Aroid languages
The Aroid or Ari-Banna (formerly South Omotic or Somotic) languages possibly belong to the Afro-Asiatic family and are spoken in Ethiopia.
| Aroid | |
|---|---|
| Ari-Banna, South Omotic | |
| Geographic distribution | Ethiopia |
| Linguistic classification | Afro-Asiatic
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | sout2845 |
External classification
The classification of South Omotic (also called Aroid) is highly disputed and it may be a separate language family. Karo is sometimes considered as a dialect of Hamer, but considered as a separate language by Glottolog which groups both in a Hamer-Karo subfamily.
Zaborski (1986)[1] and Lamberti (1993)[2] consider South Omotic to be a separate branch of Cushitic, renaming it as West Cushitic.
Bender (2000, 2003)[3][4] notes that South Omotic is in fact quite divergent from other Afroasiatic languages, and suggests that it may in fact have connections with Nilo-Saharan, such as Surmic and Nilotic.
Citing lexical similarities with Surmic and other non-Nilotic Nilo-Saharan languages, Yigezu (2013)[5] argues that Aroid (AKA South Omotic) has a "Nilo-Saharan origin" and had become strongly influenced by other "Omotic" language groups. The Proto-Aroid vowel system is also more similar to those of the Surmic and Nilotic languages (Yigezu 2006, 2013).[5]
Glottolog 4.0 does not recognize that South Omotic belongs to one of the disputed families, and the candidate group of Omotic languages (grouping both North and South Omotic languages) remains disputed. For this reason it is considered for now as a separate family.
Reconstruction
| Proto-Aroid | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of | Aroid languages |
Below is a reconstruction of Proto-Aroid by Yigezu (2013).[6]
| Gloss | Proto-Aroid |
|---|---|
| animal | *dabɪ- |
| arrow | *bʌnkʌr |
| blow | *pug- |
| boat (canoe) | *gongul |
| buffalo | *meek- |
| burn | *ʔats- |
| bury | *duuk- |
| calabash | *gusi |
| call (v) | *ɛl- |
| cattle | *waak- |
| charcoal | *tʃ’ilʃ- |
| chicken | *baatʃa ~ *koyz |
| chicken | *baatʃ- |
| chief | *biti |
| claw | *guʃ- |
| climb | *wut- |
| cloth | *apala |
| cotton | *putta |
| count | *payd- |
| crocodile | *gurgur |
| divide (v) | *kʌʃ- |
| donkey | *ukul- |
| drink (v) | *wutʃ’- |
| dry season | *bona |
| egg | *muk’-; *mol- |
| father | *baab |
| fire | *no̤ha ~ *nuu |
| hand/arm | *ʔan |
| hat | *koɓ- |
| head | *mat- |
| hoe | *gaita |
| hold | *yʌd |
| I | *ʔinta |
| liver | *tʊ/ur- |
| make | *ʔaʃk- |
| mother | *ʔind- |
| mouth | *ʔap- |
| navel | *gulɗ- |
| nine | *sakal |
| open | *bul- |
| people | *eedna |
| person | *eed |
| pierce | *tors- |
| plant | *kor- |
| rainy season | *bʌrgi |
| road | *gɔgi |
| salt | *sok’o |
| sand | *ʃaam- |
| seed | *ɓenta |
| sew | *dʒaag- |
| shoot | *kʌs’- |
| show | *ɗaw- |
| six | *la̤h |
| smoke (n) | *tʃ’ub- |
| snake | *gun- |
| sow | *dʊk’- |
| spit | *tʌs’-; *pas’- |
| split | *p’al- |
| tail | *go/ul- |
| ten | *tʌmm-; *tʌɓ- |
| tobacco | *dampo |
| untie | *bul- |
| urinate | *ʃaan- |
| urine | *ʃaan |
| 1sg | *ʔinta |
| 2sg | *ya- |
| 3sg (masculine) | *no̤h/nuu |
| 3sg (feminine) | *naa |
| 3sg (neuter) | *yi |
| 1pl | *wot- |
| 2pl | *yʌt- |
| 3pl | *kɛt- |
Numerals
Comparison of numerals in individual languages:[7]
| Language | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aari | wólːáq | qastːén | makːén | ʔoydːí | dónqː | láː | tabzá | qastːaː́ntámːers (lit: two less than ten) | wolqáːntámːers (lit:one less than ten) | támːá |
| Hamer-Banna (1) | kála | lamá | makkán | oidí | dunɡ̥ | lax | toɓɓá | lankái | sal | táɓi |
| Hamer-Banna (2) | kʌlʌ | lɛmaː | makan | ʔoʷidi / ʔuʷidi | duŋ | lʌx | tʌɓa / toɓa | lʌŋkaⁱ | səl | təɓi |
| Dime | ˈwɔkʰʌl / wókkil | ˈkʼʌtʼɨm / kʼəstin | ˈmʌkʰɨm / mə́kkim | ʔʊdːʊ / ʔúddú | ˈʃənːə / ʃinní | ˈlahə ~ ˈlah / láxi | ˈtʰʊsːʊm / tússum | ˈkʼʌʃnaʃ / kʼaʃnáʃiʃ | ˈwʌklaʃ / wókláʃiʃ | ˈtʰamːe / təmme |
| Karo (Kara Apo) | kala | lama | makkam | ojidi | dɔŋ | la | tsoɓa | lɔɔŋkaji | sal | taɓi |
See also
- List of Proto-Aroid reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
- Zaborski, Andrzej. 1986. Can Omotic be reclassified as West Cushitic? In Gideon Goldenberg, ed., Ethiopian Studies: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference pp. 525–530. Rotterdam: Balkema.
- Lamberti, Marcello. 1993. "The Ari-Banna group and its classification." Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica e Applicata 22: 39-87.
- Bender, Lionel M. 2000. Comparative Morphology of the Omotic Languages. (LINCOM Studies in African Linguistics, 19.) München: Lincom Europa.
- Bender, M. Lionel. 2003. The Omotic Lexicon. In Bender, M. Lionel and Takács, Gábor and Appleyard, David L. (eds.), Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in Memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, 93-106. München: München: Lincom.
- Yigezu, Moges. 2013. Is Aroid Nilo-Saharan or Afro-Asiatic? Some evidences from phonological, lexical and morphological reconstructions. Paper presented at the Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, May 22–24, 2013, Cologne, Germany.
- Yigezu, Moges. 2013. Is Aroid Nilo-Saharan or Afro-Asiatic? some evidences from phonological, lexical and morphological reconstuructions. Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, May 22–24, 2013, Cologne, Germany.
- Chan, Eugene (2019). "The Afro-Asiatic Language Phylum". Numeral Systems of the World's Languages.