Girma A Demeke

The JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES, HISTORY AND CULTURE, also known as the JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES (JAAL), is published by the Institute of Semitic Studies. JAAL brings forward contributions of history, culture, and linguistics of all types—historical, comparative, theoretical, descriptive, and others that deal with Afroasiatic languages and their speakers. JAAL welcomes book reviews in any area of linguistics and Afroasiatic studies, reactions to articles in JAAL or relevant issues raised anywhere, and addenda to articles. JAAL intends to provide a forum for debates on specific topics and invites suggestions.

For the latest articles, please visit: https://jaalhc.org/uncategorized/current-issue/

The JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES, HISTORY AND CULTURE, also known as the  JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES (JAAL), is published by the Institute of Semitic Studies. JAAL brings forward contributions of history, culture, and linguistics of all types—historical, comparative, theoretical, descriptive, and others that deal with Afroasiatic languages and their speakers. JAAL welcomes book reviews in any area of linguistics and Afroasiatic studies, reactions to articles in JAAL or relevant issues raised anywhere, and addenda to articles. JAAL intends to provide a forum for debates on specific topics and invites suggestions.

Journal of Afroasiatic Languages/Journal of Afroasiatic Languages, History and Culture (JAAL) Volume 12, Number 2, 2023


ARTICLES
ON THE LOCATION OF RETENU LAND FEATURED IN OLD EGYPTIAN RECORDS
Imad M. AlAtiqi

ISLAM STATE AND SOCIETY IN ETHIOPIA: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Ebrahim Damtew

ኣጭር ሐተታ ስለ ግዕዝ ቁጥር አመጣጥ
Yohannes Gebresellassie

The JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES, HISTORY AND CULTURE, also known
as the  JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES (JAAL), is published by the Institute
of Semitic Studies. JAAL brings forward contributions of history, culture, and linguistics of all types—historical, comparative, theoretical, descriptive, and others that deal with Afroasiatic languages and their speakers. JAAL welcomes book reviews in any area of linguistics and Afroasiatic studies, reactions to articles in JAAL or relevant issues raised anywhere, and addenda to articles. JAAL intends to provide a forum for debates on specific topics and invites suggestions.

The JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES, HISTORY AND CULTURE, also known as the JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES (JAAL), is published by the Institute Institute of Semitic Studies. JAAL brings forward contributions of history, culture and linguistics of all typeshistorical, comparative, theoretical, descriptive, and others-that deal with Afroasiatic languages and their speakers. JAAL welcomes book reviews in any area of linguistics and Afroasiatic studies, reactions to articles in JAAL or to relevant issues raised anywhere, and addenda to articles. JAAL intends to provide a forum for debates on specific issues, and invites suggestions.

Institute of Semitic Studies. JAAL brings forward contributions of history, culture and linguistics of all typeshistorical, comparative, theoretical, descriptive, and others-that deal with Afroasiatic languages and their speakers. JAAL welcomes book reviews in any area of linguistics and Afroasiatic studies, reactions to articles in JAAL or to relevant issues raised anywhere, and addenda to articles. JAAL intends to provide a forum for debates on specific issues, and invites suggestions.

Diese Lesematerialien sind für Deutsch-Muttersprachler konzipiert worden, die Amharisch lernen wollen. Die vorliegenden Geschichten wurden von Studenten aus verschiedenen Landesteilen Äthiopiens zusammengetragen und zeichnen sich besonders durch ihre literarische Gestaltung aus

The major aim of this work is to give an overview of present tense copula constructions in selected Semitic and Cushitic languages spoken in Ethiopia. In particular, we deal with languages spoken in the central parts of the country, namely Gurage languages of different genetic affiliations, Wellegga Oromo and K’abeena. In addition we discuss data from Ge’ez, Tigre, Tigrinya, Argobba, Amharic and Harari

In this paper we have described non-concatenative finite-state morphotactics of Amharic simple verbs. A morphological analyzer (transducer) that analyses simple Amharic verbal stems into their roots and feature tags is developed. The transducer also functions as a morphological synthesizer. It has an interface that works for Amharic text written in Unicode encoded Fidel script. We used Xerox Finite-State Tool (XFST) and Lexicon Compiler (LEXC) to construct the finite-state lexical transducer. 1.

