Learn the Suri Alphabet and Example Words!
Above are the 1st 11 letters of the Suri alphabet, with an example word and drawing for each. Watch the video to hear Suri teacher Bargu Olekibo read the entire chart to learn the alphabet and your first 30 Suri words in 90 seconds! Elisabeth Ajtay designed the chart using, with permission, literacy materials from the Suri Literacy Project. Suri members of the project created the drawings.
Bargu is one of the nine initial trainees in the Light of the Suri mother tongue education project. Over 500 of those teachers’ Suri students in three Suri schools are already benefiting from that training, which launched with a multi-day session in November, 2023. Veteran Suri mother tongue teacher Gergere Siralugu led the training and leads the project.
Want to learn more?
My About the Project page has the above video, plus a short film based on my 2021 visit to the Suri and a new one based on my 2023 visit, along with lots of other engaging project background, including about Suri mother tongue education and the Light of the Suri initiative. You can also watch the new film just below.
My Cultural Portraits, Plus page has the images in the second generation exhibition, including portraits of my Suri collaborators and other imagery of life in Suri land. For many of the portraits, there are complementary small stories (in both Suri and English) illustrating aspects of Suri life and based on the example words and drawings in the above alphabet chart. The Suri author/artist for each such illustrated story is credited.
My Traveling Exhibit: the Suri page has details of the second generation Eloquent Suri exhibit, which is currently on view in Monterey, California through June 1, 2024. If you’re within range, I hope you can visit the exhibit!
You can browse the full Suri alphabet chart below.
