The Koman languages are a small close-knit family of languages located along the

Ethiopia–Sudan border The Ethiopia–Sudan border ( ar, الحدود الإثيوبية السودانية; ''ye’ītiyo sudani diniberi'') is a disputed border between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Republic of the Sudan since the 19th centur ...

with about 50,000 speakers. They are conventionally classified as part of the Nilo-Saharan family. However, due to the paucity of evidence, many scholars treat it as an independent language family. Among scholars who do accept its inclusion within Nilo-Saharan, opinions vary as to their position within it. Koman languages in Ethiopia are in close contact with the

Omotic The Omotic languages are a group of languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia, in the Omo River region. The Ge'ez script is used to write some of the Omotic languages, the Latin script for some others. They are fairly agglutinative and have co ...

Mao languages The Mao languages are a branch of the Omotic languages spoken in Ethiopia. The group had the following categories: * Bambasi, spoken in the Bambasi woreda of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, * Hozo and Seze (often described together as 'Begi Mao'), sp ...

. In Ethiopia, some Koman-speaking groups also consider themselves to be ethnically Mao.

Internal classification

The Koman languages are: *Koman ** Uduk, or T’wampa, (formerly in

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of th ...

)—about 20,000 speakers, most at a large

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

Bonga Bonga is a town, woreda and capital of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region in Ethiopia. Located in the Keffa Zone upon a hill in the upper Barta valley, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1,714 meters above sea leve ...

, near Gambela ** Kwama (

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 ...

)—about 15,000 speakers, mainly in

Benishangul-Gumuz Benishangul-Gumuz ( am, ቤንሻንጉል ጉሙዝ, Benšangul Gumuz) is a regional state in northwestern Ethiopia to the border of Sudan. It was previously known as Region 6. The region's capital is Assosa. Following the adoption of the ...

** Komo (

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

)—about 12,000 speakers mainly in An Nil al Azraq ** Opuuo (Opo), or Shita (

)—spoken in 5 villages north of the Nuer by about 5,000 people ** Dana, a newly discovered language located near Opo ** ? Gule (

)—extinct The poorly known

Shabo language (or preferably ''Chabu''; also called Mikeyir) is an endangered language and likely language isolate spoken by about 400 former hunter-gatherers in southwestern Ethiopia, in the westernmost part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People ...

(600 speakers) shows strong Koman influence, and it has been suggested (on little evidence) that it may be a Koman language. Gule is generally classified as Koman, but the evidence is as yet insufficient.

Otero (2019)

Otero's (2019: 28) internal classification of Koman: ;Koman * Gwama **Highland Gwama **Lowland Gwama *Central **Komo–Uduk *** Komo *** Uduk ****Chali ****Yabus **Dana–Opo *** Dana *** Opo ****Bilugu, Modin ****Pame, Kigile

External classification

Dimmendaal (2008) notes that mounting grammatical evidence has made the Nilo-Saharan proposal as a whole more sound since Greenberg proposed it in 1963 but that such evidence has not been forthcoming for Songhay, Gumuz, and Koman: "very few of the more widespread nominal and verbal morphological markers of Nilo-Saharan are attested in the Coman languages plus Gumuz ... Their genetic status remains debatable, mainly due to lack of more extensive data." (2008:843) And later, "In summarizing the current state of knowledge, ... the following language families or phyla can be identified: ... Mande, Songhai, Ubangian, Kadu, and the Coman languages plus Gumuz." (2008:844) However, Ahland (2010) reports that with better attestation, both Koman and Gumuz do appear to be Nilo-Saharan, and perhaps closest to each other.

Reconstruction

Proto-Koman has been reconstructed by Lionel Bender (1983)Bender, Lionel. 1983. "Proto-Koman Phonology and Lexicon." ''Afrika und Übersee'' 66: 259-298. and Otero (2019).Otero, Manuel Alejandro. 2019. ''A Historical Reconstruction of the Koman Language Family''. Doctoral thesis. Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon.

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

References