lingvoj.orgLinked Languages ResourcesA contribution to the Web of Databy Bernard Vatant, Mondeca |
Wolayttaወላይታቱ |
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Wolaytta is a North Omotic language of the Ometo group spoken in the Wolaita Zone and some other parts of the Southern Nations,
Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia. The number of speakers of this language is estimated at 2,000,000 (1991 UBS);
it is the native language of the Welayta people. The estimates of the population vary greatly because it is not agreed where
the boundaries of the language are. There are conflicting claims about how widely Wolaytta is spoken. The Ethnologue identifies
one smaller dialect region: Zala. Some hold that Melo, Oyda, and Gamo-Gofa-Dawro are also dialects, but most authorities,
including Ethnologue and ISO 639-3 now list these as separate languages. The different communities of speakers also recognize
them as separate languages. A variety called Laha is said to be 'close' to Wolaytta in Hayward (1990) but listed as a distinct
language by Blench; however, it is not included in Ethnologue. Wolaytta has existed in written form since the 1940s, when
the Sudan Interior Mission first devised a system for writing it. The writing system was later revised by a team led by Dr.
Bruce Adams. They finished the New Testament in 1981 and the entire Bible in 2002. It was one of the first languages the Derg
selected for their literacy campaign (1979–1991), before any other southern languages. Welaytta pride in their written language
led to a fiercely hostile response in 1998 when the Ethiopian government distributed textbooks written in Wegagoda – an artificial
language based on amalgamating Wolaytta with several closely related languages. As a result the textbooks in Wegagoda were
withdrawn and teachers returned to ones in Wolaytta. In speaking their language, the Wolaytta people use many proverbs. A
large collection of them, in Ethiopian script, was published in 1987 by the Academy of Ethiopian Languages. Fikre Alemayehu's
2012 MA thesis from Addis Ababa University provides an analysis of Wolaytta proverbs and their functions. |
Names (more)[am] ወላይትኛ[ar] الوالامو [az] valamo dili [bn] ওয়ালামো [bs] valamo [br] Wolaiteg [bg] валамо [ca] ameto [cs] walamština [cy] Walamo [da] walamo [de] Walamo-Sprache [el] Γουάλαμο [en] Walamo [et] volamo [fa] والامو [fi] wolaitta [fr] walamo [gu] વલામો [he] וולאמו [hi] वलामो [hr] walamo [hu] valamo [id] Walamo [is] valamó [it] walamo [ja] ウォライタ語 [kn] ವಲಾಮೋ [ks] والامو [ko] 와라모어 [lo] ວາລາໂມ [lv] valamu [lt] valamo [ml] വലമൊ [mr] वलामो [mk] валамо [mt] Walamo [nl] Walamo [nn] walamo [nb] walamo [or] ୱାଲମୋ [pl] walamo [pt] walamo [rm] walamo [ro] walamo [ru] Воламо [sk] walamo [sl] valamščina [es] Idioma welayta [sr] Валамо [sv] walamo [ta] வாலாமோ [te] వాలామో [th] วาลาโม [tr] Valamo [uk] валамо [vi] Tiếng Walamo |
Language type : Living
Technical notes
This page is providing structured data for the language Wolaytta. |
ISO 639 CodesISO 639-2B : walISO 639-2T : wal ISO 639-3 : wal Linked Data URIshttp://lexvo.org/id/iso639-3/walhttp://dbpedia.org/resource/ISO_639:wal http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/iso639-2/wal More URIs at sameas.org SourcesAuthority documentation for ISO 639 identifier: walFreebase ISO 639-3 : wal GeoNames.org Country Information Publications Office of the European Union Metadata Registry : Countries and Languages |