Sidama language

Last updated
Sidama
Sidaamu Afoo
Native to Ethiopia
Region Sidama region
Ethnicity5.1 million Sidama (2022) [1]
Native speakers
4.9 million (2022) [1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-2 sid
ISO 639-3 sid
Glottolog sida1246

Sidama or Sidaamu Afoo is an Afro-Asiatic language belonging to the Highland East Cushitic branch of the Cushitic family. It is spoken in parts of southern Ethiopia by the Sidama people, particularly in the densely populated Sidama National Regional State (SNRS). Sidaamu Afoo is the ethnic autonym for the language, while Sidaminya is its name in Amharic. It is not known to have any specific dialects. The word order is typically SOV. Sidaama has over 100,000 L2 speakers. The literacy rate for L1 speakers is 1%-5%, while for L2 speakers it is 20%. In terms of its writing, Sidaama used an Ethiopic script up until 1993, from which point forward it has used a Latin script. [1]

Contents

Terminology and classification

The term Sidamo has also been used in the past to refer to most Highland East Cushitic languages, earlier even to some Omotic languages. [2] The languages within this Sidamo grouping show similar phonological changes. [3] The results from a research study conducted in 1968-1969 concerning mutual intelligibility between different Sidamo languages suggest that Sidaama is more closely related to the Gedeo language, which it shares a border with to the south, than other Sidamo languages. [4] According to Ethnologue , the two languages share a lexical similarity of 60%. [1] Another study shows over 64% lexical similarity with Alaba-K'abeena, 62% with Kambaata, and 53% with Hadiyya, all of which are other Highland East Cushitic languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. Sidaama vocabulary has also been influenced by Oromo vocabulary.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive/
Affricate 		plain b t   d tʃ   dʒ k   g
ejective pʼ tʼ tʃʼ kʼ ʔ
implosive ɗ
Fricative f s   z ʃ h
Nasal plain m n ɲ
glottalizedʼmʼn
Tap/Flap plain ɾ
glottalizedʼɾ
Approximant plain w l j
glottalizedʼlʼj

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i iːu uː
Mid e eːo oː
Open a aː

Grammar

Noun phrases

In Sidaama, not all noun phrases have nouns. This can occur when it is so obvious what kind of thing the referent of the noun phrase is, that it is unnecessary for the speaker to mention it. Sidaama has two types of noun phrases without nouns. One type is made up only of an adjective or a numeral, where the adjective or the numeral agrees in case, number, and gender with the referent of a noun phrase. This is shown in the examples below:

busul-u

smart-NOM.M

da-ø-ino.

come-3SG.M-PERF.3

busul-u da-ø-ino.

smart-NOM.M come-3SG.M-PERF.3

‘The smart one (masculine) came.’

sas-u

three-NOM.M

da-ø-ino

come-3SG.M-PERF.3

sas-u da-ø-ino

three-NOM.M come-3SG.M-PERF.3

‘The three (masculine) came.’

The other type of noun phrase without a noun is formed with a noun-phrase clitic, or NPC. This NPC starts with t (FEM) or h (MASC). This is thought to originate from the Afro-Asiatic demonstrative containing t (FEM) or k (MASC). The Sidaama NPC appears in various forms. Which form is used then depends on the gender of the referent of the noun phrase, and the syntactic role or case of the noun phrase. When a noun phrase without a noun is formed with an NPC, both the speaker and the listener know its referent. In this case, the NPC attaches to the end of a genitive noun phrase or relative clause to form a noun phrase without a noun. This is shown in the examples below:

isí=ti

3SG.M.GEN=NPC.F.NOM

ba’-’-ino.

disappear-3SG.F-PERF.3

isí=ti ba’-’-ino.

3SG.M.GEN=NPC.F.NOM disappear-3SG.F-PERF.3

‘His (FEM) disappeared.’

ani

1SG.NOM

ku’uí

that.M.GEN

beett-í=ta

child-GEN.M.MOD=NPC.F.ACC

seekk-o-mm-o.

repair-PERF.1-1SG-M

ani ku’uí beett-í=ta seekk-o-mm-o.

1SG.NOM that.M.GEN child-GEN.M.MOD=NPC.F.ACC repair-PERF.1-1SG-M

‘I (MASC) repaired that boy’s (FEM).’ [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sidama at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. ↑ Ring, Trudy, Noelle Watson, and Paul Schellinger. "International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa, Volume 4." 1994.
  3. ↑ Leslau, Wolf. "Sidamo Features in the South Ethiopic Phonology." "Journal of the American Oriental Society," 1959.
  4. ↑ Bender, Marvin L. and Robert L. Cooper. "Mutual Intelligibility Within Sidamo." 1971.
  5. ↑ Kawachi, Kazuhiro (2007). A grammar of Sidaama (Sidamo): a Cushitic language of Ethiopia. University of Buffalo.
  6. ↑ Kawachi, Kazuhiro. "Noun Phrases Without Nouns in Sidaama (Sidamo)." 2011.

Grammars

Dictionaries

Bible translations

Sociolinguistics and pragmatics

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