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Bench language

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Languages

   Bench
   Bentʂ4-non4
   Spoken in: Ethiopia
   Region: Bench Maji Zone, SNNPR
   Total speakers: 173,586 (mother-tongue speakers as of 1998)
   Language family: Afro-Asiatic
     Omotic
      Northern
       Gonga-Gimojan
        Gimojan
        Bench
   Language codes
   ISO 639-1: none
   ISO 639-2: afa
   ISO/FDIS 639-3: bcq
   Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA
   chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

   Bench (also called Gimira, considered a derogatory term) is a Northern
   Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup, spoken by about 174,000
   people (as of 1998) in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations,
   Nationalities, and Peoples Region, in southern Ethiopia, around the
   towns of Mizan Teferi and Shewa Gimira. It has three mutually
   intelligible dialects: Bench proper, She, and Mer. In unusual variance
   from the other languages in the region, it has six phonemic tones.

Sounds

   The consonants are:
               Bilabial   Coronal   Palato-
                                   alveolar  Retroflex   Velar  Glottal
    Plosives  p b   pʹ   t d  tʹ                        k ɡ kʹ     ʔ
   Affricates            ʦ    ʦʹ   ʧ   ʧʹ    tʂ   tʂʹ
   Fricatives            s z       ʃ    ʒ    ʂ     ʐ               h
   Semivowels                          j
     Nasals       m          n
    Liquids                l, r

   All of these can occur palatalized, but only before a, suggesting an
   alternate analysis in which "ya" is seen as a sixth phonemic vowel.
   Labialized consonants (+w) are reported for p, b, s, g, and ʔ, but
   their phonemic status is unclear; they only occur after /i/.

   /p/ has two unconditioned allophones, ph and f; /j/ has the allophone w
   before back vowels.

   The phonemic vowels of Gimira are a, e, i, o, u.

   There are six phonemic tones, five level tones (numbered 1 to 5,
   beginning with the lowest) and one rising tone 2-3. Level 5 is
   sometimes realized as a rising 4-5.

   The syllable structure is (C)V(C)(C)(C) + tone or (C) N (C), where C
   represents any consonant, V any vowel, N any nasal, and brackets an
   optional element. CC clusters consist of a continuant followed by a
   plosive, fricative, or affricate; in CCC clusters, the first consonant
   must be one of /r/, /y/, /m/, /p/, or /p'/, the second either /n/ or a
   voiceless fricative, and the third /t/ or /k/.

Grammar

Nouns

   Plurals may optionally be formed by adding the suffix -nd3; however,
   these are rarely used except with definite nouns. Eg: wu5 in3gnd3 "her
   relatives"; a3tsn3di3 ba4 kang5 "all the people".

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

       English       oblique      subject      locative       vocative
   I               ta4          tan3         ta1t'n3
   you (sg.)       ni4          nen3         ni1t'n3     wo1 (m.), ha1 (f.)
   you (hon.)      yint2        yint2        yint2
   he              yi5          yis3         _
   he (hon.)       its5         its5         its5
   she             wu5          wus3         _
   she (hon.)      gen3         gen3         gen3
   himself/herself ba4          ban3         ba1t'n3
   we (excl.)      nu4          nun3         nu1t'n3
   we (incl.)      ni5          nin3         ni1t'n3
   you (pl.)       yin2tay1k'n3 yin2tay1k'n3 yin2tay1k'n3
   they            i5tsay1k'n3  i5tsay1k'n3  i5tsay1k'n3

   ba4 goes slightly beyond being a reflexive pronoun; it can mark any
   third person that refers to the subject of the sentence, eg:

          yi1si3 ba4 dor3 go1tu2e3 "he sold his (own) sheep" ("he-S. own
          sheep sell-he-Fin.")
          bo1dam4 han3k'a4 ba3yis4ta3gu2ʂn3 pan3ts'a2 ez2-3 "when he was
          going along the road, he saw a big leopard" ("road-Abl. go-self
          self-be-Stat.-Det.-when leopard-NPMk. big see-he-Fin.")

