Kaffa (language)
| Kaffa kəfa |
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|---|---|---|
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Spoken in |
Ethiopia | |
| speaker | 570,000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
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| Official status | ||
| Recognized minority / regional language in |
 YeDebub , in Ethiopia
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Kaffa (also Kafa , Kefa , Kaficho ; self- designation kəfa ) is the language of the Kaffa who live in southern Ethiopia . It belongs to the gonga group (also called kefoid) of the northern branch of the omotic languages , a primary branch of the Afro-Asian language family . It is particularly closely related to the Bosha and the Mocha / Shekacho.
Phonology
As is typical of Afro-Asian languages, kaffa has voiceless, voiced, and glottalized consonants ; all non-glottal consonants can also appear geminated . There are ten vowel phonemes (/ i /, / e /, [a] ~ [ə], / o /, / u /) that can be both long and short. Diphthongs are rare. Tone and accent seem to be strongly related to the quantity of vowels, but so far more precise knowledge is lacking.
morphology
The personal pronouns distinguish the numbers singular and plural ; the genera masculine and feminine are only separated in the 3rd person singular. The declination is done using different suffixes .
Nouns mark the masculine with -o / -a and the feminine with -e; the suffix -inao / -enao and reduplication (nato - natito "year (s)") are used to form the plural . Cases are marked by - often optional - suffixes, examples are nominative -i, accusative -n, genitive -e / -i, dative -c, locative -ne, instrumental -na, allative -wan.
The verbal system is presented here essentially after Cerulli 1951, the most detailed description; Data from other publications differ considerably. The verb has the modes jussive / imperative , indicative ("long conjugation"), indicative ("short conjugation"), concessive and a relative conjugation; in addition, the verb has its own negative conjugation. The tenses perfect and imperfect are formed, which usually differ by different sentences of personal endings, in the "long" conjugation of the indicative, the perfect tense with -t-, -∅-, the past tense with -m-, -h- and the negated verb is marked with -ac-; the negation of the relative conjugation is done by -an. In contrast to other omotic languages, kaffa does not have its own conjugation system for question sentences. Various deverbal nouns such as the infinitive in -e and verbs such as causatives in -s / -c (úwe "drink" - úse / úje "give to drink") can be formed.
syntax
The word order generally seems to be SOV:
| bi | ta | šittito | no |
| he | I | hates | emphatic particles |
| "he hates me" | |||
The copula is ne in affirmative clauses, negated tone and in negated relative clauses tono.
literature
- M. Lionel Bender: Comparative morphology of the Omotic languages (LINCOM studies in African linguistics) . LINCOM Europa 2000, ISBN 3-89586-251-7 (on the coffee: p. 95 ff.)
- Enrico Cerulli: Studi Etiopici IV. La Langua Caffina. Istituto per l'Oriente, Rome 1951.
- Leo Reinisch: The Kafa language in Northeast Africa. Tempsky, Vienna, 1888, ( online )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ethnologue, see link list