Language/Borana-arsi-guji-oromo/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation
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Southern Oromo, or Afaan Oromoo (after one of its dialects), is a variety of Oromo spoken in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya by the Borana people.
The dialects are Borana proper (Boran, Borena), possibly Arsi (Arussi, Arusi) and Guji (Gujji, Jemjem) in Ethiopia and, in Kenya, Karayu, Salale (Selale), Gabra (Gabbra, Gebra).
Until the 1970s Oromo was written with either the Ge'ez script or the Latin alphabet. It's only in 1991 that the Latin alphabet was officially adopted.
After you've grasped the concepts in this lesson, you might appreciate these additional topics: arsi.
Alphabet[edit | edit source]
Letter | IPA |
---|---|
A a | [ɐ] |
B b | [b] |
C c | [tʃʼ] |
Ch ch | [ʧ] |
D d | [d] |
Dh dh | [ᶑ] |
E e | [ɛ] |
F f | [f] |
G g | [g] |
H h | [h] |
I i | [ɪ] |
J j | [ʤ] |
K k | [k] |
L l | [l] |
M m | [m] |
N n | [n] |
Ny ny | [ɲ] |
O o | [ɔ] |
P p | [p] |
Ph ph | [p’] |
Q q | [k’] |
R r | [r] |
S s | [s] |
Sh sh | [ʃ] |
T t | [t] |
U u | [ʊ] |
V v | [v] |
W w | [w] |
X x | [tʼ] |
Y y | [j] |
Z z | [z] |
' | [ʔ] |
Consonant and vowel phonemes[edit | edit source]
Consonants[edit | edit source]
Labial | Alveolar/
Retroflex |
Palato-
alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosives and
Affricates |
voiceless | (p) | t | tʃ ⟨ch⟩ | k | ʔ ⟨'⟩ |
voiced | b | d | dʒ ⟨j⟩ | ɡ ⟨g⟩ | ||
ejective | pʼ ⟨ph⟩ | tʼ ⟨x⟩ | tʃʼ ⟨c⟩ | kʼ ⟨q⟩ | ||
implosive | ᶑ ⟨dh⟩ | |||||
Fricatives | voiceless | f | s | ʃ ⟨sh⟩ | h | |
voiced | (v) | (z) | ||||
Nasals | m | n | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | |||
Approximants | w | l | j ⟨y⟩ | |||
Rhotic | r |
Vowels[edit | edit source]
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | ɪ ⟨i⟩, iː ⟨ii⟩ | ʊ ⟨u⟩, uː ⟨uu⟩ | |
Mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩, eː ⟨ee⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩, oː ⟨oo⟩ | |
Open | ɐ ⟨a⟩ | ɑː ⟨aa⟩ |
Recordings[edit | edit source]
Videos[edit | edit source]
Qubee Afaan Oromo - Learn Oromo alphabets - Ethiopia[edit | edit source]
Lesson 1 Alphabet : Learn Afaan Oromoo Through English[edit | edit source]