Ometo languages
| Ometo | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: | Ethiopia |
| Linguistic classification: | |
| Subdivisions: |
|
| Glottolog: | omet1238[1] |
The Ometo languages of Ethiopia are a dialect cluster of the Omotic family, generally accepted as part of the Afro-Asiatic language family. They include the most populous Omotic language, Wolaytta, with two million speakers.[2]
Bender (2000) classifies them as,[2]
- South: Maale
- Basketo
- Central: Wolaytta (Ometo), Oyda (Oyta), Melo (Malo), Dorze–Gamo-Gofa-Dawro
- East: Gats'ame (Kachama-Ganjule), Koorete (Koyra, Harro), Zayse-Zergulla
Hayward (2003) added Basketo to Central Ometo and called the result 'North Ometo',[3] a position followed by Blench (2006). Blench lists several additional North Ometo languages, and lists Chara as unclassified within the family.[4]
- North: Misketto (Basketto), Dokka, Doko-Dolo, Wolaitta (Welamo), Zala, Oyda, Malo, Dorze–Laha–Gamo–Gofa–Kullo-Konta–Dache, Ganjule, Gidicho, Kachama
- East: Gatame (Haruro), Zayse (+Zergula), Koorite/Koyra (Badittu)
- South: Maale
- ?: Ch'ara
He also lists Balta, a regional name for Wolaytta, as a possibly separate language.
Notes
- ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Ometo". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bender, M. Lionel. 2000. Comparative Morphology of the Omotic Languages. Munich: LINCOM. Classification copied in Raymond G. Gordon, Jr, ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
- ↑ Hayward, Richard J. 2003. 'Omotic: the "empty quarter" of Afroasiatic linguistics'. In Research in Afroasiatic Grammar II: selected papers from the fifth conference on Afroasiatic languages, Paris 2000, ed. by Jacqueline Lecarme, pp. 241-261. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- ↑ Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||