Linguistics

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    Metaphorical Conceptualization of Emotion in Anywaa
    (Addis Ababa University, 2024-03) Okello Ojhu; Dr. Moges Yigezu
    Anywaa is a Western Nilotic language spoken in the Republics of Ethiopia and South Sudan. Under Western Nilotic, Anywaa belongs to the Northern branch of Lwoo. The present study was conducted in Gambella, Ethiopia. Traditionally, metaphor has been concerned with literary devices like poem, fiction, novel, style and short story. Hence, metaphor is understood as the use of figurative language only. Standing in an opposition to traditional approach, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, which was started by Lakoff and Johnson (1980), views metaphor to be used by ordinary people in their daily lives and thinking. Thus, language is considered a surface manifestation of conceptual metaphor. Because our conceptual system is metaphorically structured, the emotion concepts used in people's daily lives are metaphorically structured. Since emotion is complex, understanding it requires simple, basic and concrete concepts and experiences linked with it. Yet, little is understood about the reality of emotion metaphors in Anywaa. Therefore, to carry out the present study and gain detailed understanding of emotion in daily lives of the Anywaa, this study used Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to investigate the metaphorical conceptualization of anger, fear, happiness, love and jealousy, which are basic emotions in Anywaa. In this study, various approaches were applied to identify and interpret emotion metaphors in Anywaa. To understand the discoursal metaphors, Steen's Five Step Procedures of Metaphor Identification were used. To determine conceptual and linguistic metaphors, the researcher used Top Down and Bottom Up Approaches. Since metaphor and metonymy interface, Source-domain-oriented Approach was used to understand emotion metaphors based on lexical extension. The data for the present study were collected by using elicitation, recording and listening to daily utterances. Hence, the study was designed as qualitative. Different linguistic metaphors of emotion are used in the daily lives of Anywaa. The linguistic metaphor tʃ iɲ t m n m tʃ 'My liver has become fire' is used to realize anger as FIRE and j b 'My stomach is a leaf' is used to realize happiness as A PLANT LEAF. The present study has indicated that there are constraints imposed on emotion metaphors of Anywaa. For example, WHITE COLOUR is used as a source domain of HAPPINESS but RED and BLACK COLOURS are used as source domains of ANGER. In Anywaa, emotion degree is marked by using degree adverb, tone, object size and space between the earth and sky. The source domains of emotions analyzed in the present study have the scopes outside emotion target domains. Keywords: Anywaa, Domain, Emotion, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Mapping, Image Schema.
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    Philological and Content Analysis of Gädlä’äbunä Täklä ’Älfā
    (Addis Ababa University, 2023-06) Yordanos Abebe; Mulugeta Seyoum (PhD)
    This paper deals with the Gädl of ’äbunä Täklä ’älfā, its philological and content analysis. The content analysis provides fundamental information concerning the historical, theological, governmental, socio -cultural events of the epoch. It also provides the philological and content value of the manuscript. The main objectives of the study are to conduct philological and content analysis on the manuscript of Gädlä’äbunä Täklä ’älfā and comment on the philological qualities and inconsistencies the encountered on the Gädl. In addition, the researcher tried to identify some of the effects of the attack of Ahmad Gragn on the Orthodox Church. The main concern of the research is the Gädl of ’äbunä Täklä ’älfā, which was found directly from the monastery. The processes included in analyzing the manuscript is identifying the biography of the Saint, giving philological and content analysis of the manuscript, briefing the theological values of the Gädl, and distinguishing the inconsistencies in the Gädl. The method used in the process is, in general, qualitative analysis. From this method, approximate years of birth and death of the saint from the personages in the Gädl, the inconsistencies in the Gädl and their corrections and the writer of the Gädl were identified. The study of the Gädl of this saint is essential in knowing the history of the monastery and the people of Gojjām. Beside this, it is essential in knowing the suffering the Orthodox Church faced at the time of Ahmad Gragn and the system of administrationof monasteries.
