Omotic
Geographic distribution:	Ethiopia
Genetic classification:	Afro-Asiatic  Omotic
Subdivisions:	North Omotic South Omotic

The Omotic languages are Afro-Asiatic languages spoken in Ethiopia. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a Language family with about 375 languages ( SIL estimate and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa The North Omotic or Nomotic languages belong to the Afro-Asiatic family and are spoken in Ethiopia. The South Omotic or Somotic languages belong to the Afro-Asiatic family and are spoken in Ethiopia. The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a Language family with about 375 languages ( SIL estimate and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Most Omotic speakers live in southwestern Ethiopia. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page The Omotic languages are fairly agglutinative. In Linguistics, agglutination is the morphological process ofadding Affixes to the base of a Word. ^[1]

The Ge'ez alphabet is used to write some Omotic languages. Ge'ez (gez ግዕዝ) also called Ethiopic, is an Abugida script that was originally developed to write Ge'ez, a Semitic language

Contents 1 Language List 2 Notes 3 Sources cited 4 General Omotic bibliography 5 See also

Language List

The Omotic Languages include:

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

Lionel Bender (2000) classifies this group as follows:

• South Omotic/Aroid (Hamer, Banna, Aari, Dime, Karo)
• North Omotic/Non-Aroid
  • Mao (Bambassi (Bambeshi), Hozo, Sezo, Ganza)
  • Dizoid (Dizi, Dorsha, Sheko (Shako), Nayi (Nao))
  • Gonga-Gimojan
    • Gonga/Kefoid (Boro, Anfillo, Kafa, Shekkacho language (Mocha))
    • Gimojan
      • Yem/Janjero (Yemsa (Janjero), Fuga)
      • Ometo-Gimira
        • Gimira (Bench, She, Mer)
        • Chara
        • Ometo (Male; Basketo; Kachama, Ganjule, Koreete (Koyra), Gidichho, Zayse, Zergulla; Welayta (Ometo), Oyta (Oyda), Dorze, Melo, Gamo, Gofa, Dawro)

Apart from terminology, this differs from Harold Fleming's earlier (1976) classification in including the Mao languages, whose affiliation had originally been controversial, and in abolishing the "Gimojan" group. Lionel Bender may refer to Lionel Bender (linguist (1934–2008 American author and co-author of several books publications and essays regarding African Hamer or Hamer-Banna is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Hamer or Hamer-Banna is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Aari (also spelled Ari, Ara, Aro, Aarai) is an Omotic language of Ethiopia. Dime is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the northern part of the Selamago district in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region of Karo is an Omotic language spoken in the Debub (South Omo Zone of the Southern Nations Nationalities and People's Region in Ethiopia. Dizin (often called “Dizi” or “Maji” in the literature is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in the area around Maji Sheko is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in the area between Tepi and Mizan Teferi in western Ethiopia The Gonga-Gimojan languages belong to the Afro-Asiatic family and are commonly spoken in Ethiopia. Boro (also known as Bworo Shinasha Scinacia is a North Omotic language spoken in western Ethiopia. Anfillo (also known as Southern Mao is a Northern Omotic language spoken in western Ethiopia by a few hundred people The Kingdom of Janjero (also known as Yamma) was a tiny kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia. Bench (also called Gimira, considered a derogatory term is a Northern Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup spoken by about 174000 people (as Bench (also called Gimira, considered a derogatory term is a Northern Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup spoken by about 174000 people (as Chara is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Central Cafa Region of Ethiopia just north of the Omo River The Ometo languages belong to the Afro-Asiatic family and are spoken in Ethiopia. Basketo (also known as Basketto Baskatta Mesketo is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the North Omo Zone of the Southern Nations Nationalities and Dorze is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the North Omo Region of Ethiopia. Melo (also known as Malo is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Semien Omo Zone of the Southern Nations Nationalities and People's Region in Harold C Fleming is an anthropologist and historical linguist. There are also differences in the subclassification of Ometo, which is not given here.

The Omotic languages were formerly classified as the West subgroup of the Cushitic languages, but as more data became available, Harold Fleming proposed that they constituted a separate subgroup of Afro-Asiatic, and this has become the prevalent view. The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in the Horn of Africa. The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a Language family with about 375 languages ( SIL estimate and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa Whether the old Cushitic language family should be split in two in this way is still controversial among some linguists; others, conversely, such as Paul Newman, regard its differences from other Afro-Asiatic languages as so great as to cast doubt on its very inclusion in the phylum, and regard it as being, at closest, the phylum's most distant branch.

They should not be confused with the unrelated Omotik language, a nearly extinct Nilotic language of Tanzania with a similar name. The Nilotic languages are a group of Eastern Sudanic languages spoken across a wide area between southern Sudan and Tanzania by the Nilotic Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya

Notes

Sources cited

• Bender, M. Lionel. 2000. Comparative Morphology of the Omotic Langauges. Munich: LINCOM.
• Fleming, Harold. 1976. Omotic overview. In The Non-Semitic Langauges of Ethiopia, ed. by M. Lionel Bender, pp. 299-323. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.

General Omotic bibliography

• Bender, M. L. 1975. Lionel Bender may refer to Lionel Bender (linguist (1934–2008 American author and co-author of several books publications and essays regarding African Omotic: a new Afroasiatic language family. (University Museum Series, 3. ) Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University.
• Hayward, Richard J. , ed. 1990. Omotic Language Studies. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
• Hayward, Richard J. 2003. Omotic: the "empty quarter" of Afroasiatic linguistics. In Research in Afroasiatic Grammar II: selected papers from the fith conference on Afroasiatic languages, Paris 2000, ed. by Jacqueline Lecarme, pp. 241-261. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

See also

• Languages of Ethiopia

Ethiopia has many indigenous languages (some 84 according to the Ethnologue, 77 according to the 1994 census most of them Afro-Asiatic ( Semitic

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