ISO 639-3 xom | Glottolog komo1258 | |
Native to Sudan, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia Region North of Gambella Region, across the Ethiopia–Sudan border Native speakers (10,000 in Sudan cited 1979)
8,500 in Ethiopia (2007 census) Language family Nilo-Saharan?
Komuz
Koman
Komo | ||
The Komo language is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Komo people of Ethiopia, Sudan and Southern Sudan. It is a member of the Koman languages. The language is also referred to as Madiin, Koma, South Koma, Central Koma, Gokwom, and Hayahaya. Many individuals from Komo are multilingual because they are in close proximity to Mao, Kwama, and Oromo speakers. Komo is closely related to Kwama, a language spoken by a group who live in the same region of Ethiopia and who also identify themselves as ethnically Komo. Some Komo and Kwama speakers recognize the distinction between the two languages and culture, whereas some people see it as one "ethnolinguistic" community. The 2007 Ethiopian census makes no mention of Kwama, and for this reason its estimate of 8000 Komo speakers may be inaccurate. An older estimate from 1971 places the number of Komo speakers in Ethiopia at 1500. The Komo language has a distinct use of many different aspects of grammar. There are important roles that certain singular or plural nouns, verbs, gender, and expressions have on the structure of the sentences used in the language.