Ale language
Ale is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in southern Ethiopia in the administratively part of the "South Ethiopia Regional State". It is part of the Dullay dialect cluster.
Socio-linguistics
There is no superordinate ethnonym. The name 'Dullay' was established by Amborn, Minker and Sasse and named after the river of the same name, which is known as Weyt'o in Amharic. This is therefore an exonimous name, but is also officially used in Ethiopia.Dullay-speaking tribes inhabit an area that stretches from the Gaedulla-Dobase Mountains south of Lake Cam to the highlands of Hanna-Hamar. Historically, the Dullay-speaking people lack an overarching term for themselves, and they do not seem to identify as an ethnic or linguistic group. Occasionally, three terms have been employed in scholarly literature. The first one, introduced by Bender came from the official Amharic administrativ denominations. for the area at that time. Second is "Qawko" by Hayward from the term "man". And the last, "Dullay" was introduced by Amborn, Linker and Sasse from the river known in Amharic as Weyt'o, which is one of the most salient features in these area. In addition to that it must be written, that none of those names bears any meaning to the speakers. So all of those denomination are exonimous names. The denomination of "Ale" is a rather young denomination used in English publications and used by the today's administration of Ethiopia.
Within the Dullay dialect cluster the western and the eastern group of dialects can be opposed, the western area with Ts'amakko and the eastern part with Gawwada, which spans the two banks of Weyt'o river. Eastern dialects occupy the highlands to the east and north of Gawwada.
The name Gawwada originally comes from the village of the same name and the surrounding area that gave the language its name. Gawwada and other Dullay variations, apart from Ts'amakko, are spoken in the mountainous regions at an altitude of around 1600–1700 metres.
There are several distinct dialect centres within the Dullay language area. For example, the 'Harso-Dobase'. However, this differs only very slightly and is often treated as a single unit. There is also the Gawwada-Gollango. There are greater differences here than with the Harso-Dobase dialects. Other Ale-Gawwada variations are, for example, Dihina, Gergere, Gobeze or Gorose.
Here is an example of a distinction between two variations:
| Harso-Dobase | Gollango-Gawwada | Translation |
| paste | Pukka’te | Head |
| korse | saakanko | Meat |
| koto | mano | House |
| Po’- | Ran- | to fall |
There is generally little information about the Dullay-speaking tribes before the end of the 19th century. The most significant historical event in the modern consciousness of the Dullay-speaking Triebes is the conquest of their territory by Menilek the 2nd's troops in 1897/98. Through fighting, deportation and slavery, the population was decimated to such an extent that today only 1/3 of the former population still lives in this area.
According to the 1994 census, there were 32,636 Gawwada speakers, and a total of about 90,000 people speaking Dullay variations in general. The language is not threatened with extinction.
Bilingualism and multilingualism are widespread in the Dullay language area. People often speak Amharic first, which is now the official language in Ethiopia and is spoken and used in official offices etc. Especially after the Second World War a minimum modern administration was established, and it is from these times that intense Gawwada-Amharic constant can be dated. The language contact increase in intensity after the fall of the empire. That is the reason why there is a huge amount of Amharic loans, which is probably in rise, together with literacy and the already mentioned bilingualism, because Amharic is the only language through which people have access to „modern" vocabulary within subjects such as politics, Christianity or technology. It is the language in which education is taught and in which all official organizational processes take place. Loan words from European languages also find their way into Gawwada through Amharic. This is also the language that is spoken the most in addition to Gawwada. Today the present constitution accords full rights to every community and language of the country: "All Ethiopian languages shall enjoy equal state recognition." Another language often spoken by the people is Konso and other Konsoid variations. In most cases, Dullay variations are not written.
The social structure revolves around clans that practice exogamy. These clans possess distinct abilities related to natural occurrences, plants, and animals. Various clans exhibit diverse powers, such as the ability to control rainfall and enhance cattle multiplication. Some clans specialize in tobacco, while others possess unique powers associated with matters of love or peace. Although clans do not exert economic influence in terms of land or activities, they play a crucial role in regulating marriages and serve as the primary social entity responsible for community reproduction and preservation. Each clan is led by both a political and a religious chief.
Phonology
Source:The phonological system consists of 22 consonants and 10 vowels. The consonants include 12 plosives, five fricatives, one affricate, one trill and three approximants. There are also seven alveolar consonants.
