Girirra also called Gariire is a Cushitic language of Ethiopia. It has extensive borrowing from Somali.[2] Although not mutually intelligible with Somali, it is estimated that around 70% of the Garirra language is made up of Somali loan words. There has not been many studies on the language itself and is often grouped into a small umbrella of the Macro-Somali language family including relatives like: Rendille, Boni, Bayso, and the two dialects of Somali, being Af-Maay, and Af-Maxaa (Standard Somali).[3]
| Girirra | |
|---|---|
| Af Girirra | |
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Region | Af-Dheer Zone, Somali Region, Ethiopia |
| Ethnicity | Girirra, Somali |
Native speakers | 50,000 (2007)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | gii |
| Glottolog | giri1245 |
Phonology
editThe following are the phonemes found in Girirra:[4]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palato- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | t | k | ʔ | |||
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | |||
| glottalic | ɗ | t͡ʃʼ | kʼ | ||||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i, iː | u, uː | |
| Mid | e, eː | o, oː | |
| Open | a, aː |
References
edit- ^ Girirra at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ SILESR2002 061
- ^ Blench, Roger (2006). "The Afro-Asiatic Languages Classification and Reference List" (PDF).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Mekonnen, Hundie Kumbi. 2015. The Grammar of Girirra (A Lowland East Cushitic Language of Ethiopia). (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University; xxvii+367pp.)
Further reading
edit- Mekonnen, Hundie Kumbi. 2015. The Grammar of Girirra (A Lowland East Cushitic Language of Ethiopia). (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University; xxvii+367pp.)