Bench language

Bench (Bencnon, Shenon or Mernon, formerly called Gimira[2]) is a Northern Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup, spoken by about 174,000 people (in 1998) 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.

[3] In unusual variance from most of the other languages in Africa, Bench has retroflex consonant phonemes.

Labialized consonants are reported for [p, b, s, ɡ,] and [ʔ], but their phonemic status is unclear; they only occur after /i/.

For the phoneme /p/ the realizations of [pʰ] and [f] are in free variation; /j/ has the allophone [w] before back vowels.

The syllable structure is (C)V(C)(C)(C) + tone or (C) N (C), where C represents any consonant, V any vowel, N any nasal, and brackets an optional element.

Plurals may optionally be formed by adding the suffix [-n̄d]; however, these are rarely used except with definite nouns.

The word [bá] goes slightly beyond being a reflexive pronoun; it can mark any third person that refers to the subject of the sentence, e.g.: [jȉsīhe.SUBJbáowndōrsheepɡȍtùē]sell.he.FIN[jȉsī bá dōr ɡȍtùē]he.SUBJ own sheep sell.he.FIN"he sold his (own) sheep"[bȍdámroad.ABLhāŋkʼágo.selfbājístāɡùʂn̄self.be.STAT.DET.whenpāntsʼàleopard-NPMkěz]big see.he.FIN[bȍdám hāŋkʼá bājístāɡùʂn̄ pāntsʼà ěz]road.ABL go.self self.be.STAT.DET.when leopard-NPMk {big see.he.FIN}"when he was going along the road, he saw a big leopard"The oblique form is basic, and serves as object, possessive, and adverbial.

The "locative" term means "to, at, or for one's own place or house", e.g.: [kȁrtáreturn.Itȁtʼn̄to.my.housetāIhāŋkʼùē]go.I.FIN[kȁrtá tȁtʼn̄ tā hāŋkʼùē]return.I to.my.house I go.I.FIN"I went home"The main determiners are "that, the" (masc.

As suffixes on a verb or an ablative or locative phrase, they indicate a relative clause.

Compound verbs are formed with [màk] "say" or [màs] "cause to say", a formation common among Ethiopian languages.

[1] Previously, the New Testament had been published in the Bench language using an orthography based on the Ethiopian syllabary.