Northern Gumuz

Abstract This chapter describes the Nilo-Saharan language, Northern Gumuz (NoG), that forms part of the broader Gumuz dialect cluster spoken across northwestern Ethiopia and southeastern Republic of Sudan. The speakers of NoG live side-by-side among ethnic groups who speak other mother tongue languages such as Amharic, Awngi, Shinasha and Oromo. Debates arise regarding the inclusion of the Gumuz languages (and the broader B’aga language family) in the Nilo-Saharan phylum. While the basic phonology and syntax of the language are described here, some unusual characteristics of the language include complex verb stems comprised of a verb root and (historical) noun root. Some of these historical noun roots (that form complex verb stems) have grammaticalized as verbal classifiers, making Gumuz the only language(s) in Africa documented with such a classifier system.