Naija Type

The Rowbory/Nigeria Family Blog

Created with Sketch.

In the past it’s been hard to type Nigerian languages correctly on systems, tablets and handsets but no more. Here’s a free keyboard you can install on all your devices to make it really easy to type hooked letters, special vowels, letters with accents, underlines and underdots and more. Naija Type: An Android Keyboard for typing many Nigerian languages.

Press and hold a letter to show alternatives then move to the letter you like and release.

Download the Android App

Or find Naija Type on Google Play (updates may lag a few days).

Experimental new editions:

Please test to see if it works for you. For some reason the long-press popup keys don’t popup on my phone.

Other downloads: iOS, Windows, Mac

Install Keyman (iOS, Windows, Mac) then download and install the keyboard:

Dictionaries (Optional):

For predictive completion of text:

Zipped versions:


Install Keyman on Windows or Mac, Android or iPhone/iPad

Then on Mac, Android and iOS download the NaijaType kmp file and use Keyman to install the keyboard.

On a touch device, add the dictionary files you want from above.


How to type

On touch devices (tablets, phones) get special letters by holding down a long time on a key then slide over to the symbol you want (don’t lift your finger). The q key contains some combining characters to go above or below whatever you previously typed. The full stop/period key contains lots of punctuation.

How to type on handsets with Naija Type: demonstrating Ishɛ and Hausa

On desktop/laptop type a letter similar to what you want and then type the semicolon key to change its shape. Keep pressing semicolon for more options. Add marks above vowels and some consonants by typing the top left key (`) in a similar way, and add a ~ over a letter by typing the base letter first then typing shift-~.

If you actually want to type a semicolon, back tick or tilde, hold down the alt key as you type those keys.

Demo video for typing on Windows/Mac and on touch devices with the Naija Type keyboard. Includes brief guide to installation on Windows too. Includes subtitles in case my voice is difficult.

Built with KeyMan and Keyboard App Builder.

Rota

Basic

a e i o u b c d g h k n s v y z $ q m ! ?

1st ;

ə ɛ ɨ ɔ ʊ ɓ ç ɗ ɣ ɦ ƙ ŋ ʃ ƴ ʒ ¡ ¿

2nd ;

ɪ ʉ ɲ £ ˈ

3rd ;

ʔ

4th ;

No matter what order you type diacritics and change the shape NaijaType doesn’t use any precomposed forms and the components of NaijaType are always output as NFD, with underdot or underline then tilde (0303) then any other accents (030x). It is my understanding that software such as Paratext is free to renormalise the Unicode into NFD if wished, but that Paratext doesn’t change the normalisation. So it is important before using NaijaType with Paratext that you check your character inventory and make sure you know whether Paratext is using precomposed characters or sequences of combining characters. NaijaType will only work for the latter.

