Editing Oromo language (section)

=== 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.