Ibrahima Barry

Ibrahima Diogo Barry was born in 1975 in Guinea. He is better known as Ibrahima Barry or simply Barry. He is the co-creator of the original script that is used in writing the Fulfulde or Pular language. Pular is the language of one the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Numbering more than 30 Million, they are encountered from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean in almost every West African nation through Sudan, Central Africa and the Horn of Africa.

In 1989, Ibrahima and his brother Abdoulaye noticing how difficult it was to read mail written with the arabic alphabet started working on creating a new script for their native language. Up until then, most Fulbhe and Haal Pular used the arabic characteres to write and exchange mail with their family members or relatives. Fulbhes are notorious travelers and mail is therefore a vital tool for staying in touch. At a young age, Fulbhe learn how to read and write and most of this learning is geared toward knowing the Coran. However, through this training, people would learn how to transcribe in Pular using the arabic script, but since there is no codification in the writing, there is no consistency. Reading a letter written by someone else involves a lot of guess work and requires that the reader be fluent in Pular.

By 1990, the alphabet was completed and consisted of 28 letters written from right to left as in Hebrew or Arabic. However, this new alphabet have five vowels as in Latin instead of the diacritical marks used by the Hebrew and Arabic Languages.

Thierno Boubacar Sow who currently resides in Germany was one of the first two students of the new alphabet. Through his dedication, Sow contributed to the improvement of the script. Aissata Barry was the other student who embraced the new alphabet early on and contributed to its development. One of the three Keyboards developed for the new alphabet bears her name and is dedicated to her memory. She passed away in 2003.

In 2008, a milestone was reached with the help of a software maker: the new script is computerized. Currently you can type in Pular on a computer as you would in English or Arabic. This alphabet is spreading in the Fulbhe commnunity especially in Guinea despite some resistance from detractors. N'Zerekore, the birth city of Ibrahima has become one of the most active centers of learning spearheaded by Thierno Jaafarou, Thierno Cisse and Thierno Ibrahima Diallo. Conakry is also another active center of learning headed by people like Boubacar Barry also know Oustaaj Boubacar.

1994 will be remembered as the year the Alphabet was heard of throughout Guinea. Abdoulaye was a guest speaker on the famous "Taali E Tindi" at the Radio Television Guineenne RTG. On the show that aired at 11pm, he presented the alphabet with a brochure and he also red a poem. In 2007, on his way to New York, Ibrahima was also a guest at a Radio show in Dakar, Senegal.

Ibrahima Barry currently lives in the United States where he continues working on this Alphabet. He has written several books and is working spreading the new script within the Haal Pular community in New York.

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