| Southern Oromo | |
|---|---|
| Borana | |
| Region | Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia |
| Ethnicity | Borana Oromo, Sakuye |
Native speakers | 8.4 million (2000–2019)[1] |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | gax |
| Glottolog | bora1271 |
Southern Oromo, or Borana (after one of its dialects), is a variety of Oromo spoken in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya by the Borana people. Günther Schlee also notes that it is the native language of a number of related peoples, such as the Sakuye.[2]
Dialects are Borana proper (Boran, Borena), possibly Arsi (Arussi, Arusi) and Guji (Gujji, Jemjem) in Ethiopia and, in Kenya, Karayu, Salale (Selale), Gabra (Gabbra, Gebra) and possibly Orma and Waata.
The language is locally and commonly known as Afaan Borana ("Borana language").
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | (ŋ) | ||
| Stop/ Affricate |
voiceless | (p) | t | t͡ʃ | k | |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | |||
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | t͡ʃʼ | kʼ | ||
| implosive | ɗ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
| voiced | (z) | |||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
- Sounds /k, kʼ/ can be heard as fricatives [x, xʼ] when in intervocalic position.
- /n/ can be heard as [ŋ] when occurring before velar sounds.
- /ɗ/ can also have a retroflex allophone [ɖ] and can also be heard as a tap [ɾ] in intervocalic position.
- Sounds [p, z] only occur in loanwords.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
Vowel sounds /i, e, a, o/ can also be heard as [ɪ, ɛ, ʌ, ɔ].[3]
References
- ↑ Southern Oromo at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
- ↑ Schlee, Günther (1985). "Interethnic Clan Identities among Cushitic-Speaking Pastoralists". Africa. 55 (1): 21. doi:10.2307/1159837. JSTOR 1159837.
- ↑ Stroomer, Harry (1995). A Grammar of Boraana Oromo (Kenya): Phonology, Morphology, Vocabularies. Köln: Köppe.
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