| Muher | |
|---|---|
| Region | Ethiopia |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 90,000)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sgw |
sgw-muh | |
| Glottolog | seba1251 |
Muher (Muxar) is an Ethiopian Semitic language belonging to the Gurage group. It is spoken in the mountains north of Cheha and Ezhana WoleneinEthiopia. The language has two dialects, which are named after the first-person singular pronoun "I" they use: Ana uses əni/anä, Adi uses adi/ädi (similar to the related language Soddo). The language is sometimes written in a modified Arabic (Ajam) or Amharic script.[2][3] It has approximately 90,000 speakers.[1]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar/Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prevelar | ||||||
| Stop | Voiceless | t | c | k kʷ | ||
| Voiced | b bʷ | d | ɟ | g gʷ | ||
| Ejective | tʼ | cʼ | kʼ kʼʷ | |||
| Affricate | t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ | |||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f fʷ | s | ʃ | ç | h hʷ |
| Voiced | z | ʒ | ||||
| Nasal | m mʷ | n | ɲ | |||
| Liquid | r l | |||||
| Glide | j | w | ||||
The phonemic status of the glottal stop is uncertain.[5] In some cases, /kʼ/ or /kʷ/ may be reduced to [ʔ] or [ʔʷ], respectively, postvocalically.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ɨ (ə)
ɑ̈ (ɜ) |
o |
| Open | ɑ |
The basic syllable structure of Muher is C(C)V(C)(C)
Like many Semetic languages, Muher has triconsonantal roots for verbs and nominals.
Personal pronouns both substitute for subjects and function as possessive suffixes on nominals.
| Gender | Singular | Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pronoun | Possessive | Pronoun | Possessive | ||
| 1 | Common | ɑ̈di | -ddi | ɨɲɲɑ | -nnɑ |
| 2 | Male | (-)dɑ̈-hɑ̈ | (-)dɑ̈-hɨmʷ | ||
| Female | (-)dä-ç (<*dähʲ) | (-)dɑ̈-hmɑ | |||
| 3 | Male | hʷɑ | -hʷt(ɑ) | (-)hinnɑ̈mʷ | |
| Female | (-)çɑ/(-)hijɑ | (-)hinnɑ̈mɑ | |||
Definiteness is marked by the definite suffix -we.
Muher has a decimal number system. The teens are formed by ɑsrɑ̈- plus the digits, usually preceded by -m.
| Digit | Gloss |
|---|---|
| ɑtt/kʼunɑ | 'one' |
| hʷett | 'two' |
| sɔɑst/sost | 'three' |
| ɑrbɑ̈tt | 'four' |
| ɑmmɨst | 'five' |
| sɨddɨst | 'six' |
| sɑ̈bɑ̈tt/sɑ̈bɑtt | 'seven' |
| simmutt | 'eight' |
| ʒɑ̈tʼɑ̈ | 'nine' |
| ɑssir/ɑsrɑ̈ | 'ten' |
The basic word order of Muher is SOV. However, a known argument always has to precede a new argument, regardless of their function. Primary conjugations differentiate between the perfective and imperfective aspects. The subject and object are marked on the verb. Object markers are divided into the categories Light and Heavy. Heavy object markers are those who occur with impersonal and plural subjects. Light markers are any others. Light markers may differ based on if the aspect is perfectiveornon-perfective.
| Object Marker | Light | Heavy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfective | Non-perfective | ||
| 1SG | -e | -e | -rɨ |
| 2SG Masc. | -nnɑhɑ̈ | -hɑ̈ | -kkɑ̈ |
| 2SG Fem. | -nnɑç | -ç | -kc |
| 3SG Masc. | -nn | -ʷ/-nn | -ʲ/-ʷ (-c) |
| 3SG Fem. | -nnɑ | -ːɑ/-nnɑ | -jɑ/-wɑ (-cɑ) |
| 1PL | -(ɑ̈)nɑ̈ | -ɑ̈nɑ̈ | -nnɑ̈ |
| 2PL Masc. | -nnɑhmʷ | -hɨmʷ | -kkɨmʷ |
| 2PL Fem. | -nnɑhmɑ | -hmɑ | -kkimɑ |
| 3PL Masc | -nnɑ̈mʷ | -ːɑ̈mʷ/-nnɑ̈mʷ | -jɑ̈mʷ/-wɑ̈mʷ (-cɑ̈mʷ) |
| 3PL Fem | -nnɑ̈mɑ | -ːɑ̈mɑ/-nnɑ̈mɑ | -jɑ̈mɑ/-wɑ̈mɑ (-cɑ̈mɑ) |
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