Gurage Languages
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Gurage Languages
The Gurage languages (Gurage: ጉራጌ), also known as Guragie, is a dialect-continuum language, which belong to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by the Gurage people, who inhabit the Gurage Zone within the larger multi-ethnic Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region in central Ethiopia. Overview The Gurage dialects form what is collectively called ''Guragigna'' or Guragigna. Almost all of the dialects are intelligible with other dialects indicating that they have organic relationships as well as indicating that they originated from a proto-Gurage language. Guragigna and its dialects belong to the Southern subdivision of the Ethiopian Semitic languages within the Afroasiatic family. All the Gurage subgroups (Northern, Western, and Eastern Gurage) belong to South Ethiopic. East Gurage is related to Harari and Gafat, while Northern and Western Gurage are related to each other. All Guragigna languages and dialects are written w ...
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Gurage Zone
Gurage is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The region is home to the Gurage people. Gurage is bordered on the southeast by Hadiya and Yem special woreda, on the west, north and east by the Oromia Region, and on the southeast by Silt'e. Its highest point is Mount Gurage. Welkite is the administrative centre of the Region; Butajira is the largest city in this zone and the former administrative centre. Overview Most parts of this region are heavily eroded, which required farmers to protect their enset fields with stone and soil bunds. During the 1930s, about 20% of the land in Gurage was covered with natural forests, which has since been almost completely cut down; the removal was especially fast during the years 1991 and 1992. one of the largest natural forests is Ziarem forest (also known as Forehina), about 800 hectares in size. On the other hand, beginning in the early 1960s the inhabitants started to grow eucalyptus on an incr ...
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Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It was first issued in 1951, and is now published by SIL International, an American Christian non-profit organization. Overview and content ''Ethnologue'' has been published by SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization with an international office in Dallas, Texas. The organization studies numerous minority languages to facilitate language development, and to work with speakers of such language communities in translating portions of the Bible into their languages. Despite the Christian orientation of its publisher, ''Ethnologue'' isn't ideologically or theologically biased. ''Ethnologue'' includes alternative names and autonyms, the ...
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Variety (linguistics)
In sociolinguistics, a variety, also called an isolect or lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety.Meecham, Marjorie and Janie Rees-Miller. (2001) "Language in social contexts." In W. O'Grady, J. Archibald, M. Aronoff and J. Rees-Miller (eds) ''Contemporary Linguistics''. pp. 537-590. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. The use of the word "variety" to refer to the different forms avoids the use of the term ''language'', which many people associate only with the standard language, and the term ''dialect'', which is often associated with non-standard varieties thought of as less prestigious or "correct" than the standard.Schilling-Estes, Natalies. (2006) "Dialect variation." In R.W. Fasold and J. Connor-Linton (eds) ''An Introduction to Language and Linguistics''. pp. 311-341. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Linguists speak of both standard and ...
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Mesqan Language
Mesqan (also Mäsqan or Meskan) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Gurage people in the Gurage Zone of Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the .... It belongs to the family's Ethiopian Semitic branch. References Languages of Ethiopia Outer Ethiopian Semitic languages {{Semitic-lang-stub ...
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Muher Language
Muher (''Muxar'') is an Ethiopian Semitic language belonging to the Gurage group. It is spoken in the mountains north of Cheha and Ezhana Wolene in Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the .... The language has two dialects, which are named after the first-person singular pronoun "I" they use: Ana uses ''əni''/''anä'', Adi uses ''adi''/''ädi'' (similar to the related language Soddo). References * Cohen, Marcel (1936). ''Etudes d’éthiopien méridional''. Paris: Geuthner. * Hetzron, Robert (1977). ''The Gunnan-Gurage languages''. Napoli : Istituto Orientale di Napoli. * Leslau, Wolf (1979). ''Etymological Dictionary of Gurage (Ethiopic)''. 3 vols. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. () *Leslau, Wolf (1981). ''Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background, Part ...
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Chaha Language
Chaha or Cheha (in Chaha and Amharic: ቸሃ ''čehā'' or ''čexā'') is a Gurage language spoken in central Ethiopia, mainly within the Gurage Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. It is also spoken by Gurage settlers in Ethiopian cities, especially Addis Ababa. Chaha is known to many phonologists and morphologists for its very complex morphophonology. Speakers According tEthnologue the dialects of SBG (Sebat Bet Gurage) are Chaha (''čäxa''), Ezha (''äža''), Gumer (or Gwemare, ''gʷämarä''), Gura, Gyeto (or Gyeta, ''gʸäta''), and Muher (or Mwahr, ''mʷäxǝr''). However, some of these are sometimes considered languages in their own right. In particular, Muher diverges so much from the other dialects that it is not necessarily even treated as a member of the Western Gurage group to which SBG belongs. This article focuses on the Chaha dialect, which has been studied more than the others. Unless otherwise indicated, all examples are Chaha. ...
