Garre language

Garre (also known as Af-Garre) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Garre people inhabiting southern Somalia, Ethiopia and northern Kenya. It belongs to the family's Cushitic branch, and has an estimated 2.5 million speakers. Garre language is considered an ancient Somali dialect.Af-Garre is in the Digil classification of Somali dialects. Garre language is readily intelligible to Digil speaker as it has some affinity with Af-Maay and Af-Boon.

Classification

They constitute the carrier of pre-Hawiya clans: "They occur in four large autonomous groups: on the lower reaches of the Shebelle in Audegle District, around Dolo on the upper Juba, between the Webi Gesiro and the Webi Mana in contact and to some extent intermixed with the Arussi Galla, and to the south-west between the Ajuran and Digodia Somali and the Boran Galla of the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya. The northernmost group adjacent to the Galla Arussi have acquired some features of Galla culture; Galla and Somali are both spoken. Gala Arussi villages are intermixed with those of the Gerra (called Gurra by Bottego) but are kept separate from those of the Somali. The Gerra of this region have traditions similar to those of the other Garre group.

The exclusively are divided into two groups , Garre Tuuf and Garre Quranyow, The Quranyow dialect is strongly influenced by Maay and that they claimed that Tuuf dialect is the pure Af-Garre. This affirm that while not associating the two dialects with different geographical areas, garre language is the "''one of the most heterogeneous dialects of Somali''", for example the loss of prefix conjugation between the Garre in Baydhaba region, as in Maay, the dominant language in the area, of versus to its conservation among the Garre of Qoryooley and Buurhakaba.

Garre language is in the Digil classification of Somali dialects, other Digil Somali dialects are; Af-Tunni, Af Dabarre and Af-Jiddu. The digil dialects is the most heterogenous dialectal group of all the Somali Democratic Republic and it is indeed questionable, whether the Digil dialects form a single group, or whether each single Digil dialects constitutes its separate group. This does not apply so much to Tunni and Dabarre but it does to Garre. We anticipate our doubts about the legitimacy of including the Garre to the Digil dialects, both on the basis of agnatic considerations (''the Garre not being Digil at all, nor Sab, but pre-Hawiya'') and linguistic: the traits that connect Garre to the dialects of the river region are essentially phonological ( for example, 'absence of pharyngals), syntactic (the marking of interrogation suffixed to the verb, in part the system of marking the focus), lexicals and morphology

Geographic Distribution

For a reconstruction of the historical movements of the af-Garre which places its original site in the interfluvial area, perhaps near the upper River Juba, the dialect described the one spoken by the Garre (especially Tuuf) of the Basso Shabeelle: the garre of this area would be the only ones to have maintain their language specific to them; as for the Garre of the Mandera region "''Around Dolo on the upper Juba'' "and, further west, up to Moyale, they speak essentially a Borana dialect, most as their bilingual language; and then there is Garre Libin (Garre of the West that is Ethiopia and Kenya) and Garre Kofar (Garre in Qoroyoley)

Af-Garre is spoken in the districts of Baydhaba, Dhiinsor, Buurhakaba and Qoryooley is one of the heterogeneous dialect of Somalia; in fact, some Garreh dialects ( those in Buurhakaba and Qoryooley) have, for instance, preserved the conjugations with prefixes to date, while others (those of Baydhaba) have already given it up. Also, the typical Digil plural morpheme —''tə'' has been replaced in some Garre dialects (especially in those around Baydhaba) by the common southern Somali morpheme''—yaal''.

Phonology

Consonants

Garre consonants consist of 22 phonemes.

Occlusive consonants

= Soundproofing (Desonorizzazione) and neutralization

=
in the final position of words the voiced stops ''b, d'' are voided: E1: b, d → p, t / __≠

In this position, therefore, the loudness opposition d / t is neutralized , See:

(1) ''karab'' — 'karap''“shoulder”

''heed'' - 'heet''“Sickle"

In the final position of word ''g'' it goes to ʔ

E2: g ''→'' ʔ/__ ≠

(2) ''maʔag'' → 'maʔaʔ''“name”

Often, in the final position of a word followed by a word starting in a consonant, an occlusive is not exploded.

