Kafa or Kefa (Kafi noono) is a North Omotic language spoken in Ethiopia at the Keffa Zone. It is part of the Ethiopian Language Area, with SOV word order, ejective consonants, etc.
A collection of proverbs in the language has been published by Mesfin Wodajo.2012. Functions and Formal and Stylistic Features of Kafa Proverbs: Functional and Structural Approach. Lambert Academic Publishing.
Phonology
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalplaingem.plaingem.plaingem.plaingem.Plosive/AffricateFricativeNasalRhoticApproximant
/f/ may also be heard as [ɸ] in free variation. /b/ can be heard as a bilabial approximant [β̞] in intervocalic positions. /t/ can be realized as [ts] in word-final position.
Vowels FrontBackCloseMidOpen
/a/ may also have an allophone of [ə]. Manjo
Within the Kafa culture there is a caste of traditional hunters called the Manja/Manjo 'hunters'. They may once have spoken a different language. However, Leikola has shown that currently they speak Kafa with a number of distinctive words and constructions that they use, reinforcing the distinctions between themselves and the larger Kafa society.
References
Bibliography
Further reading Aberra, Daniel. 2019. Kafa English Amharic Dictionary. Distributed via the Web. Brockelmann, Carl (1950): Zur Grammatik der Kafa-Sprache. in: Brockelmann, Carl (ed.): Abbessinische Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Leipzig. pp. 40–60.
Aberra, Daniel. 2025. Case in Kafa. Studies of Ethiopian Languages 14.
External links World Atlas of Language Structures information on Kefa