Soddo (autonym ''kəstane'' "Christian"; formerly called ''Aymälläl'' in Western sources, after a particular dialect of it) is a

Gurage language The Gurage languages (Gurage: ጉራጌ), also known as Guragie, is a dialect-continuum language, which belong to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by the Gurage people, who inhabit the Gurage Zone within ...

spoken by a quarter million people in southeastern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. It is an

Ethiopian Semitic language Ethiopian Semitic (also Ethio-Semitic, Ethiosemitic, Ethiopic or Abyssinian) is a family of languages spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. They form the western branch of the South Semitic languages, itself a sub-branch of Semitic, part of th ...

of the Northern Gurage subfamily. Its native speakers, the

Soddo Gurage people The Soddo or Kistane Gurage (ክስታኔ) (endonym: ''Aymellel, Gordena'')' a subgroup of the'' Gurage ''who inhabit the south-central part of Ethiopia, considered the northern geographic and linguistic subset of the Gurage and speak the'' Sodd ...

(Kistane), live predominantly in the Soddo district of the

Gurage Zone Gurage is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The region is home to the Gurage people. Gurage is bordered on the southeast by Hadiya and Yem special woreda, on the west, north and east by the Oromia ...

Grammar

Noun

As in most Ethiopian languages, noun

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", prov ...

s generally follow the noun. The

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

is expressed by the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carr ...

''-i'', e.g.: ''goš'' "boy" > ''goš-i'' "the boy"; ''ätit'' "sister" > ''ätiti'' "the sister"; ''bayyočč'' "children" > ''bayyočč-i''. If the noun ends in ''-a'' or ''-ä'', it normally loses this

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (len ...

when ''-i'' is suffixed: ''angačča'' "cat" > ''angačč-i'' "the cat". A noun ending in ''-i'' usually stays the same: ''abi'' "(the) father, proprietor". A noun ending in ''-e, -o, -u'' adds a ''y'' before the suffix: ''ge'' "house" > ''geʸi'' "the house"; ''wälläho'' "neighbor" > ''wällähoʸi'' "the neighbor". If the noun has a qualifier, the article is used with the first element: ''maläk' ge'' "big house" > ''maläk'-i ge'' "the big house"; ''yä-šum-i ge'' "the house of the official" (lit. "of-official-the house"); ''yä-mät't'-i məss'' "the man who came" (lit. "who-came-the man".) There is no real

indefinite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

, though indefiniteness can be expressed by preposing the word ''attə'' or ''k'una'', meaning "one". Nouns have two

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most culture ...

s, masculine and feminine, which affect

verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...

concord. Nouns which are definite objects (

direct Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), ...

or indirect) are both marked with the prefix ''yä-'' or ''nä-'': e.g. ''yä-geʸi ažžo'' "he saw the house"; ''yä-zämmihʷan abännət'' "he gave it to his brother" (lit. "to-his-brother he-gave-him").

Direct object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include b ...

s may additionally be marked by adding the object suffix pronouns to the verb: e.g. ''yabiddi täšakkunnət'' "I asked my father" (lit. "my-father-obj. I-asked-him".) A possessed noun is marked by the prefix ''yä-'', and the possessor precedes the possessed: ''yä-šum-i ge'' "the house of the official" (lit. "of-official-the house"). If the possessed noun has a preposition prefixed to it, this ''yä-'' is omitted: ''babiddi färäz'' rather than *''bä-yä-abiddi färäz'' for "on my father's horse".

Pronoun

Personal pronoun

Possessives can also be formed by simply adding ''yä-'' to the standalone pronouns, e.g.: ''yädähəm t'əb'' "your clan". Reflexive pronouns are formed by ''äras-'', ''gubba-'', ''k'um-'' plus the possessive suffixes, e.g. ''ädi äras-əddi mät'afi t'afkunnət'' "I myself wrote the book".

