A proposal for Zaar orthography and spelling reform

Orthography marks a significant milestone in the development of language as a tool for cultural and socio-political advancement in modern societies. Every natural language is expected to have a writing system that facilitates literacy, cultural preservation, and language documentation. For the Zaar language, a West Chadic language spoken by approximately 150,000 people in southern Bauchi State, orthographic inconsistencies have hindered its effective use in writing. This paper describes earlier attempts at developing Zaar orthography, identifies gaps in those descriptions, and proposes a clearer, more learner-friendly system. Zaar is a cluster of dialects, including Moss, Walgi, Wami, Gambar Lere, Num, Sigidi, and Kal. The proposed orthography focuses primarily on Moss, the central dialect of Zaar, with some consideration given to the Wami and Num varieties. Data for the study were sourced from posts and comments in Zaar shared on Facebook and WhatsApp platforms. The analysis draws on Banda’s eight principles of orthographic description as well as Agbo’s phonetic and phonemic theories. The study establishes 55 orthographic symbols/patterns to represent 56 sounds in Zaar.