Chaha (language)
| Chaha | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Ethiopia | |
| speaker | 440,000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
||
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
sem |
|
| ISO 639-3 | ||
Chaha (in Chaha and Amharic: čehā or čexā ) is an Ethiosemitic language spoken in the Gurage zone in the region of southern nations, nationalities, and peoples .
The Chaha is known among phonologists and morphologists for its very complex morphonology .
classification
Chaha belongs to the Sebat-Bet-Gurage language family (SBG) and, according to Ethnologue, is one of the seven dialects , some of which are also viewed as languages in their own right. This article focuses on the chahadialect, which has been better researched than the other dialects of the Sebat-Bet-Gurage language family . Unless otherwise indicated, all examples are Chaha.
Sounds and Spelling
Consonants and vowels
The dialects of the Sebat-Bet-Gurage language family have a fairly typical phoneme set for Ethiosemitic languages. There are both common ejective and simple unvoiced and voiced consonants . However, the language has more palatalized and labialized consonants than most other Ethiosemitic languages. In addition to the seven vowels typical of these languages , the dialects have the half-open front (ɛ) and back vowel (ɔ). Some dialects have short and long vowel phonemes and some have nasalized vowels.
The tables below show the sounds of the chahadialect in IPA symbols . The symbols of the Ethiopian legend are in brackets. Exactly how many phonemes there are is controversial because of the complex morphonology of the SBG languages.
| labial | dental | postalveolar | palatal | velar | glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| normal | rounded | normal | rounded | ||||||
| Plosives | unvoiced | p | pʷ | t | c | k | kʷ | ||
| voiced | b | bʷ | d | ɟ (gʸ) | G | G | |||
| Ejective | tʼ (ṭ) | cʼ (ḳ) | k ' (k) | kʼʷ (ḳʷ) | |||||
| Affricates | unvoiced | [ tʃ ] (c) | |||||||
| voiced | d͡ʒ (ǧ) | ||||||||
| Ejective | [t͡ʃʼ] (č̣) | ||||||||
| Fricative | unvoiced | f | fʷ | s | ʃ (š) | ç (xʸ) | x | xʷ | H |
| voiced | z | ʒ (ž) | |||||||
| Nasals | m | mʷ | n | ||||||
| Approximant | β̞ (β) | w | l | j (y) | |||||
| Flap | r | ||||||||
| front | central | back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| closed | i | ɨ | u |
| half closed | e | O | |
| half open | ɛ (ə) | ɐ (ä) | |
| open | a |
In the following, the characters of the Ethiopian transcription are used instead of the IPA characters.
Morphonology
In addition to the complexity of verb morphology that is characteristic of all Semitic languages, SBG has a level of complexity because of the special relationship between the consonant set in a verb root and its realization in a form of that verb or a derived noun. For example, the verb “open” has a root that (as in most Ethiosemitic languages) consists of the consonants { kft }. Some forms contain all of these consonants. For example, the third person singular masculine past is “he opened”, käfätä-m . But when the passive voice is used, for example “he was opened”, two of the stem consonants change: kä fʷ ä č -im . At least three different phonological processes play a role in SBG morphonology.
Detuning and Gemination
In most Ethiosemitic languages, gemination, or consonant elongation, is used in the grammar of verbs and to distinguish words. For example, in Amharic, the second consonant of a three-consonant verb root is doubled to indicate the perfect: { sdb } "insult", säddäbä "he insulted". In Chaha and some other SBG dialects, gemination is replaced by detuning. For example, the verb root for "insult" in SBG is the same as in Amharic (with β instead of b), but in the perfect tense the second consonant in the non-geminating dialects becomes t: sätäβä-m "he insulted". Only voiced consonants can be detuned: b / β → p , d → t , g → k , bʷ → pʷ , ǧ → č , gʸ → ḳʸ , gʷ → kʷ , z → s , ž → š . The detuned / geminated form of r is n . Other voiced consonants are not detuned.
Labialization
Some morphological processes lead to the labialization (rounding) of consonants. For example, the adjective gʷəkʷər, derived from the three- consonant verb root { gkr } “just to be”, is “even”. Labial and velar consonants can be labialized: p → pʷ , b → bʷ , β → w , f → fʷ , k → kʷ , ḳ → ḳʷ , g → gʷ , x → xʷ .
Palatalization , depalatalization
Consonants are patalized by some morphological processes. For example, in the second person feminine singular number of verbs in the past tense and jussive / imperative one palatalizes one of the root consonants (if possible): { kft } "open", təkäf t "you open" (masculine), təkäf č "you open" (feminine). Dental and velar consonants can be palatalized: t → č , ṭ → č̣ , d → ǧ , s → š , z → ž , k → kʸ , ḳ → ḳʸ , g → ɟ , x → xʸ . r is patalized to y . In a morphological setting, the reverse process occurs. In the command form of a class of verbs, the first consonant of the root is de-palatalized if possible. The verb “return” actually has the stem consonants { žpr }, for example ž äpärä-m “he has returned”, but the ž is depalatalized to z in the imperative zäpǝr “Give that back!” (To a man).