charUnicodeUnicode Name
1a0061LATIN SMALL LETTER A
2ə0259LATIN SMALL LETTER SCHWA
3e0065LATIN SMALL LETTER E
4ɛ025BLATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN E
5i0069LATIN SMALL LETTER I
6ɨ0268LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH STROKE
7ɪ026ALATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL I
8o006FLATIN SMALL LETTER O
9ɔ0254LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O
10u0075LATIN SMALL LETTER U
11ʊ028ALATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON
12ʉ0289LATIN SMALL LETTER U BAR
13b0062LATIN SMALL LETTER B
14ɓ0253LATIN SMALL LETTER B WITH HOOK
15c0063LATIN SMALL LETTER C
16ç00E7LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA
17d0064LATIN SMALL LETTER D
18ɗ0257LATIN SMALL LETTER D WITH HOOK
19g0067LATIN SMALL LETTER G
20ɣ0263LATIN SMALL LETTER GAMMA
21h0068LATIN SMALL LETTER H
22ɦ0266LATIN SMALL LETTER H WITH HOOK
23k006BLATIN SMALL LETTER K
24ƙ0199LATIN SMALL LETTER K WITH HOOK
25n006ELATIN SMALL LETTER N
26ŋ014BLATIN SMALL LETTER ENG
27ɲ0272LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH LEFT HOOK
28s0073LATIN SMALL LETTER S
29ʃ0283LATIN SMALL LETTER ESH
30v0076LATIN SMALL LETTER V
312C71LATIN SMALL LETTER V WITH RIGHT HOOK
32y0079LATIN SMALL LETTER Y
33ƴ01B4LATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH HOOK
34z007ALATIN SMALL LETTER Z
35ʒ0292LATIN SMALL LETTER EZH
36$0024DOLLAR SIGN
3720A6NAIRA SIGN
38£00A3POUND SIGN
3920ACEURO SIGN
4020B5CEDI SIGN
41q0071LATIN SMALL LETTER Q
42m006DLATIN SMALL LETTER M
43!0021EXCLAMATION MARK
44¡00A1INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK
450027APOSTROPHE
46A78CLATIN SMALL LETTER SALTILLO
47A78BLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SALTILLO
48?003FQUESTION MARK
49¿00BFINVERTED QUESTION MARK
50ˈ02C8MODIFIER LETTER VERTICAL LINE
51ʔ0294LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
522018LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
53A78CLATIN SMALL LETTER SALTILLO
542019RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
55A78CLATIN SMALL LETTER SALTILLO
56201CLEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
57A78BLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SALTILLO
58201DRIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
59A78BLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SALTILLO
60A0041LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A
61Ə018FLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SCHWA
62E0045LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E
63Ɛ0190LATIN CAPITAL LETTER OPEN E
64I0049LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I
65Ɨ0197LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH STROKE
66Ɨ0197LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH STROKE
67O004FLATIN CAPITAL LETTER O
68Ɔ0186LATIN CAPITAL LETTER OPEN O
69U0055LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U
70Ʊ01B1LATIN CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON
71Ʉ0244LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U BAR
72B0042LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B
73Ɓ0181LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B WITH HOOK
74C0043LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C
75Ç00C7LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA
76D0044LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D
77Ɗ018ALATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH HOOK
78G0047LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G
79Ɣ0194LATIN CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA
80H0048LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H
81A7AALATIN CAPITAL LETTER H WITH HOOK
82K004BLATIN CAPITAL LETTER K
83Ƙ0198LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K WITH HOOK
84N004ELATIN CAPITAL LETTER N
85Ŋ014ALATIN CAPITAL LETTER ENG
86Ɲ019DLATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH LEFT HOOK
87S0053LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S
88Ʃ01A9LATIN CAPITAL LETTER ESH
89V0056LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V
90Ʋ01B2LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V WITH HOOK
91Y0059LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y
92Ƴ01B3LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y WITH HOOK
93Z005ALATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z
94Ʒ01B7LATIN CAPITAL LETTER EZH
95$0024DOLLAR SIGN
9620A6NAIRA SIGN
97£00A3POUND SIGN
9820ACEURO SIGN
9920B5CEDI SIGN
100Q0051LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q
101M004DLATIN CAPITAL LETTER M
102!0021EXCLAMATION MARK
103¡00A1INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK
1040027APOSTROPHE
105A78CLATIN SMALL LETTER SALTILLO
106A78BLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SALTILLO
107?003FQUESTION MARK
108¿00BFINVERTED QUESTION MARK
109ˈ02C8MODIFIER LETTER VERTICAL LINE
110ʔ0294LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
1112018LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
112A78CLATIN SMALL LETTER SALTILLO
1132019RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
114A78CLATIN SMALL LETTER SALTILLO
115201CLEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
116A78BLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SALTILLO
117201DRIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
118A78BLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SALTILLO
119́0301COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT
120̀0300COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT
121̂0302COMBINING CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT
122̌030CCOMBINING CARON
123̄0304COMBINING MACRON
124̱0331COMBINING MACRON BELOW
125̣0323COMBINING DOT BELOW
126̃0303COMBINING TILDE
127#N/A
1281D00LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL A
129ʙ0299LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL B
1301D04LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL C
1311D05LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL D
1321D07LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL E
133A730LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL F
134ɢ0262LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL G
135ʜ029CLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL H
136ɪ026ALATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL I
1371D0ALATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL J
1381D0BLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL K
139ʟ029FLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL L
1401D0DLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL M
141ɴ0274LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL N
1421D0FLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL O
1431D18LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL P
144A7AFLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL Q
145ʀ0280LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL R
146A731LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL S
1471D1BLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL T
1481D1CLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL U
1491D20LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL V
1501D21LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL W
151ʏ028FLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL Y
1521D22LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL Z
Unicodes produced by the keyboard — this is produced automatically from the source so there is some repetition.

