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Part of
Grammatical and Sociolinguistic Aspects of Ethiopian Languages
Edited by Derib Ado, Almaz Wasse Gelagay and Janne Bondi Johannessen †
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 48] 2021
► pp. 65–90

Language contact and its effects on language use of the Gurage varieties of Muher

| Addis Ababa University
Social and linguistic contact between speakers of diverse Gurage varieties, as well as the influence of the surrounding Cushitic languages, has contributed to the establishment of widespread bi- or multilingualism. However, the actual extent and effects of language contact in the Gurage Zone are not clearly known. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to investigate language contact and its effects on language use of Muher. The Muher community lives in the north-western part of the Gurage Zonal administration of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Regional State. Muher speakers are bilingual in Amharic, the official working language of the country, and Ezha, one of neighboring languages the Gurage varieties. A mixed research method is used for data collection. The findings show that Muher is often used in the home and within the community, and is highly influenced by the dominant official working language of the country, Amharic, and the neighboring language, Ezha. It is very hard to find monolingual speakers of Muher. Amharic is used in all official settings in Muher, such as in schools, in court, in health centre’s and in administration. Muher children are bilingual with Amharic prior to starting school. Elders tend to use their mother tongues, while young people mix their mother tongue with the dominant language, or tend to speak Amharic. Generational transformation of Muher is decreasing in urban areas. In Wolkite and Hawariyat, most of the children have Amharic as their L1.
Keywords: language contact, language endangerment, language shift, language use, speech accommodation theory
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Background
  • 2.Theoretical framework
  • 3.Research methodology
  • 4.Language knowledge and use
    • 4.1Language ability of participants
    • 4.2Language use of participants
      • a.Language use with father
      • b.Language use with mothers
      • c.Language use with children
      • d.Language use with Muher husband and Ezha wife, and vice versa
      • e.Language use of Muher with rural and urban relatives
      • f.Language use in the market
      • g.Language use in church
      • h.Language use in mosques
      • i.Language use in other social domains
      • a.Language use in courts, health centers and in villages
      • b.Language use in schools
  • 5.Analysis
  • 6.Summary and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 23 April 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.48.03shu
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