In 1979, I wrote an article entitled Spell it as you pronounce it in a newsletter published by the British Council in the Gambia. In it I advocated the spelling of our indigenous Gambian names phonetically so that the widely common spelling Foday should give way to the correct spelling Foodee. In the same way, Jawo, as it is commonly spelt, should be replaced by Jaawo, because in the Fula language the former means a bangle, while the latter is a person’s surname.
You can see therefore that all along we have been anglicizing/frenchfizing the spellings of Gambian names. This is evident in names like Jobarteh (Joobaate), Baldeh (Baalnde), Jallow (Jallo), Colley (Koli), Janneh (Jaane), Manneh (Maane), Sanneh (Saane), Joof (Juuf), Samba (Sammba), Kumba (Kummba).
There are also many names whose spellings are based on the French language. Examples are Niumi (Nyoomi), Niamina (Nyaamina), Nioro-Jattaba (Nyooroo-Jaatabaa), Niani (Nyaani), Sarr (Saar), Amie (Amy) and Faye (Fay). This shows that the French were at one time present in the Gambia.
It is worrisome that such misspellings continue to haunt us. There are also other names whose first syllable should be pronounced long, for example, Jaata (not Jatta), Soonaa (not Sonna), Jaabi (not Jabbie), Paate (not Pateh).
Some years ago, I heard a South African journalist pronounce on the radio the name Sowe as it is spelt in this country, with two syllables So-we! I burst out laughing.
Errors, both in pronunciation and writing, are an integral part of our lives. One renowned author pointed out in a book on editing that in the 17th century the Bible had monumental errors, ie “Thou shalt commit adultery” and also “Blessed are the unrighteous for they shall enter the kingdom of heaven”. These two examples clearly show that the editor and the proofreader were careless in their job. What the Bible says is “Thou shalt not commit adultery” and “Blessed are the righteous for they shall enter the kingdom of heaven”. We are told that as a result of this error on adultery, Christianity became very popular in Europe.
We can all see therefore that publishers are key to the education systems in the world. I remember in Nigeria whenever I pointed out an error, my students would to tell me, “But, Sir, I saw this error in a book”.
This brings me to the spellings which many of us may regard as misspellings in this beautiful book entitled Stepping out of the valley by Michael Jatta – names and words such as Duudu (for Dodou), Laamin (for Lamin), Amy (for Amie) and Caayaa (for Chaya).
I registered the name of one of my daughters as Daado (not Dado or Dardo), because that is the way the name is pronounced. In the same way, my last son’s name is spelt Sammba (not Samba).
This is a revolutionary but linguistically correct way of spelling our indigenous names, be they first or second names of people, as well as our cities, towns or villages.
We are doing this in literary texts in order to sensitize people to the correct spelling of our indigenous names.
Hopefully, sooner or later, Gambians, having read the correct spellings in books, journals, newspapers and magazines, will gladly adopt the new spellings which, initially, they viewed as intriguing, misleading and incorrect.
On the occasion of the launching of ‘Stepping out of The Valley’ by Michael Jatta
