Gwama
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A language of Ethiopia
15,000 (Küspert 2015). Ethnic population: 20,000 (Küspert 2015).
Benishangul-Gumuz region: Mao Komo special woreda (Lowland dialect); Oromia region: West Wollega zone, Begi district; some villages near South Sudan border (Highland dialect).
6b (Threatened).
Highland Gwama (T’wa Sit Shwala), Lowland Gwama. Highland Gwama rapidly dwindling in favor of West Central Oromo [gaz] (Küspert 2015).
SVO; head-initial noun phrase; prepositions; 2 genders; plural only distinguished for animate in Lowland; three degrees of distance in demonstratives; verbal morphology distinguishes deictic direction, aspect, person, number and gender for subject, object and indirect object, third (neuter) gender only in non-subject affixes; no morphological verb derivations; stem reduplication to prevent occurrence of inflected verb stem in clause final position; 7 vowels with ATR distinction in the high vowels, no phonemic length; tonal (3 tone levels); first person inclusive and exclusive distinction.
Vigorous in Benishangul Gumuz lowlands. Some of all ages. All also use West Central Oromo [gaz], as the dominant language in the Highland area, with some language shift taking place in Oromia region and in Tongo area (Küspert 2015). Some also use Amharic [amh], especially younger generation in Benishangul Gumuz. A few also use Standard Arabic [arb], in limited domains. Also use Berta [wti]. Used as L2 by Ganza [gza], Komo [xom].
Literacy rate in L2: 12%. Non-formal literacy classes. Taught as subject in primary schools in grades 1–3 in Benishangul-Gumuz region, as a pilot education program. Radio. Videos. Dictionary.
Muslim, traditional religion.