Omotic languages

Dissemination of the omotic languages

Südomotisch

Mao

Dizi-Sheko

Gonga (Kefoid)

Gimojan:

Yem

Bench (Gimira)

Chara

Ometo

Neighboring languages

Nilosaharan

Afro-Asian

The omotic languages are a genetically related group of languages ​​spoken in northeastern Africa , almost exclusively in southwestern Ethiopia . Most scholars classify the Omotic as an independent main branch of the Afro-Asian language family . It covers almost 30 languages ​​with around 4 million speakers. The name is derived from the Omo River , which flows through parts of the omotic-speaking areas.

Sociolinguistic situation

Most omotic languages ​​are spoken in limited areas, with native speakers forming a cohesive ethnic group according to their own opinion and according to ethnological criteria. The languages ​​usually have several regional varieties , but they are mutually understandable; in some cases a variety is perceived by native speakers as particularly “good” and “pure”. The soziolektale structure of Yem situated within the Omotic an isolated case. In some areas Omotic languages form regional defines a common language , in markets multiple languages are often used simultaneously, which is why most people two dominate in these regions to three regional languages. Amharic is used as the language of instruction, missions and administration, but it is only used to a limited extent as a lingua franca. No omotic language is used to a greater extent for the publication of printed works, although this has been increasingly desired by the population, especially since the 1990s; the Yem has its own radio program for this. The attitude towards one's own mother tongue is often positive, and retention is desired. However, several omotic languages ​​are threatened with extinction , as inter-tribal marriage causes less significant languages ​​to lose speakers.

Research history and state of research

The written documentation and scientific research into the omotic languages ​​did not begin until the 19th century in the course of colonialism and European research trips. In 1868 Arnauld d'Abbadie established that two Gonga languages ​​were related; In 1888 Leo Reinisch presented the first linguistic description of an omotic language with his work on kaffa . In the first half of the 20th century it was mainly Italian scientists like Martino Mario Moreno and Carlo Conti Rossini who collected data on other languages; this was continued in the following decades by other European, but increasingly also Ethiopian scientists. Although the state of research has improved faster and faster in the last few decades, only very short and incomplete descriptions are available for many languages. In addition, many or all omotic languages ​​have a very complex morphology , the functioning of which can often only be understood with a large amount of data, so that many questions, especially in the area of ​​noun inflection and the verbal system, remain unanswered.

classification

Internal classification

The omotic is divided into three branches according to the widely recognized classification : the north motic, the much smaller south motic, and the Mao. The Südomotic (Aaroid) consists of only three languages: the Hamer-Banna , the Aari (Ari) and the Dime , which form a contiguous area northeast of Lake Turkana (Lake Rudolf) and east of Lower Omo and are spoken by around 210,000 people. The largest branch of the Nordomotic is the Gonga-Gimojan (ta-ne group), to which about 15 languages ​​belong, which are scattered in western Ethiopia. The Dizi-Sheko or Dizoid with three languages ​​west of the Omo also belongs to the Nordomotic . The poorly researched Mao , to which four languages ​​on the Ethiopian-Sudanese border belong, represents a third branch of Omotic according to the more recent classifications. According to Hayward 2003 (similar to Fleming 1976 and Bender 2000), Omotic has the following internal structure:

Branches					languages	speaker
North	Gonga-Gimojan / Ta-Ne	Gonga / Kefoid		North	Boro / Shinasa	20,000
				Central	Anfillo	500
				south	Kaffa , mocha	620,000
		Gimojan	Janjero		Yem / Janjero	85,000
			Gimira		Bench , she	175,000
			Ometo-Chara / Macro-Ometo	Chara	Chara	7,000
				west	Basketo	60,000
				Central	Wolaytta , Gamo , Gofa, Dawro, Melo, Dorze, Oyda	2.4 million
				south	times	55,000
				east	Koorete , Zayse-Zergulla, Kachama-Ganjule / Harro	124,000
	Dizi-Sheko / Dizoid				Dizi , Sheko, Nayi	49,000
Mao					Bambassi, Hozo, Seze, Ganza	11,000
south	Hamer-Banna				Hamer-Banna, (Kara)	45,000
	Aari				Aari	160,000
	dime				dime	7,000

External classification

Omotic as a branch of the Cushitic

The first attempt to classify omotic languages ​​externally was made by Leo Reinisch, who did not yet recognize the omotic languages ​​known to him as a genetic unit, but classified them with other languages ​​of Northeast Africa under the name "High Cushitic " as Cushitic and thus Afro-Asian languages . In 1940 Mario Martino Moreno classified the omotic languages ​​under the name "West Cushitic" as an independent branch of Cushitic, to which the other Cushitic languages ​​were compared as "ani-ati languages". This was based on Moreno's realization that “West Cushite” is fundamentally different from the rest of Cushite. The classificatory work of other researchers such as Joseph Greenberg , who added South Cushite to Cushitic, left Moreno's structure unchanged.

