The Koman languages are a small, close-knit family of languages located along the

Ethiopia–Sudan border The Ethiopia–Sudan border (; ) is a disputed border between the Ethiopia, Federal Republic of Ethiopia and the Sudan, Republic of the Sudan since the 19th century.Ullendorff, Edward. "The Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1902." ''Bulletin of the Scho ...

with about 50,000 speakers. They are conventionally classified as part of the Nilo-Saharan family. However, due to the paucity of evidence, many scholars treat it as an independent language family. Among scholars who do accept its inclusion within Nilo-Saharan, opinions vary as to their position within it. Koman languages in Ethiopia are in close contact with the

Omotic The Omotic languages are a group of languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia, in the Omo River region and southeastern Sudan in Blue Nile State. The Geʽez script is used to write some of the Omotic languages, the Latin script for some others. T ...

Mao languages. In Ethiopia, some Koman-speaking groups also consider themselves to be ethnically Mao.

Internal classification

The Koman languages are: *Koman ** Uduk, or T’wampa, (formerly in

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

) — about 20,000 speakers, most at a large

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...

at Bonga, near Gambela ** Kwama (

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

) — about 15,000 speakers, mainly in Benishangul-Gumuz ** Komo (

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

) — about 12,000 speakers mainly in An Nil al Azraq ** Opuuo (Opo), or Shita (

) — spoken in 5 villages north of the Nuer by about 5,000 people ** Dana, a newly discovered language located near Opo ** ? Gule (

) — extinct The poorly known

Shabo language (or preferably ''Chabu''; also called Mikeyir) is an endangered language and likely language isolate spoken by about 400 former hunter-gatherers in southwestern Ethiopia, in the eastern part of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region. It was f ...

(600 speakers) shows strong Koman influence, and it has been suggested (on little evidence) that it may be a Koman language. Gule is generally classified as Koman, but the evidence is as yet insufficient.

Otero (2019)

Otero's (2019: 28) internal classification of Koman: * Koman ** Gwama *** Highland Gwama *** Lowland Gwama ** Central *** Komo–Uduk **** Komo **** Uduk ***** Chali ***** Yabus *** Dana–Opo **** Dana **** Opo ***** lade****** Bilugu ****** Modin ***** lade****** Pame ****** Kigile

External classification

Dimmendaal (2008) notes that mounting grammatical evidence has made the Nilo-Saharan proposal as a whole more sound since Greenberg proposed it in 1963 but that such evidence has not been forthcoming for Songhay, Gumuz, and Koman: "very few of the more widespread nominal and verbal morphological markers of Nilo-Saharan are attested in the Coman languages plus Gumuz ... Their genetic status remains debatable, mainly due to lack of more extensive data." (2008:843) And later, "In summarizing the current state of knowledge, ... the following language families or phyla can be identified: ... Mande, Songhai, Ubangian, Kadu, and the Coman languages plus Gumuz." (2008:844) However, Ahland (2010) reports that with better attestation, both Koman and Gumuz do appear to be Nilo-Saharan, and perhaps closest to each other.

Reconstruction

Proto-Koman has been reconstructed by

Lionel Bender Marvin Lionel Bender (August 18, 1934 – February 19, 2008) was an American linguist. Life Bender was born August 18, 1934, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He travelled throughout the world, particularly in Northeast Africa, and was an accompli ...

(1983)Bender, Lionel. 1983. "Proto-Koman Phonology and Lexicon." ''Afrika und Übersee'' 66: 259–298. and Otero (2019).Otero, Manuel Alejandro. 2019. ''A Historical Reconstruction of the Koman Language Family''. Doctoral thesis. Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon.

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

References

* Colleen Ahland, 2010.
The Classification of Gumuz and Koman Languages
presented at the ''Language Isolates in Africa'' workshop, Lyons, December 4, 2010 *