Editing Omotic languages (section)

==Characteristics==
===General===
The Omotic languages have a morphology that is partly [[agglutinative]] and partly [[fusional]]:
* Agglutinating: Yem ''am-se-f-∅-à'' go+plural+present+3. Person+Femininum “they go”<ref>Mammo Girma: ''Yemsa Verb Morphology. Some Inflections and Derivations.'' 1986, quoted from {{harvnb|Bender|2000|p=120}}; Clay marking according to the different forms in {{harvnb|Lamberti|1993|p=190}}</ref>
* Fusional: Aari ''ʔíts-eka'' eat+3. Person Pl. [[Converb]] “by eating”<ref>{{harvnb|Hayward|1990}} quoted in {{harvnb|Bender|2000|p=171}}</ref>
[[Inflection]] through [[Suprafix|suprasegmental morphemes]] is found in individual languages such as Dizi and Bench; Historically, these are partly reflexes of [[affixes]]: 
* Bench ''sum˩'' "name", ''sum-s˦'' "to name"
The [[Nominal (linguistics)|nominal morphology]] is based on a [[nominative]]-[[accusative]]-[[absolutive]] system; for [[verbal morphology]], a complex inflection according to categories such as [[Grammatical tense|tense]]/[[aspect (linguistics)|aspect]], interrogative/declarative, and affirmative/negative, as well as [[agreement (linguistics)|agreement]], is more predicative, characterizing forms with the [[subject (grammar)|subject]]. In syntax, the word order [[subject-object-verb]] (SOV) is generally valid; [[postposition]]s are used, which can be considered typical for both SOV languages in general and for the Ethiopian region.

===Phonology===
The Omotic languages have on average slightly less than thirty [[consonant]] [[phonemes]], which is a comparatively high number, but is also found in other primary branches of Afro-Asiatic. Commonly used are [[bilabial]], [[alveolar]], [[Velar consonant|velar]] and [[glottal plosive]], various [[fricative]], alveolar [[affricates]] and /w/, /y/, /l/, /r/, /m/, /n/. What is typical for the non-glottal plosives is that they are each represented by a voiced, a voiceless, and an [[ejective]] phoneme; All three types can also be found in fricatives and affricates. Most Omotic languages have additional consonants. Examples of this are the [[Implosive]] in South Omotic (/ɓ/, /ɗ/, /ɠ/) and the [[Retroflex]] of the Bench. In some cases, consonants can also occur [[Gemination|geminated]]. Representatives of the Nordomotic and Mao have five to six [[vowel|vowel phonemes]], the quantity is partly a difference in meaning; In contrast, much more extensive vowel systems are typical for South Omotic.

All Omotic languages for which sufficient data is available are [[tonal languages]], which usually only distinguish two tones (high and low), some languages have more tones: Dizi distinguishes three, Bench six. Certain Omotic languages such as Aari and Ganza (Mao) have tonal accent systems in which each independent word has exactly one high tone, whereas in most languages the tones are freely distributed.

===Morphology===
====Nouns====
The Omotic languages distinguish between the nominal categories [[Grammatical number|number]], [[Grammatical case|case]],<ref>R. Hayward, Y. Tsuge: ''Concerning case in Omotic.'' In: ''Africa and Overseas. '' Volume 81, pp. 21-38. 1998.</ref> and [[definiteness (linguistics)|definiteness]]. These categories are marked by different suffixes, which can be fusional or analytic depending on the language. The two genders in all omotic languages for which sufficient data are available are [[masculine]] and [[feminine]]; they essentially correspond to natural gender. The case system distinguishes the omotic languages as accusative languages; other cases form various adverbial determinations. A number of omotic languages have an [[absolutive]] case, which marks the citation form and the direct object (examples from Wolaita):{{sfn|Bender|2000|p=21}}
* Absolute ''keett-a'' "the house"
* Nominative ''keett-i'' "the house"
Some common case suffixes are:
* Nominative *-''i'' (Gonga-Gimojan, Dizi-Sheko)
* Accusative *-''m'' (South Domotic)
* Genitive *-''kV'' (Gonga-Gimojan, Dizi-Sheko, Mao, Dime)
* Dative *-''s'' (Gonga-Gimojan, Dizi-Sheko, Mao?{{sfn|Bender|2000|p=212}})
A typological peculiarity, which is also isolated within Omotic, is the person and gender dependency of the nominative in Bench (either -''i''˧ or -''a''˧, depending on the person):
* ''a˦tsin˦-a˧'' “a woman” (3rd person sg. femininum){{sfn|Bender|2000|p=127}}
* ''nun˧-a˧'' "we" (1st person plural exclusive)<ref name="Breeze">Mary J. Breeze: ''Personal Pronouns in Gimira (Benchnon).'' In: [[Ursula Wiesemann]] (Ed.): ''Pronominal Systems.'' Narr, Tübingen 1986, ISBN 3-87808-335-1, pp. 47–70, p. 53.</ref>
* ''nas˦i˧'' “a man” (3rd person sg. masculine)<ref name="Breeze" />

