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=Komo Language=

The Komo language is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Komo people of Ethiopia, Sudan and Southern Sudan. It is a member of the Koman languages. The language is also referred to as Madiin, Koma, South Koma, Central Koma, Gokwom, and Hayahaya. Many individuals from Komo are multilingual because they are in close proximity to Mao, Kwama, and Oromo speakers. Komo is closely related to Kwama, a language spoken by a group who live in the same region of Ethiopia and who also identify themselves as ethnically Komo. Some Komo and Kwama speakers recognize the distinction between the two languages and culture, whereas some people see it as one "ethnolinguistic" community. The 2007 Ethiopian census makes no mention of Kwama, and for this reason its estimate of 8000 Komo speakers may be inaccurate. An older estimate from 1971 places the number of Komo speakers in Ethiopia at 1500. The Komo language is greatly understudied, more information is being revealed as researchers are discovering more data about other languages within the Koman family.

History
Many individuals from Komo are multilingual because they are in close proximity to Mao, Kwama, and Oromo speakers. "Komo and Mao" were ethnically and linguistically ambiguous terms until they became the official terms used in the Asosa zone in Benishangul Gummuz. Komo is closely related to Kwama, a language spoken by a group who live in the same region of Ethiopia and who also identify themselves as ethnically Komo. Some Komo and Kwama speakers recognize the distinction between the two languages and culture, whereas some people see it as one "ethnolinguistic" community. Although Komo and Kwama are recognized under two different branches of Proto-Koman, there has been continuous debates and confusion over the ethnic identity of the two speech varieties.

Grammar
The following is an overview of a grammar sketch of Komo. It is organized in a way that follows the structure of the language.

Nouns
A noun is referred to as a "zaga". A majority of nouns in the Komo language do not inherently express number. Most nouns have either a general singular or plural meaning. For instance: Then there are certain nouns that are specifically either singular or plural: Komo nouns mainly distinguish gender in terms of masculine and feminine.
 * dog(s)= kʼáw
 * head(s)= k'up
 * Man= yiba
 * Girl= bamit
 * People= giba

Number
The number in the Komo language correlates to the gender of the noun. As shown in the chart, singular nouns are preceded by an "a". The plural form of these nouns are in some cases preceded by "gu".

Noun phrases
The order of elements in a noun phrase goes as follows: noun--modifying expression--numeral--demonstrative. This order cannot be altered, especially because numerals should not come before modifying expressions. The following sentence gives an example of a complete noun phrase:
 * gʉ giba bbissina a dish ba (these three strong men)

Adjectives
Adjectives in the Komo language, as known as modifying expressions, are descriptive words that can be added to further define the noun. The adjectives describe particular qualities, such as the look, shape, sound, taste, or size, of the noun. In the Komo language, the adjectives appear after the noun they modify and agree with the gender and number of the noun. Below are a few examples of adjectives with the noun it modifies:


 * paarsha basara- a beautiful horse
 * she ppatana- a white tooth
 * yi gwaz tʉlira- a tall boy

Pronouns
Pronouns are words or phrases that take the place of nouns. In the Komo language, there are eight different personal pronouns with four singular pronouns and four plural pronouns. The following chart displays the 8 personal pronouns :

The Komo language also uses possessive pronouns to show ownership. Typically in a sentence structure, the word "ba" comes between the possessed noun and possessor noun. This particular word indicates to the reader that a relationship between two nouns is being described. For example:
 * gubi ba bbamit (house of the woman)
 * gʉ kura ba Asadik (Asadik's donkeys)

Verbs
In the Komo language, a verb or "kam yay" is the foundation or key basis in forming a proper sentence. A veb describes an action, state, process, event, or quality. In sentences, the verb agrees with the subjects. For example, a subject that is in the 1st person singular needs to have the verb follow in the 1st person singular.

The following chart displays a verb with markers for all the persons :

Regarding verb structure of the Komo language, all finite lexical verbs meaning words that express action, must be structured alongside an Aspect-Directional (AD) suffix. The AD is followed by Bound Pronominal (BP) suffixes that classifies person, number, and gender

The following diagram displays a class diagram for segmental morphemes incorporating a Komo verb:

Morphology
The Komo language relies on Directional morphology. These directional morphemes attached to the verbs in a sentence structure are not typically used, but are common among Nilo-Saharan languages. These morphemes code a wide selection of functions beyond a direction of motion. AD morphemes help to code tense and direction of the motion like the words "towards" and "away". AD morphemes can also code the location as well.


 * sɔ̀kɔ́n     ìp-ì-p'                              ìyyà      ɪ́ma


 * PROG   drink.SG-AD1-3SG.F      water    there


 * She is drinking water there. (She is there = at the water drinking place)