The Aroid or Ari-Banna (sometimes South Omotic or Somotic) languages possibly belong to the Afro-Asiatic family and are spoken in Ethiopia.
Languages There are five Aroid languages:
Aroid languages Aari-Gayil languages Aari Gayil Hamer-Karo languages Hamer-Banna Karo (Ethiopia) Dime
External classification The classification of South Omotic (also called Aroid) is highly disputed and it may be a separate language family. Karo is sometimes considered a dialect of Hamer, but considered as a separate language by Glottolog which groups both in a Hamer-Karo subfamily.
Zaborski (1986)Zaborski, Andrzej. 1986. Can Omotic be reclassified as West Cushitic? In Gideon Goldenberg, ed., Ethiopian Studies: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference pp. 525–530. Rotterdam: Balkema. and Lamberti (1993)Lamberti, Marcello. 1993. "The Ari-Banna group and its classification." Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica e Applicata 22: 39-87. consider South Omotic to be a separate branch of Cushitic, renaming it as West Cushitic.
Bender (2000, 2003)Bender, Lionel M. 2000. Comparative Morphology of the Omotic Languages. (LINCOM Studies in African Linguistics, 19.) München: Lincom Europa.Bender, M. Lionel. 2003. The Omotic Lexicon. In Bender, M. Lionel and Takács, Gábor and Appleyard, David L. (eds.), Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in Memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, 93-106. München: München: Lincom. notes that South Omotic is in fact quite divergent from other Afroasiatic languages, and suggests that it may in fact have connections with Nilo-Saharan, such as Surmic and Nilotic.
Enrico Cerulli had proposed that Aroid languages might be a part of Nilotic. Citing lexical similarities with Surmic and other non-Nilotic Nilo-Saharan languages, Yigezu (2013)Yigezu, Moges. 2013. Is Aroid Nilo-Saharan or Afro-Asiatic? Some evidences from phonological, lexical and morphological reconstructions. Paper presented at the Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, May 22–24, 2013, Cologne, Germany. argues that Aroid ( South Omotic) has a "Nilo-Saharan origin" and had become strongly influenced by other "Omotic" language groups. The Proto-Aroid vowel system is also more similar to those of the Surmic and Nilotic languages (Yigezu 2006, 2013).
Glottolog 4.0 does not recognize that South Omotic belongs to one of the disputed families, and the candidate group of Omotic languages (grouping both North and South Omotic languages) remains disputed. For this reason it is considered for now as a separate family.
Reconstruction
Below is a reconstruction of Proto-Aroid by Yigezu (2013).Yigezu, Moges. 2013. Is Aroid Nilo-Saharan or Afro-Asiatic? some evidences from phonological, lexical and morphological reconstuructions. Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, May 22–24, 2013, Cologne, Germany.
Gloss Proto-Aroid animal *dabɪ- arrow *bʌnkʌr blow *pug- boat (canoe) *gongul buffalo *meek- burn *ʔats- bury *duuk- calabash *gusi call (v) *ɛl- cattle *waak- charcoal *tʃ’ilʃ- chicken *baatʃa ~ *koyz chicken *baatʃ- chief *biti claw *guʃ- climb *wut- cloth *apala cotton *putta count *payd- crocodile *gurgur divide (v) *kʌʃ- donkey *ukul- drink (v) *wutʃ’- dry season *bona egg *muk’-; *mol- father *baab fire *no̤ha ~ *nuu hand/arm *ʔan hat *koɓ- head *mat- hoe *gaita hold *yʌd I *ʔinta liver *tʊ/ur- make *ʔaʃk- mother *ʔind- mouth *ʔap- navel *gulɗ- nine *sakal open *bul- people *eedna person *eed pierce *tors- plant *kor- rainy season *bʌrgi road *gɔgi salt *sok’o sand *ʃaam- seed *ɓenta sew *dʒaag- shoot *kʌs’- show *ɗaw- six *la̤h smoke (n) *tʃ’ub- snake *gun- sow *dʊk’- spit *tʌs’-; *pas’- split *p’al- tail *go/ul- ten *tʌmm-; *tʌɓ- tobacco *dampo untie *bul- urinate *ʃaan- urine *ʃaan *ʔinta *ya- . *no̤h/nuu . *naa . *yi *wot- *yʌt- *kɛt-
Numerals Comparison of numerals in individual languages:
Language 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Aari wólːáq qastːén makːén ʔoydːí dónqː láː tabzá qastːaː́ntámːers ( two less than ten) wolqáːntámːers ( one less than ten) támːá Hamer-Banna (1) kála lamá makkán oidí dunɡ̥ lax toɓɓá lankái sal táɓi Hamer-Banna (2) kʌlʌ lɛmaː makan ʔoʷidi / ʔuʷidi duŋ lʌx tʌɓa / toɓa lʌŋkaⁱ səl təɓi Dime ˈwɔkʰʌl / wókkil ˈkʼʌtʼɨm / kʼəstin ˈmʌkʰɨm / mə́kkim ʔʊdːʊ / ʔúddú ˈʃənːə / ʃinní ˈlahə ~ ˈlah / láxi ˈtʰʊsːʊm / tússum ˈkʼʌʃnaʃ / kʼaʃnáʃiʃ ˈwʌklaʃ / wókláʃiʃ ˈtʰamːe / təmme Karo (Kara Apo) kala lama makkam ojidi dɔŋ la tsoɓa lɔɔŋkaji sal taɓi
See also List of Proto-Aroid reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References