Zay (Oromo language: Lak'i, Laqi) is an Afroasiatic language of the Semitic branch spoken in Ethiopia. It is one of the Gurage languages in the Ethiopian Semitic group. The Zay language has around 14,000 speakers known as the Zay people, who inhabit Gelila and the other five islands and shores of Lake Zway in the southern part of the country.
Language situation
Zay is an unwritten language. Most speakers are
Multilingualism in other
Gurage languages, in the
Oromo language, and in
Amharic.
[Meyer, R. (2006). "The Zay Language (East-Gurage, Ethiopia)". Mainz University.] The language is geographically concentrated around Lake Zway; specifically, in Herera,
Meki,
Ziway, and the five islands: Fundurro Island (Famat or Getesemani Island) the smallest island; Tsedecha Island (Aysut Island), next to the biggest island; Debre-Tsion Island, the largest island; Gelila Island; and Debre Sina Island. It is an endangered language, with speakers migrating to the mainland adopting the
Oromo language, and increasing use of Oromo by the younger generations on the Zay islands.
Zay is 70% lexically similar with the Siltʼe language, and 60% with Harari language.[Jordan, Linda; Netzley, Jillian; & Mohammed, Hussein (2011). "A Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Zay People in Ethiopia". SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2011-046: 43, 2011-046]
Grammar
The word order of Zay is SOV (subject–object–verb). Attributive
precede the
they modify. Possessives also precede nouns.
[Hayward, Richard J. (1990). "Notes on the Zayse Language". Hayward, Richard J.(ed.). London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.] Zay is a pro-drop language, with required subject-marking on the verb.
Zay has been greatly affected by contact it has had with the Gurage languages. This contact has created a significant amount of lexical and grammatical change in Zay.[Meyer, R. (2006). "The Zay Language (East-Gurage, Ethiopia)". Mainz University.]
Further reading
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Demeke, Grima A., & Meyer, Ronny. "Contact-induced language change in selected Ethiopian Semitic Languages."
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Demissie, Ambaw (1990), The phonology of Zay: A generative approach. M.A. thesis. Addis Ababa University.
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Gardner, Simon. and Siebert, Ralph. (2001), "Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Zay Language Area", SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2002-024:12.
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Hetzron, Robert (1972), "Ethiopian Semitic: studies in classification (No. 2)". Manchester University Press.
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Jordan, Linda; Netzley, Jillian; & Mohammed, Hussein (2011). "A Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Zay People in Ethiopia". SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2011-046: 43, 2011–046.
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Meyer, Ronny (2005), Das Zay: Deskriptive Grammatik einer Ostguragesprache (Äthiosemitisch). Grammatical Analyses of African Languages, vol. 25. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. .
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Meyer, Ronny. (2002), "Language Change in a Multilingual Society: The Influence of Oromo on the Lexicon of Zay". Institute of Language Studies, Addis Ababa University.
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Meyer, Ronny (2002), "‘To be or not to be’ – Is there a present tense copula in Zay?" in: Baye Yimam, R. Pankhurst, D. Chapple, Yonas Admasu, A. Pankhurst, Birhanu Teferra (Hg.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, 6–11 November 2000, Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa 2002, 1798–1808
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Shikur, Getu (1999), Morphology of Zay. M.A. thesis. Addis Ababa University.
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Vinson, Michael A. (2012), "The struggle for recognition: a critical ethnographic study of the Zay." African Studies Center, Universiteit Leiden.
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Wolf Leslau (1999), Zway Ethiopic Documents. Aethiopische Forschungen, Band 51. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. .
External links