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    Copula Constructions and Information Structure in Muher
    (Addis Ababa University, 2023-07) Workie Musa Arega; Baye Yimam(Professor )
    The main objective of this study is to describe copula constructions and information structure in Muher. This study employed a qualitative descriptive research method. Data have mainly been accessed through elicitation by consulting purposively selected Muher native speakers. Both elicitation and recording of free speech and narratives have been employed as major datagathering tools. Besides, data have been extracted from the Muher corpus compiled by the NORHED project, and some stories in Muher. The linguistic data were presented in three-line interlinear morpheme-by-morpheme glossing. Phonemic transcription is employed by using IPA consistently. This study identified the copular morphemes -n for equation and non-past or -ja for the third person singular feminine, nən- for existential and non-past, and bannə- for past in the affirmative main clause, where nən-and bannə- are followed by MVMs. nən- and bannə have both BE and HAVE interpretations. In their BE interpretation, they are inflected for subject agreement. The predicates that nən- appears with is PPs with a locative function, but bannəshows up with all predicates i,e. NPs, PPs, and As. In their HAVE interpretation both nən- and bannə are inflected for object agreement. The complement to the present tense copula -n is a noun phrase, prepositional phrase, or adjectival phrase. In negation, the verbs anxən- „not become‟, jǝnnə „there is no‟ and annəbbər „didn‟t exist‟ are used as copula although they are not “true” copulas. Although questions in Muher follow the same structure as declarative clauses, they are constructed using rising intonation and/or with -we. Based on the semantic, morphosyntactic and pragmatic functions, the affirmative present tense copular clauses are equative, predicational, specificational, identificational, locative, possessive, and presentational. Muher encodes topic prosodically, lexically, morphologically and syntactically. In Muher, the word order of the direct and indirect objects is relatively free. However, Topic is established in the clause-initial position where a non-subject argument or constituent is fronted via syntactic topicalization. If an NP is mentioned as a subject, it is always the topic sentence initially; salient topics are not overt NPs but only marked by person markers on the verb. Topic-comment sentences are pragmatically and prosodically unmarked for their information structure since the clause-initial constituent is the topic of the clause. Besides, Muher employs various strategies to mark topic. For instance, contrastive topic can be marked morphologically by the morpheme -mma which is commonly an emphatic topic change. Although the functionality of -ʃ in Muher is much wider, it is also used to mark contrastive topic. Syntactically, topic is marked through basic word order change, topicalization (fronting), passivization, cleft constructions, and left and right dislocations. The constituent that becomes a topic through clefting and dislocations are also the element that receives focus. In Muher, focus is prosodically marked by intonation, and lexically by looking at answers for Wh-question words. Morphologically, focus can be marked by using the morpheme -m that subsumes completive, additive, expanding, replacing, parallel, restricting, and selective focus types. Although the basic word order of Muher is SOV, focus can be marked syntactically via basic word order change or scrambling, and by clefting. Focus domain, in Muher, can be the subject of the clause (argument focus), the subject and the predicate (sentence focus), or only the predicate (predicate focus).
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    Philological and Anthropological Analysis With Annotated Translation
    (Addis Ababa University, 2020-09) Wosenseged Kidane Sahile; Mersha Alehegne (PhD)
    The research explores philological and anthropological aspects of herbal medicine. As an interdisciplinary project, the research employed philological and anthropological methods. It aims at elucidating the Ethiopian medicinal system of knowledge based on the Ethiopian medicinal manuscript of ʾƎṣä Däbdabbe. It gives annotated translation of the selected text (NALA 489) and anthropological analysis on the five selected herbs (Qäbärǝččo ቀበርቾ Echinops, Dädäho ደደሆ Eucleaschimperi, Kǝtkǝta ክትክታ Dodonae aviscose, Mǝsǝrǝčǝ ምስርች Clerodendrum myricoides and ḥärägǝresa ሐረግሬሳ Zehneriascabra). It also gives the history of medicinal manuscripts and distribution in and outside of Ethiopia. The study also tries to forward ways to keep medicinal manuscripts of the country towards their revival and assessed Ethiopian policy towards traditional medicine. Comparative and critical investigation were conducted on manuscripts such as Mäṣḥafä Fäws, ʾƎṣä Mädǝḥanit and notes on medicinal prescriptions in varia / marginalia folios of other medicinal manuscripts. The study explored Ethiopian manuscripts and manuscript microfilm collections in Ethiopia, Germany and the United States of America. In addition, it surveyed printed and online catalogues of Ethiopian manuscripts worldwide; and conducted key informant interview with traditional medicine practitioners. The research was conducted in two regions (Maychew and Assosa) and ten practitioners had participated in focus group discussion (FGD). The findings of the research have shown the similarity between the uses laid out in the studied base manuscript and the information obtained from the oral sources.
