Sebat Bet Gurage | |
---|---|
ሰባት ቤት ጉራጌ (Səbat Bet Gurage) | |
Native to | Ethiopia |
Region | West Gurage Zone |
Ethnicity | 3.2 million Gurage (2022)[1] |
Native speakers | 2.5 million (2022)[1] |
Dialects |
|
Geʽez script | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | sgw |
Glottolog | seba1251 |
Sebat Bet ("Seven houses") is an Ethiopian Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken in Ethiopia.
Overview
One of the Gurage languages, Sebat Bet is divided into several dialects[2]. The latter are spoken in the western Gurage Region:
- Chaha (Cheha) is spoken in Cheha and is the best studied of these varieties
- Mesqan is spoken in Meskan
- Ezha (Eza, Izha) is spoken in Ezhana Wolene
- Muher is spoken in the mountains north of Cheha and Ezhana Wolene
- Geta is spoken in Geta
- Gumer (Gwemarra, Gʷəmarə), spoken in Gumer
- Inor (Ennemor), spoken in Enemorina Eaner
- Endegegn and the extinct Mesmes language are sometimes considered subdialects of Inor.
Notes
- ^ a b Sebat Bet Gurage at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ "Glottolog 5.0 - Sebat Bet Gurage". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
Further reading
- Leslau, Wolf. 1997. "Chaha (Gurage) Phonology" in Kaye, Alan S. (ed.): Phonologies of Asia and Africa 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. pp. 373–397.
- Rose, Sharon. 2007. "Chaha (Gurage) Morphology" in Kaye, Alan D. (ed.): Morphologies of Africa and Asia 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. pp. 403–427.
External links
- World Atlas of Language Structures information on Chaha