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Sebat Bet Gurage Language
Sebat Bet ("Seven houses") is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia. Overview One of the Gurage languages, Sebat Bet is divided into several dialects. The latter are spoken in the western Gurage Zone, Gurage Region: *Chaha language, Chaha (Cheha) is spoken in Cheha and is the best studied of these varieties *Ezha language, Ezha (Eza, Izha) is spoken in Ezhana Wolene *Muher language, Muher is spoken in the mountains north of Cheha and Ezhana Wolene *Geta (woreda), Geta is spoken in Geta (woreda), Geta *Gumer language, Gumer (Gwemarra, Gʷəmarə), spoken in Gumer *Inor language, Inor (Enemor), spoken in Enemorina Eaner :* Endegegn language, Endegegn and the extinct Mesmes language are sometimes considered subdialects of Inor. Notes Further reading * Leslau, Wolf. 1997. "Chaha (Gurage) Phonology" in Kaye, Alan S. (ed.): Phonologies of Asia and Africa 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. pp. 373–397. *Rose, Sharon. 2007. "Chaha (Gurage) Morphology" in K ...
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Zay Language
Zay (also Lak'i, Laqi) is an Afroasiatic language of the Semitic branch spoken in Ethiopia. It is one of the Gurage languages in the Ethiopian Semitic group. The Zay language has around 5,000 speakers known as the Zay, who inhabit Gelila and the other five islands and shores of Lake Zway in the southern part of the country. Language situation Zay is an unwritten language. Most speakers are multilingual in other Gurage languages, in the Oromo language, and in Amharic. The language is geographically concentrated around Lake Zway; specifically, in Herera, Meki, Ziway, and the five islands: Fundurro Island (Famat or Getesemani Island) the smallest island; Tsedecha Island (Aysut Island), next to the biggest island; Debre-Tsion Island, the largest island; Gelila Island; and Debre Sina Island. It is an endangered language, with speakers migrating to the mainland adopting the Oromo language, and increasing use of Oromo by the younger generations on the Zay islands. Zay is 70% l ...
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Wolane Language
The Wolane people are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. Wolane people speak a Semitic language which is closely related to Sil'te, Zay and Harari languages. One of the Wolane peoples ancestor was Kabir Hamid who arrived from Harar. Wolane’s territory was annexed into Gurage after Menelik's forces invaded in the 1800's. Wolane domain today remains under the Gurage zone's eastern most district, however there has been calls by the Wolane to push for a separate Wolane region. Wolane Community The Wolane community consists of 160,000 people. A remarkable number of Wolane is living in Addis Ababa. The Wolane in the countryside live mostly in higher places, called " Däga". These places are very suitable for the cultivation of Enset ''Ensete ventricosum'', commonly known as enset or ensete, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, pseudo-banana, false banana and wild banana, is an herbaceous species of flowering plant in the banana family Musaceae. The domesticated form of ...
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Silte Language
Silt'e (also transliterated Silte) can refer to: * Silt'e people of Ethiopia; * Silt'e language, which they speak; * Silte Zone, where most live; * Silte (woreda) Silti (ስልጢ) is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named after a subgroup of the Silt'e people, whose homeland includes this woreda. Formerly part of the Gurage Zone, after a ref ..., a subunit of where they live. {{disambig, geo Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...
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Soddo Language
Soddo (autonym ''kəstane'' "Christian"; formerly called ''Aymälläl'' in Western sources, after a particular dialect of it) is a Gurage languages, Gurage language spoken by a quarter million people in southeastern Ethiopia. It is an Ethiopian Semitic language of the Northern Gurage subfamily. Its native speakers, the Soddo Gurage people (Kistane), live predominantly in the Soddo (woreda), Soddo district of the Gurage Zone. Grammar Noun As in most Ethiopian languages, noun qualifiers generally follow the noun. The definite article is expressed by the suffix ''-i'', e.g.: ''goš'' "boy" > ''goš-i'' "the boy"; ''ätit'' "sister" > ''ätiti'' "the sister"; ''bayyočč'' "children" > ''bayyočč-i''. If the noun ends in ''-a'' or ''-ä'', it normally loses this vowel when ''-i'' is suffixed: ''angačča'' "cat" > ''angačč-i'' "the cat". A noun ending in ''-i'' usually stays the same: ''abi'' "(the) father, proprietor". A noun ending in ''-e, -o, -u'' adds a ''y'' before the s ...
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