Meʼen language
| Me'en | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Region | Eastern Africa |
Native speakers | 150,000 (2007 census)[1] |
Nilo-Saharan?
| |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mym |
| Glottolog | meen1242 |
Me'en (also Mekan, Mie'en, Mieken, Meqan, Men) is a Nilo-Saharan language (Eastern Sudanic, Surmic, Southeast Surmic[2]) spoken in Ethiopia by the Me'en people. In recent years, it has been written with the Ge'ez alphabet, but in 2007 a decision was made to use the Latin alphabet. Dialects include Bodi (Podi) and Tishena (Teshina, Teshenna).
Me'en is unique among Surmic languages in that it has ejective consonants.
Reliable descriptions of some parts of the language have been produced by Hans-Georg Will, often contradicting Carlo Conti Rossini's work, the editing of the extensive language notes of a non-linguist.
Notes
- ^ Ethiopia 2007 Census
- ^ Peter Unseth. 1988. The Validity and Unity of the Southeast Surma Language Grouping. Northeast African Studies 10.2/3:151-163
References
- Conti Rossini, Carlo. (1913). "I Mekan o Suro nell'Etiopia meridionale e il loro linguaggio." Rend. R. Acc. Lincei XXII (7-10): 397-463.
- Diehl, Achim and Hans-Georg Will. (2007). "Meˀen language." In Siegbert Uhlig (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica 3, 907-909. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
- Will, Hans-Georg. 1989. "Sketch of Me'en grammar." In M. Lionel Bender (ed.), Topics in Nilo-Saharan linguistics, 129-50. Nilo-Saharan, 3. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.
- Will, Hans-Georg. 1998. "The Me'en verb system: Does Me'en have tenses?." In Gerrit J. Dimmendaal and Marco Last (eds.), Surmic languages and cultures, 437-58. Nilo-Saharan, 13. Cologne: R. Köppe
External links
- World Atlas of Language Structures information on Me'en
 | This Ethiopia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |