Xamtanga language

Xamtanga
Xamir
Pronunciation	ˈχamtaŋa
Native to	Ethiopia
Region	North Amhara Region
Native speakers	210,000 (2007 census)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Cushitic Agaw Northern Xamtanga
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xan
Glottolog	xamt1239

Xamtanga (also Agawinya, Khamtanga, Simt'anga, Xamir, Xamta) is a Central Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia by the Xamir people.

Sound system

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid vowel	ə
Low vowel	a

The central vowels /ɨ ə a/ have fronted and backed allophones, depending on the adjacent consonant(s).

Consonants

		Labial	Coronal	Postalveolar or palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
					Plain	Labialized	Plain	Labialized
Plosives and affricates	Voiceless		t	t͡ʃ	k	kʷ	q	qʷ
	Voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ	ɡʷ
	Ejective		tʼ	t͡ʃʼ	kʼ	kʷʼ
Fricatives	Voiceless	f	s	ʃ			χ	χʷ	h*
	Voiced		z
	Ejective		sʼ
Nasals		m	n		ŋ	ŋʷ
Lateral			l
Tap			ɾ
Semivowels				j		w

• /h/ is found only word-initial in loanwords, and may be glottal [h] or pharyngeal [ħ].
• /t/ is alveolar before the vowel /i/, dental otherwise.
• /q/ can be ejective [qʼ], and in some cases the ejectives appear to be in free variation with the voiceless plosives.

Phonological processes

Gemination

In positions other than word-initial, Xamtanga contrasts geminate and non-geminate consonants. With most consonants, the difference between a geminate and a non-geminate is simply one of length, but the cases of /b t q/ are more complex. When not word-initial, non-geminate /b/ is realized as a bilabial [β] or labiodental fricative [v], and /t/ and /q/ are realized as affricates: [tθ qχ]. Their geminate equivalents may be realized as prolonged [bː tː qː], or can simply be short [b t q].

In word-initial position, geminate consonants do not occur, and /b t q/ are realized as plosives.

Bibliography

• Appleyard, David L. (1988) "A Definite Article in Xamtanga", African Languages and Cultures 1/1, pp. 15–24.
• Appleyard, David L. (2006) A Comparative Dictionary of the Agaw Languages (Kuschitische Sprachstudien – Cushitic Language Studies Band 24). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
• Chloé Darmon, L'agäw xamtanga : une langue couchitique en contact avec l'amharique, In Pount. Cahiers d'études : Corne de l'Afrique - Arabie du Sud, 4, pp. 169–195, 2010