The Ometo languages of
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 ...
are a
dialect cluster
A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...
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.
The languages have around 4 million speakers.
Classification
Bender (2000)
Bender (2000) classifies them as,
[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.]
*South:
Maale
*
Basketo
*Central:
Wolaytta (Ometo),
Oyda (Oyta),
Melo (Malo),
Dorze–
Gamo-Gofa-Dawro
*East: Gats'ame (
Kachama-Ganjule),
Koorete (Koyra, Harro),
Zayse-Zergulla
Blench (2006)
Hayward (2003) added Basketo to Central Ometo and called the result 'North Ometo', a position followed by Blench (2006).
Blench (2006) lists several additional North Ometo languages, and lists
Chara as unclassified within the family.
[Blench, 2006]
The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List
/ref>
*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), Koore/Koyra (Badittu)
*South: Maale
*?: Ch'ara
He also lists ''Balta'', a regional name for Wolaytta, as a possibly separate language.
Notes
North Omotic languages
Languages of Ethiopia
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