Most of the world’s writing is written and read from left to right. Some runs from right to left. But as far as we know, Minim is the only ambidextrous script, designed to be written both left to right and right to left.
This is no accident, and as with all writing systems, it says a lot about its origin—in this case, the West African country of Burkina Faso.
The overwhelming majority of the population of Burkina Faso speaks and writes either French (in the Latin alphabet, running left to right) or Arabic (right to left). The Minim script consists of two versions of each character, one facing each way: the writer simply flips the character so it is facing whichever writing direction they are using. Regardless of a person’s previous literacy, then, they can learn Minim in the writing direction they know best.
Again, this was no accident. The Minim script was created in 1982 by Mahamadi Ouédraogo for writing his native language, Mooré. In Mooré, minim means ‘knowledge’ – the script is also known as minim biisi ‘letters of knowledge’. Mooré is the most widely spoken language in Burkina Faso, however Ouédraogo is from the Western regions, where a different language, Manding, is most commonly spoken.
Like many other scripts, Minim began from a religious revelation. Ouédraogo was the son of a Quranic teacher, who taught him to read and write in Arabic. The Arabic script is not well suited for Mooré as it does not contain graphemes for the sounds /p/ and /v/ which both exist in Mooré. In 2006, Ouédraogo dreamt of “diamond-like shapes” floating in from of him. He worked on his script for a few years before another dream commanded him to work on spreading his script among Mooré speakers.
Ouédraogo has created two keyboards for Minim (one for each writing direction) named Minim and minim dag noore (meaning ‘gate of the [Mooré] language’). Although a smartphone keyboard would be beneficial for spreading Mooré, this is much more complex to implement. Ouédraogo has produced several YouTube videos of the Minim script and how to use it.
The Minim script is yet to spread widely. In December 2023, there were estimated to be only a few dozen writers literate in Minim. However, private videos shared by Ouédraogo have shown that he is still actively teaching the Minim script and Ouédraogo’s most popular YouTube video – a version of the Burkina Faso national anthem in the Minim script – has over 28,000 views.
Rhiannon Smith
P.S. The Thaana script of the Maldives, while not ambidextrous in the same way as Minim, also has a little of this both-ways history.
References
https://www.youtube.com/@Moorecom
https://www.youtube.com/@mahamadiouedraogo1258
Jannis Kostelnik, “Technological Adaptation and the Role of Social Media in the Proliferation of the Newly Created Minim Script from Burkina Faso,” Ahyu: A Journal of Language and Literature 6 (2023): 71-87 – available here https://ahyujournal.org/index.php/ahyu/article/view/163
Jannis Kostelnik, Mahamadi Ouédraogo’s Mooré script in the Context of West African Script Creation. MA Thesis, University of Bayreuth