Consonants
Although the words usually end with a vowel, all consonants can occur at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of a word.Allophony
- oral, plosives:
- * /p/, a bilabial pulmonic stop, realized as:
- ** voiceless bilabial pulmonic stop when geminate
- ** voiced bilabial pulmonic stop word-initially, voiced between vowels and in clusters
- ** devoiced unreleased bilabial pulmonic stop, word-final
- ** , rarely; voiced bilabial fricative in intervocalic position
- * /t/, an alveolar pulmonic stop realized as:
- ** voiceless alveolar pulmonic stop when geminate
- ** voiced alveolar pulmonic stop word-initially, voiced between vowels and in clusters;
- * /k/, a velar pulmonic stop, realized as:
- ** voiceless velar pulmonic, when geminate
- ** voiced velar pulmonic stop word-initially, voiced between vowels ad in clusters;
- ** devoiced unreleased velar pulmonic stop with early voice onset;
- ** voiced velar pharyngealized stop before /i/, both simpleton and geminate
- * /q/, uvular pulmonic stop, realized as:
- ** voiceless uvular pulmonic stop, especially when geminate
- ** voiced uvular pulmonic stop word-initially, voiced in clusters
- ** devoiced unreleased uvular pulmonic stop word-finally
- ** voiced uvular fricative between vowels
- ** rarely, voiceless laryngeal/glottal pulmonic stop between vowels
- * /ʔ/, a voiceless laryngeal/glottal pulmonic stop, realized as lengthening of a preceding vowel when postvocalic, often with accompanying glottalization ;
- glottalic, implosives :
- ** , a voiced bilabial implosive stop, realized as a glottal-bilabial coarticulation when geminate;
- * /ɗ/ a voiced postalveolar implosive stop, realized as:
- ** a glottal-alveolar coarticulation before vowels other than high fronted /i/ and when geminate
- ** postalveolar plain /ɖ/ before a high fronted vowel /i/;
- * /ɠ/ a voiced velar implosive stop, realized as a glottal- velar coarticulation when geminate;
- glottalic, ejectives:
- * /t'/, an alveolar ejective stop;
- * /k'/ a voiceless velar ejective stop;
- 4. affricate
- ** The only affricate is also ejective, and its articulation place is either postalveolar or alveolo-palatal;
- etc.
Vowels
- /a, aː/ may also be heard as
| a | aa | ||
| Gap-a | ‚to seize, catch‘ | Gaap-a | ‚to be afraid‘ |
| Harr-e | ‚door‘ | Haarr-e | ‚donkey‘ |
| o | oo | ||
| Qot-a | ‚to dig‘ | Qoot-a | ‚To distribute’ |
| qott-o | ‚type of hoe' | qoot-t-o | ‚share, part‘ |
Syllable structure
The following table defines all possible syllable structures:σ = CV
| CV | /pa.ko/ | ‚mother; language' |
| CVV | /yaa.ye/ | ‚mother‘ |
| CVC | /Kol.le/ | ‚river’ |
| CVVC | /kuur.ro/ | ‚speckled pigeon‘ |
The onset of a syllable is therefore always consonantal in Gawwada, while a coda can be represented by a single consonant or be null.
Orthography
In 2020, the letters ʕ, ħ, q were replaced with q, x and the digraph gh respectively.| A a | AA aa | B b | CH ch | C’ c’ | D d | E e | EE ee | F f | G g | GH gh | H h | I i | II ii |
| J j | K k | K’ k’ | L l | M m | NY ny | O o | OO oo | P p | QH qh | R r | S s | SH sh | T t |
| T’ t’ | U u | UU uu | W w | X x | HX hx | Y y | ’ | BH bh | DH dh | Q q | Z z | - | - |
Morphosyntax
Source:The Dullay variations are characterised by a very rigid construction of subject-object-verb.
More often the MP Coreferential with the subject clitic is missing.
There are differences in linguistic coding between polar questions and constituent questions, although both types use the same TAM coding. When using yes/no questions, the voice goes up, as in English, for example.
With a consonant-final word the lengthening of the final bowl is replaced by =i
Constituent questions involve a particular element, which is substituted by an interrogative word. The interrogative word may be led by a postposition.
| yaha | 'who' | generic interrogative pronoun for a person |
| moʔ-o | 'what' | general interrogative pronoun for an object |
| ʔah-a | 'where' | |
| par-a | 'when' | |
| mala | 'how' | |
| meʔ | 'how much/many' |