42 characters
Mende Kikakui · Turay original 42
Mohamed Turay's original Mende (Kikakui) syllabary inventory of exactly 42 characters, about 1917, before Kisimi Kamara's expansion.
Mohamed Turay devised the Mende script around 1917 with an orderly set of forty-two syllabic characters, from KI KA KU through HE HA HO. Kisimi Kamara later added about 150 further syllables. Everson and Tuchscherer, in Unicode WG2 N4167, state that Kamara added 150 characters to Turay's original 42.
What it supports
The exact original character count of a named African writing system, with an inventor and a Unicode / ISO WG2 primary. Stronger than shopping the size of a Unicode block.
What it does not
Not the expanded Kikakui, about 195 syllables. Not the Unicode block's assigned-code-point count. Not Adams. Not a syllabary whose count changes from manuscript to manuscript.
ExactnessExact
Form42
Unitcharacters
Strengthhard
When1917
Hung26 September 2026