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Koorete (also Amaarro, Amarro, Badittu, Koore, Koyra, Kwera, Nuna) is the language spoken by the Koore people of southern Ethiopia.

Language definition:

Koorete is an omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic linguistics. The omotic language family consists of around 25 to 30 languages or dialects, it is mostly divided into Eastern omotic and western omotic.

The Koorete belongs to the western omotic languages.

The western Omotic languages are divided into two branches, the Kafa-Gimojan languages and Maji languages.

The people of Koorete language:

Koore is the name of the people who are the native speakers of the Koorete Language. A member of the ethnic group is koore and by adding the suffix -te to the ethnic name we get the language name Koorete.

The Koorete Speakers are also known as Koyra,Badittu,Amarro and Nuna.

Most of the Koore people reside in the Amaaro mountains east of Lake Abbaya,Ethiopia. Koorete is also spoken on Gidicho Island in Lake Abbaya.

Most of the Koorete people are Christianity followers although there are some groups of traditional animist religion followers, they are in danger of extinction due to the spread of Christianity.

Koorete Language Alphabet

Noun pluralization

The plural marker in the koorete language is -ita and because it starts with a vowel, all the nouns whether they end with a vowel or a consonant. The nouns will drop their final vowel and add the suffix -ita.

Pluralization of animate nouns:

There is another plural morpheme that is used for animate nouns which is -atse

Examples

The use of the plural suffix -atse is highly not acceptable with non-animate nouns.

Personal Pronouns in Koorete

Examples:

1)  Tan-i  garma good-d-o

I     chased  a lion

2)  Garma-I    taa(tamba) good-d-o

A lion         chased      me

Interrogative pronouns

1)oon-I  = who

2)oon-a = who

3)oone-se = to whom/whose

4)aba = what

5)am = what

6)aya = where

7)aya-pa = from where

8)aide = when

9)waidi = how

10)waara = how (in greetings)

11)aasawa = which

12)abasuw = why

13)aba    bisha = what type

14)aba     genno=how much

15)aba      allo = how many

Examples:

1)Oon-I   maatse   ush-sh-a

    who       milk          drink

     who drank milk?

2)waidi-(wa)     I      han-g-e

  How               3 fs    go

   How does she go?

Notes

1. Ethiopia 2007 Census Archived November 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
2. Mendisu, Binyam Sisay (2010). Aspects of Koorete Verb Morphology. KÖLN: RÜDIGER KÖPPE VERLAG.KÖLN. pp. 1–6. ISBN 978-3-89645-486-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
3. Theil, rolf. "Koorete Tonology". https://www.academia.edu/338465/Koorete_Tonology: 1 – via https://www.academia.edu/338465/Koorete_Tonology. {{cite journal}}: External link in |journal= and |via= (help)
4. Mendisu, Binyam Sisay (2010). Aspects of Koorete verb Morphology. Germany: Rüdiger köppe verlag. p. 11. ISBN 978-3-89645-486-7.

Bibliography

• Hayward, Richard. 1982. Notes on the Koyra Language. Afrika und Übersee 65: pp. 211–268.
• Mendisu, Binyam Sisay. 2010. Aspects of Koorete Verb Morphology. Köppe: Cologne.
• Theil, Rolf. 2011. Koorete segmental phonology. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 32: pp. 275–306.
• Theil. Rolf. 2013. Koorete tonology. Pp. 167–174 in: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Cushitic and Omotic Languages, Paris, 16–18 April 2008. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.

External links

• World Atlas of Language Structures information on Koorete
• Website maintained by the language community, includes published literature in the Koore language

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