Editing Oromo language (section)

== Phonology and orthography ==
{{main article|Oromo phonology}}
=== Writing systems ===
[[File:Bakri Sapalo alphabet.png|thumb|alt=An image of a table presenting the glyphs created by Bakri Sapalo. The columns classify the vowels for each glyph, and alternate shapes in case of gemminated or word-ending consonants. Each row represents a different consonant.|The Sheek Bakrii Saphaloo Script, extracted from Sheikh Bakri Sapalo's manuscripts.]]
Oromo is written with a [[Latin script|Latin alphabet]] called {{lang|om|Qubee}} which was formally adopted in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Afaan Oromo |url=http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Hornet/Afaan_Oromo_19777.html |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]], School of African Studies |language=en}}</ref> Various versions of the Latin-based orthography had been used previously, mostly by Oromos outside of Ethiopia and by the OLF by the late 1970s (Heine 1986).<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 17, 2000 |title=Letter from the Oromo Communities in North America to H.E. Mr. Kofi Anan, Secretary-General of the United Nations |url=http://www.oromia.org/Letter_to_UN.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905203327/http://www.oromia.org/Letter_to_UN.htm |archive-date=5 September 2012 |access-date=15 October 2010 |language=en |via=Oromia Online}}</ref> With the adoption of Qubee, it is believed more texts were written in the Oromo language between 1991 and 1997 than in the previous 100 years. In Kenya, the [[Borana Oromo people|Borana]] and [[Waata language|Waata]] also use Roman letters but with different systems.

The Sapalo script was an indigenous Oromo script invented by Sheikh [[Bakri Sapalo]] (1895–1980; also known by his birth name, Abubaker Usman Odaa) in the late 1950s, and used underground afterwards. Despite structural and organizational influences from [[Ge'ez]] and the [[Arabic script]], it is a graphically independent creation designed specifically for Oromo phonology. It is largely an [[Abugida]] in nature, but lacks the inherent vowel present in many such systems; in actual use, all consonant characters are obligatorily marked either with vowel signs (producing CV syllables) or with separate marks used to denote geminated consonants or pure/standalone consonants not followed by a vowel (e.g. in word-final environments or as part of consonant clusters).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hayward |first1=R. J. |last2=Hassan |first2=Mohammed |date=1981 |title=The Oromo Orthography of Shaykh Bakri Saṗalō |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |language=en |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=550–566 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00144209 |jstor=616613|s2cid=162289324 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Oromo Orthography of Shaykh Bakri Sapalo |url=http://www.abyssiniacybergateway.net/fidel/ShaykhBakriSapalo/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709074520/http://www.abyssiniacybergateway.net/fidel/ShaykhBakriSapalo/ |archive-date=9 July 2010 |access-date=15 October 2010 |website=The Abyssinia Gateway |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Arabic script]] has also been used intermittently in areas with Muslim populations.

=== Consonant and vowel phonemes ===
Like most other Ethiopian languages, whether Semitic, Cushitic, or Omotic, Oromo has a set of [[ejective consonant]]s, that is, voiceless stops or affricates that are accompanied by [[glottalization]] and an explosive burst of air. Oromo has another glottalized phone that is more unusual, an [[voiced retroflex implosive|implosive retroflex stop]], "dh" in Oromo orthography, a sound that is like an English "d" produced with the tongue curled back slightly and with the air drawn in so that a glottal stop is heard before the following vowel begins. It is retroflex in most dialects, though it is not strongly implosive and may reduce to a flap between vowels.<ref>{{harvp|Lloret|1997|page=500}}</ref> One source describes it as voiceless {{IPA|[ᶑ̥]}}.<ref>{{harvp|Dissassa|1980|pages=10–11}}</ref>

Oromo has the typical Eastern Cushitic set of five short and five long vowels, indicated in the orthography by doubling the five vowel letters. The difference in length is contrastive, for example, {{lang|om|hara}} 'lake', {{lang|om|haaraa}} 'new'. [[Gemination]] is also significant in Oromo. That is, [[consonant]] length can distinguish words from one another, for example, {{lang|om|badaa}} 'bad', {{lang|om|baddaa}} 'highland'.

