Kafa language

Kafa or Kefa (Kafi noono) is a North Omotic language spoken in Ethiopia at the Keffa Zone. It is part of the Ethiopian Language Area, with SOV word order, ejective consonants, etc.

A collection of proverbs in the language has been published by Mesfin Wodajo.

Consonants

 * /f/ may also be heard as [ɸ] in free variation.
 * /b/ can be heard as a bilabial approximant [β̞] in intervocalic positions.
 * /t/ can be realized as [ts] in word-final position.

Vowels

 * /a/ may also have an allophone of [ə].

Manjo
Within the Kafa culture there is a caste of traditional hunters called the Manja/Manjo 'hunters'. They may once have spoken a different language. However, Leikola has shown that currently they speak Kafa with a number of distinctive words and constructions that they use, reinforcing the distinctions between themselves and the larger Kafa society.