Many scholars such as Hudson (2000b, 2000c) have addressed the issues, but to the best of my knowledge, there has been no complete work of classification that has integrated recent findings to-date. In this paper, attempt will be made to consider such findings, assumptions about the origin of Proto-Semitic and Proto-Afroasiatic, discussions on the internal relationship of some of the Gurage languages in particular and South Ethio-Semitic in general such as that of Leslau (1996), and my own primary data from native speakers of various Gurage languages. On the bases of these considerations, I will propose a classification for Ethio-Semitic and also show the general position of this language group with respect to other language groups of Semitic

I am glad to share with you the latest issue of JAAL, Vol. 10, No. 2021. This issue has six papers and published a month ahead of its publication date. I believe in academic freedom and freedom of sharing scholarly works. You can download and share with your students, colleagues or anyone.

In this paper we have described nonconcatenative finitestate morphotactics of Amharic simple verbs. A morphological analyzer (transducer) that analyses simple Amharic verbal stems into their roots and feature tags is developed. The transducer also functions as a morphological synthesizer. It has an interface that works for Amharic text written in Unicode encoded Fidel script. We used Xerox FiniteState Tool (XFST)

In this paper we have described nonconcatenative finitestate morphotactics of Amharic simple verbs. A morphological analyzer (transducer) that analyses simple Amharic verbal stems into their roots and feature tags is developed. The transducer also functions as a morphological synthesizer. It has an interface that works for Amharic text written in Unicode encoded Fidel script. We used Xerox FiniteState Tool (XFST)

In this special issue of the Journal of Afroasiatic Languages, History and Culture, we are publishing Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes’ in-depth critique of Belcher and Kleiner’s Life and Struggles of Walatta Petros. Belcher and Kleiner’s work is a translation of the 17th century Ge’ez hagiography of Ethiopian Saint Wälättä Petros. Unfortunately, Belcher and Kleiner’s work is full of misinterpretations and distortions that have sought to rewrite African spiritual history in a degrading lens that draws on racial stereotypes.

THE JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES, HISTORY AND CULTURE, formerly known as THE JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES (JAAL), is published by the Institute of Semitic Studies. JAAL brings forward contributions of history, culture and linguistics of all types—historical, comparative, theoretical, descriptive, and others—that deal with Afroasiatic languages and their speakers. JAAL welcomes book reviews in any area of linguistics and Afroasiatic studies, reactions to articles in JAAL or to relevant issues raised anywhere, and addenda to articles. JAAL intends to provide a forum for debates on specific issues, and invites suggestions.

This issue contains four papers, a book review and a commentary.  JAAL strongly believes in open access of academic works.

THE JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES, HISTORY AND CULTURE, formerly known as THE JOURNAL OF AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES (JAAL), is published by the Institute of Semitic Studies. JAAL brings forward contributions of history, culture and linguistics of all types—historical, comparative, theoretical, descriptive, and others—that deal with Afroasiatic languages and their speakers. JAAL welcomes book reviews in any area of linguistics and Afroasiatic studies, reactions to articles in JAAL or to relevant issues raised anywhere, and addenda to articles. JAAL intends to provide a forum for debates on specific issues, and invites suggestions.