Omotic as the main branch of Afro-Asian

Omotic (green) within the Afro-Asian languages

Due to the fundamental differences that separate the Omotic from the (other) Cushitic languages, Harold Fleming in 1969 separated “West Cushitic” as “Aari-Kafa” from Cushitic and classified it as an independent branch of Afro-Asian. In Fleming 1976 he developed his hypothesis further and coined the name "Omotic" based on the Omo River . As evidence of the status of the ommotic outside of the Kushitic, he named the following features, among others:

• Results of lexicostatistical studies of omotic and Kushitic languages, according to which the Cushitic languages ​​are said to have about 10% of the lexicon among themselves, while the correspondence between Cushitic and Omotic is less than 10%
• Missing of the typical cushitic gender markers k (masculine) and t (feminine) in Omotic
• few matches in personal pronouns
• Absence of pharyngeal sounds in Omotic

At the same time, Fleming named isoglosses , which should prove that the Omotic belongs to the Afro-Asian. These included morphological matches (for example the causative suffix -s and * n “we”) and 21 lexical matches from the basic vocabulary . The great majority of Africanists agreed with Fleming's hypothesis, and other scientists have since supported them with additional isoglosses from the lexical and morphological area; the following table provides some examples:

Basic meaning	Omotic	Egyptian	Berber	Cushy	Semitic	Chadian
"she"	Dizi iži	-s, sj	Tuareg -s	Bedjah -h / -s	Akkadian -ša	Hausa shi
Causative affix	-s	s-	Tuareg s-	Bedjah -s / s-	Akkadian š-	Hausa -r / -s
Affix for intransitive verbs	-t		Tuareg t-	Somali -t	Arabic t-	Bath-d
"we"	Dizi inu	-n, n	Tuareg n-	Bedscha -n, n-	Arabic n-, -nā, -na
"Bone"	Dime ḳus	qs (* qĕ́s)	Kabyle iɣəs			Hausa ƙàshii
"Surname"	Bench sum		Kabyle isəm		Arabic ism	Bole sun
"Tongue, lick"	Dime lits'- "licking"	ns (* lĕ́s) "tongue"	Kabyle iləs "tongue"		Akkadian lišānu "tongue"	Bole lisìm "tongue"

The position within Afro-Asian has not yet been finally clarified. Not least because of the great differences between the Omotic and the rest of the Afro-Asian, some scholars have suggested that the Omotic was the first subfamily to split off from the Afro-Asian. Others represent a close relationship between Omotic and Kushitic.

Other hypotheses

Some researchers continue to classify the omotic as a branch of the cushitic, for example Marcello Lamberti provides possible further isoglosses in several works. Others have expressed doubts as to whether the South Motic belongs to the Omotic and instead count it as Nilo-Saharan . This is supported, for example, by the personal pronouns of the Südomotic, which are likely to be genetically related to the Nilo-Saharan pronouns (see the section on personal pronouns ). In 1982 Derek Elderkin suggested that the Omotic and the Hadza form a family of languages ​​that would then be subordinate to Afro-Asian. Finally, the view is expressed that the similarities between Omotic and the rest of Afro-Asian do not justify the assumption of a genetic relationship , which is why the Omotic should be viewed as an independent language family .

Linguistic characteristics

General

The omotic languages ​​have a partly agglutinating , partly fusional , almost exclusively suffiging morphology:

• Agglutinating: Yem am-se-f-∅-à go + plural + present + 3. Person + feminine "they go"
• Fusional: eat Aari ʔíts-eka + 3. Person pl. Converb "by eating"

Flexion through suprasegmental morphemes can be found in individual languages ​​such as the Dizi and the Bench; historically it is partly about reflexes of affixes :

• Bench sum˩ "name", sum-s˦ "call"

The nominal morphology is based on a nominative - accusative / absolute system ; for the verbal morphology is a complex flexion by categories such as tense / aspect , interrogative - declarative and Affirmative - negative as well as congruence of predicative forms the subject characteristic. In the syntax, the word order subject-object-verb (SOV) is generally valid; there are postpositions used, both SOV languages in general and for the Ethiopian space can be regarded as typical.

