Talk:Qwara dialect

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Early Falashan Manuscripts?

Are there really extant early manuscripts in Qwara language? I thought that Beta Israel used Geez as a literary language.

Maybe. Using Ge'ez obviously came later due to Christian influences. — ዮም (Yom) | contribs • Talk 18:32, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If these manuscripts are earlier than Christian influences, why they are written in Geez alphabet, as the article claims. I just wonder if "Falashan manuscripts" means "written by the Falasha people" and not written in Qwara language. In that case, they should not be mentioned in the article about QWARA LANGUAGE. I have not found in any other text any references to the ancient Qwara manuscripts.

Hmm...you're right that the manuscripts would have had to have been written in Ge'ez alphabet, so there would be some influence there. Maybe it's referring to a lack of Christian influence because the language wasn't Ge'ez but instead the Qwara language? The point about whether it's "Falasha" (i.e. Beta Israel) or Qwara is importanat as well. I would leave the reference until it can be verified, however. — ዮም | (Yom) | Talk • contribs • Ethiopia 18:11, 15 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

So do you agree that there is no clear reference to ancient qwara-language manuscripts in any independent source? The main reason I am so interested in this is, that if there were such manuscripts, they would be oldest linguistic material (What does ancient mean, by the way?)available on any of the Cushitic languages.128.214.205.4 14:25, 20 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently there are such manuscripts. See David Appleyard, "'Kaïliña' - A 'New' Agaw Dialect and Its Implications for Agaw Dialectology," in African Languages and Cultures, 1996, which mentions them and directs us to "Appleyard 1994" (I'm sure you can find the original source from that). I'm not sure if they're the oldest Cushitic texts, though. We have a 18th century text of the Song of Solomon translated into Qwara, Damot-Agaw, Chiracha Agaw, and Oromo (as well as the Semitic Gafat language and Amharic). There are also some other early Oromo texts, IIRC. A mid 19th c. Oromo letter using a separate Oromo alphabet even exists, although it has not been deciphered, that I know of. — ዮም | (Yom) | Talk • contribs • Ethiopia 08:10, 18 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Qwara = Kayla

I was under the impression that the two (Qwarinya and Kaylinya) languages were the same, which is supported by Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. I am putting a merge notice on the top of the article page. ዮም (Yom) | contribs • Talk 18:32, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This was discussed ad infinitum on Kayla language. Basically, they are extremely closely related Agaw languages, one of which is essentially unattested. Whether they deserve separate articles is another matter, but I suggest you read the discussion there before doing anything. - Mustafaa 23:52, 6 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Oops. I misread it. It was referring to the Kemant/Kemantenay/Qemant and Qwara languages, referring to Qwara as a moribund (but not extinct) dialect spoken by a few elders. Still, shouldn't those two be merged? — ዮም (Yom) | contribs • Talk 01:14, 7 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]