It was first reported to be a separate language by Lionel Bender in 1977,[2] based on data gathered by missionary Harvey Hoekstra.
Shabo speakers live in three places in the Keficho Shekicho Zone: Anderaccha, Gecha, and Kaabo.
Blench (2010) maintains that Shabo does pattern with the Nilo-Saharan family, and that recent data on Gumuz helped tie the languages together.
More recently, Blench (2019) classifies Shabo (Chabu) as a language isolate, noting little evidence for it being part of Nilo-Saharan.
The number "iŋki" ("one") has been compared to Lowland East Cushitic "tneki" and Saho "inik".
Teferra tentatively postulates 9 vowels: /i/ /ɨ/ /u/ /e/ /ə/ /o/ /ɛ/ /a/ /ɔ/, possibly with further distinctions based on advanced tongue root.
Two minimal pairs are cited by Teferra 1995, including há "kill" versus hà "meat".
Shabo uses postpositions after nouns, e.g.: upa mana pond ɗɛpik moi "a man sat on a rock" (lit.