ha-ig-yo
Mac keyboard layouts for Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba
This implements a keyboard layout for macOS for the three major
languages of Nigeria: Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba.
Installation
To install:
2. Double click
Hausa-Igbo-Yoruba.dmg.
3. Drag the icon
Hausa-Igbo-Yoruba.bundle to the icon “Drag here to install”. You will be asked
for your password to complete this action.
4. Click the top
Apple menu, and then System Preferences.
5. Click Keyboard.
6. Click Input
Sources, then +.
7. Select your
language: “Hausa”, “Igbo”, or “Yoruba”.
8. Select “Hausa -
alt”, “Igbo - Alt”, or “Yoruba - alt”, and then click Add.
You’re ready!
Typing
To switch between keyboard layouts, use Control-Spacebar, or
whatever is defined in System Preferences/Keyboard/Shortcuts/Input Sources.
To type, use the Alt key with the corresponding letters:
Vowels
·
ẹ Alt-E
·
Ẹ Alt-Shift-E
·
ị Alt-I
·
Ị Alt-Shift-I
·
ọ Alt-O
·
Ọ Alt-Shift-O
·
ụ Alt-U
·
Ụ Alt-Shift-U
Consonants
·
ɓ Alt-B
·
Ɓ Alt-Shift-B
·
ɗ Alt-D
·
Ɗ Alt-Shift-D
·
ƙ Alt-K
·
Ƙ Alt-Shift-K
·
ṅ Alt-N
·
Ṅ Alt-Shift-N
·
r̃ Alt-R
·
R̃ Alt-Shift-R
·
ṣ Alt-S
·
Ṣ Alt-Shift-S
·
ƴ Alt-Y
·
Ƴ Alt-Shift-Y
Tones
High tone
·
Also known as: acute.
·
Key: Alt-H
·
Mnemonic: “High”.
·
Example: ị́ - Alt-I Alt-H
Low tone
·
Also known as: grave.
·
Key: Alt-L
·
Mnemonic: “Low”.
·
Example: Ẹ̀ - Alt-Shift-E Alt-L
Middle tone
·
Also known as: macron.
·
Key: Alt-M
·
Mnemonic: “Medium, Macron”.
·
Example: Ā - Alt-A
Rising tone
·
Also known as: caron.
·
Key: Alt-C
·
Mnemonic: “Caron”.
·
Example: ǒ - o Alt-C
Falling tone
·
Also known as: circumflex.
·
Key: Alt-X
·
Mnemonic: “cicumfleX”.
·
Example: û - u Alt-X
Comments
1. The three
layouts are the same. They are stored separately so that it would be easier to
find them by the language name in the system preferences. The letters don’t
overlap, and when two people speaking different languages happen to use the
same computer, it would be easier if they didn’t have to switch layouts.
2. I have no intention
to declare this as a comprehensive or standard solution. This is just a quick
thing to make it possible to type the biggest languages of Nigeria on Mac
computers. I hope that more people who are more experienced and professional
than I am will come up with better solutions. That said, I do call upon Apple
to ship a typing solution for these languages, each of which is spoken by many
millions of people, built into the next version of macOS. Whether it will be
this layout or something else, is a separate question.
3. If you want to
type these languages on Windows, check your system preferences. There are
keyboard layouts for them already built into Windows 10, although the key
mapping is different from what is suggested here.
4. I don’t
actually know any of these languages. I’m just trying to help people type.
5. This keyboard
layout was made with Ukelele. I thank SIL for making Ukelele available. I also
thank Blossom Ozurumba and Assaf Bartov for encouraging me to make these
layouts.
Licensing and permissions
This software is released under the CC0 1.0 Universal license.
Use it, modify it, copy it, combine it with anything you want.
Amir E. Aharoni amir.aharoni@mail.huji.ac.il May 2017