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. Although it is not known to have any specific dialects, it shares over 64% lexical similarity with Alaba-K'abeena, 62% with Kambaata, and 53% with Hadiyya, all of which are other languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. 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]
The term Sidamo has also been used by some authors to refer to larger groupings of East Cushitic and even Omotic languages.[2] The languages within this Sidamo grouping contain similar, alternating phonological features.[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] Sidaama vocabulary has been influenced by Oromo vocabulary.
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:
Abebe Gebre-Tsadik. 1985. "An overview of the morphological structure of Sidamo verbs," The verb morphophonemics of five highland east Cushitic languages, including Burji. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 2. Cologne: Institut für Afrikanistik. Pages 64–81.
Anbessa Teferra. 2000. "A grammar of Sidaama," Doctoral dissertation. Jerusalem, Israel: The Hebrew University.
ANBESSA TEFERRA, Sidaama (Sidaamu Afoo), Languages of the World/Materials, 501 (München: LINCOM GmbH, 2014); 109 pp.
Cerulli, Enrico (1938) La Lingua e la Storia del Sidamo (Studi Etiopici II). Rome: Istituto per l’Oriente.
Cohen, Marcel (1927) "Du verbe sidama (dans le groupe couchitique)," Bulletin de la Société de la Linguistique de Paris 83: 169-200.
Gasparini, Armido (1978) Grammatica Practica della Lingua Sidamo. Awasa (Mimeographed: 127 pp.).
Kramer, Ruth, and Anbessa Teferra. "Gender switch in Sidaama." Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics 12, no. 2 (2020): 286-327.
Kawachi, Kazuhiro (2007) "A grammar of Sidaama (Sidamo), a Cushitic language of Ethiopia," Doctoral dissertation. State University of New York at Buffalo.
Moreno, Martino Mario (1940) Manuale di Sidamo. Milan: Mondadori.
Dictionaries
ACADEMY OF ETHIOPIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES, Sidaamu Afii Dikshinere (‘Sidaama monolingual dictionary’) (Addis Ababa: Academy of Ethiopian Languages and Cultures, Addis Ababa University, 2015)
British and Foreign Bible Society (1933) St. Mark’s Gospel in Sidamo. London.
Ethiopian Bible Society (1984) HaÌro GondoÌro [New Testament of Sidamo]. Addis Ababa.
Sociolinguistics and pragmatics
ANBESSA TEFERRA. Women’s Language of Avoidance and Some Other Sidaama Endangered Cultural Practices. Journal of Afroasiatic Languages 6/1 (2016), 59–78.
FEKEDE MENUTA GEWTA. The sociolinguistics and pragmatics of greetings in Sidama. Journal of Languages and Culture 7/3 (2016), 28–36.
NIGUSSIE MESHESHA MITIKE and KJELL MAGNE YRI. Sociopolitical Discourse and Communication in Sidaama Folk Media. in Multilingual Ethiopia 339–357.
YRI, KJELL MAGNE. School Grammars with Everyday Vocabulary: Suggestion for a Culture Specific Approach, with Sidaamu Afoo as an example. in Multilingual Ethiopia 319–338.
External links
Bibliography of Highland East Cushitic by .
February 12, 2023
sidama, language, sidama, sidaamu, afoo, afro, asiatic, language, belonging, highland, east, cushitic, branch, cushitic, family, spoken, parts, southern, ethiopia, sidama, people, particularly, densely, populated, sidama, national, regional, state, snrs, sidaa. 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 Although it is not known to have any specific dialects it shares over 64 lexical similarity with Alaba K abeena 62 with Kambaata and 53 with Hadiyya all of which are other languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia 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 SidamaNative toEthiopiaRegionSidama regionNative speakers4 million 2018 1 Language familyAfro Asiatic CushiticHighland EastSidamaLanguage codesISO 639 2 span class plainlinks sid span ISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code sid class extiw title iso639 3 sid sid a Glottologsida1246The term Sidamo has also been used by some authors to refer to larger groupings of East Cushitic and even Omotic languages 2 The languages within this Sidamo grouping contain similar alternating phonological features 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 Sidaama vocabulary has been influenced by Oromo vocabulary Contents 1 Phonology 1 1 Consonants 1 2 Vowels 2 Grammar 2 1 Noun Phrases 3 References 3 1 Grammars 3 2 Dictionaries 3 3 Bible translations 3 4 Sociolinguistics and pragmatics 4 External linksPhonology EditConsonants Edit Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar GlottalPlosive Affricate plain b t d tʃ dʒ k gejective pʼ tʼ tʃʼ kʼ ʔimplosive ɗFricative f s z ʃ hNasal