Girirra language

Girirra also called Gariire is a Cushitic language of Ethiopia. It has extensive borrowing from Somali.^[2] Although not mutually intelligible with Somali, it is estimated that around 70% of the Garirra language is made up of Somali loan words. There has not been many studies on the language itself and is often grouped into a small umbrella of the Macro-Somali language family including relatives like: Rendille, Boni, Bayso, and the two dialects of Somali, being Af-Maay, and Af-Maxaa (Standard Somali).^[3]

Girirra
Af Girirra
Native to	Ethiopia
Region	Af-Dheer Zone, Somali Region, Ethiopia
Ethnicity	Girirra, Somali
Native speakers	50,000 (2007)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Cushitic Lowland East Macro-Somali Girirra
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gii
Glottolog	giri1245

Phonology

The following are the phonemes found in Girirra:^[4]

Consonant phonemes

		Labial	Alveolar	Palato- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless		t			k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ		ɡ
	glottalic		ɗ	t͡ʃʼ		kʼ
Fricative		f	s	ʃ			h
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Trill			r
Approximant			l		j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i, iː		u, uː
Mid	e, eː		o, oː
Open		a, aː

References

1. Girirra at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. SILESR2002 061
3. Blench, Roger (2006). "The Afro-Asiatic Languages Classification and Reference List" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. Mekonnen, Hundie Kumbi. 2015. The Grammar of Girirra (A Lowland East Cushitic Language of Ethiopia). (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University; xxvii+367pp.)

Further reading

• Mekonnen, Hundie Kumbi. 2015. The Grammar of Girirra (A Lowland East Cushitic Language of Ethiopia). (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University; xxvii+367pp.)