E3: OCCL → OCCL'/__≠ C__≠

(OCCL': occlusive is not exploited)

This happens in particular if the two words are morphologically united, as in the periphrastic verbal forms:

(3) ''usu wa ara �rə'' → " He was selling (habitually).

On the other hand, the spirantization of voiced stops in intervocalic positions, such as is present for example in Dabarte, does not seem to be part of the repertoire of processes of Garre. - at least of the tuuf dialect variety of Qoryooley -

The spirantization and the passage of ''"b" to "w"'' are instead quite frequent in the list of words Garres. i.e:

''hawar = habar "woman"''

''taweel = tabeel "wind"''

This is a typical feature of the Garre dialect spoken in the Baydhaba area. Note that a similar process occurs in the Maay dialect of the same region.

Despite the existence of the implosion J> , The postalveolare ɖ is never glottalized

= q

=
From our articulated ( voiced uvular stop), in general also in intervocalic position; its fricativization in nowiki/>ʁ">ʁ.html" ;"title="nowiki/>ʁ">nowiki/>ʁcould be a derivation of the Qoryoley dialect; we have been given pairs such as ''sii[G]a (T.)'' ~ ''sii nowiki/>ʁ]a'' (Q.) “dust”.

In a few cases, however, there is constantly realized nowiki/>ʁ">ʁ.html" ;"title="nowiki/>ʁ">nowiki/>ʁin intervocalic position, as in ''ho nowiki/>ʁ]al "''cloud".

As in the other dialects of the region, in final ''q'' and realized ʔ:

E4: q → ʔ/__≠

''(4) duq → [duʔ] __≠ "elderly''

= ʔ

=
In the initial position of speech, in front of vowel and sometimes realized a glottal occlusion, especially at the beginning of a sentence or in the case that the word in question is emphasized: but in most cases this exclusion glottal is not ubidable. However, we believe that ʔ is Phonologically present in all the words K. "''beginning in a vowel"'' - consequently, all the words K. begin phonologically in a consonant. A proof of the presence of initial ʔ is given of the present tense of the verbs of the fourth conjugation by suffixing the present with prefixes of "to be" to the theme:

the theme of the verb will be affixed ''ahay'' "I am", in front of which a final nasal theme will be created ɳ, that is, as in front of a consonant with a backward articulation point (for example, in front of the masculine morpheme, the present of ''wiin'' "be great", and ''wiiɳahay.''

It could also be argued that in this form " n" passes to "'' ɳ''" since the word boundary is preserved between "''wiin'' and ''ahay''" - that is, " n" would be found in the other context in which "'' ɳ''" is created . But a similar argument is falsified by the examination of other forms of the same paradigm, in which there is an assimilation between the final consonant of the theme and the initial consonant of the paradigm of "being"; thus, is ''wiinahay'', which derives from ''wiin + tahay.''

We are therefore forced to choose between two possible alternatives: the phonemic, distinctive consideration, the presence of an initial ʔ - but in this case it would be difficult to explain its possible occurrence in certain contexts for all the words "''beginning in a vowel"''; or, and it is the alternative we propose, put a ʔ phonological for all words which would otherwise begin in a vowel - and which as such are often phonetically spelled A similar alternative and has adapted, with similar arguments, by Hayward in the description of the Arbore.Hayward (1984: 84)

However, being totally predictable, we do not indicate this initial ʔ in the transcription.

ʔ also appears in the median position, but it seems that within the but it is always intervocalic - with a preference for the Sequence -a? a- - and encounters with other consonants are excluded (which instead are allowed with suffixes):

5) ''maʔag=''"name"

''naʔas'' = "'breast"

t''owaʔdii'' = "the jackal" (''towaʔ'' + -''tii'' anaphoric determinant: )

ʔ also appears at the end of a word:

(6) ''karaʔ'' = "Rope used to wear/put the camel's chest"

 ''suusaʔ "Milk curds of camel"''

''kubaʔ'' = "Thunder"

The phonemic of ʔ at the end also confirmed by the treatment of the masculine morpheme k of the article, which falls after ʔas after the other consonants.