Demonstrative pronoun

Proximal: ''zi'' "this, these"; ''zini'' "this one". E.g.: ''zi məss'' "this man", ''zi məšt'' "this woman", ''zi säbočč'' "these men". Distal: ''za'' "that, those, that one, those ones"; ''zani'' "that one there". E.g. ''tä-za məss goy mät't'ahi'' "I came with that man".

Interrogative pronoun

*''ma'' "who?" (''man'' before the copula): ''man mät't'a?'' "who came?" *''yäma'' "whose?" * ''mən'' "what?"; ''yämən'' "why?" * ''yitta'', ''yittat'' "which?" E.g. ''yitta bayy mät't'am'' "which child came?" * ''yittani'' "which one?"

Indefinite pronoun

* ''(yähonä) säb'' "someone, somebody" * ''mannəm (säb)'' "any(one)" ("no one" with negative verb) * ''attəm'' "any" (="no one, nothing" with negative verb); ''attəmu'' "no one" (as pronoun) * ''lela (säb)'' "other" * ''yäk'irrä k'äy'' "other" (lit. "remaining thing") * ''attə'' "a certain" * ''ləyyu'' "different" * ''k'una'', ''zam'', ''zəč'ə'' "same" * ''äbälo'' (f. ''äbälit'') "so-and-so" * ''zihom'' "such" ''kulləm'' = "all" (placed before or after the noun); ''kulləm-u'', ''bä-mollaw'' = "whole". ''yät'oma'' = "only, alone". "Each, every" is expressed by noun

reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edwa ...

Copula and existential verbs

The copula (positive and negative) is irregular in the

present tense The present tense ( abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...

: Example: ''zämmidi nähä'' "you are my brother". The past tense ("he was", etc.) is expressed by the verb ''näbbär'' conjugated regularly in the perfect; "he was not" etc. is with ''annäbär''. The future tense is expressed by the imperfect of ''hono'': ''yəhonu'' "he will be", etc. The negative future tense is likewise expressed by ''tihon''. The present copula in subordinate clauses is expressed by the subordinate perfect of ''honä'', e.g.: ''däffär yähonä tädi-goy yalfu'' "he who is courageous will go with me. "It is he", etc. can be expressed by adding an element ''-tt'' between the pronoun and the copula: e.g. ''kʷa-ttə-n'' "it is he". The existential verb "be at", "exist" in the present is: In the past and future, it is expressed just like the copula, with ''näbbärä'' and ''honä''. In subordinate clauses the present is expressed with ''-allä'' conjugated in the perfect (negative ''-lellä''), e.g.: ''bämeda yalləmi säbočč araš näm'' "the people who are in the field are farmers". The possessive verb "he has" etc. is expressed with the existential verb ''yino'' "it is" (agreeing with the object possessed) plus object suffix pronouns (i.e. "it is to him" etc.)

Verbs

A Soddo verb may have anywhere from one to four consonants, or may be a compound with ''balo'' "say" (e.g. ''bək'k' balo'' "appear".) In the former case, they fall into three "

conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics *Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form * Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics *Complex conjugation, the change ...

s" differing in their vowels and in gemination of the imperfect, illustrated for a three-consonant verb: * ''säbbäro'', imperfect ''yəsäbru'' ("break") * ''tikkälo'', imperfect ''yətikkəlu'' * ''č'affäro'', imperfect ''yəč'affəru'' Derived stems can be formed in several ways: * reduplicative: e.g. ''gäddälo'' "kill" > ''gədaddälo''. This form has a wide variety of meanings, mostly intensifying the verb in some way. *

passive Passive may refer to: * Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive * Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works * Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of o ...

