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Garre (also known as Af-Garre) is a
Somali language
Somali is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Somalis, Somali people, native to Greater Somalia. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethio ...
spoken by the Garre
The Garre (also Gurreh, Karre, or Binukaaf, Somali: ''Reer Garre'', Arabic: بنو كاف, romanized: ''Banī kāf'') are a prominent Somali clan that traces its lineage back to Samaale, who is believed to have originated from the Arabian P ...
who reside in southern Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
and northern Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
. It belongs to the family's Cushitic
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of 2 ...
branch, and had an estimated 50,000 speakers in Somalia in 1992, 57,500 in 2006 and 86,000 in 2020. The total number of speakers in Kenya and Somalia was estimated at 685,600 in 2019. Garre is in the Digil classification of Somali dialects. Garre language is readily intelligible to Digil speakers, as it has some affinity with Af-Maay
Mai-Mai, commonly spelled Maay Maay (also known as ''Af-Maay'', ''Af-Maymay'', or simply ''Maay''; the ''Mai-Mai'' is an ancient Cushitic language mainly spoken in Somalia and adjacent parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. In Somalia, it is spoken in So ...
and Af-Boon.
Classification
The Garre language is in the Digil classification of Somali dialects, other Digil Somali dialects are; Af-Tunni, Af Dabarre and Af-Jiddu. The Digil dialects are the most heterogenous dialect group of all the Somali Democratic Republic and it is indeed questionable, whether they form a single group, or whether each single Digil dialect constitutes its separate group. This does not apply so much to Tunni and Dabarre but it does to Garre. We anticipate our doubts about the legitimacy of including the Garre to the Digil dialects, both on the basis of agnatic considerations (''the Garre not being Digil at all, nor Sab, but pre-Hawiya'') and linguistic: the traits that connect Garre to the dialects of the river region are essentially phonological (for example, the absence of pharyngeals),syntactic
In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency ...
(the marking of interrogation suffixed to the verb, in part the system of marking the focus), lexical
Lexical may refer to:
Linguistics
* Lexical corpus or lexis, a complete set of all words in a language
* Lexical item, a basic unit of lexicographical classification
* Lexicon, the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge
* Lexical ...
and morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
*Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
*Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
They are exclusively divided in two groups, Garre Tuuf and Garre Quranyow. The Quranyow dialect is strongly influenced by Maay and they claimed that Tuuf dialect is the pure Af-Garre. This affirms that while the two dialects are not associated with different geographical areas, the Garre language is "one of the most heterogeneous dialects of Somali", for example the loss of prefix conjugation between the Garre in Baydhaba region, as in Maay, the dominant language in the area, of versus to its conservation among the Garre of Qoryooley and Buurhakaba.
Geographic Distribution
For a reconstruction of the historical movements of the Af-Garre which places its original site in the interfluvial area, perhaps near the upper River Juba, the dialect described the one spoken by the Garre (especially Tuuf) of the Basso Shabeelle: the garre of this area would be the only ones to have maintain their language specific to them; as for the Garre of the Mandera region "''Around Dolo on the upper Juba'' "and, further west, up to Moyale, they speak essentially a Borana dialect, most as their bilingual language; and then there is Garre Libin (Garre of the West that is Ethiopia and Kenya) and Garre Kofar (Garre in Qoroyoley) Af-Garre is spoken in the districts of Baydhaba, Dhiinsor, Buurhakaba and Qoryooley is one of the heterogeneous dialect of Somalia; in fact, some Garreh dialects ( those in Buurhakaba and Qoryooley) have, for instance, preserved the conjugations with prefixes to date, while others (those of Baydhaba) have already given it up. Also, the typical Digil plural morpheme —''tə'' has been replaced in someGarre
The Garre (also Gurreh, Karre, or Binukaaf, Somali: ''Reer Garre'', Arabic: بنو كاف, romanized: ''Banī kāf'') are a prominent Somali clan that traces its lineage back to Samaale, who is believed to have originated from the Arabian P ...
dialects (especially in those around Baydhaba) by the common southern Somali morpheme''—yaal''.
Phonology
Consonants
Garre has 22 consonantphoneme
A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
s.
