Katon Boie’nen

Katon Boie’nen
/ka.’ton bɔ̆ɪ̆ɛ̋.’nɘn/

prop. n. Education; Orthography; Language Planning

Scope

Katon Boie’nen provides the standard conventions for:

• the four-vowel system;

• the Boie’nen alphabet;

• consonant inventory, including X, the Moraic Okina (’), and the Bantere’ (-);

• diphthongs and vowel-glide combinations;

• phonological adaptation of borrowed words;

• spelling conventions;

• pronunciation;

• reading and writing instruction;

• classroom literacy materials.

Guiding Principles

Katon Boie’nen is founded upon the principles of:

• phonemic transparency — meaningful sounds are represented consistently;

• morphological transparency — roots and affixes remain identifiable in writing;

• community readability — spelling reflects the pronunciation of native speakers;

• historical continuity — building upon earlier descriptive work while incorporating contemporary linguistic analysis;

• language preservation — promoting literacy and the intergenerational transmission of Boie’nen.

Etymology

katon “to learn” + Boie’nen “the Boie’nen language; the Boie’nen people.”

The expression literally means “Learning Boie’nen.”