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ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES A GRAMMAR OF HARO WITH COMPARATIVE NOTES ON THE OMETO LINGUISTIC GROUP BY HIRUT WOLDEMARIAM FEBRURARY, 2004 AKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the help and support of several persons and institutes this thesis could not have been written. I would like to express my gratitude to all, who contributed to this research in one or another way. My highest gratefulness goes to DAAD (The German Academic Exchange Program) for financing the project. I extend my utmost gratefulness to my supervisors, Prof. Gerrit Dimmendaal and Prof. Baye Yimam for their constructive academic and moral support. Their extensive comments and encouragements contributed a lot to the development of this monograph. I am especially indebted for Prof. Dimmendaal also for his moral support, kindness and hospitality in facilitating the scholarship and offering me all the support I needed during my stay in Cologne. Professor Baye Yimam also deserves special thanks for his sincere advice as my teacher who encouraged me to venture into the field of linguistics. I am also grateful for Bernd Heine and Christa König for their support and comments on certain part of the thesis. I am grateful for Professor Heine also for his facilitating extension of my scholarship and for his encouragements. I thank Monica Feinen, the cartographer, for preparing the maps in this monograph. I thank all members of the Institute of African Studies of the university of Cologne for making me feel at home while I was with them. I am especially grateful to the Haro people who not only furnished me with all the necessary data but also for their hospitability. My principal informants, Shito Beteno, Beyene Alemayehu, Machessa Battere, Mersha Alemayehu and Segaye Shocha deserve special thanks. My thanks also go to Teshome Alemayehu who not only was an excellent informant, but who also provided accommodation on the island. I am also grateful to Samuel Gondere who was guiding me to the Geditcho Island. I thank my friends, colleagues and teachers at Addis Ababa University: Yonas Admassu, Moges Yegezu, Abebe Gerbretsadik, Zelealm Leyew, Daniel Aberra, Mulummebet Zenebe, Takkele Tadesse, Binyam Sisay, Rawuda Siraj, Beletu Redda and Haregeweyn Kebede for their encouragements and moral support. My special thanks goes to my friend and colleague Azeb Amha for her valuable suggestions and comments on the draft. Her love and moral support gave me strength. I also thank my friends and PhD students at the university of Cologne. These include Adji, Trudel, Steffi, Rafaela, Dirk and Yvonne for their friendly affection and support. The assistance of Frank, who commented on some part of the draft, is i gratefully acknowledged here Tilahun Birhane, a friend who is an expert in computer science deserves a special thanks for his professional assistance and kindness to make the print out of this thesis for me. Last but not least, my family deserves a credit for being my power and great love. They were bearing my burden at home while I was in Cologne. My great debt and gratitude goes to my husband Tegene Hawando for his love, understanding, and encouragement. His confidence in me was my strength. He was patient and kind enough to take all the responsibilities of running the household and caring for our little kids Biruktawit and Abenezer when I was away for my study. I express my appreciation to my father Woldemariam Teketel, my mother Brehane Mekonen, my sisters Elisabeth and Zenebech, my brothers Muluken, Tedi and Wondwosen for their prayers, love, encouragement, and for taking over all my responsibilities at home. My special thanks go to Zenebech, my sister-in-law who has taken care of my kids without complaint during my stay in Germany. I thank my kids Biruktawit and Abenezar for their patience to wait for me alone when I was aw ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABBREVIATIONS MAP ABSTRACT PART I CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1. The terms Haro, Haruro and Geditcho 1-2 1.2. The Haro language 2-4 1.3. The state of endangerment and language use situation 5-7 0.3. Significance of the study 7-8 1.5. Previous works 8-9 1.6. Theoretical and methodological preliminaries 9-11 1.7. Fieldwork and Data 11-12 CHAPTER TWO PHONOLOGY 2.1. Consonants 13-23 2.2. Vowels 23-26 2.3. Tone-accent 26-29 2.4. The syllable structure 29-30 2.5. Phonological processes 20-31 2.6. Morphophonemic processes 31-34 2.7 The phonological and grammatical word 34-38 CHAPTER THREE NOUNS 2.0. Terminal vowels of nouns 39-46 3.2. Inflections of the noun 46 3.2.1 Gender 47-53 3.2.2. Definiteness 53-56 3.2.3. Number 55-62 3.2.4. Case 62-63 3.2.4.1. Differential case marking 61-65 3.2.4.2. The Absolutive 65-67 3.2.4.3. The Nominative 67-68 3.2.4.4. The Genitive 68-71 3.2.4.5. Peripheral case marking 71-83 3.3. Nominalization 3.3.1. Nouns derived from nominals 83-85 3.3.2. Deverbal nominals 85 3.3.2.1. Agentive/Experiencer nouns 85-86 3.3.2.2. Action nouns 87-90 3.3.2.3. Explanations on the consonant alternation in action nouns 90-95 3.3.2.4. Result nouns 96-97 3.3.2.5. Nouns derived from extended verb stems 98-100 iii 3.3.2.6. Nominalization on relativized verb stems 101-103 CHAPTER FOUR PRONOUNS 4.1. The short vs. long pronoun sets 104-107 4.2. The pronoun categories 4.2.1. The Absolutive and Nominative pronouns 107-108 4.2.3. The Dative pronouns 108 4.2.4. The Ablative pronouns 108-109 4.2.5. The Genitive pronouns 109-112 4.2.6. The Restrictive pronouns 112 4.2.7. The Reflexive 112-115 4.2.8. The Vocative 115 CHPTER FIVE THE VERB 5.1. The verb root 