Omotic

The term 'Omotic' is used to refer to a group of languages and dialects, all of which are found within the Ethiopian territory, mainly in the south-central and western areas (see map 6.1). The largest concentration of Omotic languages is in a more or less contiguous area in the southwest, within the administration domain of the Southern Ethiopian Nations, National and Peoples' Regional State (SNNPRS). Outside of this state there are Omotic-language enclaves among speakers of other languages. These enclaves include the Shinasha, who live in the midst of Amharic-speaking areas of Gojjam, just north of the Blue Nile. Within Omotic, the linguistically closest groups to the Shinhasa (a Gonga language) are Kafa and Shakacho ('Mocha'), which are spoken further south in the Kafa region. Other isolated Omotic-speaking people are the Anfillo/Mao and Hozo-Sezo in the western Oromiya nd Benishangul-Gumuz regions. The Yen people, farther northeast in the Omotic area, are surrounded by speakers of Cushitic and Semitic (Gurage)languages. The Dizi form another omotic 'island', surrounded fully by the Surmic languages Me'en, Baale, and Surma. Such scattered settlement of Omotic groups seems to indicate a former contiguous, and perhaps larger, distribution of Omotic languages (see Fleming 1984; Hayward 1995)