Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T11:53:27.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A grammatical sketch of Khamtanga—II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Abstract

The simplest, irreducible part of the verb is the root, which carries the lexical information, and to which are suffixed markers of person, tense, mood, etc. Most verb roots end in a consonant, the commonest shapes being CVC- and CVCC-, but also VC- and VCC-: qal- ‘see’, wäš- ‘hear’, arq- ‘know’, abz- ‘finish’, mars'- ‘choose’, ward- ‘play’, aq- ‘be’, is'- ‘curse’, and so on. Dissyllabic roots are extremely rare in the material and almost all appear to be loans from Ethiopian Semitic: wływär- ‘throw’, färaq- ‘be wide’, mikwir- ‘try’, addin- ‘hunt’, tinfis- ‘breathe’; dissyllabic Agaw roots are is'aq- ‘send’, iqa- (also shortened to qa-)‘wash’. In addition there is a comparatively small number of roots with the shape CV-: xwa/t- ‘eat’, fi- ‘go out’, gwi- ‘get up, rise’, bi- ‘lack’, yi- ‘say’, and so on.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

D'Abbadie, A.. 1841. ‘Lettre de M. D'Abbadie à M.J. Mohl sur la langueḥamtöñga’, Journal Asiatique, 1841, 388–96.Google Scholar
D'Abbadie, A. 1872.‘Notices sur les langues de Kam’, Actes de la Sociétī Philologique, I, Paris, 6771.Google Scholar
Appleyard, D. L., 1975. ‘A descriptive outline of Kemant’, BSOAS, XXXVIII, 2: 316–50.Google Scholar
Appleyard, D. L.The morphology of the negative verb in Agaw’, Transactions of the Philological Society, 1984, 202–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appleyard, D. L. 1986. The radical extension system of the verb in Agaw’, in Gideon, Goldenberg (ed.) Ethiopian Studies: Proceedings of the sixth international conference, Tel-Aviv, 14–17 April 1980, Rotterdam: A. A. Balkema: 1–23.Google Scholar
Appleyard, D. L. 1986. ‘The radical extension system of the verb in Agaw’, inGoldenberg, Gideon(ed.)Ethiopian Studies: Proceedings of the sixth international conference, Tel-Aviv, 14–17 April 1980, Rotterdam: A. A. Balkema: 123Google Scholar
Bake, C. T. 1845. ‘On the languages and dialects of Abysinia and the countries to the SouthProceedings of the philological society, 2: 89107 (no. 33).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, M. L. 1971. ‘The languages of Ethiopia’. Anthropological Linguistics, 13: 165288.Google Scholar
Conti, Rossine C. 1904. ‘Appunti sulla lingua khamta dell' Averghellé’, Giornale della Societá Asiatica Italiana 18: 183242.Google Scholar
Conti, Rossini C. 1907. ‘Racconti e canti bileni’, Actes du XIV' Congrés International des Orientalistes, Alger 1905, Paris: Leroux, 1907, Part II, 331–94.Google Scholar
Coeley, R. W.et al. 1971. ‘The Kunfäl people and their language’, Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 9, 99106.Google Scholar
Hetzron, R. 1969. The verbal system of Southern Agaw. (University of California Publication: Near Eastern Studies, 12) Berkeley and Loa Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hetzron, R. 1978. ‘The nominal system of Awngi (Southern Agaw)’, BSOAS, XLI, 1: 121–41.Google Scholar
Kase, Kälkay 1972 E.C. (1979/80) ‘Morphological structure of nouns and nominals in Wag Säqota Agaw’, (in Amharic), unpublished B.A. thesis, Addis Ababa University.Google Scholar
Palmer, F. R. 1957. ‘The verb in Bilin’, BSOAS, 19, 1: 131–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, F. R. 1958. ‘The noun in Bilin’, BSOAS, 21, 2: 376–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, F. R. 1960. ‘An outline of Bilin phonology’, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi etiopici, Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 109–16.Google Scholar
Palmer, F. R. 1965. ‘Bilin “to be” and “to have”’, African Language Studies, 6, 101–11.Google Scholar
Palmer, F. R. 1966. ‘(Word classes in)Bilin’, Lingua, 17: 200–9.Google Scholar
Plazikowsky-Brauner, H. 1957. ‘Die Hilfselemente der Konjugation in den kuschitischen Sprachen’, ZDMG, 107: 730.Google Scholar
Reinisch, L. 1884. Die Chamirsprache in Abessinien. (Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Phil.-hist. Classe, 105, Bd., 2. Ht.; 106. Bd., 1. Ht.) 2 pts. When: in Commission bei Carl Gerold's Sohn.Google Scholar
Salt, H. 1814. A voyage to Abyssinia and travels into the interior of that country⃛, London: Rivington.Google Scholar
Sasse, H. J. 1973. ‘Bemerkungen zum Language Survey of Ethiopia’, ZDMG, 123: 117–28.Google Scholar
Simoons, F. J. 1960. Northwest Ethiopia, peoples and economy, Madison: University of Wisconsin press.Google Scholar
Tubiana, J. 1957. ‘Note sur la distribution géographique des dialectes agaw’, Cahiers de I'Afrique et de I'Asie, 5 (Mer Rouge, Afrique Orientale), 297306.Google Scholar
Zaborski, A. 1976. ‘Consonant apophony and consonant alternation in Bilin plurals’, Afroasiatic Linguistics, 3, 6: 121–32.Google Scholar