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    Gädlä FƏqƏrtä KrƏstos: Critical Edition with Annotated Translation
    (Addis Ababa University, 2023-04-18) Zewdie Gebreegziabher; Abba Petros Solomon (PhD)
    This study is a critical edition and annotated translation work on Gädlä FƏqƏrtä KrƏstos, a text which records the life, deeds and struggles of a martyr and monastic figure who lived in the 17th c. during the reign of king Susənyos. St. FƏqƏrtä KrƏstos is regarded as the defender of Orthodox Christianity and venerated as a great martyr, a monastic and a prominent saint by the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahədo Church. She had lived in three ways of life, which is quite unusual and rare: as a married woman, a martyr, and an abbess of a monastery. The Gädl narrates her amazing life from conception to her last breath including her suffering and struggle against king Susənyos and contains her miracles, covenant and mälkƏ’ The Gädl has not been critically studied and catalogued so far. The researcher has made a careful collation of six manuscripts found from three monasteries for the preparation of this edition. Out of the three, two of the monasteries were established by St. FƏqƏrtä KrƏstos. The physical and content descriptions of all the available MSS are demonstrated, including their quire structures illustrated in graphics. The description shows the right order of all folios, the structure of the quires, how they are assembled, how many folios are in each quire and which folios are absent. The edition comprises of the critical apparatus at the foot of each page to indicate the variant readings of the manuscripts, annotated English translation of the Gädl with mälkƏ’, Biblical allusions, linguistic, literary, textual analysis and the genealogical tree or stemma codicum. The dissertation is organized in eight chapters and 484 pages. The text has great significance and value when placed in the historical, social, cultural, philological, and theological contexts of 17th c. Ethiopia,
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    “Šayḫ Nurye ‘Omar and His Amharic ʻAğamī Text of Ğawharāt Al-Tawḥ󠆭id”
    (Addis Ababa University, 2021-06) Moḥammed, Raḥma; Abubeker Dr., Muna
    The spread of Islamic litrature in Ethiopia has a great impact on the Ethiopian indigenous culture, and they used the Arabic loanwords in Ethiopian languages, the other effect on languages is the writing of some Ethiopian languages using the Arabic letters thatis called ʻAğamī. On the other hand, there are few Ethiopian languages written in Arabic letters. Amharic, Oromiffa, Somali, Harari, Afar, Silt`i and Argoba are cases in point. The traditional muslims had their contributions in Islamic sciences and the Arabic language, and they wrote poetry in praise of the prophet Mohammad (PBUH); they write also invaluable poem to teach the people and in order to make clear the teachings of Islam. This study attempts to introduce one of those scholars who had contribution to ʻAğamī, Sheikh Nuriye ‘Omar from Wollo, Amhara region, and to present hisʻAğamī Amharic manuscriptwhich is a translation of an Arabic poem into Amharic poem using Arabic alphabets (ʻAğamī) that deals with Islamic monotheism. The work will further present this manuscript and analyze it from philological and linguistic perspective. Transliteration of theʻAğamī manuscript is given in Amharic alphabet here with annotation. The text was translated from an Arabic origin called Jawharatu al-Tawhid, written by the Egyptian Scholar Sheikh Ibrahim al-Luqani (d.1632).
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    Gädlä Qäwéstos: Critical edition with annotated translation
    (Addis Ababa University, 2021-02) Eshete, Fiseha; Gebreyes PhD, Solomon
    Gädlä Qäwéstos is one of the Ethiopian medieval hagiography, originally it was composed by his disciple Abunä Mäbaýa Séyon. The gädl was briefly narrates about how the saint was born, his mother prenatal period of time full of miracles; such as, since his mother chore the flour for the Holy Communion while her belly touched where our father Qäwéstos had been conceived; and that flour grew to the edge of the sieve and overflowed from it and also descended on the mat of the wheat the flour of the Eucharist, how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia, the distruction of Jerusalem, the controversy of the two Sabbaths and the journey of Abunä Qäwéstos with his father to Jerusalem, The gädl also discusses about his monastic activities, preaching gospel, fighting pagan cults, the construction of churches, finally he became martyrdom; because of he accused king ŸAmdä Séyon of his polygamy marriage; and also his having concubines and also an incestuous liaison with his mother. Following this, ŸAmdä Séyon persecuted him; then, finishing his combat Jesus Christ gave him seven crown and got pact from the Lord God. The study has employed eleven witnesses of Gädlä Qäwéstos that are collected from different monasteries, archives and institutions. The researchser has applied these eleven Mss. for the critical edition. Among the eleven Mss, four of them (G, Q1, Q2 and C) are belong to the 19th century and the rest seven Mss. (N, N1, N2, B, D, I and G) are dated to 20th century. The thesis is organized into seven chapters; the first chapter contains the introductory part which provides the general information about the Ethiopian hagiographies and monastic histories in general and the hagiography of Abunä Qäwéstos in particular. The researcher briefly stated his justification for the re-editing of the gädl and has commented on the previous editions done by the previous researchers. Chapter two is devoted to the contents of the Gädl, the date of the composition and the author of gädl. Finally, the genealogy of the Saint is clearly presented. VII Chapter three covers the method, the textual history of the gädl, description and grouping the manuscripts, and the drawing of the stemma. Chapter four presents the linguistic features and figurative langauges that are extracted from the gädl. Chapter five contains the critical text; and chapter six contains the translation and annotation. Finally, chapter seven presents the summary, conclusions and recommendations. This dissertation aims to reconstructing the original text of Gädlä Qäwéstos applying the Neo-Lachmannian [textual edition] method and translating the text into English accompanied with a detailed commentary. Based on the principle, the eleven witnesses of Gädlä Qäwǝsṭos are grouped into family based on shared common errors (Conjunctive errors). Therefore, the classification of the stemma comes from an archetype [Ω] has two branches [α] and [β] and became bipartite stemma. Again, the two branches also produce the following sub families. The sub archetype [γ] and [η] form the family [α], which is the left wing of the stemma codicum calculated as: N+Q1 = η; N1+I = N2+  = ζ; G+ζ= γ, and the other sub archetype [ε] and [δ] form the family [β] is the right wing of the stemma codicum calculated as: C+D =; Q2+ B = ; Ê+ δ