   The oblique form is basic, and serves as object, possessive, and
   adverbial. The subject form has three variants: normal (given above),
   emphatic - used when the subject is particularly prominent in the
   sentence, especially sentence-initially - and reduced, used as part of
   a verb phrase. The "locative" term means "to, at, or for one's own
   place or house", eg:

          kar1ta4 ta1t'n3 ta3 han3k'u2e3 "I went home" ("return-I
          to-my-house I go-I-Fin.")

Determiners

   The main determiners are "that, the" (masc. uʂ2, fem. en2, pl. end2)
   and "this" (masc. haʂ2, fem. han2, pl. hand2). As suffixes on a verb or
   an ablative or locative phrase, they indicate a relative clause. Eg:

          a3tsn3da2 han2dis3 har2-3am4 bad3 a4tsn3da1? "how can I separate
          these people?" ("person-Pl.-NPMk. these-O. what-Abl. separate
          make-Fut.-Intl.?")
          a4tsin4 ke4tn5 yis4ken2 "the woman who is in the house" ("woman
          house-Loc. be-that")

Demonstratives

   The demonstratives include hang4 "here", ek3 "there (nearby)", yink2
   "there (far away)", neg3 "down there", nek2 "up there". Alone, or with
   the determiner suffixes uʂ2 or aʂ2 added, these function as
   demonstrative pronouns "this person", "that person", etc. With the noun
   phrase marker -a2, they become demonstrative adjectives. Eg:

          hang2 nas4 dad1n3 a2ta3gu2ʂ2n3 "when he came near to the man..."
          ("here man near reach-Stat.-Det.-when")
          nya3ʔa2 ne3ga2 han2di3 "these boys down there" ("boy-NPMk.
          down-there-NPMk. Det.-S.")

Numbers

   The numbers are:
   1    mat'3
   2    nam4
   3    kaz4
   4    od4
   5    utʂ2
   6    sa2pm3
   7    na2pm3
   8    nyar2tn3
   9    irs2tn3
   10   tam5
   100  bal2-3
   1000 wum2-3

   20, 30, etc. are formed by adding tam2 "ten" (with tone change) to the
   unit. In compound numbers, -a4 is added to each 'figure, thus:

          13 = ta5ma4 ka4za4
          236 = nam4 ba2-3la4 kaz3ta2ma4 sa2pm3a4

   When a cardinal number functions as an adjective, the suffix -as3 can
   be added (eg nya3ʔa2 ka4zas3 "three children".) Ordinal numbers are
   formed by suffixing -nas4 to the cardinal, eg: od4nas4 "fourth".

Adjectives

   Adjectives are sometimes intensified by changing the tone to 5; eg
   ez2-3 "big" > ez5 "very big".

Verbs

   Verbs with monosyllabic roots can have three different forms of their
   active stems: the singular imperative, which is just the root; the past
   stem, usually identical to the root but sometimes formed by adding -k
   (with changes to the preceding consonant); and the future stem, usually
   identical to the root but sometimes formed by changing the tone from 3
   to 4 or from 1 to 5. Some have causative (formed by adding -as3 or -s1,
   and changing tone 3 to 4) and passive (formed by adding -n3, -t, or -k1
   to the causative) forms. Verbal nouns are formed from the stem,
   sometimes with tone change or addition or -t.

   Verbs with polysyllabic roots have at least two forms, one with an
   intransitive or passive meaning and one with a transitive or causative
   meaning; the former ends in -n3, the latter in -as3. A passive may be
   formed by ending in -as3n3. Verbal nouns are formed by taking the bare
   stem without -n3 or -as3.

   Compound verbs are formed with mak2 "say" or mas2 "cause to say", a
   formation common among Ethiopian languages.

   The primary tenses are simple past (formed from the past stem), future
   (future stem plus -ns3-), present perfect (from present participle
   stem); negative (future stem plus -arg4-.) Eg: ham3 > han3k'u2e3 "he
   went"; ham4sm3su2e3 "he will go"; han3k'n4su2e3 "he has gone".

   There are four corresponding participles: past (formed from the past
   stem), present perfect (formed from the past stem with the suffix
   -ns4-, -ng4, or -ank'4-), imperfect (formed from the future stem with
   the stative suffix -ag3-), and negative (formed from the future stem
   with the negative suffix -arg4- or -u2- or a person/number marker.)

   The order of affixes is: root - (tense) - (negative) - (foc. pn.) -
   person/number - marker.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bench_language"
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