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Hamer or Hamer-Banna (Hamer: hámar aapó) is a language within the South Omotic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. It is spoken primarily in southern Ethiopia by the Hamar people, Banna people, and by speakers of Karo.

There is a pidginized variety in local use.

Phonology

Consonants

There are 26 consonant phonemes in Hamar language. Hamer has six places of articulation for consonants, and eleven manners of articulation, though the system is not entirely orthogonal.

There are sounds in the Hamar language are special because they represent unique and uncommon phonetic features not found in many languages:

ɓ: A bilabial implosive (geɓí ‘many’)

ɠ: The velar implosive is found in just one word (ɠiá ‘hit’) and is regarded as rare. It appears in several light verb constructions, such as waakí ɠiá meaning "herd the cattle" (literally "hit cow"), and ɲuurí ɠiá meaning "churn the butter" (literally "hit the butter container"), among others.

ɗ: n dental alveolar implosive (ɗánga ‘throat’)

t’: alveolar ejective (déetʼa ‘heavy’)

ɲ: A palato-alveolar nasal (háɲa ‘fat-tailed sheep’)

c’: A palato-alveolar ejective (pacʼ ‘many’)

Sixteen phonemes, including /p/, /b/, /t/, /j/, /k/, /q/, /ɓ/, /cʼ/, /s/, /z/, /sh/, /x/, /m/, /n/, /l/, and /r/, are found in word-final positions. In contrast, /d/, /c/, /g/, /ɗ/, /ɠ/, /tʼ/, and /ɲ/ have not been observed in this position.

/p/ may optionally be realized as in any position, except as /pp/ and /mp/, in which cases it is always realized as . Several phonemes have special intervocalic or prevocalic realizations:

/n/ assimilates to a following velar (i.e., as ).

Consonant length is distinctive non-initially. Long /ɾ/ is realized as a trilled /r/.

Consonant gemination

Over 24 consonant phonemes, 14 have been attested geminated (/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /c/, /k/, /g/, /ɓ/, /ɗ/, /s/, /sh/, /n/, /m/, /l/)

Grammatically, gemination occurs when the feminine and plural suffixes /-no/ and /-na/ are added to nominal roots that end in a sonorant segment (like /n/, /l/, etc.). This process causes the final consonant of the root to become geminated, meaning it is pronounced longer than usual.

Geminated consonants are phonetically longer than regular consonants. Some minimal pairs are provided to illustrate the difference between geminated and non-geminated consonants:

kótte: shirt

kóte: here

ʔóito: female name

ʔóitto: the fourth

Thus, consonant gemination not only affects the length of sounds but can also distinguish word meanings.

Vowels

There are five basic vowels:

The length of vowels is phonemically important in the language, and vowel duration is shown by writing the vowel symbol twice.

The vowels are further subdivided into two main categories (with a third being a surface "umlaut" phenomenon (see below)). Category I vowels are shorter, pharyngealized, and have retracted tongue root. Category II vowels are longer, glottalized, and have advanced tongue root.

Vowel Harmony exists in that every root word and every suffix belongs to either category I or II. When the category of a root and its suffix do not agree, a kind of umlauting takes place. An umlauted vowel retains its basic place of articulation, and is pronounced between the corresponding category I and II vowels, i.e. of medium length, and unmarked for pharyngealization, glottalization or tongue root position. Generally, the vowel(s) of the suffix undergo umlauting, but there is a set of "strong" suffixes which retain their category, and cause the vowels of the root to undergo umlauting.

There is a sixth non-phonemic vowel, /ə/, which appears in speech epenthetically to "break up" otherwise invalid consonant clusters. There is no need to consider this a phoneme, and no definitive reason for it to require a grapheme, as it occurs entirely predictably as part of what is essentially an allophonic process.

Mid-low vowels

Mid-low vowels (like ɛ and ɔ) and mid-high vowels (like e and o) are used in different situations. Mid-high vowels are used in stressed syllables, and if they're followed by the low vowel /a/, they are pronounced as mid-low vowels.

Mid-low vowels come from two processes: vowel combination and a rule for masculine forms of words. Because of this, mid-low vowels play an important role in the language.

In such cases, the quality of the vowel changes due to the suffixes, and this can alter the meaning of the word. These phonological changes occur according to the grammatical structure of the Hamar language.

Diphthongs

There are four closing diphthongs (/ai/, /au/, /ei/, /oi/), and one opening diphthong (/ia/).

Syllable and word structure

Hamar has four possible phonemic syllable types:

CV qu.lí ‘goat’

CVV káa.ra ‘fish’

CVC kár.cʼa ‘cheek’

CVVC déer ‘red’

Syllable structure is simply (C)V(C), though syllable-final consonants are rare. Strings of at least three vowels are documented. Strings of more than two consonants are not documented. There are a large number of (mostly very simple) rules governing metathesis and epenthesis when consonant clusters appear. In summary, there are three sorts of consonant cluster: "valid", "special", and "invalid". Valid clusters undergo no change between their underlying and surface forms. Special clusters undergo some kind of (generally metathetic) transformation in their surface forms. Invalid clusters insert a non-phonemic /ə/ between the two consonants to create their surface forms.

