 Labial-velar Stop The use of the diagraph ‘gb’ is now fully established as the letters for spelling the voiced labial-velar stop in Nigeria and it is adopted in this orthography. 219 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us 4. BISENI ALPHABET The alphabet is made up of thirty-six (36) letters. Capital Letters: A B B̩ CH D D̩ E E̩ F G G̩ GB G̩B̩ H I I̩ J K KP K̩P̩ L M N NY O O̩ P R S T U U̩ V W Y Z Small Letters: a b b̩ ch d d̩ e e̩ f g g̩ gb g̩b̩ h i i̩ j k kp k̩p̩ l m n ny o o̩ p r s t u u̩ v w y z Letters Phonetic symbols Words Gloss a [a] árú ‘canoe’ b [ b] bíná ‘pain’ b̩ [ɓ] b̩ila ‘seed’ ch [ʧ] che̩in ‘count’ d [d] desi ‘jump’ d̩ [ɗ] índ̩ó ‘breast/suck’ e [e] ere ‘woman/girl’ e̩ [ɛ] si̩le̩ ‘select’ f [f] firi ‘work’ g [ɡ] giri ‘lock’ g̩ [ɠ ] g̩é ‘only’ gb [ɡb] gbila ‘fold’ g̩b̩ [ɠɓ] ímg̩b̩ẽ̩́ ẽ̩́ ‘today’ h [ h] háán ‘rallying call’ i [i] igwa ‘beans’ i̩ [ɪ] lĩ̩́ká ‘needle’ j [ʤ] jina ‘resemblance’ k [k] kani ‘pluck’ kp [kp] kpa ‘plait/peel’ k̩p̩ [ƙƥ] ak̩p̩i̩d̩a ‘prawn’ l [ɭ ] sile̩ ‘select’ m [m] múnú ‘sleep’ n [n] níí ‘four’ ny [ ɲ] anyinya ‘horse’ o [o] ópúrú ‘crayfish’ o̩ [ɔ] o̩gṹ̩ n ‘orange’ p [p] pĩ̩́ rá ‘carry’ r [r] iru ‘drink(n)’ 220 AMERICAN Journal of Language, Literacy and Learning in STEM Education www. grnjournal.us s [s] si̩li̩ ‘money’ t [t] teri ‘cover’ u [u] furo ‘intestine’ u̩ [ʊ] o̩bu̩ro̩bo̩ ‘cassava’ v [v] ívíi ‘fight’ w [w] wárí ‘house’ y [ j] ye̩ri ‘sell’ z [z] zimini ‘black’ 4.1 SAMPLE TEXT (CULLED FROM WORUFAH 1997) Biyagile ni̩ fọ̃́ múmá. Ni̩ mú fọ̃́ lasa, ni̩ mákí yemini tub̩onĩ̩́ achi̩sa, ni̩ wṍ̩nuní i̩ yóó-tu̩b̩o̩ e̩dan múmá. I̩ yóó-tub̩o̩ sĩ̩́nĩ̩́ zúún pĩ̩́lẽ̩́ yṍ̩ ṍ̩ ke̩ sĩ̩́nĩ̩́ ye̩n ye̩nma. Ni̩ mú owiye e̩dan mú o̩ lása, ni̩ mṍ̩ o̩ mṍ̩ mákí e̩dan kṍ̩ lṍ̩ sun. Wá e̩dan súní bĩ̩́ to̩rṹ̩ do̩. Wá bĩ̩́tṍ̩ rṹ̩ do̩mĩ̩́nĩ̩́ dẽ̩́ ĩ̩́nsa, ogo mákĩ̩́ b̩ó álie̩ múte̩múnú, ogo b̩ó b̩oru-éníi ke̩ late̩múnú. Ni̩ akímẽ̩́ táá, ogo mṍ̩kẽ̩́ músú wa! B̩e ni̩ chiní wárí-e̩ múmá ogo lású. Ni̩ mákĩ̩́ mṍ̩ fesi-b̩ẽ̩́, ni̩ b̩ó e̩dan doní b̩ẽ̩́ẽ̩́ -á ni̩ mákĩ̩́ wṍ̩núní wárí-ẽ̩́ múmá. Ni̩ mákĩ̩́ mṍ̩ fesi-b̩ẽ̩́, ni̩ b̩ó e̩dan doní b̩ẽ̩́ ẽ̩́-á ni̩ mákĩ̩́ wṍ̩nṹ̩ -nĩ̩́ wárí-ẽ̩́ múmá. Nĩ̩́ mú wárí lása, ni̩ mákĩ̩́ yé fí. Ni̩ yé físa, ge̩má yemini sún dúb̩ó-b̩ẽ̩́, ni̩ b̩o ni̩ fun achiní b̩aayá kila yemini ge̩. Ni̩ yé ge̩míní de̩e̩n-sini di̩a, ogo má músú, yé kpá po̩nu̩ b̩ó i̩ de̩e̩nsú. Ni̩ ákímẽ̩́ táá, ni̩ wo̩ni i̩ yóó-tub̩o̩ nĩ̩́ wamini wárí ko̩n sún-e kpá arísí ke̩ ni̩ wárí-e̩ b̩ó múnú súnmá. Ni̩ mṍ̩ fesi-b̩e̩, ni̩ mákí soru-sẽ̩́a, ni̩ mú i̩ yóó-tub̩o̩ e̩dan la. Ni̩ mṍ̩ o̩ mṍ̩ kṍ̩ lṍ̩ sitee, kṍ̩ lṍ̩ sitee-sa, ni̩ mákí chini wárí-ẽ̩́ b̩ó. Ni̩ b̩ó wárí lása, ni̩ mákí múnúsúnmá. B̩ée nĩ̩́ i̩ egberi kúnú fa e̩dan. 4.1.1 TRANSLATION OF THE SAMPLE TEXT Yesterday, I went to the market. When I got to the market, I bought some items. After buying the items, I went to meet my friend who works in a barber’s shop. On meeting him, we stayed there for some while and had some discussion. After discussing for a while, I discovered that it was already evening. On the discovery that it was already evening time, I said alas, I have to go back to the house. Then I left that place and went to the house. On reaching the house, I had my meal. After my meal, because I had certain things to write, I brought out my book and did some writing. After writing for some while. I discovered again that the day was far spent and I was tired. Then I said alas, I will have to go visit one of my friend that stays nearby, after which I will come back and have my sleep. So, as I said that then I stood up and went to my friend’s place. I and my friend had some brief moments of playing together, after which I came back to the house. When I later came back to the house, I then had my sleep. This is the end of my story. 5. CONCLUSION This paper presented a proposed orthography for Biseni; a hitherto unwritten dialect of Ijọ. The contents of the paper and indeed the proposals herein are a first effort at bequeathing a consistent writing system for the dialect and is recommended for use in writing and production of textbooks as well as other instructional materials for teaching and learning Biseni. It is hoped that speakers who are desirous of spelling Biseni names and words in a way that appropriately matches sounds and morphemes with writing would find in this paper a resource for regular consultation and guidance. REFERENCES 1. 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