Also Known As:
Birale, 'Ongota, Birelle, Ifa'ongota, "Shanqilla"
Dialects & Varieties
Nilo-Saharan Stratum of Ongota
Václav Blažek. 2007. "Nilo-Saharan Stratum of Ongota." In Advances in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics: Proceedings of the 8th Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, University of Hamburg, August 22-25, 2001, edited by Mechthild Reh and Doris L. Payne. 22: 1-10. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
Critically Endangered
80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
8
Native Speakers Worldwide
Speaker Number Trends
Speaker Number Trend 5
A small percentage of the community speaks the language, and speaker numbers are decreasing very rapidly.
5
Transmission
Transmission 5
There are only a few elderly speakers.
5
Speakers
Native or fluent speakers:
No results found.
Second-language speakers and learners
No results found.
Semi-speakers or rememberers
No results found.
Children:
No results found.
Young adults
No results found.
Older adults
No results found.
Elders
No results found.
Ethnic or community population
80
Year information was gathered
No results found.
Comments on speakers
"Under a strong influence of neighboring languages as Tsamay, Gawwada; Konso, Oromo of Borana, Arbore; Hamer, Hanna, and others, Ongota was creolized or even pidginized. The most dominant process could be called a 'Tsamayization'."
Location and Context
Countries
Ethiopia
Location Description
"Ongota is the self-designation of a population from southwest Ethiopia north of Chaw Behar (earlier lake Stefania) and east of Lake Turkana (earlier lake Rudolf in Kenya)."
Government Support
No results found.
Institutional Support
No results found.
Speakers' Attitude
No results found.
Other Languages Used By The Community
Tsamay
Number of Other Language Speakers:
72
Domains of Other Languages:
None
Writing Systems
Standard orthography:
No results found.
Writing system:
No results found.
Other writing systems used:
No results text.
Comments on writing systems:
No results found.
Recent Resources
A short video about the work of linguist Graziano Savà, who is documenting the Ongota language of Et
A 432 word list found in the Rosetta Project archives
Broad survey of the south Omo area from 2001, with a wordlist of Arbore, Tsamai and Ongota.