| Burji | |
|---|---|
| Bambala | |
| ቡረጊ | |
| Native to | Ethiopia, Kenya |
| Region | South of Lake Chamo |
| Ethnicity | Burji people |
Native speakers | 83,000 (2007 & 2019 censuses) [1] |
| Geʽez Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bji |
| Glottolog | burj1242 |
| ELP | Burji |
Burji language (alternate names: Bembala, Bambala, Daashi) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Burji people who reside in Ethiopia south of Lake Chamo. There are over 49,000 speakers in Ethiopia, and a further 36,900 speakers in Kenya. Burji belongs to the Highland East Cushitic group of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. [1]
The language has the SOV (subject–object–verb) word order common to the Cushitic family. The verb morphology distinguishes passive and middle grammatical voice, as well as causative. Verbal suffixes mark the person, number, and gender of the subject.
The New Testament was published in the Burji language in 1993. A collection of Burji proverbs, translated into English, French, and Swahili, is available on the Web. [2]
Verbs in Burji (Dhaashatee) agree with their subject nouns in number and person. [3]
The verb suffix -i marks singular subjects, while the verb suffix -a marks plural subjects. For example:
The verb prefix marks the person of the subject,using different forms for singular and plural subjects. For example:
Adjectives are a type of nominal modifier in Burji (Dhaashatee). They agree with their head noun in gender, number and case. Here are some examples of adjectives in Dhaashatee:
Burji (Dhaashatee) has two sets of pronouns: nominative and absolutive.
Pronouns receive nominative marking when they function as subjects. The different ways of marking subject pronouns in Dhaashatee are shown in the table below. There is no difference between the highland and lowland dialects.
| Singular | plural | |
| 1st person | ani | naa-nu |
| 2nd person | ashi | ashi-nu |
| 3rd person | isi (m) ishi (f) | isi-nu |
To form plural pronouns, the suffix -nu is added to their respective singular forms. Only in the first person does the singular stem differ from the plural stem. However, nominative pronoun ani 'I' can only be used with marannoo when the latter is preceded by the free focus marker inaa
Absolutive pronouns can be used as subjects when they are marked by one of the focus markers naa or k'aa. For certain pronouns, the nominative marker -nkoo/-ngoo is used. The table below shows the absolutive pronouns.
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | ee | ninsi |
| 2nd person | shee | shinsi |
| 3rd person | isi (m) ishee(f) | isinoo |
E.g. ee=naa shee bun'-i-s-aa.
1SG.ABS=FOC 2SG.ABS taste-EV-CAUS-IMPF
‘I will feed you.'
The marker -nkoo/-ngoo can only be attached to the pronoun forms of the third person singular feminine, as well as second- and third-person plural.
Ishee-nkoo Maddi gama hooss-ann-eyi.
3SG.F-NOM Maddi side herd-PST-NEG
'She did not herd in Maddi.'
A verb in Burji (Dhaashatee) can be negated by adding a negative particle before the verb. The choice of the negative particle depends on the tense of the verb. For example:
Dhaashatee is a head-final language, which means that modifiers come before the main noun in the noun phrase. Dependent clauses come before independent clauses, while relative clauses come before the nouns they modify. The basic word order at the sentence-level is SOV, as in other HEC languages. [4]
Relative clauses in Burji (Dhaashatee) are not formally marked but they can be recognized from main clauses by having more than one completely inflected verb in a non-final position. In contrast, in a “regular” main clause with multiple verbs, all but the last one takes a converb suffix. Other types of subordinate clauses are marked by complementizers or subordinate conjunctions.
An examples of a relative clause is given below. Dhogoli functions as the subject of both the relative clause and the main clause.
Lama lasa eegadh-i dhab-ann-oo dhogol-i aaree-shini
two day wait-CVB loose-PST-CON leopard-SNOM.M/ABS anger-INS.F
gal-i=k'aa akkarraga isheek-koo mar-ann-oo.
return-CVB=FOC evening POSS.3SG.F-ADE go-PST-CON
Translation: ‘Having lost two days waiting, the leopard returned furiously, and in the evening, he went to her house.
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