/reflexive/ intransitive ''tä-'' prefix: e.g. ''käffälo'' "pay" > ''tä-käffälo'' "be paid". A

reciprocal Reciprocal may refer to: In mathematics * Multiplicative inverse, in mathematics, the number 1/''x'', which multiplied by ''x'' gives the product 1, also known as a ''reciprocal'' * Reciprocal polynomial, a polynomial obtained from another pol ...

action can be expressed by this prefix attached to a

transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects, for example, 'cleaned' in ''Donald cleaned the window''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects, for example, 'panicked' in ''Donald panicked''. Transiti ...

with the vowel ''a'' after the first radical, or a reduplicative form, e.g. ''tä-gäddäl-mun'' or ''tä-gdaddäl-mun'' "they killed each other". *

causative In linguistics, a causative ( abbreviated ) is a valency-increasing operationPayne, Thomas E. (1997). Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 173–186. that indicates that a subject either ...

or transitive of intransitive verbs ''a-'': e.g. ''säkkäro'' "be drunk" > ''a-säkkäro'' "get someone drunk"; ''näddädo'' "burn (intr.)" > ''a-näddädo'' "burn (tr.)". *

of transitive or

verbs ''at-'' (+ ''-i-''): e.g. ''käddäno'' "cover" > ''at-kiddäno'' "cause to cover" or "cause to be covered". Added to the ''-a-'' form, it expresses reciprocity and adjutative (helping): ''atgaddälo'' "cause to kill one other" or help to kill". * Some verbs are formed with initial ''ən-'' or ''tän-''; the only derived stem from these is the ''a-'' stem, with ''a-'' replacing ''ə-'' or ''tä-''. E.g. ''ənkrättäto'' "be bent" > ''ankrättäto'' "bend". There are two tenses/aspects,

perfective The perfective aspect ( abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole; i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the i ...

(past) and

imperfective The imperfective (abbreviated or more ambiguously ) is a grammatical aspect used to describe ongoing, habitual, repeated, or similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. Although many languages have a ge ...

(non-past); each has distinct forms for main versus

subordinate clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...

s, and positive versus negative. There are also distinct

jussive The jussive (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood of verbs for issuing orders, commanding, or exhorting (within a subjunctive framework). English verbs are not marked for this mood. The mood is similar to the ''cohortative'' mood, which typically a ...

, imperative, and impersonal forms.

Conjugations

=Perfect

= The form with suffixed ''-m'' is used in subordinate clauses to connect verbs not otherwise connected, in a way analogous to Japanese ''-te''; it can be translated as "and", as a

gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...

, or as a

resultative In linguistics, a resultative (abbreviated ) is a form that expresses that something or someone has undergone a change in state as the result of the completion of an event. Resultatives appear as predicates of sentences, and are generally composed ...

. The perfect in ''-m'' followed by ''näbbär'' forms the

pluperfect The pluperfect (shortening of plusquamperfect), usually called past perfect in English, is a type of verb form, generally treated as a grammatical tense in certain languages, relating to an action that occurred prior to an aforementioned time i ...

. The negative perfect is formed by prefixing ''al-'', with vowel change; for the conjugations mentioned above, the resulting forms are ''al-säfärä'', ''al-täkkälä'', and ''al-č'afärä''. Examples: ''ge aräššo'' "he built a house"; ''banätäw k'ən awänna-m bämida tonnaw'' "having put butter on the top of his head, he sat outside".

=Imperfect

= Like the perfect, the subordinate forms can take the suffix ''-m'' to express a series of non-past actions. This can be combined with ''näbbär'' to express a habitual past action. Examples: ''ahoññ gäbäya nalfu'' "today we shall go to the market"; ''yəgädəl məss'' "the man who kills"; ''mas tənäsa-m yibara wawt'a tək'ärsi'' "she picks up the sleeping mats and begins to remove the dung." It can be augmented by ''-ən'', with no obvious change in meaning. Examples: ''ahoññ yəmät'a timäsəl'' "it does not seem that he will come today"; ''ädahʷan t-aykäfəl alläfo'' "he left without paying his debt".

