It belongs to the South Ethiopic languages subgroup, and is closely related to Amharic.
[1] Writing in the mid-1960s, Edward Ullendorff noted that it "is disappearing rapidly in favour of Amharic, and only a few hundred elderly people are still able to speak it.
All of them (except the voiceless postalveolar plosive can be placed in the initial, middle and final position of the word.
The /ɜ/ functions as a default vowel for the creation of nominal and verbal formations and is used in many words.
The Argobba language has five syllable types: V, VC, CV, CVC, and CVCC.
The syllable type CV is a consonant in onset position and a vocal in nucleus.
Argobba is an agglutinative language, using suffixes and prefixes to change the meaning of the words.
The cases differ in their usage and also the formation, especially in the addition of pre- or suffixed adpositions.
from about like with lɜsamɨnt tɜmɜdɜw bɜħarb bɜt‘ʷaħ ɨntɜšɨritɨx sɨlɜwaĵib amabetɨčči mɜšorakkul “for a week“ “on the podium“ “with a spear“ “in the morning“ “away from you“ “about the necessary“ “like the house“ “with the elderly” It is differentiated between 4 groups of pronouns.
The imperfective and jussive conjugations are formed by adding a combination of pre- and suffixes.
It is differentiated not by an extra word, but by adding a prefix or a suffix into the existing conjugation.
zɜrrɜʔseed.PERF-ena-1PLzɜrrɜʔ -enaseed.PERF -1PL“We sowed“ (affirmative perfectiv)al-N-zɨrʔseed.PERF-ena-1PL-m-Nal- zɨrʔ -ena -mN- seed.PERF -1PL -N“We have not seeded“ (negative perfectiv, the n- showing the pre- and suffixed negative markers)The conjugation consists of a base and one or two subject congruence affixes.
The prefixes vary in usage while the suffixes are predominantly used to indicate the plural or feminine form.
There are also differences in the conjugation depending on if it is an affirmative, complex, negative or relative verb.
The generic masculine is the standard, but in case there are predominantly women, a feminine marker is suffixed after the imperfective-base.
Numerus In Argobba it is differentiated between the singular, plural and transnumeral form of a noun.
intɜ- bɜ- “from what“ “with what“ innɜ- “who“ tɜ- bɜ- intɜ- “where“ “on/in where“ “from where“ “how“ The interrogative pronoun ɨmbɜla is used for questions that refer to a subject in a nominative sentence or to an object that is part of a verbal sentence.
Man can also be used when asking for a group of people, but then it is usually used in combination with the prefix associative marker innɜ.
lɜ- (can be translated with “for“) In combination with a noun, it is used to mark the recipient of a verbal act.
On the other hand, it is used in combination with a di-transitive verb when it takes on the role of a dative or a benefactive.
fat’uma ɨntɜħalima nɜħ amħɨr nɜčč (Fatuma is prettier than Halima) ama- It is also used to form adpositionalphrases that show modality or have a similative meaning and are adding into nominative phrases to dictate the standard comparison.
sɨlɜ- (can be translated with because of / about) It is used in the formation of adpositional phrases and it shows the focus of the conversation.
In some cases it can be translated with the world “including“ when attempting to make an inclusion statement.
Simultaneously, on the noun, that is the object of the comparison, is a added the preposition ɨntɜ- as a prefix.
The head is usually a noun or a pronoun, and the phrase can be formed in an easy or a complex pattern.
Nominal phrases are special because they can form syntactical functions like subjects and objects.
An example of an easy structure would be the following: wɜrbarboynɜCOP-i-3SG.Mwɜrbar nɜ -iboy COP -3SG.M"It is a boy" → also functioning as a copular phraseAn example of a complex structure: It consists of a head noun and more modifying elements that can carry more grammatical or semantic information, such as demonstrative pronouns, adjectives, numerals, quantifier and relative phrases.
sɜroclothes-a-POS.3SG:F-n-ACCħat‘t‘ɜwɜččwash.PER.3SG:Fsɜro -a -n ħat‘t‘ɜwɜččclothes -POS.3SG:F -ACC wash.PER.3SG:F"She washed her clothes"This phrase is used to add to a predication with extra information and either consists of a combination of an adposition with a noun that it refers to, or they have a complex structure.
The complex structure usually consists of three elements: adverbs, postpositions and a relational noun.
These elements are supposed to add to the information that is known about the situation, which is usually about local, temporal or modal circumstances that are about the action in question.