Nayi is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic

Afro-Asiatic languages

The Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages...

 language family spoken in western 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 2007 census listed 1998 census listed 7,188 speakers; the 1998 census 3,656 speakers, with 1,137 identified as monolinguals.

Most of the speakers of the language live in two separated areas. The largest grouping live in Decha

Decha

Decha is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The name Decha comes from one of the provinces in the former Kingdom of Kaffa, which had the approximately same boundaries...

 woreda

Woreda

Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...

 of the Keficho Shekicho Zone

Keficho Shekicho Zone

Keficho Shekicho is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . While in their latest population estimates the Central Statistical Agency includes it as a single Zone, the list of second administrative level bodies maintained by the United Nations Geographic...

. The nearest city to their region is Bonga

Bonga

Bonga is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located southwest of Jimma in the Keficho Shekicho Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region upon a hill in the upper Barta valley, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1,714 meters above sea level...

. A few in Dulkuma village of the Shoa Bench woreda, some in Sheko

Sheko (woreda)

Sheko is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named for the Sheko people, whose homeland lies in the eastern part of the woreda; a different ethnic group, the Me'en, dominate the southeastern part...

 woreda having moved there in 1976-1977 as a result of conflicts between local feudal lords and the military government (Aklilu 2002:4). In Decha, young people no longer speak the language.

The language is notable for its retroflex consonant

Retroflex consonant

A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology...

s (Aklilu Yilma 1988), a striking feature shared with closely related Dizi, Sheko

Sheko language

Sheko is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in the area between Tepi and Mizan Teferi in western Ethiopia, in the Sheko district in the Bench Maji Zone...

 and nearby (but not closely related) Bench

Bench language

Bench is a Northern Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup, spoken by about 174,000 people in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, in southern Ethiopia, around the towns of Mizan Teferi and Shewa Gimira...

. The language has 5 vowels that can be long or short. The question of the status of a short mid central vowel is still unresolved. There are three phonemic tones and syllabic nasal consonants. There are ejective stops and affricates, but no implosives (Aklilu 2002:6,7).

Nayi, together with the Dizi and Sheko

Sheko language

Sheko is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in the area between Tepi and Mizan Teferi in western Ethiopia, in the Sheko district in the Bench Maji Zone...

languages, is part of a cluster of languages variously called "Maji" or "Dizoid".

External links

• Map of the Nayi language", LL-Map website