Ximsaga yaadsaga Afaan Oromoo

Kaayyoon qorannoo kanaa faca’iinsa xiimsagaa, yaadsaga Afaan Oromoo keessatti ibsuudha. Qorannoo kanaaf ka’umsi ximsaga yaadsaga Afaan Oromoorratti qorannoon gadifageenya qabu qoratamuu dhabuudha. Qorannoon kun qorannoo akkamtaa maleenya ibsaatiin xiinxalameedha. Iddattoon qorannichaa namoota 24 dubbattoota looga maccaati. Ragaaleen qorannichaa mala sissi’eessuutiin (elicitation) kan sassaabamaniidha. Bu’aan qorannichaa faca’iinsi dhamsagoota yaadsagaafi jechoota idilee keessatti mul’atan waladdummaa akka qaban adda baaseera. Yaadsaga keessatti dhamsagoonni dubbifamaan faca’iinsa jalqabaa, jidduufi dhumaa qaban [f, s, ʃ, t’, ʧ’, m, ɲ, l, r] yoo ta’an; faca’iinsa jalqabaafi jidduu kanneen qabanimmoo [b, d, g, ʔ, ɗ, ʤ] ta’uu qorannichi agarsiiseera. Dabalataan, faca’iinsa jalqabaafi dhumaa warri qabanis [p’, t, k, k’, h, w] dha. Dubbachiistonni hundinuu faca’iinsa jidduurratti kan argaman yoo ta’u; daangaa dhumaarratti garuu [o, u fi a] qofatu mul’ata. Dabalataan, sagaleeleen dhootuu fakkaatan (click like sounds) kan dhamsagoota bu’uuraa afaanichaa keessatti hin argamne [ʞ, ǁ, ǃ, ʘ, tchip] xinsaga yaadsaga afaanichaa keessatti nimul’atu. Dhumarratti, caasaaleen birsagaa yaadsaga keessatti mul’atan kan jechoota idlee keessatti mul’ataniin waladdummaa qabaachuu bu’aan qorannichaa agarsiiseera. English Abstract The main objective of this study is to describe the phonological distributions of Oromo ideophones. The study is qualitative and a descriptive approach was employed. The data were collected from 24 informants’ the native speakers of mecha variety with elicitation methods. The findings show that, ideophones are slightly different in distributions i.e. a phoneme that may possess three distributional positions in words may possess one or two distributional position(s) in ideophones. The phonemes that have initial, medial, and final positions are [ f, s, ʃ, t’, ʧ’, m, ɲ, l, r] as that; which have only initial and medial are [b, d, g, ʔ, ɗ, ʤ]and those with initial and final are [p’, t, k, k’, h, w]. All vowel phonemes can be distributed at the medial position but, only [o, u, a] occur at the final position of the ideophones. In addition, there are click-like sounds that can never be found in the regular phonology of the language. These are five in number [ʞ, ǁ, ǃ, ʘ, tchip] and are used in onomatopoeic words. Finally, in syllable structures, the rules prohibited in word structures are permitted in ideophonic structures. Keywords: click-like sounds, distribution, ideophones, phonology