Omotic languages

E82601

Omotic languages are a group of closely related languages spoken primarily in southwestern Ethiopia, often considered one of the most divergent branches of the Afroasiatic language family.


Statements (46)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Afroasiatic language branch
language family
areConsideredByOtherLinguists independent language family
areConsideredBySomeLinguists branch of Afroasiatic
areDescribedAs most divergent branch of Afroasiatic
areEndangeredInPart yes
areImportantFor reconstruction of Afroasiatic proto-language
areRecognizedBy Ethiopian government language policy (for some member languages)
areSpokenBy Omotic peoples
areStudiedIn African linguistics
historical linguistics
areUsedIn education at primary level for some communities
local administration in parts of Ethiopia
continent Africa
country Ethiopia
haveSubgroup Mao languages
North Omotic
South Omotic
haveWritingSystem Geʽez script (for some languages)
Latin script (for some languages)
ISO639FamilyCode omv
linguisticClassificationStatus controversial
majorLanguage Aari
Bench
Dawro
Dizi
Gamo
Gamo-Gofa-Dawro
Gimira
Gofa
Hamer
Kafa
Mao
Sheko
Wolaytta
neighboringLanguageFamilies Cushitic languages
Nilo-Saharan languages
Semitic languages
primaryRegion southwestern Ethiopia
spokenIn Ethiopia
South Sudan
subclassOf Afroasiatic languages
typologicalFeature complex verbal morphology
gender distinctions often reduced compared to other Afroasiatic branches
predominantly SOV word order
rich tonal systems in many languages

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Afroasiatic languages
hasSubfamily
Egyptian language family
relatedTo

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