| Awngi | |
|---|---|
| አውጚ (Awŋi) | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈawŋi] |
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Region | Agew Awi Zone,Amhara Region |
| Ethnicity | Awi |
Native speakers | 490,000 (2007 census)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Geʽez script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | awn |
| Glottolog | awng1244 |
| ELP | Awngi |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
TheAwngi language, in older publications also calledAwiya (an inappropriate ethnonym),[2] is aendangeredindigenousCentral Cushitic language spoken by theAwi people, traditionally living in CentralGojjam in northwesternEthiopia.
Most speakers of the language live in theAgew Awi Zone of theAmhara Region, but there are also communities speaking the language in various areas ofMetekel Zone of theBenishangul-Gumuz Region. Until recently, Kunfäl, another Southern Agaw language spoken in the area west ofLake Tana, has been suspected to be a separate language. It has now been shown to be linguistically close to Awngi, and it should be classified as a dialect of that language.[3]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Open | e | a | o |
The central vowel/ɨ/ is the defaultepenthetic vowel of the language and almost totally predictable in its occurrence.[5] Likewise,/æ/, normally an allophone of/a/, is fossilized in some words and might be justified as a separate phoneme.[6]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palato-velar | Uvular | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labialized | plain | labzd | ||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | kʷ | q | qʷ |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ɡʷ | ɢ | ɢʷ | |
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡ʃ | ||||
| voiced | d͡z | d͡ʒ | |||||
| Fricative | plain | f | s | ʃ | |||
| post-stopped | s͡t | ʃ͡t | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ŋʷ | |||
| Flap | r | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||
Palmer[12] andHetzron[13] both identified three distinctive tone levels in Awngi: high, mid and low. The low tone, however, only appears in word-final position on the vowela. A falling tone (high-mid) appears on word-final syllables only. Joswig[14] reanalyzes the system as having only two distinctive tone levels, with the low tone being a phonetic variant of the mid tone.
The Awngi syllable in most cases fits the maximum syllable template CVC (C standing for a consonant, V for a vowel). This means there is only one (if any) consonant each in thesyllable onset and therhyme. Exceptions to this happen at word boundaries, whereextrametrical consonants may appear.
In positions other than word-initial, Awngi contrastsgeminate and non-geminate consonants. The consonants/ɢ,ɢʷ,t͡s,t͡ʃ,j,w,ʒ/, however, have no contrast in gemination.
Whenever a suffix containing the [+high] voweli is added to a stem, a productive vowel harmony process is triggered.Hetzron calls this process regressive vowel heightassimilation. The vowel harmony only takes place if the underlying vowel of the last stem syllable ise. This vowel and all preceding instances ofe ando will take over thefeature [+high], until a different vowel is encountered. Then the vowel harmony is blocked. Hetzron[15] provides the following example:/moleqés-á/ ‘nun’ vs./muliqís-í/ ‘monk’.
Awngi is used as Medium of Instruction from Grade 1 to 6 in primary schools ofAwi Zone. It is written with an orthography based on the Ethiopian Script. Extrafidels used for Awngi areጝ for the sound/ŋ/ andቕ for the sound/q/. The fidelፅ is used for/ts/, the fidelኽ for the sound/ɢ/. Various aspects of the Awngi orthography are yet to be finally decided.[when?][by whom?]
The noun is marked fornumber andgender (masculine,feminine orplural) as well ascase. The nominative is unmarked for one class of nouns, or marked by-i for masculine nouns and-a for feminine nouns. Other cases areaccusative,dative,genitive,locative, directional,ablative,comitative,comparative, invocative andtranslative. Hetzron[16] also mentions adverbial as a case of Awngi, but an interpretation as aderivational marker seems to be more appropriate. Number, gender, and case are marked throughsuffixes to the noun stems.[17]
The Awngi verbal morphology has a wealth ofinflectional forms. The four maintenses areimperfective past, imperfective non-past,perfective past and perfective non-past. There are various other coordinate and subordinate forms which are all marked through suffixes to the verb stems. The following distinctions are maintained for person:1sg,2sg,3masc,3fem,1pl,2pl, and3pl.Hetzron demonstrated that the Awngi verbal morphology is most economically described when it is assumed that for every verb there are four distinct stems, marked A, B, C, and D in the following table. The first stem (A) is for3masc,2pl, and3pl. The second stem (B) is for1sg only, the third stem (C) for2sg and3fem, and the fourth stem for1pl only. These four stems need to be noted for every verb in thelexicon and serve as the basis for all other verbal morphology. The stems remain the same throughout all verbal paradigms, and it is possible to predict the surface form of eachparadigm member with these stems and the simple tense suffixes.[6]
| Person/ Gender | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | D | |
| 2 | C | A | |
| 3 | Masc | A | A |
| Fem | C | A | |
The main verb of asentence is always at the end. The basic word order is therefore SOV. Subordination and coordination is achieved exclusively through verbal affixation.