Occlusive consonants
= Devoicing and neutralization
= At the end of a word, the voiced stops ''b, d'' are devoiced:E1: b, d → p, t / __≠
* → 'shoulder'
* → 'sickle'
In this position, therefore, the voicing opposition of and is neutralized.
At the end of a word, /g/ becomes a glottal stop
The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...
:
E2: g → ʔ/__ ≠
* → 'name'
Often, in the final position of a word followed by a word starting in a consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
, an occlusive
In phonetics, an occlusive, sometimes known as a stop, is a consonant sound produced by occluding (i.e. blocking) airflow in the vocal tract, but not necessarily in the nasal tract. The duration of the block is the ''occlusion'' of the consonan ...
is not exploded.
E3: OCCL → OCCL'/__≠ C__≠
(OCCL': occlusive is not exploited)
This happens in particular if the two words are morphologically united, as in the periphrastic
In linguistics and literature, periphrasis () is the use of a larger number of words, with an implicit comparison to the possibility of using fewer. The comparison may be within a language or between languages. For example, "more happy" is periph ...
verbal forms:
(3) ''usu wa ara �rə'' 'he was selling' ( habitually).
On the other hand, spirantization
In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
of voiced stops in intervocalic positions, such as is present for example in Dabarte, does not seem to occur in Garre. - at least of the tuuf dialect variety of Qoryooley -
The spirantization
In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
and the passage of ''b'' to ''w'' are instead quite frequent in the list of words Garres, e.g.
* ''hawar'' = habar 'woman'
* ''taweel'' = tabeel 'wind'
This is a typical feature of the Garre dialect spoken in the Baydhaba area. A similar process occurs in the Maay dialect of the same region.
Despite the existence of the implosive , the postalveolar is never glottalized.
= q
= From our articulated ( voiced uvular stop), in general also in intervocalic position; its fricativization in nowiki/>ʁ">ʁ.html" ;"title="nowiki/>ʁ">nowiki/>ʁcould be a derivation of the Qoryoley dialect; we have been given pairs such as ''sii[G]a (T.)'' ~ ''sii nowiki/>ʁ]a'' (Q.) “dust”. In a few cases, however, there is constantly realized nowiki/>ʁ">ʁ.html" ;"title="nowiki/>ʁ">nowiki/>ʁin intervocalic position, as in ''ho nowiki/>ʁ]al "''cloud". As in the other dialects of the region, in final ''q'' and realized ʔ:
E4: q → ʔ/__≠
''(4) duq → [duʔ] __≠ "elderly''
= ʔ
= In the initial position of speech, in front of vowel and sometimes realized a glottal occlusion, especially at the beginning of a sentence or in the case that the word in question is emphasized: but in most cases this exclusion glottal is not ubidable. However, we believe that ʔ isPhonologically
Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often prefer ...
present in all the words K. "''beginning in a vowel"'' - consequently, all the words K. begin phonologically in a consonant. A proof of the presence of initial ʔ is given of the present tense of the verbs of the fourth conjugation by suffixing the present with prefixes of "to be" to the theme:
the theme of the verb will be affixed ''ahay'' "I am", in front of which a final nasal theme will be created ɳ, that is, as in front of a consonant with a backward articulation point (for example, in front of the masculine morpheme, the present of ''wiin'' "be great", and ''wiiɳahay.''
It could also be argued that in this form " n" passes to "'' ɳ''" since the word boundary is preserved between "''wiin'' and ''ahay''" - that is, " n" would be found in the other context in which "'' ɳ''" is created . But a similar argument is falsified by the examination of other forms of the same paradigm, in which there is an assimilation between the final consonant of the theme and the initial consonant of the paradigm of "being"; thus, is ''wiinahay'', which derives from ''wiin + tahay.''
We are therefore forced to choose between two possible alternatives: the phonemic, distinctive consideration, the presence of an initial ʔ - but in this case it would be difficult to explain its possible occurrence in certain contexts for all the words "''beginning in a vowel"''; or, and it is the alternative we propose, put a ʔ phonological for all words which would otherwise begin in a vowel - and which as such are often phonetically spelled A similar alternative and has adapted, with similar arguments, by Hayward in the description of the Arbore.
However, being totally predictable, we do not indicate this initial ʔ in the transcription.