በዚህ ስራ በተወሰኑ ኢትዮ-ሴማዊና ኩሻዊ ቋንቋዎች የወራት ስያሜዎች ተቃኝተዋል። የግዕዙ የወራት ስሞች በብዙው ያገራችን ቋንቋዎች ተሰራጭተው ይገኛሉ። ይሁን እንጂ ከነዚህ የወራት ስሞች ውስጥ የአብዛኞቹን መነሻ ስርወቃል ከመላምት በዘለለ በእርግጠኝነት አፍ ሞልቶ መናገር አይቻልም።
በደጋማው ምስራቅ ኩሸቲክ ቋንቋዎች መሀከል በርካታ የወራት ስም መመሳሰል አለ። ከዚህ ንዑስ የቋንቋ ቤተሰብ ስር ከሚመደቡት በዚህ ስራ በጥልቀት የተመለከትናቸው የጌዲኦኛና የሲዳምኛ የወራት ስያሜዎችን ነው። ከ12 የወራት ስሞች ውስጥ አስሩ በጌዲኦኛና በሲዳምኛ ተመሳሳይ ናቸው። የነዚህ የወራት ስሞች መመሳሰል በቆላማው ምስራቅ ኩሸቲክ ውስጥ ከሚመደቡት ከተወሰኑት በተለይ ከኦሮምኛ ጋርም ነው። የሲዳምኛና ጌዲኦኛ የወራት ስሞች ከኦሮምኛው ጋር ትንሽ የማይባል መመሳሰል ያሳያሉ። ለምሳሌ፣ የጌዲኦኛ ወራት ከመደበኛው የኦሮምኛ ዘዬ ውስጥ ካሉት ስምንቱ፣ ከቦረና ኦሮምኛ ጋር ደግሞ ሰባቱ ተመሳሳይ ናቸው። ይህ መመሳሰል ከቋንቋዎቹ ሰዋስው አንፃር፣ መጠነኛ የስነድምፅ ለውጥ በተወሰኑት ውስጥ መኖሩ እንደተጠበቀ ሆኖ ማለት ነው።

በዚህ ስራ የሀበሻን ጥንተ አመጣጥና ምንነት መርምረናል። ስለሀበሻ ከሚነገሩት ውስጥ አንደኛው (ቃሉ) ከአረብኛ የተገኘ ነው ሲሆን፣ ሁለተኛው (እና በስፋት የሚታመነው) ደግሞ ከደቡብ አረቢያ ሐበሸት ከሚባሉ ሴማዊ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪዎች የመጣ ነው የሚል ነው። ለኋለኛው አስተሳሰብ ጠለቅ ያለ ትንታኔ በመስጠት መሰረቱን የጣሉት ኮንቲ ሮሲኒ (1906 & 1928) ናቸው። እነኮንቲ ሮሲኒ በወቅቱ የሀበሻን ምንጭ በደቡብ አረቢያው የተገኘው ሐበሸተ ነው ሲሉ የነበራቸው መረጃ ግን አናሳ ነበር። ከነኮንቲ ሮሲኒ በኋላ በርካታ የድንጋይ ላይ ፅሁፎች በመገኘታቸው፣ ስለሀበሻ አመጣጥ የተሻለ ግንዛቤ ማግኘት ተችሏል። ኤርቪን (1965) እነዚህ አዳዲስ መረጃዎችን በመገምገም በደቡብ አረቢያ የድንጋይ ላይ ፅሁፎች የሚገኙት ሐበሸተ (ሐበሸት) እና አሐበሸነ (አሕቡሻን) ኢትዮጵያ እና ኢትዮጵያውያኖችን ብቻ ለማመልከት መዋላቸውን አሳይቷል። በጥንታዊ ግብፅ እና በሀገራችን ያለው አጠቃቀም ቃሉ ወይም በዚህ ቃል እራሱን የሚገልፅ ህዝብ ጥንት እዚሁ ምስራቅ አፍሪካ የነበረ መሆኑን ያሳያል። ሀበሻ ከደቡብ አረቢያ ከነበረም ሆነ ከሌላ አንድ ነገድ ጋር በተለየ የሚያይዘው ነገር የለም።

