Southern Oromo, or Borana (after one of its dialects), is a variety of Oromo spoken in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya by the Borana people. Günther Schlee also notes that it is the native language of a number of related peoples, such as the Sakuye.
Dialects are Borana proper (Boran, Borena), possibly Arsi (Arussi, Arusi) and Guji (Gujji, Jemjem) in Ethiopia and, in Kenya, Karayu, Salale (Selale), and Gabra (Gabbra, Gebra).
Boraana Oromo is one of the many Oromo languages spoken amongst Ethiopians and Kenyans. Boraana Oromo (Southern Oromo) derives from the Afrosiatic language family whilst belonging to the Cushitic branch. Oromo has the largest number of speakers out the Cushitic branch at an estimated 37 million. Out of the 37 million Oromo speakers up to 18 million are speaking Boraana Oromo. The Boraana speakers and people are solely based in the southern region (Oromia) of Ethiopia and the northern frontier district of Kenya. Most Kenyan Boraana people can be found in towns like Tula, Garba, Isiolo and Marsabit. Young Ethiopians that have migrated to Marsabit have very strong knowledge of the Boraana language. Boraana is a major dialect of the Oromo language but as of yet does not have extensive easily accessible information documented.
Commonly Boraana is referred to locally as Afaan Borana and has been spelled and described several different ways (Borana, Boraana, Borena, Booranaa, Southern Oromo).The Gadaa system (an age-grading system) also known as generation grading, has been practiced without interruption by the Boraana people. This Gadaa practice can only be found within a handful of Cushitic speaking societes in Ethiopia. The Boraana people, practices and language are fascinating and even in current times only a couple books written have a clear in depth description on the topic of Boraana Oromo phonology and morhphology (Harry Stroomers Grammar of Boraana Oromo and his other Studies of Oromo in general).
The Boraana dialect of Oromo is an important depiction of Southern Oromo and has unique systems that make up the language. Though Boraana is unique in its own systems, it does share some cluster simplification rules in the verb paradigm with Orma (another Southern Oromo dialect). Previously B. W. Andrzejewski conducted a studies of Boraana Oromo particularly in tone, phonetics, phonology as well as plural formations (1957, 1960, 1962, 1972). In 1973 an informative Boraana dictionary, , was written and published by Venturino but lacked consistent transcription. In 1978 the Bible Society of Kenya published (The New Testament in Borana) and , the Boraana Genesis translation. In both 1980 and 1982 Owens conducted mentionable and important studies on 'case' and 'tone' in Boraana. Overall a few scholars have conducted valuable contributions to the overall available written text on Boraana Oromo.
History Oromo is valued as an important African language, and according to Grover Hudson it is "one of the five or six most important languages in Africa". Previously the Oromo population were referred to as "Galla" (the term description disputed) but have adapted the self name Oromo to indicate themselves, or make use of their tribe name. The Oromo are more than 7000 years old and originated in southern Ethiopia expanding once the Oromo migrations began near 1530. There are 15 Oromo dialects with the possibility of more that have not been documented. These dialects are split into three major groups: Western, Eastern and Southern. Ethiopia has the largest amount of Oromo speakers with 33.8% or around 27 million, whilst Kenya has a relatively lower amount around 300,000 and Somalia with a mentionable 45,000. Oromo is one of the official languages in Ethiopia but brings mixed reactions among its use. Kenya does not recognize Oromo as an official language and continues to keep its distance as a whole. Though the elder Kenyans still use Oromo the younger generation operate solely on Swahili and English, the two officially recognized languages.
Dialects Oromo can be divided into three dialect groups: west central, eastern, and southern.
West Central Oromo Raya Wollo Salale Shoa/Tulama Wellegga/Mecha Eastern Oromo Harar
Southern Oromo Kereyu Arsi Barentu Guji Boraana Gabra Orma Sakuye Munyo
Phonology Within the Boraana language there are consonants, allophones of consonants, vowels and stress. Boraana Oromo is a tonal language and is unique but has common similarities with some of the other dialects of Oromo. The smallest unit of meaningful sound are called phonemes and are present within the Boraana language. Boraana contains six passive articulators which may differ in areas yet some merge into each other.
Consonants LabialDental/AlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalNasal()Stop/Affricate()Fricative()RhoticLateralApproximant
can be heard as fricatives when in intervocalic position. can be heard as when occurring before velar sounds. can also have a retroflex allophone and can also be heard as a tap in intervocalic position. and only occur in loanwords.
Consonants can be short or long (with the exception of sh, p', ny, and h). When it comes to the spelling the short consonants use the letter once while the long consonants are written twice causing the similar word to have completely different meaning.
+ Consonant (Short vs. Long) Short Consonant Translation Long Consonant Translation backside (of a hut) 1 particular stone of a fireplace (consisting of 3 stones) nakedness, nudity ashes lie to long for, to crave to regret intestinal worms act of watering cattle to be finished
Consonants occur single in initial position; intervocalically they occur single, double, or in a cluster of two different consonants but do not occur in word final position. Phonemically, all words end in a vowel.
Distribution and allophones of consonants In some words there is a free alternation between and . This pattern of free variation has also been observed between initial and in some instances.
While the ejective voiceless palatal occurs in medial and initial position the voiceless palatal only occurs in initial and medial position in loanwords.
