Alphabet

The Babessi Alphabet has 35 letters:

a b bv ch d dz e ɛ ə f g gb gh i ɨ j k kp l m n ŋ o ɔ pf s sh t ts u v w y z ʼ

Sorting

The Babessi-to-English part of the dictionary is arranged alphabetically according to the following order:

a b ch d e ɛ ə f g gh i ɨ j k l m n ŋ o ɔ p r s t u v w y z ʼ

Seven of the digraphs (letters made of two characters) are sorted with the letter they start with: bv, dz, gb, kp, pf, sh, and ts.

The English letter p (without pf) and r are used only in borrowed words.