የቀናት ስሞች መሰረታዊ ቃላት ውስጥ የሚመደቡ አይደሉም። ባህላዊ ቃላት ናቸው። ህብረተሰብ ከህብረተሰብ በሚያደርገው ግንኙነት፣ በእምነት መቀያየር እና በመሳሰሉት ምክንያቶች ብዙውን ግዜ ነባር የቀናት ስያሜዎች በአዳዲስ ሊተኩ ይችላሉ። በዚህ ስራ በተመረጡ የኢትዮጵያ ኩሻዊ እና ሴማዊ ቋንቋዎች የቀናት ስያሜዎችን ቃኝተናል። ስያሜዎቹ ባብዛኛው የአብርሀም ሀይማኖቶችን መሰረት በማድረግ በቁጥር የተደራጁ ናቸው። የተወሰኑት ደግሞ ከቅዱሳን ሰዎች እና ከገበያ ቦታዎች የተወሰዱ ሆነው እናገኛቸዋለን። አንዳንዶቹ ደግሞ ጥንታዊ ስያሜዎችን ይዘው የቆዩ ናቸው። በነዚህ አሰያየሞች መሀከል ውሰት ከፍተኛውን ቦታ ይይዛል። ውሰቱ እርስ በርስ ብቻ ሳይሆን በተለይ በእስልምና ተከታዩ ዘንድ ከአረብኛም ሆኖ እናገኛለን። ለምሳሌ ሱማልኛና ሀረሪን ብንወስድ ሙሉ በሙሉ ማለት ይቻላል የቀናት ስያሜዎቹ ከአረብኛ የተወረሱ ናቸው።
የዳሰስናቸው ቋንቋዎች ሁሉም በሳምንት ሰባት ቀን ላይ የተመሰረተ የቀናት ስያሜዎች ቢኖራቸውም፣ ባህላዊ አቆጣጠራቸውን እስካሁን ጎን ለጎን ያቆዩ ቋንቋዎች ወራዊ የቀናት ስያሜም ይዘው አጋጥመውናል። ኦሮምኛ እና ሲዳምኛ ከሳምንታዊ የቀናት ስያሜዎች በተጨማሪ፣ በባህላዊ አቆጣጠር የወራዊ የቀን ስያሜም አላቸው። ኦሮምኛ በወራት ለ27 ቀናት ስያሜ ሲኖረው፣ ሲዳምኛ ደግሞ ለ28 ቀን አለው። በሁለቱ ያሉት የቀናት ስያሜዎች ሶስት እጅ ያህሉ ዝርያቃል ናቸው።

The paper examines the information structure of Amharic sentences with regard to topicalization. The morphemes -mma, -ss, and -mm in Amharic have been ascribed a function as topic markers (cf. Blejer 1986, Gasser 1983, Hetzron 1973, Kapeliuk 1978, Leslau ...

ይህ መፅሀፍ ከዚህ በፊት ቋንቋ እና ነገድ በኢትዮጵያ፡ የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ማንነት እና ቅድመታሪክ በሚል የታተመው ተከታይ ቅፅ ነው። በእዚህ መፅሀፍ፣ ማ. ቅፅ ሁለት፣ የተዳሰሱት የኦሞአዊ፣ የአባይሰሀራዊ እና ምድብ ያልለየላቸው እና/ወይም ንጥል/ብቸኛ በኢትዮጵያ እና በኤርትራ የሚነገሩ ቋንቋዎች እና ከዚሁ ጋር በተያያዥነት የእነዚህ ተናጋሪዎች ናቸው። መፅሀፉ በእነዚህ ቋንቋዎች እና ተናጋሪዎቻቸው ላይ መሰረታዊ መረጃ ይሰጣል።

ኦሞአዊ በአፍሮኤሽያዊ ስር ከሚገኙት ቤተሰቦች ሁሉ አነስተኛ የጋራ ባህርያት የሚያሳይ ነው። ይህ ባህርይው በሁለት መንገድ ሲተረጎም ይስተዋላል። አንደኛው፣ ኦሞአዊ ከልዕለ-አፍሮኤስያዊ ቀድሞ የተገነጠለ ነው የሚል ሲሆን፣ ሁለተኛው ጨርሶውንም የአፍሮኤሽያዊ አባል ተደርጎ መወሰድ አይገባም የሚል ነው። ኦሞአዊ ምንም እንኳ የሚያንፀባርቀው የአፍሮኤሽያዊ ባህርያት አናሳ ቢሆኑም፣ የአፍሮኤሽያዊ ወገን መሆኑን የሚያሳዩ የስነምዕላድ እና የቃላት አስረጅዎች አሉ።

