Libido language
Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Libido (also known as Libixxiso, Mareqo, Mareko, Marekinga)[1] is an Afroasiatic language of Ethiopia, which is spoken in the Mareko district Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, directly south-east of Butajira. According to the information of the Central Statistical Authority (2007) census, 64,381 people speak the language as their mother tongue. Most of them are multilingual, due to contact with other languages.[1]
Classification
It is closely related to Hadiyya (a dialect per Blench 2006) within the Highland East Cushitic languages.
Orthography
Libido has become written in recent times, following motivation from the Ethiopian language policy to use the Latin script; the language has also been taught since 2002 for grades 1 to 4.
| Letter | A a | B b | C c | D d | E e | F f | G g | H h | I i | J j | K k | L l | M m | N n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | [a] | [b] | [ʧʼ] | [d] | [e] | [f] | [g] | [h] | [i] | [ʤ] | [k] | [l] | [m] | [n] |
| Letter | O o | Q q | R r | S s | T t | U u | W w | X x | Y y | Z z | CH ch | PH ph | Sh sh | ’ |
| IPA | [o] | [kʼ] | [r] | [s] | [t] | [u] | [w] | [tʼ] | [j] | [z] | [ʧ] | [pʼ] | [ʃ] | [ʔ] |
Grammar
Its syntax is SOV; its verb has passive, reflexive and causative constructions, as well as a middle voice.
