Browsing by Author "Leyew, Zelealem (PhD)"
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Item Automatic Morphological Analyzer for Amharic: An Experiment Employing Unsupervised Learning and Auto segmental Analysis Approaches(Addis Ababa University, 2002-06) Bayu, Tesfaye; Biru, Tesfaye (PhD); Leyew, Zelealem (PhD)Item Codeswitching in Tigrinya: The Case of Two FM Radio Programs(Addis Ababa University, 2011-06) Araya, Bahire; Leyew, Zelealem (PhD)This study deals with Codeswitching in Tigrinya: The Case of Two FM Radio Programs broadcasting in and around Mekelle. The rationales, which triggered the researcher to conduct such a research, are the fact that there are very few studies in Ethiopia, no research in Tigray and the researcher was experienced with switched Tigrinya in the Tigrinya FM radio programs (TFRPs). It is tried to address the why, when, how and how often codeswitching incidents are appeared on the TFRPs, and the perception of codemixing by bilinguals and monolinguals. It also attempts to describe what linguistic features of codeswitching are identified and which universal constraints are attested valid in Tigrinya-English or Amharic codeswitching phenomenon. The study aims mainly at exploring the social aspects of codeswitching activities, and describing the linguistic features of codeswitching on the Tigrinya FM radio services (TFRSs) vis-à-vis some earlier studied models and findings. To address the problems and achieve the objectives, both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed for gathering bits of information from the selected sites and FM radio listeners in focus. Questionnaires, interviews, and audio recordings were used as basic tools to collect genuine information. The bits of information were collected from both monolingual and bilingual TFRPs clients and the newscasters. The social and linguistic data of codeswitching on the TFRPs are exhibited viewed from different perspectives. There are bulks of codeswitching occurrences on TFRPs more frequently from English and Amharic constituents.Tigrean codeswitchers were engaging in codeswitching incidences motivated by the social attractions. However, monolinguals have remarkably negative attitudes towards codeswitching by overwhelming the bilinguals. Besides, the Trilingual Tigreans are switching multiple constituents intrasententially via Amharic and English. In the Amharic or English switched Tigrinya, the equivalence constraint and free morpheme constraint operational, whereas the size of the constituent constraint is not appropriate.Item Cultural and Linguistic Westernization: The Case of Dressing, Hair style and Language Use among AAU Students(Addis Ababa University, 2014-03) Tariku, Mulusew; Leyew, Zelealem (PhD)The main objective of this study is to examine the extent of cultural and linguistic westernization in Addis Ababa University among 6 kilo campus students and analyze its effect on indigenous languages and cultures. To achieve this objective data were gathered from 213 students using questionnaire and 20 students were interviewed using semi-structured interview technique. 213 students were selected from 12 departments. Multistage sampling was employed to get participants’ response to the questions in the questionnaire. Results indicate that most of the students studied were under western influence in terms of dressing, hair style and language use. Several factors have caused this which includeː globalization, to be viewed as “modern”, to be viewed highly educated, lack of confidence and so on. Female students were more influenced by western dressing and hair style than males, while students from urban areas appeared to be more influenced than students from rural areas in linguistic westernization.Item Documentation and Description of the Ethnobotany and Ethnozoology of the Zay Ethnolinguistic Group(Addis Ababa University, 2014-05) Beshah, Fekadu; Leyew, Zelealem (PhD)The Zay people are known for their interaction with plants and animals in which their traditional knowledge, culture and language are expressed. However, despite the existence of rich indigenous practices related to the ethnobotany and ethnozoology of this ethnolinguistic group, this people remain unexplored and no comprehensive account of their plant and animal utilization is available. In addition, due to lack of sufficient land for residence and farming, many members of the Zay community are migrating from their area to the nearby towns (Endashaw 2010:4). Therefore, the situation calls for an urgent action to collect and document their indigenous knowledge and practices including those plants and animals. Hence, the aim of this study is to describe and document the ethnobotany and ethnozoology of the Zay ethnolinguistic group. Ethnobotanical and ethnozoological fieldwork was conducted using relevant data collection tools including interview guides, audio recorder and photography. The fieldwork was conducted in five islands, namely: Fundurro, Tsedecha, Debra Tsiyon (Tullu Guddo), Gelilla and Debre Sina from mid of January to end of April, 2014. Permits for conducting the research, collecting, and export of voucher specimen were obtained from the authorities of the area and the Zay