Melo language

Not to be confused with Malo language.

Melo
Native to	Ethiopia
Region	Gamo Gofa Zone
Native speakers	(20,000 cited 1994 census) [1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Omotic North Ometo North Melo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mfx
Glottolog	melo1242
ELP	Malo

Melo (also known as Malo) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Gamo Gofa Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region in Ethiopia. ^[1]

Case

There are eight cases in Malo^{[ clarification needed ]}.

1. Nominative
2. Accusative
3. Dative
4. Genitive
5. Instrumental
6. Commutative
7. Ablative

Nominative case

Nominative case has <i> and <a> for masculine and feminine markers respectively.

However, if there is a vowel at the end of the noun, the masculine came marker<i> will change to <y>.

Examples,

Nominative Noun	Nominative Case Marker	Verb	Perfect	Affirmative Marker
dura	-y	gup	-e	-z
sheep		jumped
The sheep jumped.
Nominative Noun	Nominative Case Marker	Verb	Perfect	Affirmative Marker
gemata	-y	ye?	-e	-z
ox		came
The ox came.

Nominative feminine case takes the marker <a> with definite marker <t>.

Examples,

Nominative Noun	Definite Marker	Nominative Case Marker	Verb	Perfect	Affirmative Marker
kapa	-t	-a	pri	-e	-z
bird			fly
The bird fly

Proper nouns also take the nominative case marker <i> and <a>.

Examples,

Proper Noun	Nominative Case Marker	Verb	Perfect	Affirmative Marker
Dayda	-y	miiz	-e	-z
Dayda(Name)		laughed
Dayda laughed

Accusative case

The marker <-a> is for masculine nouns.

Example,

Nominative Noun	Nominative Case Marker	Accusative Noun	Accusative Case Marker Masculine	Verb	Perfect	Affirmative Marker
as	-i	gamata	-a	?ad	-e	-z
man		ox		hit
The man hit the ox.

The maker <-o> is for feminine nouns. It is attached to the definite marker ‘t’.

Example,

Nominative Noun	Nominative Case Marker	Accusative Noun	Definitive Marker	Accusative Feminine Marker	Verb	Perfect	Affirmative marker
gadara	-y	maha	-t	-o	be?	e	z
Hyena		tiger			saw
The hyena saw the tiger.

*Proper nouns are not inflected for the accusative case marker.

Similarities Between Nominative and Accusative

Masculine Nominative and Accusative Case Markers stay the same for the plural nouns which are <i> and <a> respectively.

Nominative and Accusative Case Marker is always to be definite. Indefinite nouns do not take Nominative and Accusative Case.

Dative case

Dative Case Markers are <s> and <as>.

Examples,

Nominative	Nominative Case Marker	Accusative Noun	Accusative Cace Marker	Dative Noun	Dative Case Marker	Verb	Present Perfet	Affirmative case marker
tan	-i	gamata	-a	Ba?uno	-s	?ing	-e	-z
I		ox		Ba?uno		gave
I gave the ox to Ba?uno.

Genitive case

Genitive Case uses two different ways to express.

1.      Possessive Pronoun before Possessed Noun.

2.      Third person possessive pronoun marker ‘pa’

1.      Possessive pronoun:

Possessive Pronouns	Gloss	Possessed Nouna	Gloss
ta	my	ta-kets	my house
nu	our	nu-kets	our house
ne	your	nu-kets	your house 2nd mas/fem
yi	your	yi-kets	your house 2nd
e	his	e-kets	his house
i	her	i-kets	her house
u	their	u-kets	their house

Examples,

Deka afila – Deka’s cloth

Ta afila – my cloth

E afila – his cloth

2.      Here ‘pa’ refers to ownership. In third person possessive pronouns are replaced with pa.

e	his	e-kets	his house
i	her	i-kets	her house
u	their	u-kets	their house

Examples,

Nominative Noun (As Pronoun)	Nominative Case Marker	Adding ‘pa’	Possessed Noun	Definitive Marker	Accusative Marker	Verb	Perfective	Affirmative
i	-a	pa	inda	-t	-o	kad	-e	-z
she		her mother				loved
She loved her mother

iz-a pa inda-t-o kad-e-z – She loved her mother.

Instrumental case

Instrumental case markers are <r> and <ar>.

Examples,

Nominal Noun

Nominal Case Marker

Pronoun (As Accusative Case)

Accusative Marker

Instrumental Noun

Instrumental Case Marker

Verb

Perfective

Affirmative

na?

-y

ez

-a

succ

-ar

?ad

-e

-z

child

he

stone

hit

The child hit him with a stone.

asa

-y

gamma

-a

kawe

-r

wood

-e

-z

man

lion

gun

killed

The man killed the lion with a gun.

Commutative case

Commutative case markers are <r> and -<ar> with ‘wola’.

Here, the word ‘wola’ means together.

Examples,

Nominative Noun	Genitive /Nominative Case Marker	Commutative Noun	Commutative Case Marker	Wola	Verb	Perfective	Affirmative
iza	pa	azin	-ar	wola	woy	-e	-z
she	his husband			together	slept
She slept with her husband together.
nu		ise	-r	wola	m	-e	-z
		brother		together	ate
We ate with our brother together.

Ablative case

Ablative case markers are <p> and <ap>.

It depicts the place of departure and a source the noun comes from.

Examples,

Nominative Noun	Definitive Marker	Nominative Case Marker	Ablative Case	Ablative Case Marker	Verb	Perfective	Affirmative
kassa		-y	awasa	-p	ye?	-e	-z
Kassa			from Awasa		came
Kassa came from Awasa.
dees	-t	-a	dere	-p	ye	-e	-z
goat			from mountain		came
The goat came from the mounta

Notes

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