Phonology

Segmental phonemes

The omotic languages ​​have on average a little less than thirty consonantic phonemes , which is a comparatively high number, but can also be found in other primary branches of Afro-Asian. Are widely distributed while bilabiale , alveolar , velar and glottal plosives , different fricatives , alveolar affricates and / w /, / y /, / l /, / r /, / m /, / n /. It is typical of the non-glottal plosives that they are each represented by a voiced, an unvoiced and an unvoiced ejective phoneme; Even with fricatives and affricates, all three types are sometimes found. Most languages ​​have additional consonants. Examples of this are the implosives in the south-motic (/ ɓ /, / ɗ /, / ɠ /) and the retroflexes of the bench. In some cases, consonants can also appear geminated . Representatives of the Nordomotic and Mao have five to six vowel phonemes , the quantity is partly meaningful; for the Südomotic, however, much more extensive vowel systems are typical.

Suprasegmental properties

All omotic languages, for which sufficient data is available, are tonal languages that usually only distinguish two tones (high and low), some languages ​​have more tones: the Dizi distinguishes three, the Bench six. Certain omotic languages ​​such as Aari and Ganza (Mao) have tonal accent systems in which each independent word has exactly one tweeter, whereas in most languages ​​the tones are freely distributed.

morphology

Nominal morphology

The omotic languages ​​distinguish the nominal categories number , case , gender and definiteness . These categories are marked by different suffixes, which can be fusional or analytical depending on the language. The two genera are masculine and feminine in all omotic languages ​​for which sufficient data are available ; they essentially correspond to the natural sex . The case system distinguishes the omotic languages ​​as accusative languages, other cases form various adverbial terms. A number of omotic languages ​​have an absolute case that marks the citation form and the direct object (examples from the Wolaita):

• Absolutely keett-a "the house"
• Nominative keett-i "the house"

Some common case suffixes are:

• Nominative * - i (Gonga-Gimojan, Dizi-Sheko)
• Accusative * - m (Südomotisch)
• Genitive * - kV (Gonga-Gimojan, Dizi-Sheko, Mao, Dime)
• Dative * - s (Gonga-Gimojan, Dizi-Sheko, Mao?)

A typological peculiarity, which is also isolated within the omotic, is the person and gender dependency of the nominative in the bench (depending on the person either - i ˧ or - a ˧):

• a˦tsin˦-a˧ "a woman" (3rd person Sg. feminine)
• nun˧-a˧ "we" (1st person plural exclusive)
• nas˦i˧ "a man" (3rd person masculine)

In most languages ​​the singular is unmarked, while the plural has its own suffixes . It is possible that plural suffixes in some languages ​​arose from a partitive construction. This is supported by the length of certain plural suffixes, formal relationships to the genitive singular and the fact that the determinative suffix sometimes comes before the plural suffix, which is typologically unusual:

• Dizi kìan-à-kʾankàs dog + det. + Plural "the dogs"
• Yem ʔasú-nì-kitó human + gene + plural "people"

Pronouns

In most omotic languages, personal pronouns distinguish between categories similar to nouns; however, the genera are usually only marked in the 3rd person singular. The personal pronouns usually have a separate stem for each number-person-gender combination, to which case suffixes are added, which are the same in all persons. Some of the pronouns show similarities with other Afro-Asian language families and can therefore be traced back to Proto-Afro-Asian; Certain Südomotic personal pronouns can be explained as borrowings from the neighboring Nilo-Saharan:

		Singular				Plural
		1.	2.	3. m.	3. f.	1.	2.	3.
Omotic	Nordomotic
	Proto Gonga Gimojan	* ta	* ne	* isi	?	* nu ~ * no	* int-	* is-
	Proto-Dizi-Sheko	* ǹ	* yeta	* iz-	* iži	* ń	* iti	* iš-
	Proto Mao	* ti-	* hiya	?	?	?	* nam	?
	Proto-south motic	* inta	* yaa / * in	* nuo	* naa	* wo-ta	* ye-ta	* ke-ta
Other	Afro-Asian: Akkadian	ī	ka / k-ī	š-u	š-a	nī	k-unu / k-ina	š-unu / š-ina
	Nilotic: Teso	ɛɔŋɔ	ɪjɔ	ŋɛsɪ		ɔnɪ / ɪs (y) ɔ	yɛsɪ	kɛsɪ

