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Amharic language

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PDFVolume 18. Semitic Languages. Ethiosemitic Languages
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Genealogy

Afroasiatic → Semitic → West Semitic → Central Semitic → South Semitic → Ethiopian Semitic

Geography

Main country: Ethiopia (show on the map)

Area maps from the encyclopedia (in Russian)

Map designer: Yuri Koryakov

Identifiers

Features

Phonemic structure

[A‑1] Number of degrees of vowel height Three [A‑1‑2]
[A‑2] Vowel height degrees Close, mid and open [A‑2‑3]
[A‑3] Degrees of vowel backness Front, central and back [A‑3‑4]
[A‑4] Number of length degrees No length degrees [A‑4‑1]
[A‑5] Vowel opposition in labialization No vowel opposition in labialization [A‑5‑1]
[A‑6] Vowel opposition in nasalization No vowel opposition in nasalization [A‑6‑1]
[A‑7] Vowel opposition in pharyngealization No vowel opposition in pharyngealization [A‑7‑1]
[A‑8] Vowel opposition in ATR No vowel opposition in ATR [A‑8‑1]
[A‑9] Diphthongs and triphthongs No diphthongs and triphthongs [A‑9‑1]
[A‑11] Inventory of obstruents by laryngeal features Emphatic consonants present [A‑11‑11]
[A‑12] Inventory of obstruents by manner of articulation Plosives, fricatives and affricates [A‑12‑3]
[A‑13] Inventory of obstruents by place of articulation Labial, coronal, dorsal, guttural and postuvular [A‑13‑2]
[A‑14] Inventory of labial obstruents by place of articulation Bilabial and labiodental [A‑14‑2]
[A‑15] Inventory of coronal obstruents by place of articulation Dental-alveolar [A‑15‑23]
[A‑16] Inventory of guttural obstruents by place of articulation Velar and labiovelar [A‑16‑4]
[A‑17] Inventory of postuvular obstruents by place of articulation Only glottal [A‑17‑2]
[A‑18] Additional articulatory oppositions of obstruents By labialization [A‑18‑2]
[A‑19] Inventory of sonorants by manner of articulation Nasal, liquid, vibrant and glide [A‑19‑6]
[A‑20] Inventory of sonorants by place of articulation Labial, coronal and dorsal [A‑20‑14]
[A‑21] Additional articulatory oppositions of sonorants By labialization [A‑21‑4]

Prosodic phenomena

[B‑1] Stress character Non-phonological [B‑1‑3]
[B‑3] Stress carrier Syllable [B‑3‑1]
[B‑4] Stress fixedness Not fixed [B‑4‑2]

Syllable

[C‑1] Syllable onset Both null and non-null onset possible [C‑1‑5]
[C‑2] Syllable coda Both null and non-null ocoda possible [C‑2‑5]

Phonologic structure and phenomena

No filled features for this language.

Morphological type of language

[E‑1] Type of language by type of morpheme combination in a word Fusional with some agglutinative features [E‑1‑4]
[E‑4] Type of language by degree of morpheme cohesion Synthetic with elements of analytism [E‑4‑6]

Nominal classifications

[F‑1] Number of agreement classes Two [F‑1‑2]
[F‑5] Attributive agreement in gender In singular and in plural [F‑5‑2]
[F‑6] Agreement of cardinal numerals in gender Absent [F‑6‑1]

Number

[G‑1] Number in nouns Singular and plural [G‑1‑1]
[G‑2] Single number marking Unmarked [G‑2‑2]
[G‑3] Honorific forms in pronouns and verbs Absent [G‑3‑1]
[G‑4] Agreement in number Predicative and attributive [G‑4‑4]

Case meanings

[H‑1] Number of noun cases One-two [H‑1‑1]
[H‑5] Other means of expressing possessive relations Adpositions [H‑5‑5]
[H‑8] Case marking of animate and inanimate nouns Same [H‑8‑1]
[H‑9] Secondary cases Absent [H‑9‑2]

Verbal categories

[I‑6] Aspect and tense expression Syncretic [I‑6‑2]
[I‑8] Syncretic expression of several verb meanings Gender, person, and number [I‑8‑21]

Deictic categories

[J‑4] Content words expressing spatial orientation of action Pronouns [J‑4‑4]
[J‑5] Morphological expression of (in)definiteness Absent [J‑5‑1]
[J‑6] Words expressing (in)definiteness Articles [J‑6‑1]
[J‑8] Expression of negation Negative affixes [J‑8‑1]
[J‑9] Negation marker position Framing and preposition [J‑9‑7]

Parts of speech and inflection

[K‑1] Personal pronouns inflection Case affixes of pronouns are the same as noun case affixes [K‑1‑2]
[K‑2] Article types Only definite [K‑2‑3]
[K‑6] Grammar categories of article Definiteness and gender [K‑6‑6]
[K‑12] Agreement categories expressed in adjective Gender, number, case and definiteness [K‑12‑14]
[K‑13] Cumulative expression of several categories in adjective Gender and definiteness [K‑13‑11]
[K‑14] Attribute agreement of adjectives Optional [K‑14‑4]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In number [K‑15‑2]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In case [K‑15‑3]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In gender [K‑15‑4]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In (in)definiteness [K‑15‑8]
[K‑16] Inflectional categories of noun Number, case, and (in)definiteness [K‑16‑14]

Word formation

No filled features for this language.

Simple sentence

[M‑3] Dominant word order SOV [M‑3‑2]
[M‑4] Order of nouns and its modifier Modifier precedes noun [M‑4‑1]

Complex sentence

[N‑1] Clauses order in compound sentence Not fixed [N‑1‑3]
[N‑4] Compound sentence types Subordination and compounding [N‑4‑4]
[N‑5] Compound sentence syndesis and asyndeton Both syndesis and asyndeton possible [N‑5‑3]

Unfilled features

The encyclopedia contains no information

Feature is not applicable to this language