ADLaM

About the Work The U.N. predicts that 90% of the world’s languages could be extinct within the century. Pulaar, the language of the Fulani people, a West African community of 60 million people spread across the world, was one of them. Pulaar had no writing system. In 1989, two brothers, Abdoulaye and Ibrahima Barry, wanting to change that, began working on an alphabet for Pulaar. The brothers called it, ADLaM – an acronym translating to: “the alphabet that will prevent a people from being lost.” Microsoft worked closely with the Barry Brothers, their community, typeface experts and cultural specialists to revise, optimize and digitize their alphabet – bringing their people to the digital age and preserving their culture for generations to come. Microsoft’s singular goal was to increase access to ADLaM and increase the chances for the language to thrive. Microsoft launched it and made it accessible on over 1 billion devices running Microsoft 365 applications. This newfound access was embraced by local businesses. It resulted in new schools opening in Guinea, Sierra Leon and the Gambia. It inspired the community to begin co-creating the first ADLaM dictionary in social media with #ADLaMRe. And it was adopted by Google who incorporated the typeface into Google Fonts. Microsoft didn’t stop with expanding access alone. Learning tools, children’s books, instructional workbooks and school posters were also developed to help teach the alphabet in West Africa and celebrate Fulani culture. With this global support from Microsoft, governments took notice. Mali is in the process of recognizing ADLaM as an official alphabet in their constitution. And Guinea has recently integrated it in their Sustainable Development Strategy with the goal of teaching ADLaM to 2 million children within 5 years. A vast increase to the 30,000 new ADLaM students already seen as a success in 2023.