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    News Framing Analysis of First Round Filling of GERD: Comparative Study on the Ethiopian Herald, Sudan Tribune and Ahram Online Media Outlets
    (Addis Ababa University, 2021-06) Taye Alemayehu, Alemayehu; Mekasha, Prof. Mekuria
    The issue of the GERD has reached its climax when Ethiopia was ready to impound the reservoir leading the three riparian countries /Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt/ to a new round of intense debate disagreement and controversy. Taking this crucial historical moment as an interesting and significant topic of research, this thesis is set out with a key purpose of examining how the media outlets in the three countries reported and framed issues related to the first round filling of the GERD. The Ethiopian Herald, Sudan Tribune and Ahram online with their news stories written from June 1st to July 31st have been examined. Ten news stories from each media outlet have been studied in conjunction with in-depth interviews and close examination of related literatures to provide the thesis with additional substance. Theoretical framework utilized for the study is framing and agenda setting theories. Research findings revealed that the Ethiopian Herald and Ahram online have reported extensively about the first impoundment of the GERD than Sudan Tribune. Prominent frames observed in The Ethiopian Herald were Natural rights frame, exclusion frame and mutual benefit frame. Sudan Tribune has prominently used economic consequence frame and conflict frame while Ahram online inclined to dominantly utilize historic rights frame and conflict frame. The issue of the first round filling of the GERD has been reported and framed in a distinctive manner that goes in line with the interest of their respective countries and the agenda setting policy of the media outlets in focus. Drawing a recommendation from the research a couple of reflections has been forwarded for further studies to be conducted on the issue of the GERD. Impartiality, balance and professionalism have also been recommended for the three media outlets studied under this research.
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    Philological and Textual Analysis of Gädlä Məlkam
    (Addis Ababa University, 2021-07) Getie, Muluneh; Solomon PhD., Abba Petros
    Ethiopian has developed a rich Ethiopic, Gǝʿǝz, literary tradition since the Aksumite period. This rich literary tradition embraces different literary genres such as Bible, Homily, Hagiography, and History which are translated from foreign languages- Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, Arabic- and other local developments of Gǝʿǝz literatures. These different genres of Gǝʿǝz literatures have both religious and secular values and contribute higher significance for the overall understanding of Ethiopia. This thesis tries to analyze Gädlä Məlkam so as to explore different facts and elements hidden in it. Gädlä Məlkam is a local Gǝʿǝz hagiography which tells about the life of Saint Məlkam- his birth, growth, monastic life, education, combating, miracles, and death. Even though the gädl includes several intertwined significances, it is still far from the eyes of the philological researchers; it has not been studied, and even has not been catalogued yet. Therefore, the aim of this study is to introduce the manuscript of Gädlä Məlkam and to examine different valuable elements, namely philological, historical, cultural, social, literary, linguistic, religious which are included in it. The primary data source for the study is a manuscript of Gädlä Məlkam which is found in the monastery of Kəbran Gabriel and the National Archive and Library Agency (NALA) being both microfilmed and digitalized. As a result of deep qualitative analysis of the manuscript it is estimated, using philological tools, that the gädl was composed in the first half of 16th century. The subject of the gädl, Məlkam, is the saint who has combated and did several miracles in the monastery of Däbrä Halleluya found in the Western Tigray. In addition to his monastic life, he is described in the manuscript as he was Bible scholar, author, prophet of the New Testament and singer of the chant of St. Yared. As findings, the manuscript comprises different values and importance which are significant for both religious and secular purposes. Among the investigated values of the manuscript philological, historical, social, cultural, theological, literary, and linguistic elements are included.
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    Forensic Linguistic in Analysis of Suspects’ and Witnesses’ Expressions in Selected Criminal Cases: The Case of Federal Courts in Addis Ababa
    (Addis Ababa University, 2021-02) Assefa, Zinawork; Yimam Prof., Baye
    Crime is rapidly growing and evolving around the world. This phenomenon has been attracting the interest of different fields of studies. Also, in forensic linguistics, studies are being done and developed from time to time in exposing criminals. This study focuses on bribery, sexual misconduct, and murder cases. The research has been prompted because no studies have been done, and there is no practice and experience of the implementation of forensic linguistic skills in the courts and police stations. Therefore, the study has designed the following research questions. These are (1) what are the linguistic features attested in bribery cases? (2) What are distinctive linguistic features verified in the language of murder cases? (3) What are the linguistic features ascribed in the language of sexual crime cases? (4) How do direct and cross-examination questions play a role in courtroom investigations? And (5) what are the linguistic tools and procedures used to detect language threats in courtrooms? The study carried out recording and observation tools and explanatory and exploratory designs, and the data is analyzed qualitatively. Then, the study has identified linguistic cues of bribery, murder, and sexual misconduct cases. These include avoiding liabilities, contradictions, use of the pronoun, social introduction, change in reference, temporal lacuna, passive voice, false supportive evidence, and fabricated time or date. Besides, the study has identified features of cross-examination and direct-examination questions and answers of recorded and unrecorded themes. On the one hand, direct-examination questions and unrecorded themes have been used to meet the demands of the person who is called to testify. On the other hand, cross-examination questions are used to test the truth about events and to impose one-sided intentions and win the case. Competitions on both sides focus on winning the case, and at the time of direct examination question, some witnesses are forced to speak more than they know. On the contrary, the opposing side uses a cross-examination to terminate testimony has been given by the witness. To do this, the prosecutor/attorney has used different types of questions, such as declarative, tag, modal verb, and projection questions.
