Zay (language)

Zay
Spoken in	Ethiopia
speaker	14,000
Linguistic classification	Afro-Asian languages Semitic languages Western Semitic languages Southwest Semitic Languages Ethiosemitic languages South Ethiosemitic Languages Zay
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	-
ISO 639 -2	sem
ISO 639-3	between

Zay (ዛይኘ [za: jɲɲǝ] or የዛይ አፍ [jǝza: j af] ) is the language of the Zay , an ethnic group that lives on the banks and on islands of Lake Zway in south-central Ethiopia .

classification

The Zay belongs to the Ethiosemitic languages , a subgroup of the Semitic languages . The Ethiosemitic is divided into the two groups North and South Ethiosemitic. The Zay is assigned to the Eastern Gurage languages , which form a subgroup of the Transversal Southern Ethiosemitic . The most closely related languages ​​are Harari , Silt'e and Wolane .

literature

• Robert Hetzron: Ethiopian Semitic. Studies in Classification . Manchester University Press, Manchester 1972, ISBN 0-7190-1123-X .
• Leslau, W. (1999). Zway. Ethiopic documents. Grammar and dictionary . Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-04162-5 .
• Ronny Meyer. (2005). The zay. Descriptive grammar of an Eastern Guru language (Ethiosemitic) . Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 3-89645-541-9

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ethiopian Semitic. Studies in Classification