Orthography

There is no official writing system for Hamer, though several romanization schemes have been proposed, along with a Gə'əz orthography. As yet, there is no movement for official recognition of any of these systems.

"Lydall" romanization

This is the romanization used by Jean Lydall. It is perhaps the de facto standard, simply by being the one in which the majority of the existing corpus is presented.

Consonants

Category I vowels

Category II vowels

Umlauted vowels

Vowels which have been umlauted are written using the letter for their original sound, combined with an underline.

No marking of stress occurs.

Gə'əz orthography

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Letters are provided below with their traditional Amharic names. Rows marked in dark red have special meanings that cannot fully be explained in the table: the ʾÄlf row is used for Category II vowels without a preceding consonant, while the ʿÄyn row is used for Category I vowels without a preceding consonant.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns do not have inherent gender or number, but may be inflected masculine, feminine, and plural, all three of which are contrastive (that is, a noun cannot be inflected for both a gender and for plurality). While these inflections are not obligatory, they trigger agreement on adjectives and verbs. The inflection markers are:

The forms beginning with "t" may only be attached directly to the root, and are usually used with animate nouns. The other forms may be attached to the root or to the stem.

For inanimate nouns, marked masculinity is usually diminutive, while marked femininity is augmentative. E.g., a clay pot is dáa. Daatâ (masculine) signifies a small clay pot, while dáano (feminine) is a large clay pot. Cross-linguistically, the use of masculine as diminutive is unusual, as is free gender inflection.

Verbs

Aspect and tense are primarily conveyed through grammatical structures, such as multi-word expressions, repetition of verb stems, auxiliary verbs, and the combination of verb bases with specific markers. Aspect is not indicated in negative forms or in questions asking for specific information, which instead differentiate only between past and non-past. The language uses two aspect markers: the perfective marker -de, which represents a complete event with clear time limits, and the imperfective marker -da, which describes events without defined temporal boundaries.

Imperative: The verb root combines with -á to address a single individual. The verb root combines with -é to address multiple individuals. For example: gi-á! (say, IMP.2SG), gi-é! (say-IMP.2PL).

Adverbs

In the Hamer-Banna language, as with many other languages, adverbs are used to modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs to provide more detailed information about actions, qualities, or other circumstances. Below are examples of locational, temporal, and manner adverbs using different words in the context of the Hamer-Banna language.

temporal adverbs: iní (earlier, before), táaki (now), beré (later)

manner adverbs: sun (just, simply), bish (only)

locational adverbs: óo (there), cóo (down)

Adjectives

Hamar has two categories of adjectives: those derived from nouns (adjectival nouns) and those formed from verbs (de-verbal adjectives). Adjectives in Hamar can serve as either the main element (head) or as a descriptive element (modifier) in a phrase. Most adjectives are noun-like in nature: they typically end in a consonant or the vowels -a, -e, -i, or -o and are marked for masculine, feminine, and plural through noun-like inflection patterns.

Postpositions

Body part terms act as locative noun phrases within a genitive construction, forming postpositional phrases to convey spatial relationships like 'inside,' 'back,' 'behind,' 'on top of,' 'through,' and similar expressions. For example, the postposition íinte ʻinsideʼ contains the body part noun ii ʻstomachʼ followed by the locative case -te, and it can be analysed as follows:

íi (stomach) - n (F.OBL) - te (LOC): in the stomach > inside

Numerals

The Hamar language employs a base-ten numeral system for numbers from one to nineteen and a base-twenty system for numbers greater than nineteen. The concept of 'zero' is represented by the noun gur. The act of counting is described by the verb paidá. Alongside the traditional numeral system, Hamar also uses a quicker system incorporating borrowed numbers from Amharic. Interestingly, there is no native word in Hamar for 'number,' so younger speakers often adopt the Amharic term qutʼər.

Morphosyntax

1. Order of subject, object, verb:

In the Hamar language, based on the example you provided, the typical word order is Subject - Object - Verb (SOV). For example: ínta isín shoosh-idí Translation: "I roast sorghum." ínta = "I" (Subject) isín = "sorghum" (Object) shoosh-idí = "roast" (Verb in perfective aspect)

2. Order of possessor noun-possessed noun:

In Hamar language, the order of possessor noun and possessed noun follows the pattern where the possessor precedes the possessed noun.

For example: dóbo ooní-n-sa yɛ́ɛla-no si-idí-ne

Translation: "Dóbo's house roof is broken."

Breakdown:

dóbo = "Dóbo" (Possessor)

ooní-n-sa = "house" (Possessed noun, with genitive marking)

yɛ́ɛla-no = "roof" (Possessed noun)

si-idí-ne = "is broken" (Verb in perfective aspect with copula)

Thus, in Hamar, the possessor (Dóbo) comes before the possessed noun (house), following a Possessor - Possessed order.

3. Order of demonstrative-noun:

In Hamar language, the order of demonstrative and noun typically follows the pattern where the noun precedes the demonstrative.

For example: ínta bɔrqɔtɔ̂ káa qail-idí-ne

Translation: "I have decorated this headrest."

