Dime language

Dime
Native to	Ethiopia
Region	Debub (South) Omo Zone
Native speakers	11,000 (2007 census)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Omotic South Omotic Dime
Language codes
ISO 639-3	dim
Glottolog	dime1235
ELP	Dimé

Dime or Dima is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the northern part of the Selamago district in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNP) of Ethiopia, around Mount Smith. Dime divides into at least two dialects, which include Us'a and Gerfa. It has six case suffixes in addition to an unmarked nominative. It is overwhelmingly suffixing, but uses prefixes for demonstratives and has reduplication. Phonologically, it is noteworthy among the Omotic languages for having phonemic velar and uvular fricatives. The basic word order is subject–object–verb (SOV), as in other Omotic languages, and indeed in all members of the core of the Ethiopian Language Area.

The language, as well as the Dime people themselves, reportedly decreased in number over the 20th century due to predations from their neighbors the Bodi, and both are in danger of extinction. According to official Ethiopian figures, the 1994 census reported 6293 speakers of the Dime language in the SNNP region alone; in the 2007 census, only 574 speakers were reported for all of Ethiopia. Further, because the Dime language still lacks a writing system and there are no local schools to promote the use of the language, it is even more threatened.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Alveo-palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosives	Voiceless	p	t		k
	Voiced	b	d		g
	Ejective	p’	t’		k’		ʔ
	Implosive		ɗ
Fricatives	Voiceless	f	s	ʃ	x	χ	h
	Voiced		z	ʒ	ɣ	ʁ
	Ejective		s’
Affricates	Voiceless		ts	tʃ
	Voiced			dʒ
	Ejective			tʃ’
Nasals		m	n
Liquids			l
			r
Glides		w		j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	U
Half-close	e		O
Half-Open	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Open		a

Free variation

Dime undergoes phonological processes when speaking and one of them is free variation. Free variation is a phenomenon of two or more sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered as wrong by a native speaker of Dime.

h and ʔ are free variation word initially in some lexemes.

ʔˈalfe and halfe Knife

ʔˈaʁe and haʁe wood, knife

ʔààke and hààke to pick up

ʔaay and haay grass

yízí and hízí to run

yín or ʔín you (obj.)

Gemination

Dime has a lot of consonant gemination, which mostly occurs in the middle and final position of words, which distinguishes the meaning of lexemes.

túmú (deep) - túmmú (stomach)

ʔoloχ (quick) - ʔolloχ (slowly)

ʔane (hand) - ʔanne (wild life)

Syllable structure

Dime has both closed and open syllables as well as super-heavy syllables. Most consonants can occur in the middle and at the end of the word.

Syllable shape	examples	translation
CV	ná	'she'
	nú	'he'
CVC	káf	'wait'
	lág	'friend'
CVV	čúú	'bottom'
	loo.mú	'lemon'
CVVC	neey	'hunger'
	zuúb	'red'
CVCC	gušš	'nails'
	físt	mucu
	gɘrž	'cat'
CVVCC	lóokk
	c’íížž

Dime also has consonant clusters, which are mostly made up of only two members.

At the end of the word:

gušš nails

físt sneeze

tálk borrow

sáánk floor

túss pillar

In the middle of the word:

dámpe tobacco

básumb fearful

gázde boundry

bedze out

Morphology and Syntax

Definiteness

A definite noun is one which refers to a specific entity. Morphologically, Dime distinguishes definite from indefinite nouns. Definiteness is marked by the suffix -is.

ʔ́ehé a house - ʔ́éh-is the house

nîts a child - nîts-is the child

ʔiyýi a person - ʔiyýs-is the person

ʔámzi

woman

gúdúm-ind-is

tall-F-DEF

ʔámzi gúdúm-ind-is

woman tall-F-DEF

the tall woman

gúdúm-ub

tall

gǒst-is

man-DEF

gúdúm-ub gǒst-is

tall man-DEF

the tall man

In the last example, there is a modifier in the noun phrase; the definite marker is suffixed to the modifier.

The definite marker -is may optionally be changed to -iz when followed by a voiced consonant.

ʔéh-is the house

gášš-is the road

ʔámz-iz the woman

zúùb-iz the red one

Number

Nouns and noun phrases make a distinction between singular and plural. Singular is morphologically unmarked, whereas plural is marked by the suffix -af. That a head noun is plural can be inferred from the morpheme -id, which is suffixed to a modifier.

ʔéh

house

-áf-is

-PL-DEF

ʔéh -áf-is

house -PL-DEF

the houses

dər

goat

-áf-is

-PL-DEF

dər -áf-is

goat -PL-DEF

the goats

guur

crocodile

-af-is

-PL-DEF

guur -af-is

crocodile -PL-DEF

the crocodiles

Pronouns

Pronouns

			Subject		Object
1st person	singular		ʔaté	I	ʔis-im	me
	plural		wótú	we	won-im	us
2nd person	singular		yaay/yáye	you	yin-im	you
	plural		yesé	you all/you guys	yen-im	you all/you guys
3rd person	singular	M	nú	he	kin-im	him
		F	ná	she	kon-im	her
	plural		kété	they	ken-im	them

External links

• Yilma, Aklilu and Ralph Siebert (2002), "Sociolinguistic survey report of the Chara, Dime, Melo and Nayi languages of Ethiopia part 1." SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2002-029.
• Ralph Siebert (2002), "Sociolinguistic survey report on the Dime language of Ethiopia." SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2002-043
• World Atlas of Language Structures information on Dime