Mao languages

The Mao languages are a branch of the Omotic languages spoken in Ethiopia and parts of Sudan. The group had the following categories:

Bambasi, spoken in the Bambasi woreda of Benishangul-Gumuz Region,
Hozo and Seze, spoken around Begi in the Mirab Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, and
Ganza, which is spoken south of Bambasi in the Asosa Zone of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, west of the Hozo and Seze languages and in Blue Nile State in Sudan.

It is estimated that there are 5,000 speakers of Bambasi, 3,000 speakers each of Hozo and Seze and a few hundred Ganza speakers. During recent political upheavals, a few thousand Bambassi speakers established themselves in the valley of the Didessa River and Belo Jegonfoy woreda. Much of the Mirab Welega Zone was once the home of Mao languages, but they have lost speakers because of the increasing influence of Oromo.

Contact

Mao languages are in close and long-standing contact with Koman languages, and linguistic affiliation does not always coincide with ethnic identity. Some Koman-speaking groups in western Ethiopia, like the Kwama, are known as Mao, or vice versa, as in the case of the Ganza.
Intensified contact between Mao, Koman, and Kefoid languages dates to the formation of the Gonga kingdom of Anfillo in the late sixteenth century, following the westward migration of Kefoid-speaking elites during the Oromo expansions into the Gibe basin around 1560–1570. The establishment of Anfillo brought Mao populations into sustained and asymmetric contact with Kefoid languages as well as with neighboring Koman languages, whose speakers inhabited the surrounding lowlands.
Within the Gonga political system, Mao speakers formed a subordinate social category, which promoted widespread bilingualism and language shift toward dominant languages. Mao communities were integrated as serfs or dependent clients of Gonga elites, creating daily interaction in labor, ritual, and military contexts, conditions known to facilitate lexical borrowing and structural influence. In parallel, other Mao groups remained mobile at the margins of Gonga territories, maintaining master-client relations with agricultural populations through the exchange of forest products, a setting that likewise favored multilingual repertoires.
The designation Mao historically functioned as a sociopolitical label applied to diverse subordinate populations rather than a single linguistic entity. This has contributed to the present-day linguistic diversity and fragmentation of Mao languages, as well as to their heavy contact-induced restructuring through prolonged interaction with Koman, Kefoid, and later Oromo languages.

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

Language	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Ganza	ʔìʃì kwéʔèn	mámꜜbú	tʼíꜜzí	máꜜs’í	k’wísʼí	ʔìʃkìbínꜜ	mámpʰìn	wòbóꜜ	ʃèléꜜ	kónsó-báꜜ
Ganza	ʔìʃì kwéʔèn	mámꜜbú	tʼíꜜzí	máꜜs’í	k’wísʼí	ʔìʃkìbínꜜ	mámpʰìn	wòbóꜜ	ʃèléꜜ	kónsó-báꜜ
Ganza	ʔíʃkúwéén	mámbùʔ	tíízìʔ	más’s’ìʔ	k’wíssíʔ	ʔíʃkípín	mámpín	wóp’ò	ʃéléʔ	kónsóbààʔ
Hozo	ʔónnà	dòmbó	sìjázì	bétsʼì	kwítsʼì	kwítsʼì ʔòttá ʔónnà	kwítsʼì ʔòttá dòmbó	kwítsʼì ʔòttá sìjázì	kwítsʼì ʔòttá bétsʼì	pʼóʃì
Hozo	ʊnːa / onna	dʊmbo / dombo	sìɑːsi /siyazi	bɛtsíː / betsʼi	kʷɪtsí / kʼwitsi	kɛniː / ota-onna	ʔɔːta / ota-dombo	ʔɔ̀ːtá / ota-siyazi	ʔɔ̀ːtì / ota-beːtsi	pʼɔ́ːʃi / poːši
Northern Mao	hishkì	numbo	teezè	mesʼe	kʼwíssí	kyaansè	kúlùmbò	kúteezé	kúsmésʼe	kúúsú
Sezi	ʔìʃílè	nòmbé	sììzé	besʼsʼé	kʼwíssé	kʼwíssé ʔòòt ʔìʃílè	kʼwíssé ʔòòt nòmbé	kʼwíssé ʔòòt sììzé	kʼwíssé ʔòòt besʼsʼé	kúúsé
Seze	ɪ̀ʃìlɛ / ɪšilɛ	nɔ̀mbɛ́ / noːmbɛ	sìːzí /siːzɛ	bɛ̀sʼɛ́ / bɛtsʼɛ	kʼúsɛ́ / kʼʊsse	dʒɑ;j / ot-šilɛ	ʔɔːt nɔ̀mbɛ́ / ot-nombɛ	ʔɔ̀ːt síːzí / ota-siːzɛ	ʔɔ̀ːt bèːtsʼé / ota-bɛːsʼɛ	̞kʊ́ːsɛ̀ / kʊːsɛ