Get in touch

I can’t guarantee a response, but if you have observations and suggestions please write to me at naijatype@m.rowbory.co.uk. If I don’t respond, write again. Or attract my attention on Twitter.

If you would like to contribute a word list for spelling assistance in another Nigerian language, please send it to me as a plain text file, with correctly-spelled words separated by spaces or newlines.

Could someone help me explain this helpfully in Hausa or Yòrúbà? I’m not meaning a direct translation from the English here but think through how you would help explain to a Hausa reader what to do. Get in touch if you have ideas.

Known issues

  • Some Google Play screenshots are outdated.
  • The @ key isn’t as accessible as you might like when typing email addresses, but needs a long press or to enter the symbol layer.
  • Ishɛ spelling is incomplete and somewhat outdated as the orthography (writing rules) are evolving.

Fixed issues

  • When upgrading a keyboard sometimes it seems the new languages don’t show predictive text; I don’t know why. Try removing Keyman and reinstalling. I think this is fixed. Please tell me if it isn’t working: Hausa, English, Fulfulde, Duya, Ishɛ, Nyankpa, Pangu all should have dictionaries that work.
  • Before 2020, Typing and predictive text in the App gets slower and slower for longer documents. Keyman 14.0.277 fixed the issue and version 1.8.3+ of the App included it.
  • Large languages like English have a 20-25s pause while the lexical model is loaded for predictive text.
  • Due to this bug/unfortunate Keyman behaviour, the letters on the keyboard may appear too big if your phone’s system font size is set too large. Sorry if this affects you; again I have to wait for the wonderful Keyman people to help fix that.

Alternatives?

If you find Keyman doesn’t work for some reason, try this InKey installation:

  • Decompress it.
  • Put the folder on your desktop or a flash drive.
  • Open the folder.
  • Look for the InKey application (inkey.exe) file and run that.
  • Double-tap control key to activate and switch keyboards.
  • Type in a similar way to Naija Type. But you have to switch between 3 different keyboards.

Ideas for future development

  • Suggest or supply apostrophes automatically in English and Hausa?
  • Make English capitalise suggested words where appropriate.