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    Mäśǝhafä Hawi Content Analysis of Revenge
    (Addis Ababa Universiy, 2021-09) Lidetewold, Ayisanew; Assefa, Dr. Abba Daniel
    Throughout history, literary knowledge and wisdom is a part of human life. As we know,Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries that developed a rich literature. Most of the ancient Manuscripts that reflect this literature are studied by foreign scholars, in their own languages for their national institutions. Yet there is still much to be studied both abroad and locally. Modern studies to be carried out by Ethiopian scholars face the challenge of financial constraints and lack of research material.This research intends to offer a content analysis of selected readings from Mäśǝhafä Hawi, more precisely the readings that focus on the theme of revenge, with their annotated translations. This thesis follows a qualitative approach. Both primary and secondary data sources are treated textually and philologically based on the study of revenge.The conclusions of the study have mainly focused on the analysis of the selected texts from the readings of Mäśǝhafä Hawi. The selected texts are approached philologically and translated by paying attention to foreign and ambiguous words. Besides, the alphabetical errors are edited.Furthermore, the thesis attempts to analyze the selected portions from the manuscript. The background history and philological works for Mäśǝhafä Hawi are taken into consideration.The conceptual implications are discussed to achieve the goal of the study and for the better understanding of human society. This research on the Book of Hawi will hopefully open the door for further studies on this area.Finally, it is hoped that the study of such texts will contribute to the society at large by inspiring all ecclesiastical, governmental and private organizations who are concerned with the values of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.
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    Mäṣḥafä Qedär (መጽሐፈ፡ ቄደር): Critical Edition and Annotated Translation
    (Addis Ababa University, 2021-09) Girume, Beaman; Assefa, Dr. Abba Daniel
    Mäṣḥafä Qedär (መጽሐፈ፡ ቄደር), produced in the 16th century, is a type of liturgical book designed to purify people who have denied their faith and who have defiled their flesh with unbelievers through sexual intercourse. However, MQ is one of the many Ethiopic texts that have not been scientifically studied and critically edited. The main purpose of this study was to reconstruct and approximate the text of MQ into its original content as much as possible, for the text has lost its original content due to copyists errors either intentionally or unintentionally. In order to do this, the medium-sized recension was selected, for the short and long recensions are not analyzable due to their inadequacies for the task of critical edition. The specific reason I was not able to work for the long recension was because it was problematic as መጽሐፈ፡ ባርቶስ (Mäṣḥafä Barətos), another book, was embedded into MQ. Upon a preliminary reading of the eight witnesses that were accessible, it was learnt that there existed differences among them. Thus, a critical edition that employed the Neo-Lachmannian method was prepared followed by an annotated translation of MQ from Geez into English. Consequently, the results from the critical edition revealed the existence of variations among the different witnesses of MQ. Hence, the hypothetical relationships of these families (α and β) and subfamilies (γ, δ and ε) to their ancestors may be written as: Ω = (α (γ[A + H] + [D]) + β (δ[B + C] + ε[E + F + G])). The emendation procedure followed this stemmatic formula.
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    The syntax of simple declarative clauses in zaysse
    (Addis Ababa University, 1989-06) Yemer, Teshome; Yimer, baye (PhD)
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    Word Formation in Oremo
    (Addis Ababa University, 1993-06) Negassa, Temesgen; Yimam, Ambaye (PhD)
    Word formation is a process of creatin9 new words from existing . _a. Derivation aDll ceape\IIIIIU.Df are tile .. at c_n precessea ef word formation. Xn this study, an atteapt is aade to des=i.e such verd foraation processes in Oromo. The aain body of the paper haa two parts. Xn the first part derviational processes are described. Xt is shown that different lexical categories are derived by adding various affixes to bases belonging to different lexical categories; and that the addition of the affixes entails different properties of phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. In the second part, the process of compounding is desCribed. Xt is shown that different lexical categories are formed by combining two words or stems ; and that such a process also entails different phonological, IIOrphological, syntactic and seaantic characteristics. Furtheraore, the gaps to be found in the combination of different lexical categories in word formation of the language are explained.
