A Paleographic Analysis of Swahili-Arabic Script through Thirteen Poems

Abstract A paleographic analysis of a set of thirteen poems composed by Muyaka bin Haji (1776–1840) but written in Swahili-Arabic script by Mwalimu Sikujua in the 1890s reveals a consistent preference in the placement of script-specific diacritics and in the use of certain letterform combinations, but variation in the choice of graphic forms, particularly those for kāf . Sikujua places miniature consonant signs between a consonant letterform and a potential vowel diacritic. Since the miniature consonants are rendered in red, the scribe needs to alternate pens during the writing of the text or leave sufficient space if they are inserted later. Letterform combinations appear limited to those with either mīm, jīm , or yāʾ . This characteristic may contrast Sikujua’s handwriting with that of others. The paleographic consequences of these combinations mainly concern the placement of vowel diacritics, which are placed in relation to the consonant sign rather than the baseline of the overall text. Where miniature consonants and letterform combinations show a consistent placement of the Swahili-Arabic diacritics in this corpus, a third kāf graphic form adds variation. The kāf graphic forms are in free variation and accompanying vowel diacritics have varying placements. The third kāf graphic form is possibly unique to Sikujua who has also shown creative variations in spelling when using Arabic or Swahili-Arabic script for the Swahili language.