Ometo languages

Omotic dialect cluster of Ethiopia

Ometo
Geographic distribution	Ethiopia
Linguistic classification	Afro-Asiatic Omotic North Ometo
Subdivisions	South East North
Glottolog	`omet1238`

The Ometo languages of Ethiopia are a dialect cluster of the Omotic family, generally accepted as part of the Afro-Asiatic language family. They include the most populous Omotic language, Wolaytta, with two million speakers.^[1] The languages have around 4 million speakers.

Classification

Bender (2000)

Bender (2000) classifies them as,^[1]

South: Maale
Basketo
Central: Wolaytta (Ometo), Oyda (Oyta), Melo (Malo), Dorze–Gamo-Gofa-Dawro
East: Gats'ame (Kachama-Ganjule), Koorete (Koyra, Harro), Zayse-Zergulla

Blench (2006)

Hayward (2003) added Basketo to Central Ometo and called the result 'North Ometo',^[2] a position followed by Blench (2006).

Blench (2006) lists several additional North Ometo languages, and lists Chara as unclassified within the family.^[3]

North: Misketto (Basketto), Dokka, Doko-Dolo, Wolaitta (Welamo), Zala, Oyda, Malo, Dorze–Laha–Gamo–Gofa–Kullo-Konta–Dache, Ganjule, Gidicho, Kachama
East: Gatame (Haruro), Zayse (+Zergula), Koore/Koyra (Badittu)
South: Maale
?: Ch'ara

He also lists Balta, a regional name for Wolaytta, as a possibly separate language.

Notes

^ ^a ^b Bender, M. Lionel. 2000. Comparative Morphology of the Omotic Languages. Munich: LINCOM. Classification copied in Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
^ Hayward, Richard J. 2003. 'Omotic: the "empty quarter" of Afroasiatic linguistics'. In Research in Afroasiatic Grammar II: selected papers from the fifth conference on Afroasiatic languages, Paris 2000, ed. by Jacqueline Lecarme, pp. 241-261. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
^ Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List