Omotic languages

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  (Redirected from Omotic)
Not to be confused with Omotik language.
Omotic
Geographic
distribution:		 Ethiopia
Genetic
classification:		 Afro-Asiatic ?
 Omotic
Subdivisions:
North Omotic (Kaffa)
South Omotic (Arii)
? Mao

The Omotic languages are spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. The Ge'ez alphabet is used to write some Omotic languages, the Roman alphabet for some others. They are fairly agglutinative,[1] and have complex tonal systems (see Bench language).

Contents

Language List

The Omotic Languages include:

Anfillo
Ari
Bambassi
Basketto
Bench
Boro
Chara

Dime
Dizzi
Dorze
Gamo-Gofa
Ganza
Hammer-Banna
Hozo

Kachama-Ganjule
Kara
Kefa
Kore
Male
Melo
Mocha

Nayi
Oyda
Shakacho
Sheko
Welaytta (Welamo)
Yemsa
Zayse-Zergulla

Lionel Bender (2000) classifies this group as follows:

Apart from terminology, this differs from Harold Fleming's earlier (1976) classification in including the Mao languages, whose affiliation had originally been controversial, and in abolishing the "Gimojan" group. There are also differences in the subclassification of Ometo, which is not given here.

Hayward (2003) separate out the Mao languages and slightly rearranges the Gimojan languages:

Classification

Omotic is generally considered the most divergent branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages.[2] Greenberg had classified it as the west branch of Cushitic. Bender (1975) established to most linguists' satisfaction that it is not Cushitic, but a separate family, which he and Harold Fleming made a primary branch of Afro-Asiatic, though a few linguists such as Lamberti (1991) and Zaborksi (1986) maintain the West Cushitic position. Blench (2006) notes that Omotic shares honey-related vocabulary with the rest of Afro-Asiatic, but not cattle-related vocabulary, suggesting that the split occurred before the advent of pastoralism.

However, other scholars doubt that the Omotic languages are part of the Afro-Asiatic language family[3], and the Italian linguist Antonio Loprieno points out that "it is still a matter of debate whether Omotic really belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family".[4] The noted Chadicist Paul Newman (1980) regards the differences between the Omotic languages and the other Afro-Asiatic languages as being so great as to cast doubt on their very inclusion in the phylum. In keeping with Newman's views is Rolf Theil (2006), who proposes that Omotic be treated instead as an entirely independent language family on the basis that no closer genetic relations have been demonstrated between Omotic and Afro-Asiatic than between Omotic and any other language family.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Raymond G. Gordon, Jr, ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  2. ^ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, The History and Geography of Human Genes, (Princeton University Press: 1993), p.174: "...Omotic is generally considered the most divergent branch of Afro-Asiatic."
  3. ^ R. J. Hayward, Omotic Language Studies, (University of London School of Oriental and African Studies: 1990), p.ix: "At the other end of the spectrum, there have been those who have felt unhappy about the inclusion of Omotic within Afroasiatic at all"
  4. ^ Antonio Loprieno, Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, (Cambridge University Press: 1995), p.5
  5. ^ Is Omotic Afro-Asiatic? by Rolf Theil, pp.1&2: "I claim to show that no convincing arguments have been presented, and that OM should be regarded as an independent language family. No closer genetic relations have been demonstrated between OM and AA than between OM and any other language family."

Sources cited

General Omotic bibliography

See also

External links