Alaba-Kʼabeena language

Alaba-Kʼabeena (Alaaba, Alaba, Allaaba, Halaba), also known as Wanbasana, is a Highland East Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia by the Halaba and Kebena people in the Great Rift Valley southwest of Lake Shala, specifically in Alaba special district, the Kebena district of Gurage Zone, and the Goro district of Oromia Region. The literacy rate of native speakers in their language is below 1%, while their literacy rate in second languages is 8.6%; Alaba-Kʼabeena is taught in primary schools. It has an 81% lexical similarity with Kambaata. However, Fleming (1976) classifies Kʼabeena (also transliterated "Qebena" or "Kebena") as a dialect of Kambaata, and Blench (2006) classifies both as dialects of Kambaata. The 2007 census in Ethiopia lists Alaba and Qebena as separate languages.

A collection of over 400 proverbs in this language has been published with English translations.

The Alaba speakers consists of 23 different groups.

The number of speakers of this language has increased. In 2001 there were 204,000 speakers and in 2007 approximately 280,000 speakers.

Vowel Inventory
Alaba has ten vowels, which contrast in height and backness as well as in length.

Geminates
In linguistics, the term refers to the duplication of sounds or words as well as the associated linguistic phenomena, such as a longer pronunciation.

This denotes a doubled of sounds in the pronunciation of the word. Almost all consonants have a geminated counterpart. This means, in terms of stops, that the release is being delayed while other consonants are being extended. Similarities to the Shaddah and its function in Arabic are visible.

Geminates in Alaba are often used to indicate the plural form.

Syllabic Structure
Syllables in Alaba consist of a consonant or one or two vowels. There are several syllables in Alaba, for example light, heavy and extra heavy.

Gender
In Alaba grammatical gender is indicated by word-final vowels for masculine and feminine words. "Apart from cases of biological sex, there is no semantic motivation for gender."

"Feminine nouns, as they appear in citation form end almost exclusively in -t(a)."

Cases
Alaba differentiates between several different types of cases. There are primary and secondary cases. Absolutive and Nominative are the primary cases and will therefore be mentioned first. The Absolutive can be further subdivided into six more cases, i.e. Instrumental, Similative Genitive, Dative, Ablative and Locative.

Absolutive
The Absolutive is used in different syntactic environments: as the citation form of nouns, to encode the direct object, as the nominal predicate, marginally to indicate a location with non-motional verbs and to indicate a certain point of time.

The Absolutive is used to encode the direct object:

t’uma min-í hirʔ-éem(i)

good house {buy (1SG)}

I bought a nice house.

Nominative
The Nominative is used to encode the subject of an intransitive, as well as the subject of a transitive sentence.

Genetive
The Genetive in Alaba is mainly used to indicate a possessive relationship by using a suffix marker as it can be seen below in the table.

So, the suffix marker attaches to the possessor, independent from the gender of the possessed.

In terms of phonetics it is important to mention that "''the final vowel for masculine words ending in a short vowel is i, for those ending in a long vowel it is ee." And regarding feminine nouns; "they drop -t(a), and end in e. (...) The last vowel of those nouns ending in é or ó does not change but they do lose the high pitch. If the corresponding vowel is a, long ee or aa, the Genitive ending is also a, ee or aa.''"

Dative
The form of the Dative in Alaba is based on morphological features that were shown in the Genetive above. The final vowel is lengthened, if not yet done, and gets a high pitch.

Again, there is difference between female and male nouns. Regarding male nouns there are two possibilities. "Either -h(a) is suffixed or it is not; when choosing, e.g. between mancíi and mancíih(a)," The second version [mancíih(a)] refers to a specific man/person.

Feminine nouns suffix -t(a) without exception.

Names like Muhammad, only the last vowel is lengthened, which leads to Muhammadii but NOT Muhammadiih(a). Therefore, -h(a) is never suffixed.

One example for more clarity:

mánc(u) kitaab-í mancóot(a) ʔaassée

mánc(u) kitaab-í mancóot(a) ʔaaʔʔ-is-ée

{person (NOM)} book    {person (DAT)}  {take from (CAUS)}

The man gave the book to the woman.

And the other way around:

mancút(i) mancíih(a)  kitaab-í   ʔaattóo

{person (NOM)} {person (DAT)} book {give (SG)}

The woman gave the book to the man.

Pronouns
The table below shows the pronouns and pronominal clitics (PC) related to their grammatical cases.

Negation
The most common negative marker is -baʔ(a). If the whole clause is negated, the clitical element is attached to the main verb.

Muslím-mat(i) ʔasaam-á ʔit-táa-baʔ(a)

PL pig/pork   {eat not}

Muslims do not eat pork.