Ongota language

Ongota
iːfa ʕoŋɡota
Spoken in	Ethiopia
Region	Southern Omo Zone, Southern Region
Native speakers	6  (2008)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic East Cushitic ? Ongota
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bxe
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Ongota (also known as Birale [ISO 639-3], Birayle) is a moribund language of southwest Ethiopia. In 2008, it was said to be in a state of decline with only 6 elderly native speakers, the rest of their small village on the west bank of the Weito River having adopted the Tsamai language instead.^[1] The grammar follows a Subject Object Verb word order. It is probably Afroasiatic, but has not been definitively classified. As of 2004, it is being studied by Aklilu Yilma of Addis Ababa University.

Classification

Ongota has features of both Afroasiatic and Nilo-Saharan languages that confuse its classification. Fleming (2006) considers it to be an independent branch of Afroasiatic. Savà and Tosco (2003) believe it to be an East Cushitic language with a Nilo-Saharan substratum—that is, that Ongota speakers shifted to East Cushitic from an earlier Nilo-Saharan language, traces of which still remain.

Notes

1. ^ "Atlas on endangered languages", UNESCO Communications and Information website (accessed 19 March 2009)

Bibliography

• Fleming, Harold, 2002. "Ongota Lexicon: English-Ongota". Mother Tongue, VII, pp. 39–65.
• Fleming, Harold, 2006. Ongota: A Decisive Language in African Prehistory. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-05124-8
• Mikesh, P. and Seelig, J.M. 1992. "Ongota or Birale: a moribund language of Gemu-Gofa (Ethiopia)". Journal of Afroasiatic Languages, 3,3:181-225.
• Savà, Graziano and Mauro Tosco 2000. A sketch of Ongota, a dying language of southwest Ethiopia. Studies in African Linguistics 29.2.59-136.
• Savà, Graziano and Mauro Tosco 2003. "The classification of Ongota". In Bender et al. eds, Selected comparative-historical Afrasian linguistic studies. LINCOM Europa.

External links

• Ethnologue version entry on Birale
• A paper which includes a wordlist of Ongota
• A news article metaphorically extends language death from Ongota to radio