Occlusive glottalize ( ʝ)

The only glottidalized is a “sound palatal implosive (LP.A. -. Of limited occurrence, it was not found in the final position of the word

Examples in the initial position:

''(7) j-iif = "pleasure"''

''j-eeh = "'slash"''

Examples in the middle position:

''maj-ooj-i = "to crush"''

''j-ej-ab = "'pot-shards"''

= Fricative

=

x

We transcribe with x the voiceless velar fricative reports ''faqqar'' (glossing pot missing pieces), It's the same shape as ''faŋar.''

As we have seen ( E8), “ŋ” appears in the final position, where seems to be the only possible nasal {equal in Maay, cf. Saced (1982: 5)]. But a final nasal is also performed ''ŋ'' in the intervocalic position, and precisely when an article or a possessive is affixed to a nasal masculine noun, determinants in which the morpheme of masculine & falls, the union of word "''uomo''" and of the (masculine) article "''ka''" will therefore give "''laga''".

In K. - at least in T. dialect - a process seems to operate which resolves a nasal + velar connection by assimilating the latter to the nasal, which becomes velarized in ''ŋ''; this process is lexically determined, given that with other determinants (the anaphoric and the indeterminate / interrogative) the link ''ŋ''k is preserved (naturally realized 'ŋ'' k E7); but it could also depend on the rhythm of the sentence (more frequent with a fast pace and an informal style).

We will have lost:

Morphemic representation , phonological , phonetics

/ian/ + /ka/ ''lanka aŋka'

'' aŋa'

Of the phonetic representations, the earliest & data from the application of E7 (N → ''ŋ'' / __k), the second from the application of the (lexically determined) process of resolution of the link ''nk''.

On the contrary, with female names we will have:

Morphemic representation , phonological , phonetics

/islaan / + / ta / ''islaanta siaanta'

'' slaanna'

'' slaana'

The first phonetic representation is given by the application of E6 (N ~ n/ _t), the second from the assimilation of the dental to the nasal, Which can be subsequently determined (giving 'islaana').

Consequently, ''n'' and ''ŋ'' often distinguish, in an intervocalic position, the gender of the noun. On the basis of its possibility of occurrence in the intervocalic position - where the other nasals are naturally also allowed - we recognize the phonemic status of ''ŋ''. In fact, phonological representations such as ''lanka'' and ''islaanta'' would be not only too distant from the phonetic forms ''laŋa'' and ''islaana'', but the latter. they are not even linked to their presumed phonological representations by general processes (and non lexically or morphologically determined),

Only in the median 'ŋ''phonetic position will ''ŋ'' be transcribed in the final - given its complete predictability - we will transcribe ''n.''

1.2. Vowels

The vowel system of Garre. it seems to include 11 phonemes in total: 6 short and 5 long; the inhomogeneity in the number of phonemes of the two subsystems of long and short vowels is given by the presence, between the short vowels, of ə

The collected material does not allow to ascertain the presence of an opposition between advanced vowels (V) and vowels (V), as described for the north-central Somali(but not for the dialects of the river region),

the vowel system of Garre. can therefore be represented as follows:

1.2.1. "ə" and the problem of vowel length at the end of a word

The phonological status of ‘ə’ and problematic and the situation in Garre. appears in many ways similar to that of the Maay described by Saeed (1982; 7). In particular, the question is whether ə should be considered a phoneme or the result of short vowel reduction rules. Not without doubts, we will consider "e" - historically derived certainly from the reduction of short vowels - as a phonological in

The following is to be considered a simple contribution to the problem, not a solution to it.

Notes

References

Omo–Tana languages
Languages of Somalia

{{Somalia-stub