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    The Focus System in Oromo ( A functional Grammar Approach )
    (Addis Ababa University, 1990-06) Yassin, Tara; Wedekind, Kiaus (PhD)
    This study deals with the function of focus in Oromo. It attempts to ShO~1 the different me chanisms in which focus functions are realized. Dik (1978) developed the theory of FG with the view point of functional nature of a l anguage . It is stated in his stud y that ~agmatic Functi on is one of the three levels of Functional nations. Focus is regarded as one of the four 1f.ragmat ic Functions. Focus presents .,ha t is r el ative ly the most important or salient informa,tion in ~ given setting . Even though Focus is a universal fa~ture of any language~ 'he types, the scopes, the functions and d istribution of Focus vary from language to language. The " :" distri):JUtion of fo study exam ines the types, the scopes, the funct:l.Ons .Ailu.,,~ll Oromo in the light of Dik (1978) and (1989) . The study has three chapter.: In CMpiiar:
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    The Noun Phrase in Awngi
    (Addis Ababa University, 1984-06) Mengistu, Taddesse; Manahlot, Demissie (PhD)
    This thesis attempts to examine the syntactic structures of the noun phrase in Awngi. The ~aper contains three chapters including the conclusion. Chapter 1 explains the background work of the thesis which involves a description about the lcgew people, the Agew language and its classificat ion, studies on Awngi and the purpose of the study. Chapter 2 discusses the noun phrase in Awngi. In so doing, methods of identifying l.wngi noun phrases and the internal structure of the ~oun phrase, the distribution of the constituents, external distribution and functions of the noun phrase in j,wngi have been presented. Chapter 3 deals with a summary of the major points discussed in the thesis. Awngi is an inflectional language. 1 Any syntactic analysis may not be clearly discussed without an attempt of its morpho~ogical categories. Hence, a brief description of the noun morphology (gender, number and case inflections) has been appended to help readers understand the various inflectional elements in the thesis.
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    Standardization of Oromo: Orthographic and Lexical Perspectives
    (AAU, 2021-06) Leshyibelu Gelaglie, Desalegn; Negesse, Feda(PhD)
    This study describes the orthographic and lexical standardization of Oromo. Qualitative research design was employed to describe the orthographic and lexical standardization of Oromo. Both primary and secondary sources of data were used. Focus group discussions and an interview were the primary sources of data; whereas the documents compiled by the standardization committee of Oromo and the primary and secondary school textbooks were the secondary sources of data. Even though there are a number of scholars who argue for and against the use of Roman based script, this study argues that Roman based script (Qubee) should be continued to write Oromo as a result of the linguistic, practical, acceptance and from the country's language policy point of views. Despite its occurrence in the various texts of Oromo, and its inclusion as an independent phoneme in the phonemic inventory of the language, the grapheme for the glottal stop is still not devised. Hence, this study, strongly recommends that it has to be represented with grapheme. Since the main reason for opting Roman based script is to mark the geminated realization of grapheme, this study argues that the sounds represented by the digraphs have to be marked when geminated. Though it requires experimental investigation, the graphamatic representation of the ejectives [t’], [k’], [tʃ’] and [p’] may affect the maximum transfer of skills and may have a negative impact on the transfer of reading skills in English and Oromo as the graphemes with which these phonemes are represented are not the same in both languages. This pedagogical and transfer of reading skill challenges can be resolved via replacing the existing graphemes , , and by , , and respectively. The geminated realization can better be marked via doubling ony the first letter to be economical. The current alphabetic alignment of characters of the language is not systematic, particularly with regard to the order of digraphs in the alphabet. Hence, the study suggests the revisiting of the alphabetic order of the language.The finding also revealed that there are variations when writing Oromo ordinals, compounds, abbreviations, lexical and other word spacing related problems are the challenges of the standardization process of the language. The study believes that variation is due to the lack of codification and coordination among the stakeholders. Concerning the lexical elaboration strategy, both internal and external meanes are extensively applied in both the documents of the standardization committee of Oromo and in the textbooks to enrich the language. Semantic extension, derivation, compounding, blending, abbreviations, borrowing and loan translation are among the means which are used to elaborate i the language. Abbreviation and semantic extension are less productive in documents of the standardization committee of Oromo than in the textbooks. Semantic extension and borrowing and are more extensively used in the textbooks than in the documents of SCO. Meaning extension, derivation, compounding, blending, borrowing and loan translation are the most productive means of lexical elaboration in Oromo. All loanwords in Oromo are subject to modification. Regarding source language preferences, English is the main source of loanwords of Oromo as English is well developed to express scientific and technological concepts followed by Amharic, Arabic, Italian, Swahili and French. Greek loanwords are almost none in Oromo
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    The Language of Headlines in Amharic Newspapers
    (AAU, 2021-06) Tizazu Desta, Yoseph; Sisay, Binyam(PhD)