=Jussive and Imperative

= These are negated by the prefix ''ay-'': ''ayəsfär'', ''ayšäkkət'', ''aygalb''. The 2nd person forms then change to conform to the others: ''attəsfär'', ''attəsfer'', ''attəsfärəm'', ''attəsfärma''. E.g.: ''yä-wäzälawan-hom yewsəd'' "let him take according to his work"; ''yäsäb waga attəlgäd'' "don't touch someone's property"; ''ärəf-əm tona'' "rest and sit down" (sit down quietly).

References

* Cohen, Marcel, ''Etudes d'éthiopien méridional''. Paris: Geuthner 1931. * Gideon Goldenberg, "Kəstanəñña: Studies in a Northern Gurage Language of Christians", in: ''Orientalia Suecana'' 17 (1968), 61-102 Gideon Goldenberg, ''Studies in Semitic Linguistics'', The Magnes Press: Jerusalem 1998 * Gideon Goldenberg, "L'étude du gouragué et la comparaison chamito-sémitique", in: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma - ''Problemi attuali di Scienza e di Cultura'', Quad. N. 191 II (1974), pp. 235–249 ''Studies in Semitic Linguistics'', pp. 463–477 * Gideon Goldenberg
"The Semitic Languages of Ethiopia and Their Classification"
in: ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' 40 (1977), pp. 461–507. ''Studies in Semitic Linguistics'', pp. 286–332 * Gideon Goldenberg, "Linguistic Interest in Gurage and the Gurage Etymological Dictionary" eview article of Wolf Leslau (1979) in: ''Annali, Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli'' 47 (1987), pp. 75–98. ''Studies in Semitic Linguistics'', pp. 439–462 * Gideon Goldenberg, "Two points of Kəstane grammar", in: Grover Hudson (ed.), ''Essays on Gurage language and culture : dedicated to Wolf Leslau on the occasion of his 90th birthday, November 14, 1996'', Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden 1996 (), pp. 93–99. *

Wolf Leslau __NOTOC__ Wolf Leslau ( yi, וולף לסלאו; born November 14, 1906 in Krzepice, Vistula Land, Poland; died November 18, 2006 in Fullerton, California) was a scholar of Semitic languages and one of the foremost authorities on Semitic langua ...

, ''Ethiopians speak : Studies in cultural background, III. Soddo''. Near Eastern Studies, 11. Berkeley: University of California Press 1968. * Wolf Leslau, ''Etymological Dictionary of Gurage (Ethiopic)''. 3 vols. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1979. . * Wolf Leslau, ''Gurage Studies: Collected Articles'', Otto Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden 1992. * Johannes Mayer, ''Kurze Wörtersammlung in Englisch, Deutsch, Amharisch, Gallansich, Guraguesch'', herausgegeben von Dr. L. Krapf. Basel: Pilgermissions-Buchdruckerei St. Grischona 1878. * Franz Praetorius, "Ueber den Dialekt von Gurāguē", in: ''Die amharische Sprache'', Halle 1879, pp. 507–523 (second appendix). *

Robert Hetzron Robert Hetzron, born Herzog (31 December 1937, Budapest – 12 August 1997, Santa Barbara, California), was a Hungarian-born linguist known for his work on the comparative study of Afro-Asiatic languages, as well as for his study of Cushitic ...

"Main Verb-Markers in Northern Gurage"
in: ''Africa'' XXXVIII (1968), pp. 156–172. * ''yä-Kəstane Gurage əmmät (həzb) tarik''. Addis Ababa 1986 (

Ethiopian calendar The Ethiopian calendar ( am, የኢትዮጲያ ዘመን ኣቆጣጠር; Oromo: Akka Lakkofsa Itoophiyaatti; Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓዉደ ኣዋርሕ), or Ge'ez calendar ( Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓ� ...

External links

Christian recordings in Soddo
i
Global Recordings
website. *

World Atlas of Language Structures The World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) is a database of structural ( phonological, grammatical, lexical) properties of languages gathered from descriptive materials. It was first published by Oxford University Press as a book with CD-R ...

information o
Soddo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soddo Language Languages of Ethiopia Outer Ethiopian Semitic languages