The case endings of personal pronouns and nouns are mostly identical:

• Aari: accusative -m: yé-m "you", fatir-in-ám "den Mais"

In contrast, possessive pronouns in particular have their own forms:

• Aari: yé "your", ʔéed-te "a man"

Verbal morphology

The omotic languages ​​have synthetic conjugation systems that work mainly with affixes . Usually either the tenses past / perfect , present , future or the aspects perfect and imperfect are differentiated, sometimes also types of actions such as durative ; these grammatical categories are described below with the term " Tempus aspect mode (TAM) (" T empus- A prospectus - M ode ) are summarized. In many omotic languages, the TAM marking is closely related to the oppositions interrogative - declarative and affirmative - negative . In addition, conjugated verbs have morphemes that establish concordance with the subject in terms of person , number and (in certain people) gender . A number of omotic languages ​​also have their own subordinate clause conjugations , which are formed exclusively in subordinate clauses and have a significantly reduced formation of forms.

TAM markers

As already mentioned, TAMs are mainly characterized by affixes, which in many languages ​​are closely related to the category negative - affirmative. Some south and north motor languages ​​mark the imperfective aspect by reduplicating the verbal stem. The following table lists TAM markers in various omotic languages:

	Perfect / simple past		Past tense / present / future tense
	affirmative	negative	affirmative	negative
Nordomotic
Proto Gonga Gimojan	* i ~ * e	?	* n	?
Ometo	d, z, b ... d, k	b (ei) / b (eʔ) (... k (k))	∅, d, z, n	k (k)
Bench	-k'˨	-arg˦	-Ns˧
Yem	i / e	a (w), o (w), u (y)	f, r, n
Gonga: Kaffa	t, ∅	ac	m, h	ac
Proto-Dizi-Sheko	* ki ~ * ke	?	*at the-	?
Mao	*on	?	* m-	?
Südomotisch	* a, * s	* k	* dV	* y

Person marker

Most languages ​​mark the person, number, and gender of the subject in each finite verb form with a single fusional morpheme. This is either TAM-dependent or identical in all TAMs. The following table lists person markers in various omotic languages:

	Singular				Plural
	1.	2.	3. m.	3.f.	1.	2.	3.
Nordomotic
Proto Gonga Gimojan			* e	* a	*University	* eti	* on-
Ometo	* n / * t	* a	*egg	?	* ni	* ti	* i
Gimira: Bench	u	u / en	u	u	u	end	end
Yem	an, u, t	atá / atè, è	é	à	ni	eti	sone
Proto Gonga	* n, * e	*in)	* é	* a	* o / u (n)	* ot, * no	* et, * no
Dizi-Sheko	ǹ (o)	n (à), to	(g) o, (n) á	(g) e, n (í)	ń (no)	ít (o)	íš (o)
Mao	t ~ d	Hi	a		m (u)	nam, d / to
Südomotisch	(i) t	a (y), e	i (y)		(o) (t)	e (t)

The Ometo also has two further rows of person markers, consisting exclusively of vowels, which have formal similarities with some of the personal morphemes in Gonga and Yem listed above:

	Singular				Plural
	1.	2.	3. m.	3. f.	1.	2.	3.
First row	a	a	i	a	i	i	i
Second row	i	a	e	u	O	e	O

As explained below, the three groups of personal affixes can be combined with each other in the Ometo verb forms.

Interrogative - declarative and affirmative - negative

Omotic languages ​​have three different formal means of marking these distinctions: their own TAM markers, their own person markers and their own affixes that do not indicate any other categories:

• Dizi ā-sɛ̄-kŋ̀ 2nd person Sg. + "See" + interrogative present tense "do you see?"
• Bench ham˦-arg˦-u˨-e˧ "go" + negative + finite "he didn't go"
• Gamo ʔutt-ad-ee "sit" +3. Person Sg. F. + Perfect affirmative + 3. Person Sg. F. interrogative "was she sitting?"

