[1] Many individuals from Komo are multilingual because they are in close proximity to Mao, Kwama and Oromo speakers.
Some Komo and Kwama speakers recognize the distinction between the two languages and culture, whereas some people see it as one "ethnolinguistic" community.
[3] The 2007 Ethiopian census makes no mention of Kwama, and for this reason its estimate of 8,000 Komo speakers may be inaccurate.
Many individuals from Komo are multilingual because they are in close proximity to Mao, Kwama, and Oromo speakers.
[5] Although Komo and Kwama are recognized under two different branches of Proto-Koman, there has been continuous debates and confusion over the ethnic identity of the two speech varieties.
There have been cases of a palatal nasal [ɲ] and an alveolar trill [r] occurring word medially, however these are not considered distinct phonemes but rather the result of phonological processes.
[11] Consonant gemination is common word medially in Komo, however is not phonologically significant and therefore optional.
[11] Komo displays a contrastive seven-vowel inventory /i, ɪ, ɛ, a, ɔ, u/ with Advanced Tongue Root [ATR] contrast in the high vowels and a typologically unusual and unattested ATR harmony system.
The majority of verbal roots in Komo are monosyllabic at one of the three tones, and when inflected with a single argument they display a pattern of tonal melody.
Depending on the class of verb, the tone of the root verb may change depending on the tone of the morphemes that attach to it in relation to its class[4] Both codas and onsets are optional in Komo, therefore Komo allows the following syllable types:[11] An orthography for the Komo language has been conclusively constructed.
The adjectives describe particular qualities, such as the look, shape, sound, taste, or size, of the noun.
[15] For example: In the Komo language, a verb or "kam yay" is the foundation or key basis in forming a proper sentence.
The AD is followed by Bound Pronominal (BP) suffixes that classifies person, number, and gender The following diagram displays a class diagram for segmental morphemes incorporating a Komo verb:[17] The Komo language relies on directional morphology.
These directional morphemes attached to the verbs in a sentence structure are not typically used, but are common among Nilo-Saharan languages.
AD morphemes help to code tense and direction of the motion like the words "towards" and "away".
(She is there = at the water drinking place) Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);The region of Western Ethiopia and Eastern Sudan hosts many ethnic and linguistic groups, many of which are closely related, therefore many sociological and linguistic studies of the region contradict one another.
In general, the languages that Komo speakers may be bilingual in are: Gwama, Oromo, or Amharic, although the latter is only likely in the case of people who have achieved a decent education.