Burji language

Burji language (alternate names: Bembala, Bambala, Daashi) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Burji people who reside in Ethiopia south of Lake Chamo. There are over 49,000 speakers in Ethiopia, and a further 36,900 speakers in Kenya. Burji belongs to the Highland East Cushitic group of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family.^[1]

Burji
ቡርጂ (Burji)
Native to	Ethiopia, Kenya
Region	South of Lake Chamo
Ethnicity	Burji people
Native speakers	83,000 (2007 & 2019 censuses)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Cushitic East Highland East Burji
Writing system	Geʽez Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bji
Glottolog	burj1242
ELP	Burji

The language has the SOV (subject–object–verb) word order common to the Cushitic family. The verb morphology distinguishes passive and middle grammatical voice, as well as causative. Verbal suffixes mark the person, number, and gender of the subject.

The New Testament was published in the Burji language in 1993. A collection of Burji proverbs, translated into English, French, and Swahili, is available on the Web.^[2]

Numerals 1-1000

base numeral			+10			× 10
1	micha		11	tannaya micha		10	tanna
2	lama		12	tannaya lama		20	lamattann
3	fadiya		13	tannaya fadiya		30	fadiitann
4	foola		14	tannaya foola		40	foolattan
5	umutta		15	tannaya umutta		50	umuttan
6	liya		16	tannaya liya		60	liittan
7	lamala		17	tannaya lamala		70	lamalattan
8	hiditta		18	tannaya hiditta		80	hidittan
9	wonfa		19	tannaya wonfa		90	wonfattan
10	tanna		20	lamattann		100	ch'ibba

• 1,000. kuma

Syntax

Word order

Dhaashatee is a head-final language, which means that modifiers come before the main noun in the noun phrase. Dependent clauses come before independent clauses, while relative clauses come before the nouns they modify. The basic word order at the sentence-level is SOV, as in other HEC languages.^[3]

Relative clauses

Relative clauses in Burji (Dhaashatee) are not formally marked but they can be recognized from main clauses by having more than one completely inflected verb in a non-final position. In contrast, in a "regular" main clause with multiple verbs, all but the last one takes a converb suffix. Other types of subordinate clauses are marked by complementizers or subordinate conjunctions.

An examples of a relative clause is given below. Dhogoli functions as the subject of both the relative clause and the main clause.

Lama

two

lasa

day

eegadh-i

wait-CVB

dhab-ann-oo

loose-PST-CON

dhogol-i

leopard-SNOM.M/ABS

aaree-shini

anger-INS.F

gal-i=k'aa

return-CVB=FOC

akkarraga

evening

isheek-koo

POSS.3SG.F-ADE

mar-ann-oo.

go-PST-CON

Lama lasa eegadh-i dhab-ann-oo dhogol-i aaree-shini gal-i=k'aa akkarraga isheek-koo mar-ann-oo.

two day wait-CVB loose-PST-CON leopard-SNOM.M/ABS anger-INS.F return-CVB=FOC evening POSS.3SG.F-ADE go-PST-CON

'Having lost two days waiting, the leopard returned furiously, and in the evening, he went to her house.'