plain m n ɲglottalized ʼm ʼnTap Flap plain ɾglottalized ʼɾApproximant plain w l jglottalized ʼl ʼjOther consonant sounds p and v are only heard from loanwords Gemination is also present for most consonants e g tː kː pʼː 5 ɾ can also be heard as a trill rː when geminated Vowels Edit Front Central BackClose i iː u uːMid e eː o oːOpen a aːGrammar EditNoun Phrases Edit 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 usmart NOM Mda o ino come 3SG M PERF 3busul u da o ino smart NOM M come 3SG M PERF 3 The smart one masculine came sas uthree NOM Mda o inocome 3SG M PERF 3sas u da o inothree 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 isi ti3SG M GEN NPC F NOMba ino disappear 3SG F PERF 3isi ti ba ino 3SG M GEN NPC F NOM disappear 3SG F PERF 3 His FEM disappeared ani1SG NOMku uithat M GENbeett i tachild GEN M MOD NPC F ACCseekk o mm o repair PERF 1 1SG Mani ku ui beett i 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 References Edit a b c Sidama at Ethnologue 25th ed 2022 Ring Trudy Noelle Watson and Paul Schellinger International Dictionary of Historic Places Middle East and Africa Volume 4 1994 Leslau Wolf Sidamo Features in the South Ethiopic Phonology Journal of the American Oriental Society 1959 Bender Marvin L and Robert L Cooper Mutual Intelligibility Within Sidamo 1979 Kawachi Kazuhiro 2007 A grammar of Sidaama Sidamo a Cushitic language of Ethiopia University of Buffalo Kawachi Kazuhiro Noun Phrases Without Nouns in Sidaama Sidamo 2011 Grammars Edit Abebe Gebre Tsadik 1982 Derived nominals in Sidamo B A thesis Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa Abebe Gebre Tsadik 1985 An overview of the morphological structure of Sidamo verbs The verb morphophonemics of five highland east Cushitic languages including Burji Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 2 Cologne Institut fur Afrikanistik Pages 64 81 Anbessa Teferra 1984 Sidamo verb morphology B A thesis Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa Anbessa Teferra 2000 A grammar of Sidaama Doctoral dissertation Jerusalem Israel The Hebrew University ANBESSA TEFERRA Sidaama Sidaamu Afoo Languages of the World Materials 501 Munchen LINCOM GmbH 2014 109 pp Cerulli Enrico 1938 La Lingua e la Storia del Sidamo Studi Etiopici II Rome Istituto per l Oriente Cohen Marcel 1927 Du verbe sidama dans le groupe couchitique Bulletin de la Societe de la Linguistique de Paris 83 169 200 Gasparini Armido 1978 Grammatica Practica della Lingua Sidamo Awasa Mimeographed 127 pp Kramer Ruth and Anbessa Teferra Gender switch in Sidaama Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics 12 no 2 2020 286 327 Kawachi Kazuhiro 2007 A grammar of Sidaama Sidamo a Cushitic language of Ethiopia Doctoral dissertation State University of New York at Buffalo Moreno Martino Mario 1940 Manuale di Sidamo Milan Mondadori Dictionaries Edit ACADEMY OF ETHIOPIAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES Sidaamu Afii Dikshinere Sidaama monolingual dictionary Addis Ababa Academy of Ethiopian Languages and Cultures Addis Ababa University 2015 Gasparini Armido 1983 Sidamo English dictionary Bologna Italy E M I Hudson Grover 1989 Highland East Cushitic Dictionary Kuschitische Sprachstudien 7 Hamburg Buske Sileshi Worqineh and Yohannis Latamo 1995 Sidaamu Amaaru Ingilizete Afii Qaalla Taashsho Sidaama Amharic English Dictionary Awasa Sidaamu Zoone Wogattenna Isporte Biddishsha Sidaama Zone Sports and Culture Department Kjell Magne Yri amp Steve Pepper 2019 dictionaria sidaama Sidaama Dictionary Version v1 0 Data set Zenodo doi 10 5281 zenodo 3338363Bible translations Edit British and Foreign Bible Society 1933 St Mark s Gospel in Sidamo London Ethiopian Bible Society 1984 HaIro GondoIro New Testament of Sidamo Addis Ababa Sociolinguistics and pragmatics Edit ANBESSA TEFERRA Women s Language of Avoidance and Some Other Sidaama Endangered Cultural Practices Journal of Afroasiatic Languages 6 1 2016 59 78 FEKEDE MENUTA GEWTA The sociolinguistics and pragmatics of greetings in Sidama Journal of Languages and Culture 7 3 2016 28 36 NIGUSSIE MESHESHA MITIKE and KJELL MAGNE YRI Sociopolitical Discourse and Communication in Sidaama Folk Media in Multilingual Ethiopia 339 357 YRI KJELL MAGNE School Grammars with Everyday Vocabulary Suggestion for a Culture Specific Approach with Sidaamu Afoo as an example in Multilingual Ethiopia 319 338 External links EditBibliography of Highland East Cushitic by Grover Hudson at the Michigan State University website PanAfrican L10n page on Sidamo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sidama language amp oldid 1136636701, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