ʔ also appears in the median position, but it seems that within the but it is always intervocalic - with a preference for the Sequence -a? a- - and encounters with other consonants are excluded (which instead are allowed with suffixes):
5) ''maʔag=''"name"
''naʔas'' = "'breast"
t''owaʔdii'' = "the jackal" (''towaʔ'' + -''tii'' anaphoric determinant: )
ʔ also appears at the end of a word:
(6) ''karaʔ'' = "Rope used to wear/put the camel's chest"
''suusaʔ "Milk curds of camel"''
''kubaʔ'' = "Thunder"
The phonemic of ʔ at the end also confirmed by the treatment of the masculine morpheme k of the article, which falls after ʔas after the other consonants.
Occlusive glottalize
The onlyglottalized
Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice (partial closure). Glottalization of obstruent conso ...
consonant is the palatal implosive . It is not found at the end of a word. Examples in initial position:
* 'pleasure'
* 'slash'
Examples in the middle position:
* 'to crush'
* 'pot-shards'
Fricatives
A voicelessvelar fricative
A velar fricative is a fricative consonant produced at the velar place of articulation. It is possible to distinguish the following kinds of velar fricatives:
*Voiced velar fricative, a consonant sound written as in the International Phonetic Alp ...
appears in very few words, some evidently borrowed, e.e. 'doctor' (S.St ''takhtar''), but also, for example, in 'fifty', where one would expect ''Konton''. ( pharyngeal fricative , written ''x'' in Somali orthography
A number of writing systems have been used to transcribe the Somali language. Of these, the Somali Latin alphabet is the most widely used. It has been the official writing script in Somalia since the Supreme Revolutionary Council (Somalia), Suprem ...
, is absent in Garre.)
The voiceless glottal fricative
The voiceless glottal fricative, sometimes called voiceless glottal transition or the aspirate, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages that patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant '' phonologically'', but often lacks the ...
appears both in the initial position
* ''hamal'' 'leaf'
* ''hedid'' 'root'
* ''hebiin'' 'night'
and medially:
* ''deheb'' 'gold'
* ''ahsaan'' 'please, thank you'
* ''bahall'' 'snake'
In the final position, it seems to freely alternate with :
* ''lih'' ~ ''liʔ'' 'six'
* ''ɖeh'' ~ ''ɖeʔ'' "Di" (opp. ɖehnə ’plural" ɖaha)
This alternation does not seem to extend to words ending in an etymological (e.g. ''kubaʔ'' 'thunder', S.ST. ''gugac''). The alternance / h / ~ / ʔ / therefore seems to be an areal phenomenon not specific to a dialect.
Nasal occlusives
= General phonetic and phonological processes
= The nasals are subject to numerous assimilatory processes and restrictions of occurrence in certain positions. While the phonemic stats ofbilabial nasal
The voiced bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound which has been observed to occur in about 96% of spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m. ...
'm' and of a dental 'n' and also, to a limited extent, of a palatal 'p', do not create problems, different is the case of the velar 'ɳ'. First of all, in many contexts The articulation of the nasal is determined by the following sound, to which the nasal is assimilated at the point of articulation. Opposite, respectively, a bilabial, a dental and a velar (or a more rearward joint), a kind of nasal & possible
E5: N → m/__b
(ie: a nasal is articulated as bilabial in front of ''a b'').
E6: N → n/__d,t
(that is: a nasal is articulated ''n'' in front of a dental occlusive).
E7: N → ɳ/__g,k,q ʔ
(that is: a nasal is articulated as a veil in front of an occlusion with a velar or more rearward articulation point).
A nasal, furthermore, is articulated 4 at the end of a word:≠
E8: N → ɳ/__≠
and passes to "n" in front of the palatal semivocal y:
E9: N → ɳ/__y
These rules apply, as well as within the topic, in the delicate posting of nominal and verbal endings. As for the joint phenomena specifically, In addition to the rules we have given, there are no other restrictions on the occurrence in any position of "m and n" '. The case of p and β is different.
