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POLSKA AKADEMIA NAUK-ODDZIAL W KRAKOWIE PRACB KOMISJI ORIBNTALISTYCZNBJ NR 21 MOHAMMED ALl, ANDRZEJ ZABORSKI HANDBOOK OF THE aROMa LANGUAGE WROCLAW. WARSZAWA • KRAKOW • GDANSK. LODt ZAKLAD NARODOWY IMIBNIA OSSOLlNSKICH WYDAWNICTWO POLSKIBJ AKADBMII NAUK 1990 Prace opiniowali do druku: MARIA KOWALSKA STANIS!..AW STACHOWSKI CONTENTS PART ONE Introduction . . . . . . Phonological Introduction IX XI PART TWO Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Unit Dnit Univerzitna kniznica V Bratis lave Redaktor Wydawnictwa: EIzbieta Fialek: Redaktor techniczny: Krystyna Oliwa 1 - Haasawa telefonaa 2 - Mana nyaataa 3 - Hirna 4 - Magaalaa . . 21 5- 26 Dukaana 3 9 15 . . 6 - Mana haaraya (kutaa 1) 31 78- Wal gaafii ..... . Jiruu baadiyaa (kutaa 1) 36 910 11 12 - Mana haaraya (kuraa 2) Mana dhukkubsataa . 46 Shaggar . . . Warra Liban. . . . 13 - BaIlama . . . . . . 14 - Jiruu baadiyaa (kutaa 2) . 15 - Hojii filaccuu . . . . . 16 - Mana jaaruu . . . . . . 17 18 19 20 21 22 - 23 24 25 - Seenaa Oromoo (kutaa 1) Mana barnootaa Afaan Oromoo . Amantii Oromoo Sirna Gadaa . . Seenaa Oromoo (kutaa 2) Buna Qalaa . . . . . . Seenaa Oromoo (kutaa 3) Mana postas . . . . . . 41 51 56 61 66 72 77 82 87 92 97 102 106 111 115 120 124 APPENDICES © Copyright by Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolimkich Wroclaw 1990 WydawnictwoJ Primed in Poland -1993 -02- 0 2 n' R ISSN 0079-3426 ISBN 83-04-03316-X Zaklad Narodowy im. Ouolinskich _ Wydawnictwo, Wroclaw. j Oddl:iaJ w Krakowie 1990. Obkt04c ark. 10,40; ark. druk. 11,75; ark. form, Al 15,63. Zam. 233/89 Dtukamia Nluodowa w Krakowic W j' Oroma-English Vocabulary 131 English-Oromo Vocabulary 147 159 Key to Exercises . Grammatical Index . . . . Basic Bibliography . . . . Podstawowe wiadomo§ci 0 j~ku 171 172 oromo 173 PART ONE _.------------ -- Introduction Oromo (till 1974 known mostly by the now rejected name 'Galla') is one of the major African languages. With its at least 20 million native speakers living in Ethiopia, Northern Kenya and Somalia, Oromo is one of the most widely spoken languages of Africa i.e. after Arabic, Hausa and Swabili. Together with Arnharic it is the most important language of Ethiopia where it is used not only as a national language by the Oromo people but also as a lingua franca by several million speakers of other languages. It is a language of a great people with national history going back at least to the 16th century that played since that time a major political and cultUl al role in North-East Africa and whose cultural and social organization (e.g. the famous 'Gada' system) are among the most outstanding in Africa. Spoken on a vast territory ranging from Wello in the North to Northern and even Central Kenya in the South and from Wellegga in the West to Harar in the East, Oromo has several dialects of which the most important and the best known are the dialects of Wcllegga and the Borana, the latter spoken in the South of the Oromo territory. Other dialects are e.g. Tulama, Arsi, Gujji, Raya in Ethiopia, Orma, Munyo and Waata in Kenya. The dialect differences are not big so that interdialect comprehensibility is not a problem. Being related e.g. to Afar-Saho and Somali Oromo belongs to the Cushitic group of languages, and with the whole Cushitic group it belongs to the Afroasiatic or Hamito-Semitic language family together