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Kafa language

{{Short description|North Omotic language spoken in Ethiopia}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Kafa

|nativename=Kafi noono

|states=Ethiopia

|region=Keffa Zone

|ethnicity=Kafficho

|speakers={{sigfig|834,000|2}}

|ref=[http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=264&format=raw&Itemid=521 Ethiopia 2007 Census] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114004942/http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=264&format=raw&Itemid=521 |date=2010-11-14 }}

|date=2007 census

|familycolor=Afro-Asiatic

|fam2=Omotic

|fam3=North

|fam4=Gonga

|fam5=Kafa–Shekkacho

|dia1=Bosha

|iso3=kbr

|glotto=kafa1242

|glottorefname=Kafa

}}

Kafa or Kefa (Kafi noono) is a North Omotic language spoken in Ethiopia at the Keffa Zone. It is part of the Ethiopian Language Area, with SOV word order, ejective consonants, etc.

A collection of proverbs in the language has been published by Mesfin Wodajo.2012. Functions and Formal and Stylistic Features of Kafa Proverbs: Functional and Structural Approach. Lambert Academic Publishing.

Phonology

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |

! colspan="2" |Labial

! colspan="2" |Alveolar

! colspan="2" |Palatal

! colspan="2" |Velar

! rowspan="2" |Glottal

plain

!gem.

!plain

!gem.

!plain

!gem.

!plain

!gem.

rowspan="3" |Plosive/
Affricate

!{{Small|voiceless}}

|{{IPAlink|p}}

|{{IPAlink|pː}}

|{{IPAlink|t}}

|{{IPAlink|tː}}

|{{IPAlink|tʃ}}

|{{IPAlink|tʃː}}

|{{IPAlink|k}}

|{{IPAlink|kː}}

|{{IPAlink|ʔ}}

{{Small|voiced}}

|{{IPAlink|b}}

|{{IPAlink|bː}}

|{{IPAlink|d}}

|{{IPAlink|dː}}

|{{IPAlink|dʒ}}

|{{IPAlink|dʒː}}

|{{IPAlink|g}}

|{{IPAlink|ɡː}}

|

{{Small|ejective}}

|{{IPAlink|pʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|pːʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|tʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|tːʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|tʃʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|tʃːʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|kʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|kːʼ}}

|

rowspan="2" |Fricative

!{{Small|voiceless}}

|{{IPAlink|f}}

|

|{{IPAlink|s}}

|{{IPAlink|sː}}

|{{IPAlink|ʃ}}

|

|

|

|{{IPAlink|h}}

{{Small|voiced}}

|

|

|{{IPAlink|z}}

|

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Nasal

|{{IPAlink|m}}

|{{IPAlink|mː}}

|{{IPAlink|n}}

|{{IPAlink|nː}}

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Rhotic

|

|

|{{IPAlink|ɾ}}

|

|

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Approximant

|{{IPAlink|w}}

|

|{{IPAlink|l}}

|{{IPAlink|lː}}

|{{IPAlink|j}}

|

|

|

|

  • /f/ may also be heard as [ɸ] in free variation.
  • /b/ can be heard as a bilabial approximant [β̞] in intervocalic positions.
  • /t/ can be realized as [ts] in word-final position.{{Cite book |last=Theil |first=Rolf |title=Kafa phonology |publisher=DeGruyter Mouton |year=2007 |location=Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, Vol. 28, No. 2 |pages=193–216}}

= Vowels =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!

!Front

!Back

Close

|{{IPAlink|i iː}}

|{{IPAlink|u uː}}

Mid

|{{IPAlink|ɛ ɛː}}

|{{IPAlink|ɔ ɔː}}

Open

|{{IPAlink|a aː}}

|

  • /a/ may also have an allophone of [ə].

Manjo

{{Infobox language

|name=Manjo

|altname=Mangiò

|acceptance=speculative

|region=

|ethnicity=

|extinct=

|familycolor=unclassified

|family=unattested

|iso3=none

|glotto2=mang1364

|glottorefname2=Mangio

}}

Within the Kafa culture there is a caste of traditional hunters called the Manja/Manjo 'hunters'. They may once have spoken a different language. However, Leikola has shown that currently they speak Kafa with a number of distinctive words and constructions that they use, reinforcing the distinctions between themselves and the larger Kafa society.Leikola, Kirsi. 2014. Talking Manjo: Linguistic repertoires as means of negotiating marginalization. University of Helsinki: PhD dissertation.

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Brockelmann, Carl (1950): Zur Grammatik der Kafa-Sprache. in: Brockelmann, Carl (ed.): Abbessinische Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Leipzig. pp 40–60.
  • Cerulli, Enrico (1951), Studi etiopici. Vol. IV: La lingua Caffina. Roma: Istituto Per L'oriente.
  • Fleming, Harold C. (1976), "Kefa (Gonga) Languages", in The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. Bender, M. L. (ed.)

External links

{{Languages of Ethiopia}}

{{Omotic languages}}

Category:Languages of Ethiopia

Category:North Omotic languages

{{Ethiopia-stub}}

{{AfroAsiatic-lang-stub}}