አባይሰሀራዊ እንደአንድ የቋንቋ ዘር ቡድን መውሰዱ ላይ አጥጋቢ መረጃ የለም። ይህ አባባል በኢትዮጵያ የሚገኙትንም የሚመለከት ነው። ለምሳሌ፣ በአባያዊ እና በሱርማዊ ቡድኖችም ሆነ በሌሎቹ፣ ኩናማ፣ ናራ (ኤርትራ)፣ ጉምዝ መሀከል ያለው ግንኙነት የዘር ነው ለማለት የሚያስደፍር አይደለም። ሆኖም በእያንዳንዳቸው ላይ ሰፋ ያለ ጥናት ተደርጎ ወደፊት የተሻለ መረጃ እስከሚገኝ ድረስ፣ በእዚህ መፅሀፍ የተዳሰሱት በአባይሰሀራዊ ስር ተካተው ነው።

በእዚህ መፅሀፍ ምድብ ያልለየላቸው እና/ወይም ንጥል/ብቸኛ ቋንቋዎች ስር የተዳሰሱት ጫቡ/ሻቡ፣ ዖንጎታ፣ እና የኢትዮጵያ የምልክት ቋንቋ ናቸው። ጫቡ እና ዖንጎታ ከአፍሮኤሽያዊም ሆነ ከአባይሰሀራዊ ቋንቋዎች ያልሆኑ ባህርያት አሏቸው። ሆኖም በእዚህ ስራ የመጀመሪያው ንጥል/ብቸኛ፣ ሁለተኛው ደግሞ ምድቡ ያልለየ በሚል ቀርበዋል።

ይህ መፅሀፍ ከዚህ በፊት ቋንቋ እና ነገድ በኢትዮጵያ፡ የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ማንነት እና ቅድመታሪክ በሚል የታተመው ተከታይ ቅፅ ነው። በእዚህ መፅሀፍ፣ ማ. ቅፅ ሁለት፣ የተዳሰሱት የኦሞአዊ፣ የአባይሰሀራዊ እና ምድብ ያልለየላቸው እና/ወይም ንጥል/ብቸኛ በኢትዮጵያ እና በኤርትራ የሚነገሩ ቋንቋዎች እና ከዚሁ ጋር በተያያዥነት የእነዚህ ተናጋሪዎች ናቸው። መፅሀፉ በእነዚህ ቋንቋዎች እና ተናጋሪዎቻቸው ላይ መሰረታዊ መረጃ ይሰጣል።

ኦሞአዊ በአፍሮኤሽያዊ ስር ከሚገኙት ቤተሰቦች ሁሉ አነስተኛ የጋራ ባህርያት የሚያሳይ ነው። ይህ ባህርይው በሁለት መንገድ ሲተረጎም ይስተዋላል። አንደኛው፣ ኦሞአዊ ከልዕለ-አፍሮኤስያዊ ቀድሞ የተገነጠለ ነው የሚል ሲሆን፣ ሁለተኛው ጨርሶውንም የአፍሮኤሽያዊ አባል ተደርጎ መወሰድ አይገባም የሚል ነው። ኦሞአዊ ምንም እንኳ የሚያንፀባርቀው የአፍሮኤሽያዊ ባህርያት አናሳ ቢሆኑም፣ የአፍሮኤሽያዊ ወገን መሆኑን የሚያሳዩ የስነምዕላድ እና የቃላት አስረጅዎች አሉ።

አባይሰሀራዊ እንደአንድ የቋንቋ ዘር ቡድን መውሰዱ ላይ አጥጋቢ መረጃ የለም። ይህ አባባል በኢትዮጵያ የሚገኙትንም የሚመለከት ነው። ለምሳሌ፣ በአባያዊ እና በሱርማዊ ቡድኖችም ሆነ በሌሎቹ፣ ኩናማ፣ ናራ (ኤርትራ)፣ ጉምዝ መሀከል ያለው ግንኙነት የዘር ነው ለማለት የሚያስደፍር አይደለም። ሆኖም በእያንዳንዳቸው ላይ ሰፋ ያለ ጥናት ተደርጎ ወደፊት የተሻለ መረጃ
እስከሚገኝ ድረስ፣ በእዚህ መፅሀፍ የተዳሰሱት በአባይሰሀራዊ ስር ተካተው ነው።

