Browsing by Author "Ado, Derib (PhD)"

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    An Acoustic Analysis of Vowel Duration in Wolaytta Doonaa
    (Addis Ababa University, 2017-06) Elias, Firew; Ado, Derib (PhD)
    This acoustic study investigates the vowels‟ duration of Wolaytta Doonaa, a language spoken in the south west part of Ethiopia, by the Wolaytta people. The vowels set for the analysis were delimited by the alveolar obstruent consonants‟ CVC frame. Each vowel comprising of short and long acoustic representations with both accented and unaccented equivalents were taken for the analysis. The duration of the vowels within the recorded sound files were separated and were measured with Praat script in milliseconds and analysis was made depending on the tongue height, gender, accent status and the adjacent consonants so as to determine their mean scores and degree of variations due to these impacts on their intrinsic and extrinsic durations. The results showed that the durations of the vowels of Wolaytta Doonaa have significant variation due to the tongue height and the tongue advancement, thus, as a vowel in Wolaytta Doonaa is lower, its acoustic duration is longer. In addition to that, women utter longer vowels than men do; plus, the accented vowels portray longer duration than their unaccented counterparts. Besides, the effectofpre-fortis clipping on duration of the short vowels wasnot attested in the finding, thus, the impact of post-vocalic voiceless obstruents on the duration of the preceding vowel was not significant.
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    An Acoustic Analysis of Vowel Duration in Wolaytta Doonaa
    (Addis Ababa University, 2017-06) Elias, Firew; Ado, Derib (PhD)
    This acoustic study investigates the vowels' duration ofWolaytta Doonaa, a language spoken in the south west part of Ethiopia, by the Wolaytta people. The vowels set for the analysis were delimited by the alveolar obstruent consonants' CVC frame. Each vowel comprising of short and long acoustic representations with both accented and unaccented equivalents were taken for the analysis. The duration of the vowels within the recorded sound files were separated and were measured with Praat script in milliseconds and analysis was made depending on the tongue height, gender, accent status and the adjacent consonants so as to determine their mean scores and degree of variations due to these impacts on their intrinsic and extrinsic durations. The results showed that the durations of the vowels of Wolaytta Doonaa have significant variation due to the tongue height and the tongue advancement, thus, as a vowel in Wolaytta Doonaa is lower, its acoustic duration is longer. In addition to that, women utter longer vowels than men do; plus, the accented vowels portray longer duration than their unaccented counterparts. Besides, the effect of pre-fortis clipping on duration of the short vowels was not attested in the finding, thus, the impact of post-vocalic voiceless obstruents on the duration of the preceding vowel was not significant.
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    Child Language and Baby Talk in Amharic
    (Addis Ababa University, 2013-08) G/Egziabher, Abenezer; Ado, Derib (PhD)
    The child language lexicon in Amharic is not properly recorded. This created a research gap in the study of the phonological and morphological features of child language in Amharic This study describes phonological, morphological and semantic features of the child language lexicon in Amharic. Methodologically, the research is based on the Amharic child language lexicon collected from parents and their toddlers whose ages are between 2 and 5 years. Consequently, 130 items were collected and their phonological and morphological features were analyzed. In addition to serving as a benchmark for further studies in the area, this research also paves the way for similar studies in other Ethiopian languages.
