Browsing by Author "Bezabeh, Mulualem"

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    Language Contact and Use in the Resettlement Sites of Gambella town
    (Addis Ababa University, 2010-09) Bezabeh, Mulualem; Seyum, Bekale (PhD)
    The purpose of this study is to describe the pattern of language use of the resettled ethnolinguistic groups in the two resettlement sites of Gambella town. In order to meet this purpose, 216 respondents were randomly selected from the resettlement sites. The required data were collected through questionnaire, interview and observation. The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The result of the study reveals that the resettlement sites are multilingual with nine languages in use: Amharic, Tigrinya, Kambata, Hadiyya, Wolayta, Afan Oromo, Himtinya, Anyua and Nuer. Of these, the former seven have MT speakers who are first or second generation resettlers while the latter two are languages the indigenous population of the town. Amharic is the most learned 8L by MT speakers of different languages. Mothers are more bilingual than fathers since they have more contact with other ethnolinguistic group members than fathers. Respondents are more bilinguals than their parents as they have more exposure to the diverse linguistic groups than the parents. Most respondents use Amharic in all domains with all types of participants when talking about any issue. There is a greater tendency of shift in all ethnolinguistic groups towards Amharic. The role of the indigenous languages, Anyua and Nuer, is considerably significant. Amharic is the most preferred language as it deserved the strongest positive attitude. It is the language largely preferred to be learned as the first language of children. Finally, in the resettlement sites of Gambella town, Amharic to a larger degree and Anyua to a lesser extent are the most predominantly used languages in the two sites. Generally, Amharic has turned out to be the lingua franca in these linguistically diverse resettlement sites of Gambella town.