Libido language

For other uses, see Libido (disambiguation).

Libido (also known as Libixxiso, Mareqo, Mareko, Marekinga)^[1] is an Afroasiatic language of Ethiopia, which is spoken in the Mareko district Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, directly south-east of Butajira. According to the information of the Central Statistical Authority (2007) census, 64,381 people speak the language as their mother tongue. Most of them are multilingual, due to contact with other languages.^[1]

Libido
Mareqo, Mareko
Libixxiso
Native to	Ethiopia
Region	Gurage, Hadiya, Kembata regions
Native speakers	64,000 (2007 census)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Cushitic Highland East Hadiyya Libido
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	liq
Glottolog	libi1250

Classification

It is closely related to Hadiyya (a dialect per Blench 2006) within the Highland East Cushitic languages.

Orthography

Libido has become written in recent times, following motivation from the Ethiopian language policy to use the Latin script; the language has also been taught since 2002 for grades 1 to 4.

Libido alphabet^[1]

Letter	A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n
IPA	[a]	[b]	[ʧʼ]	[d]	[e]	[f]	[g]	[h]	[i]	[ʤ]	[k]	[l]	[m]	[n]
Letter	O o	Q q	R r	S s	T t	U u	W w	X x	Y y	Z z	CH ch	PH ph	Sh sh	’
IPA	[o]	[kʼ]	[r]	[s]	[t]	[u]	[w]	[tʼ]	[j]	[z]	[ʧ]	[pʼ]	[ʃ]	[ʔ]

Grammar

Its syntax is SOV; its verb has passive, reflexive and causative constructions, as well as a middle voice.