በእዚህ መፅሀፍ ምድብ ያልለየላቸው እና/ወይም ንጥል/ብቸኛ ቋንቋዎች ስር የተዳሰሱት ጫቡ/ሻቡ፣ ዖንጎታ፣ እና የኢትዮጵያ የምልክት ቋንቋ ናቸው። ጫቡ እና ዖንጎታ ከአፍሮኤሽያዊም ሆነ ከአባይሰሀራዊ ቋንቋዎች ያልሆኑ ባህርያት አሏቸው። ሆኖም በእዚህ ስራ የመጀመሪያው ንጥል/ብቸኛ፣ ሁለተኛው ደግሞ ምድቡ ያልለየ በሚል ቀርበዋል።

ይህ መፅሀፍ ስለኢትዮጵያ ቋንቋዎችና ቤተሰቦቻቸው የታሪካዊ ስነልሳን ጥናት መውሰድ እስከሚችለው የግዜ ገደብ ድረስ በመጓዝ መሰረታዊ መረጃ ያቀርባል። ቋንቋና ተናጋሪው የሚለያይ አይደለምና፣ ከቋንቋዎቹ አንፃር በመነሳት የኢትዮጵያን ህዝብ ማንነትና ቅድመታሪክ ይዳስሳል። የኢትዮጵያ ቋንቋዎችና ተናጋሪዎቻቸው ማንነትን እንዲሁም ቅድመታሪካቸው ላይ በዘመናችን ያሉ ጥናቶች የደረሱበትንና አዳዲስ መረጃዎችን በመያዝ መመርመሩ በቀደምት ስራዎች በስፋት ስለቀረበው ስለቋንቋዎቹም ሆነ ስለህዝቦቹ የትመጣ ወቅታዊ ግንዛቤ እንዲኖረን ያስችላል።
የኢትዮጵያ ቋንቋዎች ከተወሰኑ ብቸኛ ቋንቋዎች በስተቀር አፍሮኤሽያቲክና ናይሎሰሀራን ከሚባሉ ታላቅ ቤተሰቦች ይመደባሉ። ከተወሰኑ የናይሎሰሀራን ቋንቋዎች በስተቀር ሌሎቹ ለረጅም ግዜ በኢትዮጵያ የነበሩ ናቸው። መፅሀፉ የአፍሮኤሽያቲክ ቋንቋዎች ከኤሽያ በተለያየ ወቅት ወደኢትዮጵያ ገቡ የሚለውን መላምት በስፋት መርምሮ ይህ ስለመሆኑ አሁን ያለው መረጃ ማረጋገጫ እንደሌለው ያሳያል። ከዚህም በላይ በህብረተሰብ መሀከል ስላለ ውህደትና ልዩነት በስፋት ይዘረዝራል።

በዚህ መፅሀፍ የኢትዮጵያ ዘመን አቆጣጠር እንዲሁም የቀናትና የወራት ስያሜዎች ተቃኝተዋል። በእነዚህ ነጥቦች ዙርያ፣ የተሻላ ግንዛቤና አጥጋቢ መልስ ለማግኘት የቅርብ ምስራቅ ሀገራትና የግብፅ የዘመን አቆጣጠሮችና የቀናትና የወራት ስያሜዎችም በንፅፅር ቀርበዋል። ኢትዮጵያ ከነዚህ ሀገራት ጋር ከረጅም ግዜ ጀምሮ ግንኙነት ነበራት። በዘመን አቆጣጠር ረገድ የማይታለፉት የአውሮፓዎቹ የጁሊያን አቆጣጠር እና የግሪጎሪያን አቆጣጠርም ተዳሰዋል።
This Amharic book discusses the Ethiopian civil calendar in relation to world major calendars and the calendars of ancient civilations in their hstorical context. It considers a wide varity of issues including the sociocultural situations and socioeconomic factors of the society that created them. The book also examines names of days and months in Ethiopian languages from the perspective of historical linguistics.