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    A Critical Analysis of Stakeholders‟ Discourses on the Road Safety Problem in Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-11) Tilahun, Getachew; Ado, Derib (PhD)
    A significant step taken to address the road safety problem in Ethiopia was the formulation of a strategic plan/policy based on UN/WHO‘s recommendation of 2011-2020 as a Decade of Action for road safety. A key notion of the policy was stakeholders‘ collaboration based on the philosophy of shared responsibility and safe systems approach, an approach that promoted understanding and addressing the road and its environment, road users and vehicles as a whole instead of targeting road users alone. A crucial issue for ensuring road safety adopting this approach should be communication among the stakeholders. The purpose of this study was thus to: (1) understand stakeholders‘ conceptualizations of the road safety problem and ways of addressing it (2) explore which road safety knowledge and practices road safety stakeholders incorporate into/exclude from their daily practices; (3) identify impacts of these incorporated/excluded knowledge and practices; and (4) examine how the stakeholders position themselves and others in relation to their role to alleviating the road safety problem. The research was situated in the epistemology of social constructionism, adopted CDA as a theory and method of analysis, and used in-depth interviews, key documents and observation as instruments of data collection. Fairclough‘s three dimensional model of analysis (discourse as text, as discursive practice, and as social practice) was the analytical framework employed to explore the stakeholders‘ social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge and beliefs. Stakeholders uniformly conceptualized road safety in Ethiopia as a serious problem that had to be addressed through their concerted and collaborative efforts. However, they had different, mostly narrow and contradictory, pictures of what road safety is and how it should be addressed. The study has thus confirmed that stakeholders‘ road safety conceptualization was not based on the knowledge/belief systems of the approach that was adopted nationally. Regarding the recontextualization of road safety knowledge and practices, the Ethiopian road safety policy was formulated based on the UN/WHO‘s recommendation for action. In line with the sources, the central call of key documents and players was stakeholders‘ collaboration to address the problem comprehensively working on the five pillars: road safety management, safe roads, safe vehicles, safe road use behavior and post-crash care. However, the practice was far from the claim; the collaboration, if any, was only among the few government institutions, and in the form of submission to dominant players. Disregarding the other key issues, the practice targeted road users, taking them as sole causes of road traffic accidents. Stakeholders‘ construction of the self and others was analyzed to understand their social relations and social identities: how they position themselves and others in relation to their contribution to iv road safety. Stakeholders of both government and private institutions raised several issues by which they constructed themselves favorably and others unfavorably. Each claimed to have been devoted to ensuring road safety, and blamed others for the prevalence of the problem in the country. Road users were no different; they put both government and private institutions as aggravators of the problem involving in unethical practices. Hence, there was not any collaboration among road safety stakeholders and road users to cause positive change. Overall, road safety was framed as the sole subject of a few government institutions that had both historical and political position to policy and practices, but that worked for the perpetuation of the position they held. Despite policy formulations and claims of working accordingly, road safety practice in Ethiopia was influenced by the individual user approach, emphasizing on education and enforcement; as a result, change in road safety knowledge and practice proved to have been so insignificant. On the other hand, although they were not strong enough to influence, emerging road safety discourses/practices were observed; if they were shaped and strengthened, they could positively contribute to change the road safety problem widespread in the country. Finally, theoretical and practical implications of the study were explained, recommendations for the concerned bodies were provided, and potential issues for future studies have been suggested. Key words: road safety conceptualization, road and its environment, stakeholders, road user, vehicle, vision zero, critical discourse analysis, safe systems approach, individual user approach.
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    Lexical Use of Afaan Oromoo in the Government Mass Media
    (Addis Ababa University, 2014-12) Lemu, Teshome; Ado, Derib (PhD)
    This study is about lexical use of Afaan Oromoo by journalists in the government mass media; namely, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, Oromia Radio and Television Organization, and Ethiopian Press Agency. The study aims at identifying, describing and characterizing the problems of lexical standardization in Afaan Oromoo as it is used in the government mass media.In the govenunent mass media journalists use the varieties of lexical items and hence the audiences Calmot get the information f·ully. Taking into account standardization experiences of different countries, the study recommends the development of guide (style book) so that the use of Afaan Oromoo words in the mass media can be based on an institutionalized norm. As in the case of many standardized languages, an authoritative institution that can effectively coordinate the efforts to stal1dardize the language is crucial. Compiling a stal1dard dictionary and other reference materia ls, , producing standardized educational and cultural materials are necessary steps so as to encourage the use of standard forms of the language. Furthermore, conducting researches on the area and the application of outcomes could enhal1Ce the standard ization of the language.