Burji language

Burji
Burji
ቡርጂ(Burji)
Native to	Ethiopia, Kenya
Region	South of Lake Chamo
Ethnicity	Burji people
Native speakers	83,000 (2007 & 2019 censuses)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Cushitic Highland East Burji; ; ;
Writing system	Geʽez ; Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bji
Glottolog	burj1242
ELP	Burji

Burji language (alternate names: Bembala, Bambala, Daashi) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Burji people who reside in Ethiopia south of Lake Chamo. There are over 49,000 speakers in Ethiopia, and a further 36,900 speakers in Kenya. Burji belongs to the Highland East Cushitic group of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family.^[1]

The language has the SOV (subject–object–verb) word order common to the Cushitic family. The verb morphology distinguishes passive and middle grammatical voice, as well as causative. Verbal suffixes mark the person, number, and gender of the subject.

The New Testament was published in the Burji language in 1993. A collection of Burji proverbs, translated into English, French, and Swahili, is available on the Web.^[2]

Numerals 1-1000

base numeral		+10		× 10
1	micha	11	tannaya micha	10	tanna
2	lama	12	tannaya lama	20	lamattann
3	fadiya	13	tannaya fadiya	30	fadiitann
4	foola	14	tannaya foola	40	foolattan
5	umutta	15	tannaya umutta	50	umuttan
6	liya	16	tannaya liya	60	liittan
7	lamala	17	tannaya lamala	70	lamalattan
8	hiditta	18	tannaya hiditta	80	hidittan
9	wonfa	19	tannaya wonfa	90	wonfattan
10	tanna	20	lamattann	100	ch'ibba

1,000. kuma

Syntax

Word order

Dhaashatee is a head-final language, which means that modifiers come before the main noun in the noun phrase. Dependent clauses come before independent clauses, while relative clauses come before the nouns they modify. The basic word order at the sentence-level is SOV, as in other HEC languages.^[3]

Relative clauses

Relative clauses in Burji (Dhaashatee) are not formally marked but they can be recognized from main clauses by having more than one completely inflected verb in a non-final position. In contrast, in a "regular" main clause with multiple verbs, all but the last one takes a converb suffix. Other types of subordinate clauses are marked by complementizers or subordinate conjunctions.

An examples of a relative clause is given below. Dhogoli functions as the subject of both the relative clause and the main clause.

Lama

two

lasa

day

eegadh-i

wait-CVB

dhab-ann-oo

loose-PST-CON

dhogol-i

leopard-SNOM.M/ABS

aaree-shini

anger-INS.F

gal-i=k'aa

return-CVB=FOC

akkarraga

evening

isheek-koo

POSS.3SG.F-ADE

mar-ann-oo.

go-PST-CON

'Having lost two days waiting, the leopard returned furiously, and in the evening, he went to her house.'

Notes

^ ^a ^b Burji at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ Angelique Chelo. 2016. A COLLECTION OF 100 BURJI PROVERBS AND WISE SAYINGS. Web Access Archived 2021-10-30 at the Wayback Machine
^ Wedekind, Klaus. 1990. Generating Narratives – Interrelations of Knowledge, Text Variants, and Cushitic Focus Strategies. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

References

Amborn, Hermann; Kellner, Alexander (1999). "Burji vocabulary of cultural items: an insight into Burji culture, based on the field notes of Helmut Straube". Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere. 58: 5-67. S2CID 146595277.
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1982). An Etymological Dictionary of Burji. Kuschitische Sprachstudien 1. Hamburg: Buske. ISBN 3871185612.
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen Sasse; Straube, Helmut (1977). "Kultur und Sprache der Burji". In Moehlig, Wilhelm J. G.; Rottland, Franz; Heine, Bernd (eds.). Süd-Aethiopien: Ein Abriss, Zur Sprachgeschichte und Ethnohistorie in Afrika. Berlin. p. 239–266.
Wedekind, Charlotte (1985). "Burji verb morphology and morphophonemics," The verb morphophonemics of five highland east Cushitic languages, including Burji". Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere. 2. Cologne: Institut für Afrikanistik: 110–145.
Wedekind, Klaus (1980). "Sidamo, Darasa (Gedeo), Burji: phonological differences and likenesses". Journal of Ethiopian Studies. 14: 131–176.

External links

World Atlas of Language Structures information on Burji

[e25-1] Burji at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

[2] Angelique Chelo. 2016. A COLLECTION OF 100 BURJI PROVERBS AND WISE SAYINGS. Web Access Archived 2021-10-30 at the Wayback Machine

[3] Wedekind, Klaus. 1990. Generating Narratives – Interrelations of Knowledge, Text Variants, and Cushitic Focus Strategies. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

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