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Omotic languages

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. They are fairly agglutinative and have complex tonal systems (for example, the Bench language). The languages have around 7.9 million speakers.[1] The group is generally classified as belonging to the Afroasiatic language family, but this is disputed by some linguists.

Not to be confused with Omotik language.

Omotic

Ethiopia, Sudan

7.9 million[1]

Afro-Asiatic

  • Omotic

Proto-Omotic

  • North Omotic
  • South Omotic
    •

    omv

    None

    Four separate "Omotic" groups are accepted by Glottolog 4.0 and Güldemann (2018): North Omotic, Dizoid (Maji), Mao, and Aroid ("South Omotic").[2]

    Ta-Ne-Omotic

    (Maji)

    Dizoid

    Mao

    (Ari-Banna; "South Omotic")

    Aroid

    Characteristics[edit]

    General[edit]

    The Omotic languages have a morphology that is partly agglutinative and partly fusional:

    Languages of Ethiopia

    1975. Omotic: a new Afroasiatic language family. (University Museum Series, 3.) Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University.

    Bender, M. L.

    Zaborski, Andrzej. 1986. Can Omotic be reclassified as West Cushitic? In Gideon Goldenberg, ed., Ethiopian Studies: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference pp. 525–530. Rotterdam: Balkema.

    by Rolf Theil

    Is Omotic Afro-Asiatic?