| Konso | |
|---|---|
| Afaa Xonso | |
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Region | South of Lake Chamo in the bend of the Sagan River |
Native speakers | 240,000 (2007)[1][2] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin script[3] | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kxc |
| Glottolog | kons1243 |
Konso (Komso, Khonso, also Af Kareti, Afa Karatti, Conso, Gato, Karate, Kareti) is a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in southwest Ethiopia. Native speakers of Konso number about 200,000 (SIL 2005). Konso is closely related to Dirasha (also known as Gidole), and serves as a "trade language"—or lingua franca—beyond the area of the Konso people. Blench (2006) considers purported dialects Gato and Turo to be separate languages.[4]
The Grammar of Konso was first described by Hellenthal (2004), and later, in more detail, by Ongaye (2013). The New Testament was published in the Konso language in 2002.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]Unlike its Oromoid relatives and most East African languages in general, Konso distinguishes neither voiced nor ejective consonants. Instead, it has a series of implosive stops, including the extremely rare uvular implosive /ʛ/.[5]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||
| Plosive | plain | p | t | c | k | ʔ | |
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ʄ | ʛ | |||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | χ | h | ||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Glide | w | j | |||||
Vowels
[edit]Typical of a Cushitic language, Konso distinguishes five short and five long vowels:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
Orthography
[edit]An alphabet for Konso was developed by the SSNPR education Bureau and SIL Ethiopia, with financial support by Wycliffe Norway. It is used in a Konso dictionary, and is currently adopted by the Konso people for general use.[6]
- a: /a/
- b: /ɓ/
- c: /c/
- d: /ɗ/
- e: /e/
- f: /f/
- h: /h/
- i: /i/
- j: /ʄ/
- k: /k/
- l: /l/
- m: /m/
- n: /n/
- ny: /ɲ/
- o: /o/
- p: /p/
- q: /ʛ/ (<g> is sometimes used)
- r: /r/
- s: /s/
- sh: /ʃ/
- t: /t/
- u: /u/
- w: /w/
- x: /χ/
- y: /j/
- ': /ʔ/
Vowel length is indicated by doubling the vowel
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Ethiopia 2007 Census
- ^ Konso at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ The most recent decision to adopt the Latin script was made in April 2012. See: Orkaydo, Ongaye Oda (2013). A Grammar of Konso. p. 2.
- ^ Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms)
- ^ Orkaydo, Ongaye Oda (2013). A Grammar of Konso. p. 11.
- ^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.sil.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-07-18. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
Literature on the Konso language
[edit]- Bliese, Loren; Gignarta, Sokka (1986). "Konso Exceptions to SOV (subject–object–verb) Typology". Journal of Ethiopian Studies. 19: 1–40. JSTOR 41965937.
- Hellenthal, Anne-Christie (2004). Some Morphosyntactic Aspects of the Konso Language (MA thesis). Leiden University.
- Orkaydo, Ongaye Oda (2013). A grammar of Konso (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). Leiden University. hdl:1887/20681.
- Uusitalo, Mirjami (2007). Konso language. in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica 3, 424–425. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
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