Shabo (also called Mikeyir) is an endangered language spoken by less than 1,000 hunter-gatherers in southwestern Ethiopia, in the south-central portion of the former Illubabor province. Many of its speakers are shifting to other neighboring languages, in particular Majang and Shakicho; its vocabulary is heavily influenced by loanwords from both these languages, particularly Majang, as well as Amharic. Its classification is uncertain; it may be Nilo-Saharan (Anbessa & Unseth 1989), or may be a language isolate (Ehret 1995). It was first reported to be a separate language by Lionel Bender in 1977, using a wordlist gather by the missionary Harvey Hoekstra. It is currently (as of 2004) being studied by Daniel Aberra of Addis Ababa University.

Sounds

Consonants:

The consonants are:

Consonants in brackets are suspected of being non-phonemic (by Tefera and Unseth); several of these seem to be in free variation. Consonant length is found in several words, such as walla "goat", kutti "knee".

Phonetically, the vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, ɪ, ə, ɛ (short and long). It is not clear which of these are phonemic.

The language is tonal, but its tonology is unclear. One minimal pair is cited by Tefera & Unseth: há "kill" versus hà "meat".

Grammar

Syntax

Basic word order is subject-object-verb; there are postpositions rather than prepositions.

Pronouns

The pronouns "I" and "he" have been compared to Surmic languages; however, there are also resemblances in the pronouns with the Omotic Gunza language (Bender 1983.)

Verbs

Negation is by adding the particle be after the verb or noun negated: gumu be "(it is) not (a) stick", ʔam be-gea "he will not come" ("come not-?"). Negative forms in b are widespread in Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic languages.

There appears to be a causative suffix -ka: mawo hoop, "water boiled" > upa mawo hoop-ka "(a) man boiled water".

A particle git (infinitive? subjunctive?) marks the verb in constructions with "want": moopa git inɗeet ("sit git want") "I want to sit".

Much of the verbal morphology is uncertain; there appears to be a 3rd person singular future suffix -g- (eg inɗage t'a-g "he will eat") and a 2nd person plural suffix -ɗe (eg subuk maakɛle kak t'a-ɗe "You (pl.) ate corn", "you-pl. corn past? eat-2nd-pl.")

Nouns

The plural system is unclear. Three plural forms given by one person were:

• "house" ɗoku > "houses" ɗokuk
• "dog" kaal/kaan > "dogs" kaalu/kaanu
• "leg" bicca > "legs" biccaka

However, another speaker did not form separate plurals at all, or added them by uniformly adding the word yɛɛro afterwards.

There is a suffix -k which seems to sometimes mark the direct object, eg upa kaan-ik ye "a man saw a dog" ("man dog saw"). A similar suffix is found in many Eastern Sudanic languages.

Postpositions

Shabo uses postpositions after nouns, eg: upa mana pond ɗɛpik moi "a man sat on a rock" (lit. "man rock on ? sat").

Numbers

The number system, as given by Tefera and Unseth, is as follows:

1. iŋki
2. bap
3. jiita
4. aŋan
5. tuul
6. tulu(ŋ/m)
7. tulikakiŋki (possibly error for 6?)
8. tunajiita
9. tulaaŋan
10. bapif (bap if = "two hands")
11. mabafifiŋki

and 20 is iŋk upa kor ("one person complete").

Sample sentences

mawo hoop: water boiled

upa mawo hoop-ka: A man boiled water (lit. "man water boiled-caus.")

gumu be: it is not a stick (lit. "stick not".)

ma gumu: it is a stick (lit. "stick ?")

dɛrbakan kaal nu ɗe-be: Derbakan does not have a dog (lit. "Derbakan dog poss.? ?-not")

dɛrbakan kaal nu yaaŋk: Derbakan has a dog (lit. "Derbakan dog poss.? positive?")

ʔam be-gea: he will not come (lit. "come not-?")

inɗigi am-k: he will come (lit. "? come ?")

tin-ta be-ge: he will not eat (lit. "? eat not ?")

inɗage t'a-g: he will eat (lit. "? eat ?")

paar bap: two snakes (lit. "snake two")

upa kaan-ik ye: a man saw a dog (lit. "man dog-obj. saw")

kaan upa-k ye: a dog saw a man (lit. "dog man-obj. saw")

koto upa dɛpik ye: a woman saw a man (lit. "woman man tense? saw")

gom c'uwa t'a: fire burned wood (lit. "fire wood ate")

cu ɗɛpik ibalabiyan-an ɗe (word divisions uncertain): you (pl.) came (lit. "you(pl.) ? ? come-2pl.")

subuk maakɛle kak t'a-ɗe: you (pl.) ate corn (lit. "you(pl.) corn aux? eat-2pl.")

wo ka git inɗeet: I want to drink (lit. "drink ? infin.? want")

moopa git inɗeet: I want to sit (lit. "sit ? infin.? want")

abiyaŋge: they came

upa kakaak jaal kaki ye ʔam: I saw the man who came yesterday (lit. "man came yesterday ? saw ?")

upa mana pond ɗɛpik moi: a man sat on a rock (lit. "man rock on aux.? sat")

Lexicon

Main article: Shabo lexicon.

Bibliography

• Peter Unseth. 1984. Shabo (Mekeyir). A first discussion of classification and vocabulary. [Unpublished manuscript]
• Tefera Anbessa and Peter Unseth. 1989. "Toward the classification of Shabo (Mikeyir)." In M. Lionel Bender (ed.), Topics in Nilo-Saharan linguistics, 405-18. Nilo-Saharan, 3. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. ISBN 3-87118-927-8 (NISA 3). (This was the primary source for this article.)
• Tefera Anbessa. 1991. "A Sketch of Shabo Grammar". in: M. Lionel Bender (ed.), 1991, Proceedings of the Fourth Nilo Saharan Conference Bayreuth, Aug. 30.
• Fleming, Harold C. 1991. "Shabo: presentation of data and preliminary classification", in: M. Lionel Bender (ed.), 1991, Proceedings of the Fourth Nilo Saharan Conference Bayreuth, Aug. 30.
• Teferra Anbessa 1991. "A sketch of Shabo grammar", in: M. Lionel Bender (ed.), 1991, Proceedings of the Fourth Nilo Saharan Conference Bayreuth, Aug. 30.
• Teferra Anbessa. 1995. "Brief phonology of Shabo (Mekeyir)". Robert Nicolaï et Franz Rottland, eds., Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium. Nice, 24-29 août 1992. Proceedings, pp.169-193. Köln, Köppe Verlag. Sep. 2, 1989 (Nilo-Saharan 7), Hamburg: Helmut Buske. pp. 29-38.
• Christopher Ehret. 1995. "Do Krongo and Shabo belong in Nilo-Saharan?". Robert Nicolaï et Franz Rottland, eds., Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium. Nice, 24-29 août 1992. Proceedings, pp.169-193. Köln, Köppe Verlag. Sep. 2, 1989 (Nilo-Saharan 7), Hamburg: Helmut Buske. pp. 389-402. ISBN 3-927620-72-6.

External links

• Red Book of Endangered Languages (http://www.tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Redbook/Africa/AF_src.cgi?language0=0&language1=0&language2=0&language3=0&language4=Shabo&language5=0)
• Ethnologue report (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=SBF)