Argobba belongs to the South Ethio-Semitic language group and is considered to be in critical endangerment. It has at least four speech varieties which are grouped in this book as North Argobba (NA) and South Argobba (SA). This book is a comparative analysis of the grammar and lexicon of the two groups of Argobba considering one speech variety from each. For a better understanding, data from Amharic, the closest relative of Argobba, is considered and compared against the two groups throughout the book.
An examination of the grammar and lexicon of NA and SA shows differences which go beyond dialect. NA has pharyngeal sounds which do not exist in SA. Whereas SA has the voiced palatal fricative ž, NA does not. The difference that we see between NA and SA on subject agreement markers is not less than the difference that any one of these two has to Amharic. SA and Amharic have identical definite markers, which are developed from the third person singular possessive agreement elements. NA has different definite markers in most constructions. SA and NA have more cognates than either of them has with Amharic in shorter wordlists. In the 1000-item list, SA and Amharic are the closest sharing more cognates that NA and SA have in common.
Considering the grammatical and lexical differences between NA and SA and the complex typological relation that they have to Amharic, this work argues that NA and SA are independent languages and should be treated accordingly. This is in conformity to the native speakers’ claim that they do not understand each other’s variety.

""Non-Semitic features are visible in every aspect of the grammar and lexicon of Ethio-Semitic languages (ES). Some scholars attribute this to pidginazation, a hypothesis which posits that ES originated from a Cushitic substratum and a Semitic suprastratum. The latter is assumed to have been brought by a Semitic group (or a wave of groups) who migrated from South Arabia into Ethiopia around 500 BCE. However, since the Ethio-Semitic group contains the most diversified languages of the Semitic family and has preserved core Semitic features, a counter-proposal which considers ES to be an autochthonous group has become standard these days. The short period of Amharic history does not prove the hypothesis that ES originated from a mixture of Semitic and Cushitic. Most of the non-Semitic features that contemporary Amharic exhibits are recent innovations.
    Current Amharic lacks pharyngeal sounds as do the other South Ethio-Semitic languages with the exception of Shonke-Tollaha Argobba. The glottal sounds have also limited distribution in modern Amharic (MA). Old Amharic (OA) has these typical Semitic sounds. Current Amharic seems to be developing postpositions and is characterized by circumpositions. In OA the postpositional elements as relational items did not exist. Neither did circumpositions exist. OA is characterized by a mixed word order. A transitive clause in MA has unmarked SOV order. Relative clauses and adjectives must also follow their head noun. OA was not rigid in this regard. Although structures like those in modern Amharic are attested, we find a VSO order in OA. Relative clauses and adjectives may also follow the noun that they modify.
    Because Amharic has been serving as a language of administration for over a millennium, it has developed unique polite forms for second and third persons. These polite forms underwent a number of fascinating changes throughout history. Except for third person, Amharic has preserved the Semitic personal pronouns. This book describes the historical grammar of Amharic which furthers our understanding of the changes that Ethio-Semitic languages underwent. The research is based on ancient manuscripts and grammatical works of different periods.
""

This is a bilingual Argobba-Amharic dictionary (pp.543). In the front matters, besides the usage guide, a brief comparison of the two major dialects of Argobba is provided. The back matters also contains some information on the two dialects (basic lexical items and verb inflections), and a sample of an earlier Argobba text, Ajem, written with Arabic script, along with other information.

Bender and Fulass (1978) and Bender (1983) propose that Amharic might have originated as a pidgin. This proposal, which has its roots in oral traditions, has recently become quite popular even entering Amharic textbooks despite its lacking proper research. The book thoroughly examines this hypothesis and argues instead that Amharic is not a language created through pidgin-induced change, but a clear descendant of Semitic. Taking into consideration, historical, linguistic, cultural and chronological issues this book also demonstrates that the Semitic languages of the Horn are spoken in their home of origin. 
In this new edition, each chapter has been revised in light of recent scholarship and a new chapter has been added pertaining to the diachronic grammar of Amharic. This new chapter examines the grammar of Old Amharic based on pre-17th century manuscripts. Old Amharic exhibits VSO order and has gutturals. Adjectives and relative clauses may also follow the noun that they modify. These typical Semitic features, though lost in modern Amharic, are strong additional proof for Amharic’s Semitic origin.

