Ongota (also known as Birale, Birayle) is a moribund language of southwest Ethiopia. UNESCO reported in 2012 that out of a total ethnic population of 115, only 12 elderly native speakers remained, the rest of their small village on the west bank of the Weito River having adopted the Tsamai language instead.[1] The default word order is subject–object–verb. The classification of the language is obscure (Sava & Tosco 2015).
Oral history of the Ongota tells that they originated from a number of different populations from Dikinte, Maale and Arbore among others. During a stay in Maale territory, which today lies at their north, the collection of clans were chased south due to their hunting of Maale livestock. They followed the banks of the Weito River until they reached the Arbore, where they were turned away back north and settled where they are today. This account differs from that of the Maale, who claim that the Ongota were originally a part of the Maale who migrated and did not return.[2]
The first European mention of the Ongota people was in the late 1800s, when they were vaguely mentioned in a travel guide. The next mention was in the mid 1980s when English linguist Harold Fleming recorded 60 words of the language, which seemed to have little resemblance to nearby languages. In 1991 Harold Fleming visited the Ongota, recording a population of 89, of whom only 14 spoke the language. He believed the language to be an ancient branch of the Afro-Asiatic linguistic family. He said that the people use bows and arrows and avoid guns. The men would usually marry outside of the group and the children would often not speak Ongota.[3]
Classification
Ongota has features of both Afroasiatic and Nilo-Saharan languages that confuse its classification, and linguists and anthropologists have been unable to clearly trace its linguistic roots so far. Savà and Tosco (2007) argue that what little Ongota morphology that has been collected is either Ts'amakko or unique. They also report that Aklilu Yilma of Addis Ababa University considers Ongota to be a pidginised creole. They state that this "conclusion is strengthened by a local legend stating that Ongota originated from a multiethnic melting pot." They further report that Lionel Bender considers Ongota to be Cushitic, Václav Blažek (1991, 2001, and forth.)[full citation needed] Nilo-Saharan, and Cushiticist Maarten Mous[4][5] mentions it as a language isolate. Savà and Tosco (2003, 2007), themselves, believe it to be an East Cushitic language with a Nilo-Saharan substratum—that is, that Ongota speakers shifted to East Cushitic from an earlier Nilo-Saharan language, traces of which still remain. Fleming (2006) considers it to be an independent branch of Afroasiatic. Bonny Sands (2009) believes Savà and Tosco's proposal to be the most convincing proposal. Sava & Tosco (2015) leave it unclassified, possibly an isolate but possibly so affected by superstrate influence that the original affiliation of the language has been obscured. Dimmendaal (2011; 2020) considers Ongota a linguistic isolate that underwent heavy influence from neighboring languages,[6][7] a position that is also shared by Güldemann (2018).[8]
Additionally, Ongota distinguishes between high and low tone.[9]
Decline
The main mechanism behind the decline of Ongota is marriage with other communities. In a brief expedition in the early 1990s, a number of researchers made the observation that many Ongota men married Tsamakko women. The child would grow up speaking only the mother's language, but not the father's. (Mikesh, P. et al., 1992–1993) This trend has continued through the recent years.[2]
1 2 Sava, Graziano, & Thubauville, Sophia, 2010. “The Ongota: a branch of the Maale?; ethnographic, historic and linguistic traces of contact of the Ongota people.” In "To live with others: essays on cultural neighborhood in southern Ethiopia", edited by E. Gabbert, & S. Thubauville, (pp. 213‐235). Koln: Koppe.
↑ Mous, Maarten. "Loss of linguistic diversity in Africa." Language Death and Language Maintenance: Theoretical, practical and descriptive approaches, 157-170. John Benjamins, 2003.
↑ Savà, Graziano and M. Tosco (2007). Review article of: Harold C. Fleming Ongota: A Decisive Language in African Prehistory. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz: 2006. In: Aethiopica 10 (2007): 223-232.p. 1. - "Ongota is also mentioned as an isolate (see, for example, Mous 2003)" http://www.maurotosco.net/ewExternalFiles/SAVA%26TOSCO_review_FLEMING_Aethiopica_2007.pdf ||| Mous, Maarten (2003). “Loss of linguistic diversity in Africa”. In: Mark Janse – Sijmen Tol (eds.) Language Death and Language Maintenance: Theoretical, Practical and Descriptive Approaches. Benjamins, Amsterdam: 157–170. p. 164. 5. Isolates - "Ongota is an unclassified language with 8 speakers in southwest Ethiopia shifting to a minority Cushitic language, Ts'amakko (Savä, this volume)." http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?rep=rep1&type=pdf&doi=10.1.1.218.5996Archived 2018-04-21 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (2011). Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages. John Benjamins. ISBN978-90-272-8722-9.
↑ Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (2020). "33. Linguistic Isolates". In Rainer Vossen; Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford University Press. pp.428–436.
↑ Güldemann, Tom (2018). "Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa". In Güldemann, Tom (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of Africa. The World of Linguistics series. Vol.11. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp.58–444. doi:10.1515/9783110421668-002. ISBN978-3-11-042606-9. S2CID133888593.
Fleming, Harold, 2006. Ongota: A Decisive Language in African Prehistory. – Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN3-447-05124-8
Mikesh, P. et al., 1992–1993. "Ongota or Birale: a moribund language of Gemu-Gofa (Ethiopia)". Journal of Afroasiatic Languages, 3,3:181–225.
Militarev, Alexander, 2005. “Towards the genetic affiliation of Ongota, a nearly-‐extinct language of Ethiopia.” In ""Memoriae Igor M. Diakonoff"", by Leonin E. Kogan, (pp. 567-‐607). Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Sands, Bonny (2009). "Africa’s Linguistic Diversity". Language and Linguistics Compass 3/2 (2009): 559–580, 10.1111/j.1749-818x.2008.00124.x
Savà, Graziano, 2003. “Ongota (Birale), a Moribund Language of Southwest Ethiopia.” In ""Language Death and Language Maintenance: Theoretical, Practical and Descriptive Approaches"" by M. Janse, S. Tol, & V. Hendriks. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Savà, Graziano and Mauro Tosco 2000. A sketch of Ongota, a dying language of southwest Ethiopia. Studies in African Linguistics 29.2.59–136.
Savà, Graziano and Mauro Tosco 2003. "The classification of Ongota". In Bender et al. eds, Selected comparative-historical Afrasian linguistic studies. LINCOM Europa.
Savà, Graziano and Mauro Tosco 2007. Review article: HAROLD C. FLEMING, Ongota: a Decisive Language in African Prehistory. Aethiopica 10.
Savà, Graziano, & Thubauville, Sophia, 2010. “The Ongota: a branch of the Maale?; ethnographic, historic and linguistic traces of contact of the Ongota people.” In "To live with others: essays on cultural neighborhood in southern Ethiopia", edited by E. Gabbert, & S. Thubauville, (pp.213‐235). Koln: Koppe.
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