+ Initial and medial distribution Phoneme Initial Medial capaatii nyeenca ~ ~
Some instances of initial can alternate with null. Similar variation occurs in Wellegga Oromo.
Consonant clusters within morphemes Consonant clusters have been found within l, m, n, and r. Overall, consonant clusters with l, m, n, or r as a second consonant are possible but less frequent.
+Consonant clusters C1 l m n rC2 b c d d' g k k' n p' s
Vowels FrontCentralBackClose Mid Open Vowel sounds /i, e, a, o/ can also be heard as [ɪ, ɛ, ʌ, ɔ]. Vowels can be long or short in final position, medial and initial. All words end with a short or long vowel.
Initial position contrast aalaa - a kind of grass eelee - pan oola - to spend the day ummuu - amber necklace
Medial position contrast fiit'aa - family/relatives keenna - our koorree - Samburu (tribe) fuloo - gate, entrance
Final position contrast garaa - belly beela - hunger daara - nakedness gari - somewhere
Short and long vowels The short vowel in Boraana are i, e, a, o. All of these short vowels are pronounced with little muscular effort having a phonetically lax realization. This occurs before a double consonant or cluster, before a consonant plus final short vowel, and also before an ejective or an implosive consonant. The vowel u is excluded because it is realized as itself in all environments, therefore not changing. When a short vowel is at the end of a word it becomes voiceless. This process is practiced with words like gara (place, side) and nad'eeni (woman). Andrzejewski (1957) gave a description of voiceless vowels in Boraana: "Thus during the articulation of these sounds the tongue and lips are in the same position as during the articulation of vowels, but breath is substituted for voice". Long vowels are essentially double vowels, ii, ee, aa, oo, uu in the initial and medial position. Occasionally a [ɛɛ] will occur but there is no specification to decipher whether [ɛɛ] is an allophone of long vowel ee but most tend to assume exactly that due to lack of finality on the topic. Final position vowels are phonetically short and are realized as a vowel plus glottal stop plus voiceless vowel or as a short vowel plus voiceless vowel.
Long Vowel Examples:
himbeeka - I know, he knows kurneesoo - tenth
This is also the case for Orma Oromo
Example: saddeecaa - nad'eeni - woman
Stress
In the following text and descriptions stress will be indicated by []. For instance [i], [e], [a], [ii], etc. Stress functions as a property of morphemes and as a property of sentences.
Stress as a property of morphemes In Boraana Oromo short vowel noun endings have penultimate or ultimate stress (with exception to the final phonetically voiceless vowel) depending on whether they are feminine (penultimate) or masculine (ultimate).
Examples: intala (f) "girl, daughter" d[u]kana (f) "darkness" h[a]nd'ura (f) "navel, umbilical cord" gal[a]ana (m) "river" Exceptions occur: [i]bidda (m) "fire"
"Nouns ending in -ii, -ee, -oo, -uu are generally feminine." As noted before feminine nouns mostly have penultimate stress due to ending in a short vowel.
Examples:
k'urt'[u]mmii (f) "fish"
simp'[i]rree (f) "bird"
It's important to note that the -aa noun endings can be masculine or feminine. This is also the case for Orma and Waata Oromo.
Examples: ag[a]rtaa (f) "pupil of the eye" m[a]taam mat[a]a (m) "head" m[a]k'aa, mak'[a]a (m) "name"
"Nouns ending in the singulative suffixes -(e)esa, -(e)ensa, -(i)isa, -(i)ca, have stress on the first syllable."
Examples:
b[i]neesa - "animals" [o]rbobiisa - "spider, crab" d[i]randisa - "cattle tick"
"Nouns ending in -ni have ultimate or penultimate stress in free variation. The final phonetically voiceless vowel is not counted."
Examples: [a]faani or af[a]ani - "mouth" [i]lkaani or ilk[a]ani - "teeth"
Adjectives follow the same stress patterns as nouns.
Fixed Stress
Fixed stress is found on the linker clitic, the linker clitic plus -fi, the subject marking suffixes -t[i]i and -[i]i, and also in verb inflection and derivation (middle voice imperative suffixes, negative imperative suffixes, negative past subordinate suffixes and the first syllable of a verb stem with some exceptions).
Examples:
-Linker clitic in genitive function-
(the word preceding it loses its base form stress pattern in this process)
f[i]it'ee muk[a]a (f[i]it'ee m[u]ka'[a]a) top tree LIN=GEN (Linker clitic functioning as genitive) "the top of the tree"
-Verb inflection-
(First syllable of a verb stem except in the case of main clause affirmative verbs and in verb forms containing a stressed suffix)
+ Examples himb[e]eku I do not know, He does not know himb[e]enne that I don't know, that he doesnt' know b[e]eku that I know, that he knows d'[a]gai hear
Stress as a property of sentences
With the exclusion of preverbal short final vowels, usually preverbal syllables in present and past affirmative statements have stress. Differentiation between the preverbal stress rule or the presence of a stressed linker clitic is not always possible when determining how the preverbal stress formed. For example the stress pattern of the word gabayaa:
[a]ani y[a]a kalee b[i]llaa gabay[a]a bitad'd'e
Alphabet This alphabetical order is used in the Boraana English vocabulary.