Burji (language)

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Burji

Spoken in

Ethiopia , Kenya
speaker 87,000
Linguistic
classification
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

cus

ISO 639-3

bji

Burji , also D'aashinga afay or D'aashattee , is an East Cushitic language spoken by the Burji of the same name in Ethiopia and Kenya .

Of around 90,000 Burji, only around 30,000 now live in their home country in southern Ethiopia. The majority live in other parts of Ethiopia as well as Kenya (especially Marsabit ). The Burji knowledge of the Burji in the emigrant communities is rather low, while in the home country the Burji still functions as an everyday means of communication.

As in every Cushitic language, the length of vowels and consonants is meaningful, for example in waala (clothing) vs. waalla (cloud) or buuda ( cattle horn ) vs. buda (man with the evil eye).

In terms of linguistic history, the Burji is an important link between the Highland East Cushitic (HOK) and the Lowland East Cushitic languages (TOK). According to the data, the northernmost branch of the Burji (especially northern Gubba) is apparently strongly influenced by omotic languages, especially Koyra . In addition, loanwords from Oromo , Amharic and Swahili can be found throughout Burji . Genetically, the Burji is closest to the HOK. However, it has hardly participated in its innovations, but on the other hand shares a number of morphological and grammatical isoglosses as well as some basic words with the Dullay and the Konso - Di'rasha (which belong to the TOK branch), which indicates a long contact with these languages (Sasse 1982: 9ff.). Sasse therefore rejects "a strict genealogical tree model" and pleads for a "more realistic areal classification of Burji [...] taking phenomena of language contact and areal influence into account" (Sasse 1982: 11). In 1986 he speaks of a “Sagan language area” (within which the Burji can be seen) “which is characterized by a considerable number of specific phonological grammatical, lexical and semantic isoglosses. In the same area we find a parallel distribution of cultural features. The development and diffusion of linguistic features across language boundaries and even the abandonment of such features can be directly related to the development, diffusion and abandonment of cultural and socio-economic features ”(Sasse 1986: 340).

literature

  • Hans-Jürgen Sasse (1982): An Etymological Dictionary of Burji (Kuschitische Sprachstudien 1). Hamburg: Helmut Buske.
  • Hans-Jürgen Sasse (1986): A Southwest Ethiopian Language Area and its Cultural Background. In: Joshua A. Fishman, Andrée Tabouret-Keller, Michael Clyne, Bh.Krishnamurti & Mohamed Abdulaziz (eds.), The Fergusonian Impact. Vol. 1: From Phonology to Society . Berlin / New York / Amsterdam: Mouton de Gruyter, pages 327-42.
  • Klaus Wedekind (1990): Generating Narratives. Interrelations of Knowledge, Text Variants, and Cushitic Focus Strategies . Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Alexander Kellner (2007): Thinking with the Myths. The Burji myths as an expression of their habitus . Hamburg: LIT Verlag.

See also