Dizi (language)
| Dizi | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Ethiopia | |
| speaker | 21,075 (1998) | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
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| Official status | ||
| Official language in | nowhere official language | |
Dizi (also Magi , Maji ) is an omotic language spoken in southwest Ethiopia in the Kaffa region. It is assigned to the Nordomotic and is closely related to Sheko and Nayi .
There are several descriptions for the Dizi (see bibliography), which differ in many essential points, which suggests strong dialectal differences.
Phonology
The dizi has about 25 consonants . It is noticeable that plosives and affricates can appear not only voiced and unvoiced , but also ejective . The existence of ž (i.e. [ʒ]) and the retroflexes ʐ, ʂ, ɖ, ʈ as well as syllable nasals, which can only be found in the Omotic in the Gimira and in the Dizi-Sheko, can be regarded as characteristic. The number of vowel phonemes is six, five of them can appear both long and short. As a tonal language , the Dizi has three pitches, which are mainly used in morphology. The accent is on the first syllable.
morphology
Pronouns and nouns
According to Allan, the personal pronouns have the following forms:
| subject | object | Possessive | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1. | yinu | yin | ǹ- |
| 2. | yetu | yetǹ | a- | |
| 3. m | itì, izu | iz-n | á- | |
| 3. f. | iži | iž-n | í- | |
| Plural | 1. | inu | in | ń- |
| 2. | iti | ít-n | ít- | |
| 3. | iší | íš-n | íš | |
In addition, according to Allan, there should also be a dual , an indefinite person ("man") and a gender distinction in the 2nd person, which are, however, probably out of date or are described as dubious by Bender 2000. According to Toselli, suffixes are used to form at least the following cases : genitive / ablative -kn, dative -s, accusative - (i) n.
Every noun is either masculine or feminine . According to the descriptions of Toselli and Allan, the gender is marked with certain suffixes such as -en / -in for the feminine. According to Allan and Keefer, noun phrases in the plural are marked by the following kʾankas ~ kʾaŋkaz; Determined plurals also have a suffix -à in certain cases:
- kìan-à kʾankàs "the dogs"
Toselli, on the other hand, describes a plural suffix -en:
- kiyanu-el "dogs"
Allan and Keefer also describe parts of a case system. The subject case is unmarked, an allative / dative (-s) and an ablative (-t) are characterized by suffixes. The accusative is marked with -s for definite or modifying masculine noun phrases in the singular, the accusative is unmarked for other masculine noun phrases in the singular. In all other cases (feminine singular, masculine plural etc.) the accusative suffix -n is:
- yaàbà- s sʌgo "He saw the man."
- yaàba yedà- s sʌgo "He saw the man who came."
- kìanù- ∅ sʌgo "He saw a dog" (Since the subject case is unmarked, the sentence also means "A dog saw.")
- wète- n sʌgo "He saw the cow."
- kìanù kʾankàs- n sʌgo "He saw the dogs."
According to the analysis by Bender 2000, ownership structures are characterized by a change in tone.
verb
According to Keefer, the Dizi has formally strictly separated declarative and interrogative conjugations , other descriptions only deal with declarative conjugations that can be divided into synthetic and analytical forms according to formal criteria. The synthetic tenses formally consist of the verbal stem, a tense marker and a personal ending that shows certain variations depending on the tense. The tense system of multiple forms of past tense / Perfect , Present , Future perfect , and even non-past. Examples are forms of the verbs k-y- "work", kʾwutsʾ- "cut" according to Bender:
| preterite | Present | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1. | kʾwutsʾ-∅-eno | kʾəy-dɛ-nò |
| 2. | kʾwutsʾ-∅-ito | kʾəy-dɛ-tò | |
| 3. m. | kʾwutsʾ-∅-o | kʾəy-dɛ-gò | |
| 3. f. | kʾwutsʾ-∅-e | kʾəy-dɛ-gè | |
| Plural | 1. | kʾwutsʾ-∅-inno | kʾəy-dɛ-ńǹo |
| 2. | kʾwutsʾ-∅-initi | kʾəy-dɛ-nítò | |
| 3. | kʾwutsʾ-∅-iniši | kʾəy-dɛ-níšò | |
Some tenses are formed with auxiliary verbs that are conjugated with their own personal suffixes (forms according to Allan):
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 2. | 3. m. | 3. f. | 1. | 2. | 3. |
| n | n / A | n / A | ní | n | ít | íš |
In addition to the affirmative main clause forms, the Dizi also knows subordinate clause conjugations , which, like the interrogative verb forms, are formed with a prefixed person marker and a suffix. This is how a " converb " or " gerund " is formed with -te / -de:
- n-kʾe-te "after I had worked"
- a-kʾɛyn-de “that he works”.
According to Keefer, interrogative verb forms have the following structure:
- Personal prefixes (identical to the possessive prefixes, see above)
- Verbal stem
- Tense suffixes (present tense: -kŋ + high tone, perfect tense: -kŋ + low tone, habitative present tense -da, future tense -∅, simple past: nasal).
Examples:
- Future tense: āsíè "will you see?"
- Present tense: āsɛ̄kŋ̀ "do you see?"
- Perfect: āsɛ̀kŋ̀ "did you see?"
- Simple past: āsòŋ "did you see?"
A suffix -ni is used in sentences with interrogatives:
- iikin āsɛ̀kì-nì "who did you see?"
literature
- Edward Allan: Dizi. In: Lionel Bender (Ed.): The Non-semitic languages of Ethiopia. African Studies Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing 1976, 377-392
- Lionel Bender : Comparative morphology of the Omotic languages (LINCOM studies in African linguistics) . LINCOM Europa 2000, ISBN 3-89586-251-7 (on the Dime: pp. 143-156)
- Giovanni Toselli: Elementi di Lingua Magi. 1939