The Omo–Tana languages are a branch of the Cushitic family and are spoken in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya. The largest member is Somali. There is some debate as to whether the Omo–Tana languages form a single group, or whether they are individual branches of Lowland East Cushitic. Blench (2006) restricts the name to the Western Omo–Tana languages, and calls the others Macro-Somali.[1][2]
| Omo–Tana | |
|---|---|
| (disputed) | |
| Geographic distribution | Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya |
| Linguistic classification | Afro-Asiatic
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | omot1245 |
Internal classification
editMauro Tosco (2012)[3] proposes the following internal classification of the Omo-Tana languages. Tosco considers Omo-Tama to consist of a Western branch and an Eastern ("Somaloid") branch, which is a dialect chain of various Somali languages and the Rendille–Boni languages (see also Macro-Somali languages).
References
edit- ^ Roger Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms)
- ^ Vossen, Rainer; Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (2020-03-19). The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford University Press. p. 296. ISBN 978-0-19-100737-8.
- ^ Tosco, Mauro (2012). The Unity and Diversity of Somali Dialectal Variants. In: Nathan Oyori Ogechi, Jane A. Ngala Oduor and Peter Iribemwangi (eds.), The Harmonization and Standardization of Kenyan Languages. Orthography and other aspects. Cape Town: The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS): 2012: 263–280.