In most languages, the [[Grammatical number|singular]] is unmarked, while the plural has its own [[suffix]]. It is possible that plural suffixes in some languages arose from a partitive construction. This is supported by the length of certain plural suffixes, formal relationships to the genitive singular and the fact that the determining suffix sometimes comes before the plural suffix, which is typologically unusual:{{sfn|Hayward|2003|p=246}}{{sfn|Lamberti|1993|p=70 f}}
* Dizi ''kìan-à-kʾankàs'' dog+det.+plural “the dogs”{{sfn|Bender|2000}}
* Yem ''ʔasú-nì-kitó'' human+gene+plural “people”{{sfn|Lamberti|1993|p=71}}

====Pronouns====
The [[personal pronouns]] distinguish similar categories to the nouns in most omotic languages; However, the genera are usually only marked in the 3rd person singular. The personal pronouns usually have their own stem for each number-person-gender combination, to which case suffixes are then added, which are the same for all persons. Some of the pronouns show similarities with other Afro-Asian language families and can therefore be traced back to Proto-Afro-Asiatic; Certain South Omotic personal pronouns can be explained as borrowings from the neighboring Nilo-Saharan:<ref>Reconstructions according to {{harvnb|Bender|2000|p=196}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="3" colspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | 1st person
! colspan="2" | 2nd person
! colspan="3" | 3rd person
|-
! rowspan="2" | sg. !! rowspan="2" | pl.
! rowspan="2" | sg. !! rowspan="2" | pl.
! colspan="2" | sg. !! rowspan="2" | pl.
|-
! m.
! f.
|-
| rowspan="5" | Omotic
| colspan="8" | Nordomotic
|-
| Proto-Gonga-Gimojan
| *ta
| *nu~*no
| *no
| *int-
| *isi
| ?
| *is-
|-
| Proto-Dizi-Sheko
| *ǹ
| *ń
| *yeta
| *iti
| *iz-
| *iži
| *iš-
|-
| Proto-Mao
| *ti-
| ?
| *hiya
| *nam
| ?
| ?
| ?
|-
| Proto-Southomotic
| *inta
| *wo-ta
| *yaa/*in
| *ye-ta
| *nuo
| *naaa
| *ke-ta
|-
| rowspan="2" | Other
| Afroasiatic: Akkadian
| ī
| nī
| k-a/k-ī
| k-unu/k-ina
| š-u
| š-a
| š-unu/š-ina
|-
| Nilotic: Teso{{sfn|Bender|2000|p=163}}
| ɛɔŋɔ
| ɔnɪ/ɪs(y)ɔ
| ɪjɔ
| yɛsɪ
| colspan="2" | ŋɛsɪ
| kɛsɪ
|}

The case endings of the personal pronouns and the nouns are usually identical:
* Aari: Accusative -m: ''yé-m'' "you", ''fatir-in-ám'' "the corn"
Possessive pronouns in particular have their own forms:
* Aari: ''yé'' "yours," ''ʔéed-te'' "a man's"