Sequence of conjugation morphemes

The morphemes discussed here follow the verbal stem outside of individual languages ​​(Mao, interrogative forms in Dizi, Hamer), the order is usually verbal stem - TAM - person / number / gender:

language	tribe	TAM markers	Personal extension	translation
dime	déχ	i	n	"He cooked"
Aari	baʔá	y	ek	"They don't bring"
Dizi	kʾwutsʾ	∅	initi	"You have cut"
Kaffa	dubb	u		"You sang"

Often there are other suffixes; In the bench, for example, finite verb forms are completed with -e: han˧-k'-u˨-e˧ go + perfect + 3. Person Sg. + Finite "he went"

The verbal forms of the western, central and southern Ometo have a more complicated, typologically very remarkable sequence, in which several markers for person / number / gender can often appear at once. The following suffixes are possible:

• Vowel suffixes (see section " Person markers ")
• Personal ending: Fusional morpheme for person, number, gender, interrogative - declarative and affirmative - negative
• TAM marker, partly dependent on interrogative - declarative and affirmative - negative

Which suffixes are used and in which order they appear depends on the three categories TAM, Interrogative - Declarative and Affirmative - Negative, so that with two TAMs there are already eight possible combinations. The following examples are taken from the Gofa (Zentralometo):

TAM	Interrogative / declarative	Affirmative / negative	Person, number, gender	shape
Present	declarative	affirmative	1st person Sg.	Vowel suffix 1 Vowel suffix 2 Personal extension a i s
Present	interrogative	negative	2nd person pl.	Vowel suffix 2 TAM Personal extension e kk eti
Present	declarative	negative	3rd person Sg. F.	Vowel suffix 2 TAM Personal extension ú kk u
Perfect	declarative	affirmative	2nd person Sg.	Vowel suffix 1 TAM Vowel suffix 2 Personal extension á d a sa
Perfect	interrogative	negative	3rd person pl.	Vowel suffix 1 TAM Vowel suffix 2 TAM Personal extension i beʔ O kk ona

The ostometo has a different conjugation, which can historically be traced back to a periphrastic conjugation (examples from the Zayse):

	tribe	post-thematic vowel	(t) t (e)	Concordance with the subject	i / (e) n
Perfect: "she knew"	ʔer	á	dd	isi	n
Future tense: "you will know"	ʔér	a	tte	n	en

It is worth mentioning the Mao verbal system, which is poorly known due to the scarcity of materials, in which the conjugation morphemes are in different orders before and after the verbal stem:

• Ganza wa-Na-ma-ʔogwä perfect + 2nd person Sg. + "Eat" + interrogative "did you eat?"

Other finite forms

The jussive and the imperative representing it in the second person differ significantly in their conjugation from other synthetic verbal forms. Imperatives are formed by suffixes that only distinguish singular and plural; the suffix of the imperative singular is usually -∅ or a vowel; negated and affirmative imperatives often use different number suffixes:

• Dime yíz-í " Run !", Yíz-kóy "Don't run!"

Many omotic languages ​​also have complex verbal forms with auxiliary verbs that serve to express temporal and modal differentiations; In some languages, individual TAMs show invariable forms according to person and number. Another characteristic of the omotic is the existence of subordinate clause conjugations, among which temporal subordinate clause conjugations (referred to as " conjugations " by Bender 2000 ) are particularly common. Their conjugation suffixes also have peculiarities.

Verbal derivation

In all subgroups of omotic for which sufficient data are available, suffixes can be found to derive verbs from other verbs. * s (> s, š, c, nts, etc.) is used to form transitive ( causative and factual ) verbs; * t (> t, int, de, st, d, etc.), on the other hand, forms intransitiva :

• Yem am- "go" - am-s "let go"
• Gamo zar "answer" - zar-ett "be answered"

syntax

In Omotic, the sentence position subject - object - verb (SOV) prevails :

Yem

bar	matsʾaafà	on	naá-sì-k	imí
he	book	this	Boy-the-dating	gave
"He gave this boy a book."