Allophones
The relationship between n , r , and l is complex. At least within the root of the word, [n] and [r] can be treated like allophones of a single phoneme. The consonant is pronounced as [n] at the beginning of a word if it has been geminated by r or if it ends the penultimate syllable of the word, otherwise it is a [r].
- n ämädä-m "he liked" TAE r ämädä-m "he was liked"
- yǝ-βä r a "he eats", bä n a-m "he ate" (geminated)
- sǝ r äpätä-m "he spent time", wä- sä m bǝt "spend time" (because of the following b, the n becomes m)
Banksira also mentions k as the allophone of x and b as the allophone of β
font
SBG is written in the Ethiopian alphabet , which was originally developed for the Old Ethiopian language and is known today for its use for Amharic and Tigrinya . Although there are still relatively few texts in this language, three novels have appeared in the Chahadialect (by Sä Sǝllase and Gäbräyäsus Haylämaryam).
In order to represent the palatalized consonants, which do not exist in ancient Ethiopian, Amharic and Tigrinya, modified characters have been introduced into the script that use superimposed corners, for example. These were first used in the New Testament published by the Ethiopian Bible Society, then throughout the Bible, and are now widely used.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sebat Bet Gurage ( English ) Ethnologue. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
- ^ Robert Hetzron (1972). Ethiopian Semitic: studies in classification
- ↑ Banksira, Degif Petros. (2000). Sound Mutations: the Morphophonology of Chaha
- ↑ Banksira, Degif Petros. (2000). Sound Mutations: the Morphophonology of Chaha
literature
- Banksira, Degif Petros. (2000). Sound Mutations: the Morphophonology of Chaha . Amsterdam: John Benjamin. ISBN 90-272-2564-8 . [1]
- Bustorf, Dirk and Carolyn M. Ford. (2003). "Chaha Ethnography", in: Siegbert Uhlig (Hrsg.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , vol. 1: AC, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p. 664.
- Cohen, Marcel (1931). Études d'éthiopien méridional . Société Asiatique, Collection d'ouvrages orientaux. Paris: Geuthner.
- Ford, Carolyn M. (2003). “Chaha language”, in: Siegbert Uhlig (Ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 1: AC, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p. 663f.
- Goldenberg, Gideon. (1974). "L'étude du gouragué et la comparaison chamito-sémitique", in: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma - Problemi attuali di Scienza e di Cultura , Quaderno N. 191 II, pp. 235–249 [= Studies in Semitic Linguistics: Selected Writings by Gideon Goldenberg , Jerusalem: The Magnes Press 1998, pp. 463-477].
- Goldenberg, Gideon. (1977). "The Semitic Languages of Ethiopia and Their Classification", in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 40, pp. 461-507 [= Selected Writings , pp. 286-332].
- Goldenberg, Gideon. (1987). "Linguistic Interest in Gurage and the Gurage Etymological Dictionary". Review article of W. Leslau, Etymological Dictionary of Gurage (see below). in: Annali, Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli 47, pp. 75-98 [= Selected Writings , pp. 439-462].
- Hetzron, R. (1972). Ethiopian Semitic: studies in classification . Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-1123-X . But his conclusions are not accepted by all. Refer Etymological Dictionary of Gurage by Wolf Leslau.
- Hetzron, Robert. (1977). The Gunnan-Gurage Languages . Napoli: Istituto Orientale di Napoli.
- Hudson, Grover. (ed.) (1996). Essays on Gurage Language and Culture . Dedicated to Wolf Leslau on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-03830-6 . [2]
- Wloclawek, W . (1950). Ethiopic Documents: Gurage . Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, No. 14. New York: The Viking Fund.
- Leslau, wolf. (1965). Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background . Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Leslau, wolf. (1979). Etymological Dictionary of Gurage (Ethiopic) . 3 vols. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-02041-5
- Leslau, wolf. (1981). Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background. Part IV: Muher . Ethiopist Research, Volume 11. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-03657-1 .
- Leslau, wolf. (1983). Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background. Part V: Chaha - Ennemor . Ethiopian Research, Volume 16. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-03965-1
- Leslau, wolf. (1992). Gurage Studies: Collected Articles . Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-03189-1 . [3]
- Polotsky, HJ (1938). “Études de grammaire gouragué”, in: Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 39, pp. 137-175 [= Collected Papers by HJ Polotsky , Jerusalem: The Magnes Press 1971, pp. 477-515].
- Polotsky, HJ (1939). "L labialisé en gouragué mouher", in: GLECS 3, pp. 66-68 [= Collected Papers , pp. 516-518].
- Polotsky, HJ (1951). Notes on Gurage grammar . Notes and Studies published by the Israel Oriental Society, No. 2 [= Collected Papers , pp. 519-573].
- Shack, William A. and Habte-Mariam Marcos (1974). Gods and heroes, Oral Traditions of the Gurage of Ethiopia . Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-815142-X .