lgn ISO 639
T’apo, T’azita Autonyms
Opo
Visualizations
A language of Ethiopia
- ISO 639
- lgn
- Alternate Names
- Ansita, Ciita, Cita, Kina, Kwina, Opo-Shita, Opuo, Opuuo, Po, Shiita, Shita, T’ap’o, Tʼashita, Upo, Zita, “Langa” (pej.)
- Autonym
- T’apo, T’azita
- Population
- 5,000 in Ethiopia (2014). Most are monolingual. Community self-reports population up to 20,000. Total users in all countries: 20,000.
- Location
- Gambela region: Sudan border area, 5 villages. Gambela region: Wanke and Langkwe villages; also in the Akula refugee camps (Bilugu dialect); Gambela region: Mera and Atuch (Atus) (Modin dialect).
- Language Maps
- Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia, South Sudan
- Language Status
- 6a (Vigorous).
- Classification
- Nilo-Saharan, Satellite-Core, Core, Koman
- Dialects
- Modin, Bilugu. Lexical similarity: 24% with Komo [xom]. Significant differences between Ethiopian and South Sudanese dialects (Smolders 2019).
- Typology
- SVO; tonal; bound pronominal markers on verb stem mark core arguments; pluractionality in verb system; finite negative verbs; body-part particles as verbal classifiers; verbal directional suffixes; associated motion with directional suffixes on non-motion verbs; N-N associative construction; three levels of deictic distance; non-human nouns exhibit general number, human kinship terms exhibit inflectional number, all other human nouns exhibit derived number, including participant nominalizing derivational prefixes (masc., fem., plural., non-human) (Smolders 2019).
- Language Use
- All domains. Used by all. Positive attitudes. Also use Amharic [amh]. Also use Anuak [anu], as common L2. Also use Nuer [nus]. Also use Sudanese Spoken Arabic [apd].
- Language Development
- Literacy rate in L2: 36%. Literacy development and education underway, but no standardization (2018 J. Smolders).
- Writing
- Latin script [Latn], unofficial usage.
- Other Comments
- Traditional religion, Christian.
- Language Resources
- OLAC resources in and about Opo
Also Spoken in
- Location
- Upper Nile state: Longachuk county, Daga river area, Dajo district (Dana dialect), Paitath (Paytet) district (Bikol dialect), and Katen district (Pilakoy dialect); Maiwut and Nasir counties, Kigile district (Kigile dialect) and Maiwut district (Pame dialect).
- Dialects
- Dana (Barun, Baruun, Buldiit, Buldit), Kigile (Kusgilo), Pame, Bikol, Pilakoy.
- Language Status
- 6a (Vigorous)
- Other Comments
- Traditional religion. View other languages of South Sudan
Language Name
Opo
User Population
15,000 in South Sudan (2019). Self-reported estimate by language community.