116-117 5.2. Verb root alternation and deletion 118-119 4.2. Verb stem formation 120 5.3.1. Causativization 120-121 5.3.1.1 Causativization of intransitive verbs 121-125 5.3.1.2. Causativization of transitive verbs 125-128 5.3.2. The passive 128-130 5.3.3. The passive reflexive 130-132 5.3.4. The causative reflexive 132-133 5.3.5. The inchoative verb stem 133-134 5.3.6. The frequentative 134-135 5.3.7. The reciprocal 135-137 5.3.8. The infinitive 137 5.4. Inflections of the verb 138 5.4.1. Person 138-140 5.4.2. Tense-Aspect 140-144 5.4.3. Mood, modality and polarity 144-145 5.4.3.1. The indicative 146 5.4.3.1.1. The declarative 146-148 5.4.3.1.2. The interrogative 148-151 5.4.3.2. The directive mood 151 5.4.3.2.1. The imperative 151-153 5.4.3.2.2. The optative 153-154 5.4.3.2.3. The pseudo-optative 154-155 5.4.3.2.4. The prohibitive 155-156 5.43.2.5. The exhortative 156-157 5.4.3.2.6. Admonitive modality 157 5.4.3.3. The epistemic modality 158 5.4.3.3.1. The certainty modality 158-159 5.4.3.3.2. The possibility 159-160 5.4.3.3.3. The conditional (potential) modality 160 5.4.3.3.4. The probability modality 160 5.4.3.4. The deontic modalities 161-162 iv CHAPTER SIX MODIFIERS 6.1. Adjectives 163-168 6.2. Deictics 168-179 6.3. Numerals 179-182 6.4. Adverbial expressions 182 CHAPTER SEVEN SENTENCE TYPES 7.1. The declarative 183-185 6.1. The interrogative 185-195 6.1. The negation 195-207 CHAPTER EIGHT FOCUS 8.1. Strategy of focus marking 208-214 8.2. The focus domains 214-221 PART II NOTES ON THE COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF THE OMETO LANGUAGES 222-223 CHAPTER ONE SOME ISSUES CONCERNING TERMINAL VOWELS 224-234 CHAPTER TWO DEFINITENESS MARKING 235-246 CHAPTER THREE NUMBER MARKING IN NOUNS 246-252 CHAPTER FOUR THE PRONOUN SYSTEM 253-280 CHAPTER FIVE HISTORICAL NOTES ON NUMERALS 281-306 CHAPTER SIX SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 307-311 REFERENCES 312-323 v ABSTRACT A GRAMMAR OF HARO WITH COMPARATIVE NOTES ON THE OMETO LINGUISTIC GROUP The aim of this study is two-folded. The first one is providing a thorough description of the Haro language, while the second one is offering some comparative and historical notes on the Ometo linguistic group, which Haro belongs to. The two aspects complement each other. The data for the comparative analysis is derived from the description of Haro. Presenting the Haro data within a comparative framework, on the other hand, discloses more facts about the Haro language and the relationship it has with the others. Although it particularly emphasizes on the morphological domain, the description, however, also covers the phonological and syntactic structures of the language. Haro is an interesting language from typological and historical perspectives. For instance, the Haro language shows an intricate system of focus marking that affects the morpho-syntactic properties and categorization of a verb. The language has a three-way number-marking system that distinguishes among the singular, paucal and plural number values. The numeral system of Haro is not attested to anywhere else in the Ometo linguistic group. An elaborated system of mood and modality is also observed in Haro. The second part of the study, dealing with comparative and historical notes on certain morphological aspects of the Ometo languages, adds to our understanding of the Ometo linguistic group.
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  • Gender Flip and Person Marking in Benchnon (North Omotic) Matthew Baerman Surrey Morphology Group, University of Surrey, GB M.Baerman@Surrey.Ac.Uk

    Gender Flip and Person Marking in Benchnon (North Omotic) Matthew Baerman Surrey Morphology Group, University of Surrey, GB [email protected]

    a journal of Baerman, Matthew. 2020. Gender flip and person marking general linguistics Glossa in Benchnon (North Omotic). Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 5(1): 76. 1–20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1191 RESEARCH Gender flip and person marking in Benchnon (North Omotic) Matthew Baerman Surrey Morphology Group, University of Surrey, GB [email protected] Subject agreement in the North Omotic language Benchnon (Rapold 2006) lacks dedicated per- son marking, but indirectly indicates person distinctions through asymmetries in the distribution of gender markers. In one verbal paradigm, first and second person subjects are expressed by feminine morphology, and in the other paradigm they are expressed by masculine morphology. This is hard to reconcile with any known notion of how gender assignment works. I show that it can be explained as the particular instantiation of a rare but cross-linguistically recurrent pat- tern in which a (reduced) person marking system is generated by restrictions on gender agree- ment: only third person subjects control semantic gender agreement, while first and second person are assigned default gender. In Benchnon the default gender switched from feminine to masculine over the course of its history, yielding two contrasting verbal paradigms. The older one is morphologically frozen, the newer one is a reflection of still-active agreement conditions. Further developments show that the older paradigm can be adapted to conform to the newer conditions, showing that the division between morphosyntactically motivated and arbitrarily stipulated morphology is a fluid one. Keywords: inflection; paradigms; gender; person; diachrony 1 Introduction Verbs in the North Omotic language Benchnon, spoken in Ethiopia, make unusual use of gender-marking morphology, in which an alternation between feminine and masculine forms takes the place of person marking.