Komo language
| Komo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Sudan, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia |
| Region | North of Gambella Region, across the Ethiopia–Sudan border |
|
Native speakers
|
(10,000 in Sudan cited 1979) 8,500 in Ethiopia (2007 census) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | komo1258 |
Komo is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Kwama (Komo) people of Ethiopia, Sudan and Southern Sudan. It is a member of the Koman languages. The language is also referred to as Madiin, Koma, South Koma, Central Koma, Gokwom and Hayahaya. Many individuals from Komo are multilingual because they are in close proximity to Mao, Kwama and Oromo speakers. Komo is closely related to Kwama, a language spoken by a group who live in the same region of Ethiopia and who also identify themselves as ethnically Komo. Some Komo and Kwama speakers recognize the distinction between the two languages and culture, whereas some people see it as one "ethnolinguistic" community. The 2007 Ethiopian census makes no mention of Kwama, and for this reason its estimate of 8,000 Komo speakers may be inaccurate. An older estimate from 1971 places the number of Komo speakers in Ethiopia at 1,500. The Komo language is greatly understudied; more information is being revealed as researchers are discovering more data about other languages within the Koman family.
Many individuals from Komo are multilingual because they are in close proximity to Mao, Kwama, and Oromo speakers. "Komo and Mao" were ethnically and linguistically ambiguous terms until they became the official terms used in the Asosa zone in Benishangul Gummuz. Although Komo and Kwama are recognized under two different branches of Proto-Koman, there has been continuous debates and confusion over the ethnic identity of the two speech varieties.
In Ethiopia, most speakers are located in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, specifically in the Mao-Komo special woreda however there are also some in the Gambela Region. In Sudan it can be found in the state of An Nil al Azraq and in South Sudan, the Upper Nile State. Other Koman Languages, which are all spoken along the borders of Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan, are Uduk, Opuo, and Gwama, as well as a possible extinct Koman language, Gule. However, there is some debate whether Gwama and Komo are two separate languages or two dialects of the same language, this confusion comes from the fact that Gwama may also be known as "Kwama" or the word may be the Gwama language word referring to the Komo language; while researchers do not agree on this point, they definitively agree that more research is needed on this subject.
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