= ɲ
= In the collected material, the palatal nasal never appears in the final word position. Initially it only occurs in ''ɲuuq'' “little; small" and in the videophone ɲa" eat! " (with the same meaning ɲ can be pre-glottidalized: ''ʔɲaa,'' we also need j-a); it is natural to connect this form to the singular imperative of "eating" in Oromo: ''nyaaddhu.'' In many cases the presence of "ɲ" in the median position is determined by the application of ''E7'' in the encounter between a theme in the nasal and a suffix; for example, ''wiin + yahay→ wiiɲahay'' ''"he is great''", ''lan + yaw ~ laɲaw "oh name!"'' (vocative). However, "ɲ" appears in the lexicon, albeit to a limited extent; for example in: ''(11) maaɲo “tare”'' ''gaɲɲuuf “saliva”'' ''mapaʔ "Milk at the first stage of acidity"'' Given the impossibility of deriving these ''ʔ'' cases from the application of a more general phonemic process, I consider ɲphonemic in K.
= ŋ
= The status of 'ŋ' in Garre is rather complex: it is excluded in the initial word position and appears only in very few words in the middle position, for example in ''haŋuur'' "'food" and ''foŋor "cracking (of vase)"'' . In these forms a veil or uvular is completely assimilated to the previous nasal: compare ''hunguri'' dialect ''fonqor'' of the dialect Qoryoley. - the latter form derived by dissimilation from + ''foggorr:'' Ali (1985: 345: n, 59} reports ''faqqar'' (glossing pot missing pieces), It's the same shape as ''faŋar.'' As we have seen (E8), “ŋ” appears in the final position, where seems to be the only possible nasal {equal in Maay, cf. Saced (1982: 5)]. But a final nasal is also performed ''ŋ'' in the intervocalic position, and precisely when an article or a possessive is affixed to a nasal masculine noun, determinants in which the morpheme of masculine & falls, the union of word "''uomo''" and of the (masculine) article "''ka''" will therefore give "''laga''".
In K. - at least in T. dialect - a process seems to operate which resolves a nasal + velar connection by assimilating the latter to the nasal, which becomes velarized in ''ŋ''; this process is lexically determined, given that with other determinants (the anaphoric and the indeterminate / interrogative) the link ''ŋ''k is preserved (naturally realized 'ŋ'' k E7); but it could also depend on the rhythm of the sentence (more frequent with a fast pace and an informal style).
We will have lost:
Morphemic representation , phonological , phonetics
/ian/ + /ka/ ''lanka aŋka'
'' aŋa'
Of the phonetic representations, the earliest & data from the application of E7 (N → ''ŋ'' / __k), the second from the application of the (lexically determined) process of resolution of the link ''nk''.
On the contrary, with female names we will have:
Morphemic representation , phonological , phonetics
/islaan / + / ta / ''islaanta siaanta'
'' slaanna'
'' slaana'
The first phonetic representation is given by the application of E6 (N ~ n/ _t), the second from the assimilation of the dental to the nasal, Which can be subsequently determined (giving 'islaana').
Consequently, ''n'' and ''ŋ'' often distinguish, in an intervocalic position, the gender of the noun. On the basis of its possibility of occurrence in the intervocalic position - where the other nasals are naturally also allowed - we recognize the phonemic status of ''ŋ''. In fact, phonological representations such as ''lanka'' and ''islaanta'' would be not only too distant from the phonetic forms ''laŋa'' and ''islaana'', but the latter. they are not even linked to their presumed phonological representations by general processes (and non lexically or morphologically determined),
Only in the median 'ŋ''phonetic position will ''ŋ'' be transcribed in the final - given its complete predictability - we will transcribe ''n.''
1.2. Vowels
The vowel system of Garre. it seems to include 11 phonemes in total: 6 short and 5 long; the inhomogeneity in the number of phonemes of the two subsystems of long and short vowels is given by the presence, between the short vowels, of ə The collected material does not allow to ascertain the presence of an opposition between advanced vowels (V) and vowels (V), as described for the north-central Somali(but not for the dialects of the river region), the vowel system of Garre. can therefore be represented as follows:
1.2.1. "ə" and the problem of vowel length at the end of a word
The phonological status of ‘ə’ and problematic and the situation in Garre. appears in many ways similar to that of the Maay described by Saeed (1982; 7). In particular, the question is whether ə should be considered a phoneme or the result of short vowel reduction rules. Not without doubts, we will consider "e" - historically derived certainly from the reduction of short vowels - as a phonological in The following is to be considered a simple contribution to the problem, not a solution to it.References
Cited works
* * * {{Cushitic languages Omo–Tana languages Languages of Somalia