Kafa or Kefa (Kafi noono) is a North Omotic language spoken in Ethiopia at the Keffa Zone. It is part of the Ethiopian Language Area, with SOV word order, ejective consonants, etc.

Kafa
Kafi noono
Native toEthiopia
RegionKeffa Zone
EthnicityKafficho
Native speakers
830,000 (2007 census)[1]
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3kbr
Glottologkafa1242

A collection of proverbs in the language has been published by Mesfin Wodajo.[2]

Phonology

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Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain gem. plain gem. plain gem. plain gem.
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t tʃː k ʔ
voiced b d dʒː g ɡː
ejective pːʼ tːʼ tʃʼ tʃːʼ kːʼ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced z
Nasal m n
Rhotic ɾ
Approximant w l j
  • /f/ may also be heard as [ɸ] in free variation.
  • /b/ can be heard as a bilabial approximant [β̞] in intervocalic positions.
  • /t/ can be realized as [ts] in word-final position.[3]

Vowels

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Front Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Open a aː
  • /a/ may also have an allophone of [ə].[3]

Manjo

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Manjo
Mangiò
(speculative)
unattested
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
Glottologmang1364

Within the Kafa culture there is a caste of traditional hunters called the Manja/Manjo 'hunters'. They may once have spoken a different language. However, Leikola has shown that currently they speak Kafa with a number of distinctive words and constructions that they use, reinforcing the distinctions between themselves and the larger Kafa society.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Ethiopia 2007 Census Archived 2010-11-14 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ 2012. Functions and Formal and Stylistic Features of Kafa Proverbs: Functional and Structural Approach. Lambert Academic Publishing.
  3. ^ a b Theil, Rolf (2007). Kafa phonology. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, Vol. 28, No. 2: DeGruyter Mouton. pp. 193–216.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. ^ Leikola, Kirsi. 2014. Talking Manjo: Linguistic repertoires as means of negotiating marginalization. University of Helsinki: PhD dissertation.

Further reading

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  • Brockelmann, Carl (1950): Zur Grammatik der Kafa-Sprache. in: Brockelmann, Carl (ed.): Abbessinische Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Leipzig. pp 40–60.
  • Cerulli, Enrico (1951), Studi etiopici. Vol. IV: La lingua Caffina. Roma: Istituto Per L'oriente.
  • Fleming, Harold C. (1976), "Kefa (Gonga) Languages", in The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. Bender, M. L. (ed.)
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