community. The findings of this study indicate that the Zay ethnolinguistic group has a wide range of utilization of plants and animals for several purposes. However, the influence of migration and modernization is putting significant negative impact on the indigenous knowledge of the study area. At the same time, the linguistic analysis on naming indicated that a significant number of plants and animals are named in other languages. Therefore, it is recommended to perform more language revitalization work including the commencement of community radio in Zay. There are wild animals and fish species that are endangered. Thus, serious attention needs to be given.Item Grammatical Description and Documentation of Bayso(Addis Ababa University, 2018-07) Kebebew, Lemmi; Leyew, Zelealem (PhD)This dissertation deals with the documentation and grammatical description of Bayso/Giddicho, a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia. Bayso is an endangered language due to th e strong pressure of the dominant languages spoken in the area, urbanization and population reduction. The documentat ion palt covers video and audio annotation of texts, bilingual word list (Bayso- English) and th e grammatical description. The grammatical description examines Bayso phonology, morphology and syntax based on the primary data that was obta ined via series of fie ldworks and through elicitation, interviews, observation and discussion methods. Therefore, the qualitative research methodology was employed in this disseltation. Bayso, whi ch belongs to Lowland East Cushitic, Omo-Tana subgroup, has 28 consonant phonemes and five vowels with contrastive long vowels. Bayso employs diverse system of noun plural isation which includes suffixa tion, reduplication and final vowel elision. Bayso also marks paucal and singulative on nouns by using di fferent suffixes. Theoretically, a language that marks paucal should also mark dual. However, Bayso is one of few languages that mark paucal without marking dual. Gender polarity is also one of the marked features of Bayso which was one ofthe foc uses ofthis disseltat ion. In Bayso, gender is not marked on nouns. It is refl ected th rough agreement on other word categories such as verb, adjective and demonstrative. The grammatical cases, nominative and accusative, are not morphologically marked. However, the sematic cases such as genitive, dati ve and instrumental are marked with various strategies. In Bayso, noun derivation is not as productive as other related languages. Yet, new nouns can be derived from the existing ones by us ing vari ous suffixes. In Bayso, both verb inflection and deri vation mainly invo lve suffixation. A verb is inflected for tense, person and number to show concord. Verb stems such as causatives, passIves, frequentat ives and inchoati ves are derived by using different derivational suffixes. Word order in Bayso is fl exible. That is modifiers may precede or follow the ir head. However, subordi nate clause always occurs preceding the matrix clause. Bayso employs various mechanisms of sentence chaining, that is, to form coordination, subordinat ion and co nverbs.Item Linguistic and Social Aspects of the ʔAʃo (Azmari) Argot in Tigray(Addis Ababa University, 2011-06) Girmay, Abraha; Leyew, Zelealem (PhD)This research focused on the linguistic features and social aspects of the ʔaʃo argot. The objectives of this research are to describe the linguistic features of the ʔaʃo argot and the social aspects of the ʔaʃo argot and its speakers in order to explain why the ʔaʃo people use it as secret language. To achieve these objectives, the researcher used purposive method sampling to select the informants. Elicitation, interview and participatory observation method were used to collect the data. The data have been recorded by using audio-tape recorder and video-camera. Qualitative as well as quantitative methods are employed to analyze the collected data. The findings of this research are the following. There is underestimation between the ʔaʃo and non-ʔaʃo groups. This underestimation is a reason for the ʔaʃo group to be self-designated and to have secret language or argot. Second, the ʔaʃo argot is derived from Tigrinya and Amharic words through form, semantic, form and semantic changes, using different semantic aspects and direct used terms of Tigrinya. In form change, the ʔaʃo argot uses phonological deformations such as addition, metathesis, reduplication, substitution, deletion, vowel deformation and degemination as well as free variation and depalatalization of the sounds. In addition, suffixes and some prefixes of Tigrinya and Amharic, onomatopoeic words and changed terms from compound verbs to single words have been used in the formation of the argot. The ʔaʃo argot also uses semantic load, instrumental nouns, paraphrastic descriptions, connotative and denotative meanings and naming whole and parts in the same word to solve inadequate of expressions. ʔaʃo argot uses the phonological and syntactic structure as well as morphological expressions of Tigrinya.Item The semantic-Pragmatic basis in the Interpretation of Amharic Contract court cases(Addis Ababa University, 2010-06) Tarekegne, Addisu; Leyew, Zelealem (PhD)