Argobba is a South Ethio-Semitic language. Its closest relative is Amharic. Once a vibrant language, it is now considered endangered, with only a few thousand speakers. According to the latest national census of Ethiopia, the number of ethnic Argobba are 140,134. UNESCO considers Argobba a critically endangered language, estimating the number of Argobba speakers at 8,000. In
response to this situation, the Argobba Development Association in collaboration with the Argobba community and the present author is currently undertaking a revitalization project. This dictionary is part of the revitalization efort.
This bilingual dictionary gives Argobba equivalent translations to Amharic entries. It is prepared mostly based on the previously published Argobba-Amharic dictionary by the same author. Argobba has four varieties which can be categorized into two
broad dialects: Shonke-T’ollaha and Aliyu Amba-Shoa Robit. e former dialect includes the varieties spoken in Wollo province, especially in villages such as Shonke, T’ollaha and Asyniya. e latter includes all the varieties spoken in the other Argobba inhabited lands mainly in the following villages and their surrounding areas: Gacheni, Aliyu Amba, and Shoa Robit. In this dictionary the Shonke-T’ollaha dialect is abbreviated as Shonke and the Aliyu Amba- Shoa Robit as Aliyu. All the varieties within the Aliyu Amba-Shoa Robit dialect entered under Aliyu and the Shonke-Tollaha dialect under Shonke.

Infinitives in Amharic are nominal in category and are two types: bare and clausal where the latter show internal sentential structure but not the former. Unlike the English gerund and event nominal constructions the Amharic infinitival clauses have more in common with their counterpart tensed clauses. Double object constructions, A-and A'-extractions are possible in infinitival clauses. Infinitives however lack tense and aspectual features and take the constituent negative marker rather than the clausal negative marker although the negative marker has scope over the whole infinitival clause. I have argued that Amharic infinitival clauses are nominalized vPs, i.e. nP = TP where the nominalizer (Nz) head takes vP as its complement as in [nP[vP]]. Based on the morphological facts and syntactic evidence of the language, I have further argued that nP is distinct from DP. Spec, D is where the genitive Case of the subject licensed. I have suggested that Case projects on its own as KP and selects DP. Spec, K has the same operator property like Spec, C and KP in general can be seen parallel to CP. It is due to this fact that whextraction, topicalization and focus are possible in Amharic infinitival clauses.

Prepositions, complementizers and Case markers are relational items. It has been in the literature for a while that prepositions and complementizers belong to the same category. Although there are common properties between Case markers and prepositions, generative linguistics makes a clear distinction between the two. Like verbs, prepositions are assumed to assign Case to their complement and not by themselves Case markers. The Amharic clitic yä-, which has been a subject of discussion in many works (see, for instance Fulass 1972, Mullen 1986, Ouhalla 2004, den Dikken 2007, Kramer 2009), is a challenge to this assumption as it appears as a genitive Case marker, a preposition and a complementizer. I have argued that its various functions can be accounted if we consider relational items as belonging to a single category. Extending Emonds (1985) I have argued that not only CP and PP are the same, KP too. I have presented syntactic evidence where Spec, K and Spec, P show the same operator property like Spec, C. The clitic yä- in Amharic is, therefore, understood as heading a single projection namely RP, a projection dedicated for relational items, where RP shall be understood as PP, KP or CP depending on its complement. This analysis will solve the controversy that lies on the treatment of not only yä- but also the other relational items which function as complementizers, prepositions and Case markers in the language.

Keywords: Prepositions, Case markers, complementizers, relative clauses, cleft constructions, nominal clauses, A-bar movement

The paper examines pre-17 th century Amharic manuscripts with regard to the diachronic grammar of Amharic. It examines particularly the imperial songs of Amdetsion Getatchew Haile (1970) which can all safely be dated back to the 16 th and pre-16 th centuries. It focuses mainly on the peculiar grammatical features of that period which are not observable in modern Amharic. Pre-17 th century Amharic exhibits all the pharyngeal and glottal phonemes typical of Semitic languages. Modern Amharic has rigid SOV. Relative clauses and adjectives must also follow their head noun. However, pre-17 th century Amharic was not rigid in this regard. Although structures like those in modern Amharic are also attested, we find a VSO order in pre-17 th century Amharic. Relative clauses and adjectives also follow the noun they modify. Pre-17th century Amharic in general shows more Semitic features than present-day Amharic. This is, in fact, expected if Amharic is seen as a descendant of a Semitic language; not as one created through a pidgin-induced process.