Koman languages

Family of languages used along the Sudan–Ethiopia border

The Koman languages are a small close-knit family of languages located along the Ethiopia–Sudan border with about 50,000 speakers. They are conventionally classified as part of the Nilo-Saharan family. However, due to the paucity of evidence, many scholars treat it as an independent language family. Among scholars who do accept its inclusion within Nilo-Saharan, opinions vary as to their position within it.

Koman languages in Ethiopia are in close contact with the Omotic Mao languages. In Ethiopia, some Koman-speaking groups also consider themselves to be ethnically Mao.^[1]

Internal classification

The Koman languages are:

• Koman
  • Uduk, or T’wampa, (formerly in South Sudan)—about 20,000 speakers, most at a large refugee camp at Bonga, near Gambela
  • Kwama (Ethiopia)—about 15,000 speakers, mainly in Benishangul-Gumuz
  • Komo (Sudan)—about 12,000 speakers mainly in An Nil al Azraq
  • Opuuo (Opo), or Shita (Ethiopia)—spoken in 5 villages north of the Nuer by about 5,000 people
  • Dana, a newly discovered language located near Opo
  • ?Gule (Sudan)—extinct

The poorly known Shabo language (600 speakers) shows strong Koman influence, and it has been suggested (on little evidence) that it may be a Koman language. Gule is generally classified as Koman, but the evidence is as yet insufficient.

Otero (2019)

Otero's (2019: 28) internal classification of Koman:^[2]

• Koman
  • Gwama
    • Highland Gwama
    • Lowland Gwama
  • Central
    • Komo–Uduk
      • Komo
      • Uduk
        • Chali
        • Yabus
    • Dana–Opo
      • Dana
      • Opo
        • [clade]
          • Bilugu
          • Modin
        • [clade]
          • Pame
          • Kigile

External classification

Dimmendaal (2008) notes that mounting grammatical evidence has made the Nilo-Saharan proposal as a whole more sound since Greenberg proposed it in 1963 but that such evidence has not been forthcoming for Songhay, Gumuz, and Koman: "very few of the more widespread nominal and verbal morphological markers of Nilo-Saharan are attested in the Coman languages plus Gumuz ... Their genetic status remains debatable, mainly due to lack of more extensive data." (2008:843) And later, "In summarizing the current state of knowledge, ... the following language families or phyla can be identified: ... Mande, Songhai, Ubangian, Kadu, and the Coman languages plus Gumuz." (2008:844) However, Ahland (2010) reports that with better attestation, both Koman and Gumuz do appear to be Nilo-Saharan, and perhaps closest to each other.

Reconstruction

Proto-Koman has been reconstructed by Lionel Bender (1983)^[3] and Otero (2019).^[2]

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:^[4]

See also

• List of Proto-Koman reconstructions (Wiktionary)

References

1. Küspert, Klaus-Christian (2015). "The Mao and Komo Languages in the Begi–Tongo area in Western Ethiopia: Classification, Designations, Distribution". Linguistic Discovery. 13 (1). doi:10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.447.
2. Otero, Manuel Alejandro. 2019. A Historical Reconstruction of the Koman Language Family. Doctoral thesis. Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon.
3. Bender, Lionel. 1983. "Proto-Koman Phonology and Lexicon." Afrika und Übersee 66: 259–298.
4. Chan, Eugene (2019). "The Nilo-Saharan Language Phylum". Numeral Systems of the World's Languages.

• Colleen Ahland, 2010. "The Classification of Gumuz and Koman Languages" presented at the Language Isolates in Africa workshop, Lyons, December 4, 2010
• Lionel Bender, 2000. "Nilo-Saharan". In Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse, eds., African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press.
• Gerrit Dimmendaal, 2008. "Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent", Language and Linguistics Compass 2/5:842.