Qino: Difference between revisions

Qino can be written in the Arabic, Latin, or Ge'ez scripts. In this article, the Latin script (with stress indicated) is used for ease of reading. The Arabic script has two variants: Western ("Traditional") and Eastern ("Modern").

| <big>ههه ه</big> || <big>ه</big> || h || ሀ || h || May be used at the end of words to show a final stressed vowel.

| <big><big>ـهْ</big></big> || <big><big>ـهْ</big></big> || -V́ (or -Vh) || (ህ) || ˈ-V || Used for a stressed word-final short vowel.

Qino has a pitch accent system. The tone-bearing unit is the mora. There are two tones: high and low. These are only distinguished in stressed syllables. In this article, high tone is indicated with an acute accent, while low tone is indicated by its absence.

If a word contains a syllable with a high/rising/falling tone (indicated with an accute accent), that syllable is stressed. If there are multiple, primary stress falls on the final. If the word consists exclusively of low tones, stress falls on the final "long" syllable (i.e. syllable that is closed and/or contains a long vowel), or on the initial syllable if all are short.

By default, primary stress falls on the last "long" syllable (i.e. syllable that is closed and/or contains a long vowel). If there are no long syllables, the initial syllable is stressed. Words that do not conform to this rule are indicated in this article with an acute accent. Some exceptions are nouns that end in a consonant in the absolutive and words nominalized with ''-n/m'', which behave as if they ended in a vowel (e.g. ''Maxammad'' is pronounced ''Maxámmad'', not ''Maxammád''). A word may contain multiple stressed syllables, in which case primary stress falls on the final stressed syllable.

A final long vowel is accented by default. If the word ends in a consonant or semi-vowel, the final vowel is accented. If the word ends in a vowel, the penultimate syllable is accented. Words that differ from these rules indicate the accented vowel with an acute accent in the Latin orthography. <!--Secondary stress is usually not indicated, but it may be indicated with a grave accent (this article does so somewhat inconsistently). -->Exceptions include subordinating ''-n'' and enclitics such as ''-ne'' "and", which do not affect stress.

*Between vowels (may not always occur for all speakers, especially before stressed vowels):

**'''Absolutive''': Citation form, used for the direct object of a verb, the object of adpositions, and predicative nouns. Personal pronouns have a distinct accusative form that is used for direct objects. Absolutives ending in a single consonant followed by a short, unstressed vowel (especially ''-a'' or ''-i'') often drop their final vowel, especially when closely linked to the following word.

***Absolutive ending in other short, unstressed vowel: stress on final syllable - e.g. ''Qino'' → ''Qinó''

***Absolutive ending in a long and/or stressed vowel: ''-n''  - e.g. ''makiiná'' "car" → ''makiinan''

***Absolutive ending in consonant or short, unstressed vowel: -́i (with penultimate stress) - e.g. nama → nami

***Absolutive ending in long or stressed vowel: ''-t'' - e.g. ''makiiná'' → ''makiinat''

***Absolutive ending in other short unstressed vowel: lengthen final vowel + final stress - e.g. ''shimmirti'' → ''shimmirtii''

***Absolutive ending in long or stressed vowel: ''-s'' - e.g. ''makiiná'' → ''makiinas''

***Absolutive ending in stressed/long ''a, e,'' or ''o'': ''-VVw''; ''-VVy'' - e.g. ''Faadhumá'' → ''Faadhumaay''

***Masculine with absolutive ending in consonant or short, unstressed vowel: ''-ow'' (with stress maintained)  - e.g. ''namka'' → ''námkow'', ''Maxámmad'' → ''Maxámmadow''

***Feminine with absolutive ending in consonant or short, unstressed vowel: ''-ey'' (with stress maintained)  - e.g. ''shimmirti'' → ''shimírtey'', ''Faadhuma'' → ''Faadhúmey''

***Absolutive ending  in long and/or stressed vowel: add epenthetic consonant followed by ''-ow/ey''. The epenthetic consonant depends on the final vowel:

***Absolutive ending in long and/or stressed vowel:  

***Absolutive ending in consonant or short, unstressed vowel: ''-é'' (declines as adjective; inchoative: ''-achi'')<!--, ''-dha'' (invariant; present only; doesn't affect stress)--> - e.g. ''Maxámmad'' → ''Maxammade<!--, Maxámmaddha-->''

***Absolutive ending in long or stressed vowel: ''-shé'' (declines as adjective; inchoative: ''-chi'')<!--, ''-dha'' (invariant; present only)--> - e.g. ''makiiná'' → ''makiinashe<!--, makiinadha-->''

<small>²</small> Forms ending in a stressed vowel lose their stress when <!---non-final/-->unfocused and lengthen in questions. The final stressed vowel may be aspirated, and, in fact, can be written with a final ''-h'' instead of an acute accent.

^{<small>1</small>} In addition to when unstressed, class 3 verbs also lose their final accent when used descriptively before a noun - e.g. ''namú casé'' "(the) person is red" but ''case nama'' "red person"

*The Class 1 forms ending in a stressed vowel lose the stress when <!--non-final or -->unfocused and lengthen the final vowel when used interrogatively - e.g. ''Cali arká'' "I see Ali"; ''Cáli arka'' "I see ''Ali''"; ''yarká nama'' "person who sees"; ''Cali tarkaa?'' "Do you see Ali?"