Sebat Bet Gurage language
Appearance
Sebat Bet Gurage | |
---|---|
Native to | Ethiopia |
Region | West Gurage region |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 440,000)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Ethiopic | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | sgw |
Glottolog | seba1251 |
Sebat Bet ("Seven houses") is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Ethiopia.
Overview
A Gurage tongue, Sebat Bet is divided into several dialects. The latter are spoken in the western Gurage Zone:
- Chaha (Cheha) is spoken in Cheha woreda, and is the best studied of these dialects;
- Ezha (Eza, Izha) is spoken in Ezhana Wolene woreda,
- Muher is spoken in the mountains north of Cheha and Ezhaha Wolene,
- Gura is spoken in Goro woreda,
- Gumer language (Gwemarra, Gʷəmarə), spoken in Gumer woreda
- Inor (Enemor), spoken in Enemorina Eaner woreda
- Gyeto, Endegegn and the extinct Mesmes language are sometimes considered sub-dialects of Inor.
Notes
- ^ Sebat Bet Gurage at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
Further reading
- Leslau, Wolf. 1997. "Chaha (Gurage) Phonology" in Kaye, Alan S. (ed.): Phonologies of Asia and Africa 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. pp. 373–397.
- Rose, Sharon. 2007. "Chaha (Gurage) Morphology" in Kaye, Alan D. (ed.): Morphologies of Africa and Asia 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. pp. 403–427.
External links
- World Atlas of Language Structures information on Chaha