Bambassi (native name: Màwés Aasʼè[2]) is an Omotic Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia around the towns of Bambasi and Didessa in the area east of Asosa in Benishangul-Gumuz Region.[3] The parent language group is the East Mao group. Alternative names for the language are Bambeshi, Siggoyo, Amam, Fadiro, Northern Mao, Didessa and Kere.
| Bambassi | |
|---|---|
| Mao of Bambassi | |
| Mao of Didessa | |
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Region | in Benishangul-Gumuz Region, east of Asosa |
Native speakers | 2,300 (2011)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | myf |
| Glottolog | bamb1262 |
| ELP | Mao of Bambeshi |
The most current information on the number of Bambassi speakers is not known, as the 2007 census grouped the Mao languages together, despite low lexical similarity. 33,683 mother tongue speakers of Maogna (covering Bambassi, Hozo and Seze) were listed.[4]
Similarities edit
Bambassi has a 31% lexical similarity with other Omotic languages.
Phonology edit
Bambassi has 5 vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/. The vowels have lengthened forms, and Bambassi has contrastive vowel length.[5]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | k | ||
| voiced | b | d | g | |||
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | kʼ | |||
| Affricate | t͡sʼ | (t͡ʃ) | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | ʃ | h | ||
| voiced | z | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
Orthography edit
Vowels and tones edit
- a - [a]
- aa - [aː]
- e - [e]
- ee - [eː]
- i - [i]
- ii - [iː]
- o - [o]
- oo - [oː]
- u - [u]
- uu - [uː]
- á - high tone
- a - middle tone
- à - low tone
Consonants edit
- b - [b]
- c' - [t͡s']
- ch - [t͡ʃ]
- d - [d]
- g - [g]
- h - [h]
- k - [k]
- k' - [k']
- l - [l]
- m - [m]
- n - [n]
- ng - [ŋ]
- p - [p/f/ɸ]
- p' - [p']
- r - [ɾ]
- s - [s]
- sh - [ʃ]
- t - [t]
- t' - [t']
- w - [w]
- y - [j]
- z - [z]
Notes edit
- ^ "Màwés Aasʼè". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
- ^ Güldemann, Tom (2018). "Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa". In Güldemann, Tom (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of Africa. The World of Linguistics series. Vol. 11. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 58–444. doi:10.1515/9783110421668-002. ISBN 978-3-11-042606-9.
- ^ Bambassi language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Ethiopia 2007 Census
- ^ Michael, Ahland (2012). A Grammar of Northern Mao (Màwés Aas'è) (Thesis). University of Oregon.
- ^ "Bambassi language and pronunciation". Omniglot. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
Further reading edit
- Ahland, Michael. 2009. "Aspects of Northern Mao (Bambassi-Diddesa) phonology."Linguistic Discovery 7: 1-42.
- Alemayehu Dumessa. 2007. Word Formation in Diddessa Mao. Addis Ababa University, MA thesis. Web access
- Wedekind, Charlotte, Klaus Wedekind and Ralph Siebert. 2002. "Third S.L.L.E. survey on languages of the Begi/Asosa area.", SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2002-056
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