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Sheko is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in the area between Tepi and Mizan Teferi in western Ethiopia, in the Sheko district in the Bench Maji Zone. The 2007 census lists 38,911 speakers; the 1998 census listed 23,785 speakers, with 13,611 identified as monolinguals.[2]

Sheko
Native toEthiopia
RegionBench Maji Zone, Kafa region
Native speakers
39,000 (2007 census)[1]
Language family
Afro-Asiatic
  • Omotic
    • North
      • Dizoid
        • Sheko
Language codes
ISO 639-3she
Glottologshek1245
ELPSheko

Sheko, together with the Dizi and Nayi languages, is part of a cluster of languages variously called "Maji" or "Dizoid".

The language is notable for its retroflex consonants (Aklilu Yilma 1988), a striking feature shared with closely related Dizi and nearby (but not closely related) Bench (Breeze 1988).


Phonology


Apart from the above-mentioned retroflex consonants, the phonology of Sheko is characterized by a total 28 consonant phonemes,[3] five long vowels and six short vowels,[4] plus four phonemic tone levels.[5]


Consonants


Hellenthal (2010, p. 45) lists the following consonant phonemes of Sheko:

Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Retroflex Velar Glottal
Plosive Ejective
Voiceless t k ʔ
Voiced b d ɡ
Affricate Ejective tsʼ tʃʼ tʂʼ
Voiceless ts
Fricative Voiceless f s ʃ ʂ h
Voiced z ʒ ʐ
Nasal m n
tap r [ɾ]
Approximant w j

Unlike other Dizoid languages, Sheko has no contrast between /r/ and /l/.[6] Consonants are rarely geminated,[7] and there is a syllabic nasal /n̩/[8]


Vowels


Hellenthal (2010, p. 56) lists the following long and short vowels of Sheko: /i/, /ii/, /e/, /ee/ /ə/, /a/, /aa/, /u/, /uu/, /o/, /oo/.


Tones


Sheko is one of very few languages in Africa that have four distinct phonemic tone levels.[9] Tone distinguishes meaning both in the lexicon and in the grammar, particularly to distinguish persons in the pronominal system.[10]


Grammar


The Ethnologue lists the following morphosyntactic features: "SOV; postpositions; genitives, articles, adjectives, numerals, relatives after noun heads; question word initial; 1 prefix, 5 suffixes; word order distinguishes subjects, objects, indirect objects; affixes indicate case of noun phrases; verb affixes mark person, number, gender of subject; passives, causatives, comparatives."


Notes


  1. Ethiopia 2007 Census
  2. Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  3. Hellenthal 2010, p. 45
  4. Hellenthal 2010, p. 56
  5. Hellenthal 2010, p. 111
  6. Hellenthal 2010, p. 47
  7. Hellenthal 2010, p. 47
  8. Hellenthal 2010, p. 58
  9. Hellenthal 2010, p. 111
  10. Hellenthal 2010, p. 113

References





На других языках


- [en] Sheko language

[fr] Sheko

Le sheko est une langue afro-asiatique de la branche des langues omotiques parlée dans le Sud-Ouest de l'Éthiopie, au Nord de la rivière Gilo, par 23 785 Sheko.



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