Gedeo language

Gedeo
ጌዴኡፈ (gedeʾufä)
Native to	Ethiopia
Region	Gedeo Zone, Guji Zone
Ethnicity	Gedeo
Native speakers	1.4 million (2018) [1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Cushitic Highland East Cushitic Gedeo
Writing system	Ge'ez script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	drs
Glottolog	gede1246

Gedeo is a Highland East Cushitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family spoken in south central Ethiopia. Alternate names for the language include Derasa, Deresa, Darassa, Geddeo, Derasanya, Darasa. It is spoken by the Gedeo people, who live in the highland area, southwest of Dila and east of Lake Abaya. ^[1]

The languages has SOV word order. Verbs are marked for person, number, and gender of subject. Verbs are marked for voice: active, causative, middle, and passive.

The New Testament was published in the Gedeo language in 1986, using the Ethiopian syllabary.

References

1. Gedeo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

Sources

• Wedekind, Klaus. 1980. "Sidamo, Gedeo (Derasa), Burji: Phonological differences and likenesses," Journal of Ethiopian Studies 14: 131-76.
• Wedekind, Klaus. 1985. "Gedeo (Derasa) verb morphology and morphophonemics," The verb morphophonemics of five highland east Cushitic languages, including Burji. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 2. Cologne: Institut für Afrikanistik. Pages 82–109.

External links

• Introduction to Gedeo dictionary (archived)
• Gedeo dictionary (archived)