Ethiopian Language Area

Charles Ferguson first proposed the Ethiopian language area (1970, 1976). (Various scholars may also use the terms Sprachbund or linguistic area.) He posited a number of phonological and morpho-syntactic features that were found widely across Ethiopia (which included Eritrea at that time), including the Ethio-Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages, but it did not include the Nilo-Saharan languages. Since then, others have pointed out smaller areas of shared features within this larger area (Appleyard 1989, Breeze 1988, Sasse 1986, Tosco 1994, Wedekind 1989).

One of the strongest features of the Ethiopian Language Area seems to be the use of the verb "say" as an inflected dummy element for an uninflected lexical base (Appleyard 2001, Cohen et al. 2002). Hayward has also pointed out patterns of lexicalization as evidence of a shared linguistic unity across the Language Area (1999, 2000), and Treis has found further examples (2010).

Though Tosco earlier accepted that the status of the Ethiopian Language Area had "long been well established" (1994:415), he has since challenged Ferguson's work as flawed (2000). He concludes that the Ethiopian Language Area is not valid and suggests that Ferguson's work reflects the politics of his time, when there was a strong emphasis on Ethiopian unity, as reflected in Donald N. Levine's book Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society.

Baye Yiman has shown evidence of pragmatic similarities among languages of the Ethiopian Language Area (1997).

Güldemann has proposed that the use of a generic auxiliary is an area feature that includes Ethiopia but also other languages to the west and northwest. Similarly, Cohen, Simeone-Senelle, and Vanhove have examined the grammaticalized use of "say" and "do" as an area feature in what they call "East Africa". Wu Tong has examined prenominal relative clauses as an areal feature within the Ethiopian Language Area.

This topic is still not settled among Ethiopian linguists.

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