Bussa is an East Cushitic

East Cushitic languages

The Lowland East Cushitic languages comprise two dozen languages of the Cushitic family within Afro-Asiatic. They are spoken mainly in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia, and by Cushitic groups in northern Kenya....

 language spoken in the Dirashe special woreda

Dirashe special woreda

Dirashe is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. Because Dirashe is not part of any Zone in the SNNPR, it is considered a Special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area...

 of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of the former Regions 7-11 following the 1994 elections...

 located in southern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. The people themselves, numbering 19,628 according to the 2007 census, call their language Mossittaata. Two varieties can be distinguished: North and West Bussa.

Bussa is highly influenced by surrounding Cushitic

Cushitic languages

The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family spoken in the Horn of Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. They are named after the Biblical character Cush, who was identified as an ancestor of the speakers of these specific languages as early as AD 947...

 and Omotic languages

Omotic languages

The Omotic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic family spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. The Ge'ez alphabet is used to write some Omotic languages, the Roman alphabet for some others. They are fairly agglutinative, and have complex tonal systems .-Language list:The North and South Omotic...

 and should be considered endangered according to Gurmu (2005). Speakers of the North Bussa variety are shifting to Oromo

Oromo language

Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...

, Dirasha

Dirasha language

Dirasha is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. It is spoken in Ethiopia in the Omo Region, in the hills west of Lake Chamo, around Gidole town. A number of speakers also use Oromo or Komso...

 or Amharic

Amharic language

Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...

, whereas speakers of the West Bussa variety are shifting to the Omotic languages Zargulla, Zayse and Gamo

Gamo-Gofa-Dawro language

Gamo-Gofa-Dawro is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Dawro, Gamo Gofa and Wolayita Zones of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region in Ethiopia. Dialects include Gamo, Gofa, Dawro. Subdialects of Dawro are Konta and Kucha...

. Important factors for the ongoing language shift

Language shift

Language shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language replacement or assimilation, is the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. The rate of assimilation is the percentage of individuals with a given mother tongue who speak...

include intermarriage with other ethnic groups and heavy contact with neighbouring people.

External links

• Ethnologue report on Bussa.