Inor language

Inor
Ennemor
Native to Ethiopia
Native speakers
unknown (undated figure of 280,000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ior
Glottolog inor1238[2]

Inor (pronounced [inoːr]), sometimes called Ennemor, is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in central Ethiopia. A Gurage language, it is mainly spoken within the Gurage Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, as well as by speakers of the language who have settled in Ethiopian cities, especially Addis Ababa. In addition to the morphological complexity that is common to all Semitic languages, Inor exhibits the very complex morphophonology characteristic of West Gurage languages.

Endegegn, Enner, Gyeto, and the extinct dialect Mesmes are all sometimes considered dialects of Inor.

Inor possesses nasal vowels, which are unusual for a Gurage language. Many of these may be the result of historical rhinoglottophilia.

Phonology

Consonants

Inor consonants[3]
labial alveolar alveo-
palatal
palatal velar glottal
plain labialized plain palatalized lab. plain lab.
Stops and
affricates
ejective t’ tʃ’ k’ kʲ’ kʷ’
voiceless p t k ʔ ʔʷ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʲ ɡʷ
Fricatives voiceless f s ʃ x
voiced z ʒ
Nasals m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Approximants plain β̞ (l) j w
nasalized β̞̃
Rhotics plain r
nasalized

Vowels

Inor vowels[4]
front central back
high i ɨ u
mid e ə o
low æ a

[ɨ] may be regarded as largely epenthetic and only marginally phonemic.[5]

References

  1. Inor at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
  2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Inor". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. Chamora & Hetzron (2000:10)
  4. Chamora & Hetzron (2000:13–16)
  5. Chamora & Hetzron (2000:13)

Bibliography

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