Kafa language

Manjo
Manjo
Mangiò
(speculative)
Native to	Ethiopia
Ethnicity	Manjo
Extinct	(date missing)
Language family	unattested
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	mang1364

Kafa
Kafa
Kafi noono
Native to	Ethiopia
Region	Keffa Zone
Ethnicity	Kafficho
Native speakers	830,000 (2007 census)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Omotic North Gonga Kafa–Shekkacho Kafa; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Bosha;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kbr
Glottolog	kafa1242

Kafa or Kefa (Kafi noono) is a North Omotic language spoken in Ethiopia at the Keffa Zone. It is part of the Ethiopian Language Area, with SOV word order, ejective consonants, etc.

A collection of proverbs in the language has been published by Mesfin Wodajo.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
		plain	gem.	plain	gem.	plain	gem.	plain	gem.	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	pː	t	tː	tʃ	tʃː	k	kː	ʔ
	voiced	b	bː	d	dː	dʒ	dʒː	g	ɡː
	ejective	pʼ	pːʼ	tʼ	tːʼ	tʃʼ	tʃːʼ	kʼ	kːʼ
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	sː	ʃ				h
Fricative	voiced			z
Nasal		m	mː	n	nː
Rhotic				ɾ
Approximant		w		l	lː	j

/f/ may also be heard as [ɸ] in free variation.
/b/ can be heard as a bilabial approximant [β̞] in intervocalic positions.
/t/ can be realized as [ts] in word-final position.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i iː	u uː
Mid	ɛ ɛː	ɔ ɔː
Open	a aː

/a/ may also have an allophone of [ə].

Manjo

Within the Kafa culture there is a caste of traditional hunters called the Manja/Manjo 'hunters'. They may once have spoken a different language. However, Leikola has shown that currently they speak Kafa with a number of distinctive words and constructions that they use, reinforcing the distinctions between themselves and the larger Kafa society.

References

↑ Ethiopia 2007 Census Archived 2010-11-14 at the Wayback Machine
↑ 2012. Functions and Formal and Stylistic Features of Kafa Proverbs: Functional and Structural Approach. Lambert Academic Publishing.
1 2 Theil, Rolf (2007). Kafa phonology. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, Vol. 28, No. 2: DeGruyter Mouton. pp. 193–216.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
↑ Leikola, Kirsi (2014). Talking Manjo: Linguistic repertoires as means of negotiating marginalization (PhD dissertation). University of Helsinki. hdl:10138/44772.

Bibliography

Theil, Rolf (2007). Kafa phonology. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, Vol. 28, No. 2: DeGruyter Mouton. pp. 193–216. doi:10.1515/JALL.2007.010.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

External links

World Atlas of Language Structures information on Kefa

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↑ Aberra, Daniel. 2025. Case in Kafa. Studies of Ethiopian Languages 14.

[1] Ethiopia 2007 Census Archived 2010-11-14 at the Wayback Machine

[2] 2012. Functions and Formal and Stylistic Features of Kafa Proverbs: Functional and Structural Approach. Lambert Academic Publishing.

[:0-3] 1 2 Theil, Rolf (2007). Kafa phonology. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, Vol. 28, No. 2: DeGruyter Mouton. pp. 193–216.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

[4] Leikola, Kirsi (2014). Talking Manjo: Linguistic repertoires as means of negotiating marginalization (PhD dissertation). University of Helsinki. hdl:10138/44772.

[5] Aberra, Daniel. 2025. Case in Kafa. Studies of Ethiopian Languages 14.

Kafa
Kafi noono
Native to	Ethiopia
Region	Keffa Zone
Ethnicity	Kafficho
Native speakers	830,000 (2007 census)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Omotic North Gonga Kafa–Shekkacho Kafa
Dialects	Bosha
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`kbr`
Glottolog	`kafa1242`