Breakdown:

ínta = "I" (Subject)

bɔrqɔtɔ̂ = "headrest" (Noun)

káa = "this" (Demonstrative)

qail-idí-ne = "is decorated" (Verb in perfective aspect with copula)

Thus, in Hamar, the noun (headrest) comes before the demonstrative (this), following a Noun - Demonstrative order.

4. Order of numeral-noun:

In Hamar language, the order of numeral and noun follows the pattern where the numeral comes after the noun.

For example:

qulí kála = "one goat" (Literally: "goat one")

gáu toɓɓá = "seven metal bracelets" (Literally: "metal bracelet seven")

Thus, in Hamar, the noun comes before the numeral, following a Noun - Numeral order.

5. Questions Forms:

In Hamar language, word order is altered to form questions. Depending on the type of question (yes-no question or wh-question), the word order can change.

a. Yes-No Questions:

• búno dá-u?
• (Subject - Verb - Object): Translation: "Is there coffee?"
  • búno = "coffee" (Subject)
  • dá-u = "exist" (Verb)
• búno há=sa dá-u?
• (Object - Subject - Verb): Translation: "Do you have coffee?"
  • búno = "coffee" (Object)
  • há=sa = "2SG=GEN" (Possessive marker indicating "your")
  • dá-u = "exist" (Verb)

b. Wh-Questions:

• hamó ki=yiʔ-á?
• (Question - Subject - Verb): Translation: "Where did he go?"
  • hamó = "where" (Wh-word)
  • ki=yiʔ-á = "he went" (Subject and Verb in past tense)
• han=is-óno har?
• (Subject - Verb - What): Translation: "What did you eat?"
  • han = "you" (Subject)
  • is-óno = "ate" (Verb in past tense)
  • har = "what" (Wh-word)

• For yes-no questions, the word order is typically Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), but it can change to Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) when asking about possession.
• For wh-questions, the question word (wh-word) generally comes at the beginning, followed by the subject and verb.

This shows that word order in Hamar is flexible depending on the type of question being asked.

6. Serial verb constructions

Hamar language makes use of serial verb constructions to express actions that happen in a sequence or are related to each other in a single event. These constructions help convey complex actions without the need for additional conjunctions or clauses.

• wongá diibá-ise wóon ki=dees-é Translation: "They steal our cows and kill us." Breakdown:
  • wongá = "cows:PL" (subject)
  • diibá-ise = "steal-CNV1" (first verb, in serial construction)
  • wóon = "our" (possessive marker)
  • ki=dees-é = "3=kill-PRES" (second verb in present tense)

In this case, the verbs "steal" and "kill" are combined in a serial verb construction, where they describe two actions happening in sequence: first stealing the cows, then killing the people.

• guní ɗaaɓá-ise, dongár-ɗan gaʔá-tte dees-idí Translation: "Snake lifted his head, bit and killed Elephant." Breakdown:
  • guní = "snake" (subject)
  • ɗaaɓá-ise = "stand up-CNV1" (first verb, in serial construction)
  • dongár-ɗan = "elephant-ACC" (object)
  • gaʔá-tte = "bite-SE" (second verb, serial construction)
  • dees-idí = "kill-PF" (third verb, perfective aspect)

Here, the sequence of verbs "stand up", "bite", and "kill" form a serial verb construction that describes the continuous actions of the snake in relation to the elephant.

7. Relative clauses:

In Hamar language, relative clauses are formed by nominalizing verbs, which means turning the verb into a noun form, and then attaching it to the noun it modifies (the head noun). This is done by adding specific nominal markers to the verb root. The nominal markers used for nominalizing verbs are the same as the regular nominal inflections

Notes

1. Hamer-Banna at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) [REDACTED]
2. Petrollino (2016), pp. 2–4, Language variation and patterns of language use.
3. Petrollino (2016), p. 11
4. Petrollino (2016), p. 10–22
5. Petrollino (2016), p. 72–73
6. Petrollino (2016), p. 78
7. Petrollino (2016), p. 210.
8. Petrollino (2016), p. 113–126.
9. Petrollino (2016), p. 120-121.
10. Petrollino (2016), p. 128.

References

• Lydall, Jean (1976): "Hamer" in: Bender, M. Lionel (ed.): The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. East Lansing: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. pp. 393–438.
• Lydall, Jean (1988): Gender, Number and Size in Hamar. in: Bechhaus-Gerst, Marianne and Fritz Serzisko (eds.): Cushitic-Omotic: Papers from the International Symposium on Cushitic and Omotic Languages, Cologne, January 6–7, 1986. Hamburg. pp 77–90.
• Lydall, Jean (2005): Hamär dialect cluster. in: Uhlig, Siegbert (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Vol. 2. Wiesbaden. pp 981–982.
• Petrollino, Sara (2016). A grammar of Hamar: a South Omotic Language of Ethiopia (Doctoral thesis). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. hdl:1887/44090.

External links

• World Atlas of Language Structures information on Hamer
• Rosetta Project: Hamer-Banna Swadesh List

• Languages of Ethiopia
• Aroid languages