English-Sidaama Dictionary And Sidaama Phrase Book

By Galfato Wonago

The English-Sidaama Dictionary and Sidaama Phrase Book is composed of three parts. Part one is an overview of Sidaama grammar. Part two contains substantial number of common phrases translated from English to Sidaama and part three is the main body of the dictionary. While native speakers of Sidaama may benefit from this book, the book is mainly intended for non-Sidaama speakers who want to learn Sidaama.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781312227385

Book preview

ENGLISH-SIDAAMA DICTIONARY

G.B. Wonago, PGC, BSC.

Researcher, Author

ISBN:978-1-312-22738-5

Galfato Wonago

Table of contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

Background information on Sidaama

An overview of Sidaama language

Phonology

Parts of speech

Morphology

Syntax

Semantics

Common phrases

Main body of the dictionary

References

Abbreviations

Acc      accusative

Adj.        adjective

Adv.        adverb

F              feminine

GEN        genitive

M            masculine

NEG        negative

NOM      nominative

Pl            plural

Sb            somebody

Sth          something

SG          singular

INTRODUCTION

The Sidaama belong to the Eastern cushitic language speaking peoples of Ethiopia, constituting 93.1 % of the population of the Sidaama Regional State (6.7372 degrees north, 38.4008 degrees east) based on the 2007 census conducted by the CSA of Ethiopia. In this book the term Sidaama refers both to the language and the people.

The Sidaama were independent, self-determining people with their own social, economic and political systems before the annexation of the Sidaamaland into the Ethiopian state in 1891 by Menelik of shewa.

Lewis subdivides the Eastern Cushitic languages into four coordinate branches: 1) Somali, Rendile, Baiso; 2) [Oromo], Komso, Gidole, Gato, Arbore, Magogoda, Warazi, Gawata, Tsamai, Geleb; 3) Afar, Saho; and 4) [Sidaama], Kambata, T’ambaro, Hadya, Alaba, Kabena, Marak’o, [Gedeo], and Burji.

Using historical linguistics, H.L.Lewis, Greenbarg, Murdock, and Fleming conclude that East Cushitic language speaking peoples’ homeland must have been in southern Ethiopia-northern Kenya and, according to Lewis, the predominant trend of Eastern cushitic migration and expansion has been from the south and west to the north and east. The Sidaama people settled in their current region during the 16th century.

The primary objective of this English-Sidaama dictionary is to make a modest contribution to the limited Sidaama language learning resources available to non-Sidaama speakers. This dictionary has three parts: part one is an introduction to Sidaama alphabets and a brief note on Sidaama grammar; part two contains common phrases, translated from English to Sidaama, covering various scenarios; and part three is the main body of the dictionary.

Phonology

The Sidaama alphabetic scripts( fidalla/scripts, henceforth) are based on the Latin scripts. There are 26 single digit modern English alphabets, 7 two-digit symbols(digraphs), and a glottal stop in Sidaama scripts.

The 34 Sidaama scripts are divided into 5 vowels and 29 consonants and each of them has a lower case (small) and an upper case (capital) form.

Out of 29 consonants, 24 are native to Sidaama while the remaining 5 occur in loan words.

The Sidaama scripts (fidalla)

Upper-case (Jajjabba)

Short (Harammadda)

A, E, I, O, U

Long ( Seeddaanna)

AA, EE, II, OO, UU

Lower-case (shiimmaadda)

Short (Harammadda)

a, e, i, o, u

Long (Seeddaanna)

aa, ee, ii, oo, uu

Upper-case (Jajjabba)

/,B,C,D,F,G,H,J,K,L,M,N,P,Q,R,S,T,V,W,X,Y,Z,CH,DH,NY,PH,SH,TS,ZH

/, b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z, ch, dh,  ny, ph, sh, ts, zh

True/native scripts (ha’nurraano fidalla)

/, b,c,d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, t, w, x, y, ch, dh, ny, ph, sh

Loan scripts (argete fidalla)

P, ts, v, z, zh

Examples that illustrate why understanding short and long forms matter (re:a,e,i,o,u).

/a/---/aa/   

a) qale (n)--->wooden circle for children’s game.

qaale (n)--->word

b) nafa  (n)--->even if