Wolaytta language

language
name=Wolaytta (Walamo in ISO 639-3)
familycolor=Afro-Asiatic
states=Ethiopia
region=Wolaytta Region
speakers=1,231,673, including 999,694 monolinguals (1998)
fam1=Afro-Asiatic
fam2=Omotic
fam3=North
fam4=Gonga-Gimojan
fam5=Gimojan
fam6=Ometo-Gimira
fam7=Ometo
fam8=Central
iso2=wal
iso3=wal

Wolaytta [Other transliterations include Wolaitta, Wolaita, and Wolayta; other forms include: Walamo and various other transliterations like Wellamo, Welamo, Wollamo, Wallamo, Ualamo, Uollamo, etc.; Wolataita; Borodda; Uba; Ometo; Wolayitigna; and Wolaitatuwa] is an Omotic language spoken in the Wolaita Zone and some parts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia. The number of speakers of this language is estimated at 2,000,000 (1991 UBS); it is the native language of the Welayta people. [ [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=wal Ethnologue report for language code:wal ] ] The estimates of the population vary greatly because it is not agreed where the boundaries of the language are.

There are conflicting claims about how widely Wolaytta is spoken. The Ethnologue identifies one smaller dialect region: Zala. Some hold that Melo, Oyda, and Gamo-Gofa-Dawro are also dialects, but most authorities, including Ethnologue and ISO 639-3 now list these as separate languages. The different communities of speakers also recognize them as separate languages. [Abebe 2002]

Lexical similarity with

*Gamo 79% to 93%
*Gofa 84%
*Kullo 80%
*Korze 80%
*Koorete 48%
*Maale 43%

Geographical names

Balta, Borodda, Ganta, Otschollo, Uba.

Language status

The language is the official language in the Welayta zone of Ethiopia. The Ethnologue cites statistics that 5% to 25% literate in this language. Portion of the Bible were produced in 1934, the New Testament in 1981, and the entire Bible in 2003.

Linguistic description

Like other Omotic languages, the language has the basic word order SOV (Subject Object Verb). It also has ejective consonants, but is notable in Ethiopia for having /p/ instead of /f/.

Notes

Bibliography

*Abebe, Alemayehu. 2002. "Sociolinguistic survey report on the Ometo dialect of Ethiopia, part II."‭ SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2002-012. http://www.sil.org/silesr/2002/012/
*Adams, Bruce A. 1983. A Tagmemic Analysis of the Wolaitta Language. Unpublished PhD. thesis, University of London.
*Adams, Bruce. 1990. Name nouns in Wolaitta. In "Omotic Language Studies" ed. by 406-412. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
*Ohman, Walter and Hailu Fulass. 1976. Welamo. In "Language in Ethiopia", ed. by M. L. Bender, C. Bowen, R. Cooper, and C. Ferguson, pp. 155-164. Oxford University Press.
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=wal Ethnologue entry for Wolaytta]

See also

* Welayta