    This study constitutes a linguistic account of newspaper language, an aspect of media language. There are only few studies that investigated the language of the media at depth though language is at the heart of media communication (Aitchison & Diana 2003: 1). Likewise, a linguistic study of newspapers has not got any attention in Ethiopia. This study was, thus, set out to explore prominent linguistic properties that characterize the language of Amharic newspapers by taking headlines, as a case in focus. The analysis was made on 1852 news headlines collected from four Amharic newspapers, namely addis admas, addis nəgər, addis zəmən and riportər, which were selected based on their high circulation rate and coverage of wider topics. The data were collected from these newspapers on randomly chosen issues for four months between March 2008 and October 2008 G.C. A simple frequency analysis was made to discern some potential patterns in the frequency of occurrences of the headlines. Thereafter, the observed linguistic data were described and explained using a combination of stylistic approach, Accessibility Theory, audience design and an evaluative language framework. Headlines in the Amharic newspapers demonstrate certain grammatical features. Names with different formats are predominantly employed to refer to news actors in news headlines. This usage violates the Accessibility Theory which stipulates the use of the most explicit referring expressions text-initially. The use of lower and high accessibility markers instead of the lowest accessibility markers in headlines may be motivated by the need to get the attention of readers and to prompt them to read the rest of the news story. Constituents, which are obligatory for the production of a well-formed and acceptable sentence, are omitted in news headlines. Most of the ellipses cannot be easily recovered either from the situational or structural contexts. The use of such unorthodox grammatical structures may be associated with the respective newspapers’ desire to enhance the relevance of the news stories for their readers, and hence increasing their readership and attract advertisers, which are their sources of income. Most of the conventional and complex structures found in the headlines of the Amharic broadsheet newspapers, however, tend to meet the ideational function. ii Another feature of the headlines is that the perfective aspect is predominantly used to express actions, events or processes which are completed, implying non-recency in the news stories. Headline writers resort to other tenses and aspectual categories in response to some pragmatic factors, such as to entertain an additional voice in the text (heteroglossic situation) and to make the action relevant to the readers (interpersonal function). Basic-level vocabulary occurs with high frequency across the four Amharic newspapers’ headlines. Occurring in the headlines also include overtly emotive vocabulary items, words with strong phonic effects that form alliteration and rhyme, shortened forms of phrases in the forms of abbreviations, acronyms and blends, low-level items and borrowed words. Specifically, the borrowings in the headlines do not only occur owing to cultural differences between the donor languages and Amharic but also due to stylistic factors. In all the declarative headlines, a punctuating point (።) marking the ending of a clause is virtually non-existent though interrogative headlines are marked by a question mark, and quotation marks are regularly used to indicate attributed material. Such usages are associated with the need to save space and to enhance pace in reading the headlines. The headlines of the Amharic newspapers contain evaluative terms which indicate the opinions or attitudes of the respective journalists or the newspapers. It proved that news reports, which have been widely described as ‘faceless’ are subjective and impartial. Based on the degree and extent of adopting some or all of these features at the levels of grammar lexicon and semantics, the four Amharic newspapers were categorized into two. Accordingly, addis zəmən and riportər demonstrate features of a broadsheet newspaper, while addis nəgər and addis admas exhibit the characteristics of a tabloid newspaper. There are, however, certain overlapping features in these newspapers. Evaluations along the lines of negativity and expectedness, which are supposed to feature more in tabloids, are dominantly found in addis zəmən and reporter, respectively. The use of more full clause headlines, which are normally the attribute of a broadsheet newspaper, are observed in addis admas that demonstrates more features of a tabloid. In using these linguistic patterns in their headlines, the Amharic newspapers are accommodating and responding to the language habits of their respective readership, which is what Bell (1984:159) called audience design. iii The study would be a contribution to our general understanding of linguistic variation which is induced by situational factors, such as medium and function. It also benefits the existing practice of headline crafting and language pedagogy. On the basis of the data analysis and the conclusions drawn, two issues pertinent to the Amharic newspapers in question require attention. Firstly, longer words and expressions as well as reportive passives and needless repetitions that commonly occur in the headlines of addis zəmən and riportər do not only affect clarity but also their sincerity. These newspapers should, therefore, give serious attention to this concern so as to enhance intelligibility in the headlines and to improve the credibility of the newspapers. Secondly, loanwords are overriding, particularly in addis admas and addis nəgər. As this hinders quick comprehension, efforts should primarily be made to exploit the linguistic resources available in Amharic not only to avoid core borrowings but also to make up new words at least for some of the cultural borrowings.
