Zayse

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A language of Ethiopia

ISO 639-3
zay
Alternate Names
Korisadam, Zagisite, Zaisse, Zayse-Zergulla, Zaysete, Zaysinya, Zaysse, Zeyese
Autonym
Zaysite
User Population

18,500 (2007 census). 10,200 Zayse, 7,600 Zergulla. 3,000 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 17,900 (2007 census).

Location

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ region: Gamo-Gofa Zone, west of Lake Chamo.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification
Afro-Asiatic, Omotic, North, Gonga-Gimojan, Gimojan, Ometo-Gimira, Ometo, East
Dialects

Zergulla (Zargulla, Zergullinya), Zayse. Speakers are shifting from Zergulla to Zayse (Dimmendaal and Voeltz 2007).

Typology

SOV; nominative marking; agglutinative (only suffixes), especially verbs; subject, tense, aspect, mood, causative, passive/ reciprocal and focus marked on the verb; vowel and consonant lengthening; lexical and grammatical tone (2 phonemic levels); converb use common; switch subject marker; inclusive/exclusive pronouns.

Language Use

Vigorous. Approximately 7,000 ethnic Gamo [gmv] speak Zergulla as L1. Children up to school age speak Zayse more than any other language. Used by all. Positive attitudes. Also use Amharic [amh]. Used as L2 by Mositacha [dox].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: 50% in Amharic [amh]. Taught as subject in some primary schools. Radio. Bible portions: 2014–2020.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Zayse
Writing

Ethiopic script [Ethi], informal usage. Latin script [Latn], official usage since 2014.