| Sidama | |
|---|---|
| Sidaamu Afoo | |
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Region | Sidama region |
| Ethnicity | 5.1 millionSidama (2022)[1] |
Native speakers | 4.9 million (2022)[1] |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | sid |
| ISO 639-3 | sid |
| Glottolog | sida1246 |
Sidama orSidaamu Afoo is anAfroasiatic language belonging to theHighland East Cushitic branch of theCushitic family. It is spoken in parts of southernEthiopia by theSidama people, particularly in the densely populatedSidama National Regional State (SNRS). Sidaamu Afoo is the ethnicautonym for the language, while Sidaminya is its name inAmharic. It is not known to have any specific dialects. The word order is typically SOV. Sidaama has over 100,000L2 speakers. The literacy rate forL1 speakers is 1%-5%, while for L2 speakers it is 20%. In terms of its writing, Sidaama used anEthiopic script up until 1993, from which point forward it has used a Latin script.[1]
The termSidamo has also been used in the past to refer to most Highland East Cushitic languages, earlier even to someOmotic languages.[2] The results from a research study conducted in 1968-1969 concerning mutual intelligibility between different Sidamo languages suggest that Sidaama is more closely related to theGedeo language, which it shares a border with to the south, than other Sidamo languages.[3] According toEthnologue, the two languages share a lexical similarity of 60%.[1] Another study shows over 64% lexical similarity withAlaba-K'abeena, 62% withKambaata, and 53% withHadiyya, all of which are other Highland East Cushitic languages spoken in southwesternEthiopia. Sidaama vocabulary has also been influenced byOromo vocabulary.
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate | plain | b | t d | tʃ dʒ | k g | |
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | tʃʼ | kʼ | ʔ | |
| implosive | ɗ | |||||
| Fricative | f | s z | ʃ | h | ||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ | ||
| glottalized | ʼm | ʼn | ||||
| Tap/Flap | plain | ɾ | ||||
| glottalized | ʼɾ | |||||
| Approximant | plain | w | l | j | ||
| glottalized | ʼl | ʼj | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
In Sidaama, not allnoun phrases havenouns. This can occur when it is so obvious what kind of thing thereferent of the noun phrase is, that it is unnecessary for the speaker to mention it. Sidaama has two types of noun phrases without nouns. One type is made up only of anadjective or anumeral, where the adjective or the numeral agrees in case, number, and gender with the referent of a noun phrase. This is shown in the examples below:
busul-u da-ø-ino.
smart-NOM.M come-3SG.M-PERF.3
‘The smart one (masculine) came.’
sas-u da-ø-ino
three-NOM.M come-3SG.M-PERF.3
‘The three (masculine) came.’
The other type of noun phrase without a noun is formed with a noun-phraseclitic, orNPC. ThisNPC starts witht (FEM) orh (MASC). This is thought to originate from the Afro-Asiaticdemonstrative containingt (FEM) ork (MASC). The SidaamaNPC appears in various forms. Which form is used then depends on the gender of the referent of the noun phrase, and the syntactic role or case of the noun phrase. When a noun phrase without a noun is formed with anNPC, both the speaker and the listener know its referent. In this case, theNPC attaches to the end of agenitive noun phrase or relative clause to form a noun phrase without a noun. This is shown in the examples below:
ani ku’uí beett-í=ta seekk-o-mm-o.
1SG.NOM that.M.GEN child-GEN.M.MOD=NPC.F.ACC repair-PERF.1-1SG-M
‘I (MASC) repaired that boy’s (FEM).’[5]