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    Documentation and Grammatical Description of Gwama
    (AAU, 2021-06) Getu Gebeyehu, Andargachew; Leyew Temesgen, Zelealem( Professor)
    This dissertation was begun with the intention of describing the Grammar of Gwama and presenting annotated multimedia documentation of riddles, tales, and cultural practices of the ethnic group. To comprehensively describe the language and produce multimedia documentation, corpus data were collected from Gwama speaking group using different data collection methods. The data sources were communicative events such as elicitations, observed communicative events, and staged communicative events. The data were results of four stages of fieldwork activities. In the four-round fieldworks, consultants from different villages of Mao-Komo Special Woreda took part in this study, and the main sites of data collection were Tongo, Zebsher, and Asosa. The linguistic description of the language is presented in this dissertation in six chapters excluding the introductory one, which gives an overview of the Gwama ethnic group and their language. The issues covered in six chapters are phonology, noun morphology, pronouns, verb morphology, modifiers, and syntax. The phonology chapter presents consonant and vowel phonemes of the language, syllable structure, tone, phonological processes, and morphophonological processes. Gwama has 22 consonant phonemes, and the glottal stop /ʔ/ has a marginal status. These phonemes consist of six stops (/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, and /ɡ/), four ejectives (/p’/, /t’/, /k’/, and /s’/) four fricatives (/f/, /s/, /z/, and /ʃ/), four nasals (/m/, /n/, /ɲ/, and /ŋ/), two liquids (/l/ and /r/), and two glides (/w/ and /j/). All these consonants appear in all environments except the fricatives /z/ and /h/, the nasal /ŋ/, and the glide /w/. The alveolar fricative /z/, the glottal fricative /h/, and the glide /w/ are not attested word finally, whereas the velar nasal /ŋ/ is not recorded word initially. The language allows a sequence of two consonants word medially and finally. Dominantly occurring consonant cluster (C1C2) is formed from a sonorant and an obstruent. In a bunch of lexemes having consonant sequence, a phoneme that appears first (C1) is nasal, and in limited instances such a phoneme is lateral. A consonant that dominantly appears next (C2) can be a stop, a fricative, or a nasal phoneme. There are five phonemic vowels along with equal number of long counterparts in the language. The schwa /ə/ and the front open-mid vowel /ɛ/ seem to have phonetic status. In fact, the schwa is mainly attested in connected speeches. Gwama has both open and closed syllable structures. In this regard, the syllable template of the language can be (C)V(V)(C)(C). The language is tonal, and three contrastive level tones (High (H), Mid (M), and Low (L)) are identified. Long vowels seem to have a rising (LH) and a falling (HL) viii tones, which requires further investigation. Tone in Gwama has lexical and grammatical role. Phonological processes such as labialization, assimilation, and vowel nasalization undergo word internally. The morphophonemic processes such as vowel deletion and reduplication are common in Gwama. The noun morphology of the language covers inflectional and derivational issues. The Gwama nouns are not morphologically marked for gender. Gender is identified through either with gender identifying definite markers –te/-e for masculine and –to/-o for feminine or suffixing gender-identifying lexemes kikjata „female‟ and kikeːzi „male‟. Prepositios serve as analytic case markers. The language is not rich in its derivational morphology. A relatively productive way of noun formation is compounding. Similar to other Koman languages, Gwama has subject and object personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. Subject and Object pronouns are identical. Verb morphology of the language includes issues like inflection and derivation, aspect/tense, and copula constructions. The language has different forms of modifiers, such as adjectives, adpositions, and numerals. The constituent order of phrases and clauses indicate that Gwama follows SVO structure, though sometimes SOV word order appears during conversations. Finally, it seems important to suggest that those who took the initiative in developing orthography and preparing teaching materials may consider this document as data source
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    A Discourse Analysis of Gender Representation in Oromo Cultural Marriage (Wedding) Practices: The Case of Sakala District, Horo Guduru Wolloga Zone
    (Addis Ababa University, 2013-07) Teshome, Zeleke; Beriso, PhD. !talo
    This study analyses how discourse is used to represent gender in cultural wedding practices among the Oromo of Sakala District, Horo Guduru Wollega Zone. To do this, it embarks on a detailed analysis of cultural wedding songs, proverbs, linguistic taboos and material symbols during the ceremony. The study is situated within the qualitative paradigm and uses qualitative methods of data collection; namely, observation, interviews and focus group discussions. Data were collected ji'om observation of betrothed young couple, the parents' of the marrying couple, the chorus ./i'om both sides, the young best men and the elderly people. The descriptions of cultural peljormances, events and activities were also blended with their analysis. The descriptions were accompanied by different photos and images of marriage ceremony participants, material things, and settings. It also made use of interviews with men and women, manying couple and their parents regarding gender representation practices in an arranged marriage through language for validation purposes. Moreover, focus group discussions with women and men were made to tap information about women '.I' and men '.I' perceptions of gender representation practices. Data collected through the above tools were analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Arguing from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) theoretical position, this thesis seeks to analyse how marriage partner relationships of dominance, power and control are constitufed and expressed in the discourse practices of arranged marriage. The thesis also applied the tenets of Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) to analyse clauses and multimodal texts mainly./i'om the pOint of transitivity, modality and theme based on the objective and Research Questions. Thematic approach has been used in order to focus on the presentation and analysis of the data. The findings of the study indicated that the dominant representations noted for men through cultural wedding songs show their commanding nature and holders of dominant positions within marriage, negotiators of propositions, and orchestrators of actions who have the final say in making things done in marriage life. However, while both men and some women construct women within deficit discourses, wedding songs do not match with eilher women's enacted