A Grammar of Haro With Comparative Notes on The Ometo Linguistic Group
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Date
2004-02
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The aim of this study is two-folded. The first one is providing a thorough
description of the Haro language, while the second one is offering some comparative
and historical notes on the Ometo linguistic group, which Haro belongs to. The two
aspects complement each other. The data for the comparative analysis is derived
from the description of Haro. Presenting the Haro data within a comparative
framework, on the other hand, discloses more facts about the Haro language and the
relationship it has with the others.
Although it particularly emphasizes on the morphological domain, the
description, however, also covers the phonological and syntactic structures of the
language. Haro is an interesting language from typological and historical perspectives.
For instance, the Haro language shows an intricate system of focus marking that
affects the morpho-syntactic properties and categorization of a verb. The language
has a three-way number-marking system that distinguishes among the singular, paucal
and plural number values. The numeral system of Haro is not attested to anywhere
else in the Ometo linguistic group. An elaborated system of mood and modality is
also observed in Haro.
The second part of the study, dealing with comparative and historical notes on
certain morphological aspects of the Ometo languages, adds to our understanding of
the Ometo linguistic group. It shows how certain grammatical aspects in the Ometo
languages operate. It also reconstructs the archaic systems for the Proto-Ometo
language. Issues addressed in the second part include the system of terminal vowels of
nominals, the system of number marking of nouns and the system of definite marking
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of nouns. In addition, the pronoun systems across the Ometo languages are
investigated, in which the short and long pronoun paradigms in the Ometo languages
are particularly explored, properties of the two sets of pronouns are characterized, the
relationship between the two sets is described and an etymological interpretation that
relates the third person singular pronouns with the remote demonstrative is offered.
Furthermore, an investigation into the numeral system of the Ometo languages
is made. A historical quinary numeral system is reconstructed and etymological
interpretations are provided for the quinary base as well as some of the basic
numerals. The quinary base, which stands for the value of ‘five’, is etymologically
related to the quantifier expression ‘many’.
From the comparative notes, the relationship among the different sub-branches
and different members of Ometo is disclosed. Haro, together with a few other
members, appears to be conservative, preserving two gender-sensitive archaic definite
markers, which have been lost totally or partially from most of the other members of
Ometo.
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Keywords
Grammar of Haro