Zay language

Zay
Spoken in	Ethiopia
Region	Lake Zway
Native speakers	4,880 (date missing)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic South Semitic Ethiopic South Ethiopic Transverse East Gurage Zay
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`zwa`

The Zay language is one of the Ethiopic languages. It is spoken by about 4,880 members of the Zay people on the islands and shores of Lake Zway in southern Ethiopia. It is also known as Zway, or Lak'i/Laqi in the neighboring Oromo language.

Grammar

The word order of Zay is SOV (subject–object–verb). Attributive adjectives precede the nouns they modify. Possessives also precede nouns.^[1]

^ Hayward, Richard J. (1990). Notes on the Zayse Language. Hayward, Richard J.(ed.). London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Ambaw Demissie (1990), The phonology of Zay: A generative approach. M.A. thesis. Addis Ababa University.
Getu Shikur (1999), Morphology of Zay. M.A. thesis. Addis Ababa University.
Wolf Leslau (1999), Zway Ethiopic Documents. Aethiopische Forschungen, Band 51. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-04162-5.
Ronny Meyer (2005), Das Zay: Deskriptive Grammatik einer Ostguragesprache (Äthiosemitisch). Grammatical Analyses of African Languages, vol. 25. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. ISBN 3-89645-541-9.