Language Maintenance Among Afan Oromo Speakers in Addis Ababa
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Date
2009-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The objective of this thesis is to study language maintenance among Afan Oromo speakers in Addis Ababa. Because Afan Oromo speakers in Addis Ababa are scattered through out the city, it was hardly possible to find a community quarter. Therefore, the researcher was obliged to screen out places where the speakers could be found in a good number. Accordingly, two protestant churches and three organizations where Afan Oromo is used as an official language were randomly selected.
Out of these places 145 sample speakers of which 15 were children were randomly selected. A questionnaire, an interview and observation were conducted in order to come up with the required data. The collected data were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods. Frequencies and percentages as well as mean score values were calculated for each item on the questionnaire based on its nature.
The findings show that Afan Oromo is dominantly used at home. However, the old, female and low educational level respondent’ Afan Oromo use is very important. It was also found to be the dominant language of the expressions of emotion, force and authority as well as religious practices among the target groups. The language is also considerably used by respondents with their neighbours and at their work places. Bilingualism was also found to be visible among the speakers while communicating with people at their work places and in the neighbourhood.
The sample linguistic data collected from the speakers does not show a significant symptom of Afan Oromo language shift. The speakers were found to have a positive attitude towards the language. The old, highly educated and female respondents generally manifest stronger positive attitude towards the language compared to the young, low educational level and male respondents.
The findings also show that the language is being transferred to the children by the respondents and the young, highly educated and male respondents contribute much in this respect. In addition, the maintenance of the language has been found to be supported by OCTB (Oromia Culture and Tourism Bureau).
The respondents were found to be equally proficient both in Amharic and Afan Oromo. The first born and the second born children of the target groups have a good proficiency in Afan Oromo. However, their proficiency in Amharic is lesser for the second born children than the first born ones which show that the younger children are more inclined to Afan Oromo.
Generally, Afan Oromo was found be a safe language which is normally used among the research participants and is being maintained and transferred to the younger generation in Addis Ababa.
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Language Maintenance