Kolisi

Abstract Kolisi is one of the least-known Ethiopian languages classified under the Central Cushitic (Agäw) language family. It has seven vowels and twenty-five consonants. As a typical Agäw language, the velar nasal /ŋ/, the alveolar affricate /ts/, and the velar fricative /x/ are among the archaic phonemes. Vowel length is not phonemic. Ejective sounds are absent. There are relics of prefix conjugation, but the language chiefly exhibits suffix conjugation. Verbs consist of a stem and agreeing suffixes of person, number, and gender as well as tense and mood. No gender distinction is shown in personal pronouns. Most nouns end in vowels where /-i/ indicates masculine and /-a/ feminine. Plural is marked heterogeneously but the morpheme /-ka/ appears most frequently. Accusative case is marked by the morpheme /-wa/. Kolisi is an SOV language and predominantly head-final. In complex sentences, subordinate clause precedes main clause.