Release notes

  • v 49 (1.9.10)Windowskmp
    • Supports Yala diacritics. (eg ō o̍)
    • Built with KAB 10.1. Tried to correct the fatal keyboard error problem that came with KAB 3.3-built keyboards. Reported by 2 people to work.
  • Desktop keyboard v 46
    • For desktop. Saltillo (glottal) improvements, works even with Word’s autocurling options for apostrophe. Small caps mode now includes obscure smallcap Q. Bundled docs improved.
    • Still waiting for KAB 10.x fix for the bug that prevents the app from working.
    • Compensate for Word etc autocurling the apostrophe into U+2018 or U+2019 by having a starting rota for those that ends in Saltillo.
  • v 45
    • ? gives vertical line, ‘ gives saltillo only, so we can teach different solutions.
  • v 44
    • Added saltillo and modifier letter vertical bar as well as upside down question mark and exclamation mark to rotas for ‘ ? !
  • v 43
    • Built with a new generator ods file for all the most crucial stores.
  • v 42
    • Added small caps Q and Z (supported by 2022 Andika and Gentium fonts) and updated the character generating ods file to also show unicode names.
  • v 41
    • Moved Naira left and stay on numeric layer, joined Hash inside it, and added space bar. Reduced unnecessary longpress items. Added more currency symbols in numeric layer. Added s underdot in touch. Added Tugbiri, Kanuri, Igala languages. Small caps mode not turned off on hyphen or space any more.
  • 1.9.9 (v 40)
    • Android app rebuilt with KAB 3.3 to correct a build error with KAB 10.0.1
    • Small caps support now works on Windows Keyman 15.0.269+ which is included in the combined installer.
    • Case support improved with Keyman 15 features and compatibility mode for older Keyman.
    • Saltillo added for desktop (double apostrophe, caps with shift double apostrophe).
    • Now targeting Android 5.0 (API 21+) because older Android just doesn’t work.
    • Touch spacebar shows useful language names.
    • Added lots more Nigerian languages which I think should be supported by NaijaType, though most don’t have dictionaries.
  • 1.9.7 (v 37/38)
    • Attempting to target 4.1 (API 16+) and up to cope with lesser phones.
    • Improved keyboard layout.
    • Improved documentation (welcome page).
    • Experimental small caps mode (double =).
    • Experimental different numeric keyboard layout.
  • 1.9.6 (v 36)
    • Built with KAB 10. Targetting Android 5.0 (API 21)
  • 1.9.5 (v 35)
    • Built with KAB 3.3 (Android app: Stability improvements)
  • 1.9.4 (v 34)
    • Updated documentation and new version of KAB to avoid runtime errors about keyboards.
  • 1.9.3 (v 32)
    • Display bug fix for Hausa, English and no prediction keyboard names.
  • 1.9.1 (v 31)
    • Keyboard version 31; small punctuation corrections.
  • 1.8.3 (Keyboard 30)
    • Corrected several touch keyboard bugs associated with typing whitespace at the end of a sentence.
    • Improved the case handling of all dictionaries.
    • Numerous other little fixes.
  • Keyboard 29
    • Corrected bug that prevented nasal and tone from fixing onto underline and underdot letters.
  • Keyboard 28
    • Major rewrite to the physical keyboard layer to make it behave better and be easier to maintain.
      • Rotations through multiple variations of shapes allowed before the underline and underdot versions.
      • Better handling of shift around the end of sentences.
    • Added u-bar characters to touch and physical keyboards
    • Still waiting for a crucial Keyboard App Builder update to incorporate a very significant Keyman 14.0.277 performance update. Then I’ll build a new App. For now the best performance you can get is to install Keyman and the keyboard files above separately.
  • 1.8.1 (Keyboard 27)
    • Bug fixes and sizing tweaks on the bottom row of the keyboard.
  • 1.8 (Keyboard 26, Revised lexical models based on KeyMan developer 13)
    • Keyboard visual styles updated so iPhone matches Android
    • Added missing nasals (on long press)
    • Bug fixes.
  • 1.7.8 (Keyboard 23, + Duya 1.0, Nyankpa 1.0, Pangu 1.2)
    • Doesn’t capitalise immediately on full stop for a better URL experience.
    • Various appearance improvements.
    • Retitled Close Keyman to Close Naija Type.
    • Added Duya and Nyankpa.
    • Corrected missing Andika font.
    • Added / to punctuation popup.
  • 1.7.2 (Naija Type Keyboard 20, Fulfulde 1.0, English 1.0, Pangu 1.1, Ishɛ 1.2, Hausa 1.2)
    • Light design (let me know if you like it or not) with less clutter
    • Fulfulde
    • Keyboard switching button restored
    • Updated documentation
    • Improved keyboard descriptions (for predictive text)
    • Available on Google Play
  • 1.5 (Naija Type Keyboard 16, English 1.0, Pangu 1.1, Ishɛ 1.2, Hausa 1.2)
    [28 April 2021]
    • Better punctuation handling:
      • Double space to do period/full-stop + space.
      • Space + ! turns into ! + space and same with comma and ? because a space is added at the end of a suggested word. This allows us to type the punctuation without ending up with spaces in the wrong place.
    • Moved the long-press space bar close option to the middle.
  • 1.4.1 (Naija Type Keyboard 15, English 1.0, Pangu 1.1, Ishɛ 1.2, Hausa 1.2)
    [26 April 2021]
    • Added English. Now predictive text includes Ishɛ, Pangu, Hausa and English.
    • Changed the menu button (long press on space bar)
  • 1.4
    [26 April 2021]
    • Predictive text includes Ishɛ, Pangu, Hausa.
    • Numerous corrections (thanks, James M)
    • Emoji
  • 1.3
    • Removed the globe icon and moved it to a long press on space bar option.
  • 1.2
    [22 April 2021]
    • Moved comma to left of keyboard.
  • 1.1
    [21 April 2021]

Older versions & other downloads

Sources

Naijatype on Github. Get in touch if you have suggestions or just fork the project. Sorry documentation is slightly lacking.

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