Omo-Tana languages

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The Omo-Tana languages (also called Somaloid languages or Macro-Somali ) are a subgroup of the Lowland East Cushitic languages , which in turn belong to the Cushitic languages , a primary branch of the Afro-Asian languages .

All Omo-Tana languages ​​outside of the Sam language subgroup are spoken exclusively in the area between Lake Abaya and Lake Turkana in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya . This suggests that they spread from there. Of the Sam languages, Rendille and Boni are spoken in other areas of Kenya, and Somali is common from eastern Kenya to Djibouti across the Horn of Africa .

Research and classification history

The best-researched - and most speaker-rich - East Cushitic languages are Somali and Oromo . For a number of other East Cushitic languages ​​it was initially disputed whether they were closer to Oromo or Somali. Harold C. Fleming came to the conclusion in 1964 that the Rendille is closer to the Somali, and also classified the Bayso as being related to the Somali. He called this language group "Macro-Somali" and suggested the following classification:

  • Macro Somali
    • Bayso
    • Somali
      • Rendille
      • real Somali.

In 1971 Lionel M. Bender used the term "somaloid languages". In 1973 Bernd Heine added the El Molo language to this group. In 1975 Hans-Jürgen Sasse expanded Macro-Somali to include the three languages Arbore , Dassanetch (Galab) and Boni and differentiated between a western (Bayso, Rendille, Arbore, Dassanetch, El Molo) and an eastern subgroup (Boni, Somali). In 1976, Heine assigned the Rendille to the eastern subgroup and outsourced the Bayso as a separate northern branch. He also established the new name "Omo-Tana languages" after the names of the Omo and Tana rivers ; He rejected “Macro-Somali” or “Somaloid” because these terms imply a special position for Somali, which is not given from a linguistic point of view. In 1978 Heine coined the name Sam languages for the eastern Omo-Tana languages .

classification

swell

  • Bernd Heine : The Sam Languages. A History of Rendille, Boni and Somali. In: Afroasiatic Linguistics 6 (2). 1-92, 1978.
  • Bernd Heine: Notes on the Rendille Language (Kenya) , in: Afrika und Übersee 59, 1976, pp. 176-223
  • Hans-Jürgen Sasse: The Extension of Macro-Somali , Munich 1975
  • Harold Fleming: Baiso and Rendille: Somali outliers , in: Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 20, 1964