Noun phrases have both the structure head - modifying element and modifying element - head . It is characteristic of some omotic languages ​​that nominal categories are not marked at the head, but rather close the noun phrase:

dime

ʔeftí	giččó-b-im
bird	upper case masculine accusative
"A big bird"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SILESR 2002-029 , 6
2. ↑ Lamberti 1993, 25 ff. With references
3. ↑ SILESR 2002-029 , 9; Seyoum 2008, 3; different for the Yemma, for example: SILESR 2002-053 , 15 f.
4. ↑ Seyoum 2008, 5
5. ↑ SILESR 2002-029 , 9; SILESR 2002-053 , 7, 14
6. ↑ SILESR 2002-034 , 8
7. ↑ SILESR 2002-053 , 16
8. ^ Arnauld d'Abbadie: Douze ans dans la haute Ethiopie. Paris 1868, 94; quoted from Lamberti 1993 (Boro), 18
9. ↑ Leo Reinisch: The Kafa language in Northeast Africa. ( Treatises of the philosophical-historical class of the Imperial Academy of Science , Volume 116) Vienna 1888.
10. ↑ p. 2, a different, but so far not generally accepted suggestion on p. 202.
11. ↑ Regarded as a separate language by: Moges Yigezu: The Vowel System of Kara from a Historical-Comparative Perspective. In: Rainer Voigt (Ed.): “From beyond the mediterranean”. Files of the 7th International Semitohamitist Congress. Shaker, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8322-6340-9 , pp. 245-251.
12. ↑ Harold Fleming: Chadic External Relations. In: Ekkehard Wolff, Elke Meyer-Bahlburg (Ed.): Studies in Chadic and Afroasiatic Linguistics. Buske, Hamburg 1983, pp. 17-31; Christopher Ehret: Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary. University of California Publications in Linguistics 126 , California, Berkeley 1995, ISBN 0-520-09799-8 .
13. ↑ on this: Bender 2000, p. 1, 245–246
14. ↑ see especially: Marcello Lamberti: Cushitic and its classifications. In: Anthropos 86, pp. 552-561. 1991.
15. ^ A. Zaborski: West Cushitic - A Genetic Reality. In: Lingua Posnaniensis. Volume XLVI, 2004, pp. 173-186; Moges Yigezu: The Vowel System of Kara from a Historical-Comparative Perspective. In: In: Rainer Voigt (Ed.): “From beyond the mediterranean”. Files of the 7th International Semitohamitist Congress. Shaker, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8322-6340-9 , pp. 245-251, especially p. 249; Harold Fleming: A grammatical sketch of Dime (Dim-Af) of the Lower Omo. In: Hayward 1990, pp. 494-583, especially p. 500.
16. ↑ Derek Elderkin: On the classification of Hadza. In: Language and History in Africa. Volume 4 (1982), pp. 67-82.
17. ↑ Rolf Theil: Is Omotic Afroasiatic? (PDF; 371 kB)
18. ^ Mammo Girma: Yemsa Verb Morphology. Some Inflections and Derivations. 1986, quoted from Bender 2000, 120; Clay marking according to the different forms in Lamberti 1993, 190
19. ↑ Hayward 1990, quoted from Bender 2000, 171
20. ↑ See: R. Hayward, Y. Tsuge: Concerning case in Omotic. In: Africa and overseas. Volume 81, pp. 21-38. 1998.
21. ↑ Bender 2000, 21
22. ^ So Bender 2000, 212
23. ↑ Bender 2000, 127
24. ^ ^{A b} Mary J. Breeze: Personal Pronouns in Gimira (Benchnon). In: Ursula Wiesemann (Ed.): Pronominal Systems. Narr, Tübingen 1986, ISBN 3-87808-335-1 , pp. 47-70, p. 53.
25. ↑ Hayward 2004, 246; Lamberti 1993, 70 f.
26. ↑ quoted from Bender 2000.
27. ↑ Lamberti 1993, 71
28. ↑ Reconstructions based on Bender 2000, 196 ff.
29. ↑ Bender 2000, 163
30. ↑ Reconstructed forms according to Bender 2000, p. 215 f.
31. ↑ Compilation of different forms from different languages
32. ↑ M. Breeze in Hayward 1990, pp. 1-67; quoted from Bender 2000, 116 ff.
33. ↑ N denotes any nasal.
34. ↑ Lamberti 1993.
35. ↑ Enrico Cerulli: Studi Etiopici IV. La Langua Caffina. Istituto per l'Oriente, Rome 1951, quoted from Bender 2000.
36. ↑ is missing in Bender's table, but available in Aari and Dime
37. ↑ As a TAM marker only in the Aari
38. ↑ As a TAM marker only in the Aari
39. ↑ reconstructed forms and essentially the selection of documented forms from Bender 2000, 202
40. ↑ M. Breeze in Hayward 1990, pp. 1-67; quoted from Bender 2000.
41. ↑ Lamberti 1993.
42. ↑ ^{a b c} Selection from Bender 2000, 202
43. ↑ Forms from Gamo and Gofa, slight variations in other languages
44. ↑ Graziano Savà, Mauro Tosco: A first glance at the Hamer verbal system (DOC file; 45 kB)
45. ^ Seyoum 2007, 124
46. ↑ Hayward 1990, quoted from Bender 2000.
47. ↑ Bender 2000.
48. ↑ Enrico Cerulli: Studi Etiopici IV. La Langua Caffina. Istituto per l'Oriente, Rome 1951, quoted from Bender 2000, 122
49. ↑ M. Breeze in Hayward 1990, pp. 1-67; quoted from Bender 2000, 116
50. ^ Martino Mario Moreno: Introduzione alla lingua Ometo. Mondadori, Rome 1938; quoted from Bender 2000, 29
51. ^ Richard Hayward: Notes on the Zayse Language. In: Hayward 1990, pp. 210-355; Richard Hayward: East Ometo Verb Paradigms: the grammaticalization of a syntactic pattern. In: SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics. Volume 9, pp. 301-316. 1999; Azeb Amha: Questioning Forms in Zargulla. In: Rainer Voigt (Ed.): “From beyond the mediterranean”. Files of the 7th International Semitohamitist Congress. Shaker, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8322-6340-9 .
52. ↑ Paris W. Reid Head: Note on the Ganza Language: A Preliminary Descriptive Analysis. Sudan Interior Mision, Melut 1947., quoted from Bender 2000.
53. ^ Seyoum 2008, 122
54. ↑ Lamberti 1993, 167
55. ↑ Bender 2000, 44
56. ↑ Lamberti 1993, 257
57. ^ Seyoum 2008, 109

