CUSHITIC LANGUEGES KUSHITIC SOMALI

The Cushitic of East Africa


Afro-Asiatic
Geographic
distribution:Horn of Africa, North Africa, northern Central Africa,
northern West Africa, Southwest Asia. Genetic
classification:One of the World's major language families
Subdivisions:

Egyptian group
Berber group
Chadic group
Cushitic group
Omotic group
Semitic group
Birale (unclassified)



SOMALI AND RELATED BAYSO (AF JIIDO), RENDILLE, DESENECH (MURILLE), RENDILLE,BONI (AF BONI)

Heine in 1978 classified Bayso as the Northern branch of Omo-Tana (The Sam languages) while Sasse (1975) established the Western branch with the closely related languages Dasenech, Arbore and Elmolo. Rendille and Boni are included together with Somali, the Eastern branch of Omo-Tana.

BAYSO (AF JIIDO)

However, there are two distinct communities indigenous to Gidiccho island speaking different languages: the Bayso, and the Harro.

Bayso is the name of a village on the southern tip of Gidiccho island and the name
used by the entire community to refer to themselves as an ethnic group, as well as to their
language.


Leo Reinisch

1. linguistic evidence, especially livestock terminology

saa, "cattle"
This root is a suppletive plural for "cow", i.e. "cattle" throughout
Eastern Cushitic and Beja. Hudson reconstmcts *sa?a for Highland
East Cushitic and Ehret (1987: 61)

Cushitic

The Cushitic languages are mostly spoken in central, southern and eastern
Ethiopia (mainly in Afar, Oromia and Somali regions). The Cushitic languages use
the Roman alphabet and Ge'ez script. For example, Oromo is written in the Ge'ez
script whereas Somali is written in the Roman alphabet.

The Cushitic Languages:

Afarigna
Agewigna
Alaba
Arbore
Awngi
Baiso
Burji
Bussa
Daasanech
Gawwada
Gedeo
Hadiyya
Kambatta
Kemant
Konso
Kunfal
Libido
Oromigna
Saho
Sidamigna
Somaligna
Tsamai
Werize
Xamtanga

Omotic VERY CLOSE TO CUSITIC

The Omotic languages are predominantly spoken between the Lakes of southern Rift
Valley and the Omo River.

The Omotic Languages:


Anfillo
Ari
Bambassi
Basketto
Bench
Boro
Chara
Dime
Dizzi
Dorze
Gamo-Gofa
Ganza
Hammer-Banna
Hozo
Kachama-Ganjule
Kara
Kefa
Kore
Male
Melo
Mocha
Nayi
Oyda
Shakacho
Sheko
Welaytta (Welamo)
Yemsa
Zayse-Zergulla

Ethiopia has 83 different languages with up to 200 different dialects spoken.
The largest ethnic and linguistic groups are the Oromos, Amharas and Tigrayans.


East Cushitic languages -

East Cushitic Geographic distribution:Ethiopia Genetic classification:Afro-Asiatic Cushitic

East Cushitic
Subdivisions:

Boon (AF AWEERI SOMALIA)
Yaaku
Dullay group
Highland East Cushitic group
Konso-Gidole group
Oromo group
Rendille-Boni group
Saho-Afar group
Somali group
Western Omo-Tana group


The East Cushitic languages
comprise more than thirty languages belonging to the Cushitic family within the Afro-Asiatic phylum. East Cushitic languages are spoken mainly in Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti, but also in parts of Kenya.

The most prominent East Cushitic language is Oromo, with about 21 million
speakers. Other prominent languages include Somali (spoken by ethnic Somalis in
Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Djibouti, and Kenya) with about 15 million speakers,
Sidamo (in Ethiopia) with about 2 million speakers, and Afar (in Eritrea and
Djibouti) with about 1.5 million.
In the internal classification of East Cushitic, the most common major division
is between Highland East Cushitic and Lowland East Cushitic. Western Omo-Tana is
a distinct branch, as are the two branches represented by Yaaku (extinct) and
Boon (endangered).

List of Eastern Cushitic languages
Highland East Cushitic

Alaba (or Alaaba)
Burji
Gedeo
Hadiyya (or Hadiya)
Kambaata
Libido
Sidamo

Lowland East Cushitic



Somali languages
Somali
Af-Maay
Rendille-Boni (Rendille and Boni)

Saho-Afar languages
Saho
Afar
Konso-Gidole
Konso (or Komso)
Dirasha (or Gidole, Kidole, Diraytata)
Oromo
Dullay
Bussa (endangered)
Gawwada
Tsamai
Western Omo-Tana
Arbore
Baiso
Daasanach

El Molo/Elmolo (extinct; all speakers have shifted to Elmolo-Samburu)
Yaaku (moribund; all speakers have shifted to Mukogodo-Maasai, only three
fluent speakers left)
Boon (endangered, possibly extinct)



The “Islanders” of Lake Abaya and Lake Ch’amo:
Harro, Ganjule, Gats’ame and Bayso
by Matthias Brenzinger

Introduction
The four names included in the title are referring to communities speaking two distinct
languages. The Harro on Gidiccho Island, the Ganjule to the west of Lake Ch’amo and the
Gats’ame west of Lake Abaya speak varieties of one and the same Ometo language. Since
they belong to the “Ometo” cluster and therefore are included with the Omotic family,
their linguistic affiliation with the second language spoken on the “islands”, namely
Bayso - an East Cushitic language - comes in on the macro-level of Afro-Asiatic only.
The “Islanders” of Lake Abaya and Lake Ch’amo - i.e., Harro, Ganjule, and Gats’ame -
speak an Ometo language closely related to other languages of this region such as Zayse
and Koorette, while Bayso is a geographical as well as linguistic outlier of the Omo-Tana
group.
The Bayso people identify themselves by their language, which has been analyzed as
forming a sub-group of its own within Omo-Tana. Heine in 1978 classified Bayso as the
Northern branch of Omo-Tana (The Sam languages) while Sasse (1975) established the
Western branch with the closely related languages Dasenech, Arbore and Elmolo.
Rendille and Boni are included together with Somali, the Eastern branch of Omo-Tana.
Inconsistent use of names which are used to refer to the people of the islands and their
languages has caused quite some confusion in the past. According to our information, the
following use of names seems to be established among the people of that area at present:
Gidicho is the name of the largest island in Lake Abaya and according to Wedekind
(p.c.) it derives from a Gedeo term meaning “small thing inside [the water]”. At the same
time the term Gidiccho is widely misused to refer to people living, as well as languages
spoken, on the island. However, there are two distinct communities indigenous to
Gidiccho island speaking different languages: the Bayso, and the Harro. Haberland in
1955 (Haberland 1963) used “Gidiccho” to refer to the Bayso people, whereas Fleming
classified the “Gidicho” language as belonging to the East Ometo branch of Omotic; that
means his “Gidicho” was actually “Harro” (Fleming / Bender 1976).
Bayso is the name of a village on the southern tip of Gidiccho island and the name
used by the entire community to refer to themselves as an ethnic group, as well as to their
language. Gats’ame and Ganjule call the Gidiccho island Alkáso and the Bayso Alkalli.

Wordlist of Bayso