In the Qubee alphabet, letters include the digraphs<ref>called Qubee Dachaa in the Oromo language.</ref> ''ch, dh, ny, ph, sh.'' Gemination is not obligatorily marked for digraphs, though some writers indicate it by doubling the first element: {{lang|om|qopphaa'uu}} 'be prepared'. In the charts below, the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] symbol for a phoneme is shown in brackets where it differs from the Oromo letter. The phonemes {{IPA|/p v z/}} appear in parentheses because they are only found in recently adopted words. There have been minor changes in the orthography since it was first adopted: {{angle bracket|x}} ({{IPAblink|tʼ}}) was originally rendered {{angle bracket|th}}, and there has been some confusion among authors in the use of {{angle bracket|c}} and {{angle bracket|ch}} in representing the phonemes {{IPAslink|tʃʼ}} and {{IPAslink|tʃ}}, with some early works using {{angle bracket|c}} for {{IPAslink|tʃ}} and {{angle bracket|ch}} for {{IPAslink|tʃʼ}} and even {{angle bracket|c}} for different phonemes depending on where it appears in a word. This article uses {{angle bracket|c}} consistently for {{IPAslink|tʃʼ}} and {{angle bracket|ch}} for {{IPAslink|tʃ}}.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Consonants
|-
!colspan="2"|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]/<br />[[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Palato-<br />alveolar]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="4" | [[Plosive]]s and<br />[[Affricate]]s
! style="font-size:smaller"| [[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]]
| ({{IPA link|p}})
| {{IPA link|t}}
| {{IPA link|tʃ}} {{angbr|ch}}
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|ʔ}} {{angbr|'}}
|-
! style="font-size:smaller"| [[Voiced consonant|voiced]]
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|dʒ}} {{angbr|j}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ}} {{angbr|g}}
|
|-
! style="font-size:smaller"| [[ejective]]
| {{IPA link|pʼ}} {{angbr|ph}}
| {{IPA link|tʼ}} {{angbr|x}}
| {{IPA link|tʃʼ}} {{angbr|c}}
| {{IPA link|kʼ}} {{angbr|q}}
|
|-
! style="font-size:smaller"| [[Implosive consonant|implosive]]
|
| {{IPA link|ᶑ}} {{angbr|dh}}
|
|
|
|-
!rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]s
! style="font-size:smaller"| [[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]]
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}} {{angbr|sh}}
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! style="font-size:smaller"| [[Voiced consonant|voiced]]
| ({{IPA link|v}})
| ({{IPA link|z}})
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal stop|Nasals]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}} {{angbr|ny}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]s
| {{IPA link|w}}
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|j}} {{angbr|y}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+[[Vowel]]s
|-
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|ɪ}} {{angbr|i}}, {{IPA link|iː}} {{angbr|ii}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʊ}} {{angbr|u}}, {{IPA link|uː}} {{angbr|uu}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}} {{angbr|e}}, {{IPA link|eː}} {{angbr|ee}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɔ}} {{angbr|o}}, {{IPA link|oː}} {{angbr|oo}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| {{IPA link|ɐ}} {{angbr|a}}
| {{IPA link|ɑː}} {{angbr|aa}}
|}

{{Clear}}

=== Tone and stress ===
Only the penultimate or final syllable of a root can have a high tone, and if the penultimate is high, the final must also be high;<ref>{{harvp|Owens|1985|page=29}}</ref> this implies that Oromo has a pitch-accent system (in which the tone need be specified only on one syllable, the others being predictable) rather than a tone system (in which each syllable must have its tone specified),<ref>{{harvp|Owens|1985|page=35}}</ref> although the rules are complex (each morpheme can contribute its own tone pattern to the word), so that "one can call Oromo a pitch-accent system in terms of the basic lexical representation of pitch, and a tone system in terms of its surface realization."<ref>{{harvp|Owens|1985|page=36–37}}</ref> The stressed syllable is perceived as the first syllable of a word with high pitch.<ref>{{harvp|Owens|1985|page=37}}</ref>