literature

Omotic as a family

• M. Lionel Bender: Comparative Morphology of the Omotic languages ​​(LINCOM studies in African linguistics) . LINCOM Europe 2000, ISBN 3-89586-251-7 .
• M. Lionel Bender: Topics in Omotic Morphology. In: Alan S. Kaye (Ed.): Morphologies of Asia and Africa. Volume 1. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana 2007, ISBN 978-1-57506-110-8 , pp. 729-751.
• M. Lionel Bender: Omotic Lexicon and Phonology. Carbondale 2003. (could not be used for this article)
• Harold Fleming: Omotic Overview. In: Bender 1976, pp. 299-323.
• Richard Hayward (Ed.): Omotic Language Studies. University of London, London 1990, ISBN 0-7286-0166-4 .
• Richard Hayward: Omotic: The Empty Quarter of Afroasiatic Linguistics. In: Jacqueline Lecarme (Ed.): Research in Afroasiatic grammar. Papers from the Third Conference on Afroasiatic Languages, Sophia Antipolis, France, 1996. Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science, 4, Volume 202 Benjamin, Amsterdam 2000, ISBN 90-272-3709-3 , pp. 241-261 .
• David L. Appleyard: Semitic-Cushitic / Omotic Relations. In: Stefan Weninger (Ed.): The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. DeGruyter, Berlin

2011, ISBN 978-3-11-018613-0 , pp. 38-53.

Selection of descriptions of individual languages

• M. Lionel Bender (Ed.): The Non-semitic languages ​​of Ethiopia. African Studies Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing 1976 (contains descriptions of the Kullo, Gonga, Dizi and Hamer)
• Marcello Lamberti: Materials on Yemsa. Studi Linguarum Africae Orientalis, Volume 5. Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 1993, ISBN 3-8253-0103-6 .
• Marcello Lamberti: The Shinassha Language. Materials on the Boro. Studi Linguarum Africae Orientalis, Volume 4. Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 1993, ISBN 3-8253-4579-3 .
• Martino Mario Moreno: Introduzione alla Lingua Ometo. Mondadori, Rome 1938.
• Mulugeta Seyoum: A Grammar of Dime. Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics, Landelijke 2008, ISBN 978-90-78328-52-0 ( http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/issues/Seyoum/index.html )

Web links

• Ernst Kausen, The Classification of Afro-Asian Languages. (DOC; 125 kB)
• Omotic languages ​​on www.ethnologue.com (English)
• Link list (English)

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 18, 2008 .