Baiso language
| Baiso | |
|---|---|
| Giddicho, Alkali | |
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Region | in region of Lake Abaya |
| Ethnicity | Bayso people (5,500 (2007 census)[1]), Haro people (L2) |
Native speakers | 4,600 (2007 census)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bsw |
| Glottolog | bais1246 |
| ELP | Bayso |
Baiso or Bayso is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Ethiopia, in the region around Lake Abaya.[1] It is an unwritten language.[1]
Grammar
The Baiso language has four number systems: singulative, singular, paucal, and plural. [2] While the singular is not marked, the other number systems are marked by different suffixes that are added to the noun stems.[2]
Noun Morphology
Nouns in the Baiso language are inflected for number.[2]
In order to inflect a noun for number, suffixes need to be added to the noun in question. The suffixes differ depending on whether it is singulative, paucal, or plural.[2]
To make a noun singulative, one adds the suffixes /-titi/ or /-ti/ to the noun stem. [2] However, this alone does not indicate definiteness or indefiniteness. /Heleeltiti/, for instance, means both 'the woman' and 'a woman'. By additionally adding a specific demonstrative pronoun or koo, one can clearly indicate (in-)definiteness: /heleeltiti hasse emette/ ('the woman came'.) or /heleeltiti koo emette/ ('a woman came').[2]
The plural is formed in a more complex way. Even though most commonly the plural is indicated by suffixes, other possibilities are reduplication, internal modification and vowel deletion.[2]
Phonology
Consonants
The Baiso language seems to have a consonant inventory of 28 consonants in total, which can be seen in the following table: [3][2]
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | (p) | t | k | ʔ | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||||
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | kʼ | ||||
| implosive | ɗ | ||||||
| Sibilant | voiceless | s | t͡ʃ | ||||
| voiced | (z) | d͡ʒ | |||||
| ejective | sʼ | t͡ʃʼ | |||||
| Fricative | f | ʃ | h | ||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ | |||
| implosive | mˀ | nˀ | |||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j | |||||
Even though the consonant phonemes /p/, /h/, and /z/ appear in the table above, there is uncertainty about whether they really are part of the Baiso consonant inventory.[2]
Generally however, Baiso consonants can be separated into eight different categories according to their manner of articulation: plosive stops, implosive stops, ejectives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, liquids and glides/approximants. Additionally, they are categorized according to six different places of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, alveolar, palatal, velar, and glottal.[2]
The nasal implosives /m"/ and /n"/ are specific to the Baiso language. They do not appear in any other Cushitic language.[2]
Vowels
In regards to the vowel inventory, Baiso has five short vowels and five contrastive long vowels, as can be seen in the table below.[2]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High/Close | i, iː | u, uː | |
| Mid | e, eː | o, oː | |
| Low/Open | a, aː |
Vowel length plays an important role in Baiso as it clearly distinguishes one word from another. For instance, while the word /ken/ means 'five' in English, substituting the vowel /e/ with an /e:/ turns it into /keen/ meaning 'leave!'.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d Baiso at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lemmi Kebebew Gnarie. 2018. Grammatical Description and Documentation of Bayso. (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University; 283pp.)[1]
- ^ Fleming, Harold C. (1964). "Baiso and Rendille: Somali Outliers". Rassegna di Studi Etiopici. 20: 35–96. JSTOR 41299528.
Further reading
- Brenzinger, Matthias. 1999. The "islanders" of Lake Abaya and Lake Ch'amo: Harro, Ganjule, Gats'ame and Bayso. SIL Electronic Survey Reports. 36pp.
- Corbett, Greville G. and Hayward, Richard J. 1987. Gender and number in Bayso. Lingua 73. 1-28.
- Epple, Susanne. 2016. The Bayso people of Gidiccho Island, Southern Ethiopia: An ethnographic sketch. Ms. 62pp.
- Hayward, Richard J. 1978, 1979. Bayso Revisited: some preliminary linguistic observations. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 41, 42. 539–570, 103–132.
- Lemmi Kebebew Gnarie. 2018. Grammatical Description and Documentation of Bayso. (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University; 283pp.)
