Hausa has five vowels (a, e, i, o, u), and each can be short or long. Length is usually not written in everyday spelling but is marked in dictionaries and teaching books, with a double letter or a bar over the vowel. The language also has tones: two level tones, high and low, and a falling tone that glides from high to low.
In everyday writing tones are not marked, in the same way that English does not mark stress, and readers rely on context. Dictionaries and grammars, however, mark them, because tone separates words and also carries grammar: it can show the difference between, for example, two verb tenses or between a noun and its plural. Newman’s reference grammar devotes long chapters to this system, and learners are advised to listen to speakers rather than to rely on the page.
Sources for this article
- Newman 2000, chapters on tone and vowel length
- Jaggar 2001, chapters on phonology