Oromic Gender

Abstract

As one of the major Afro-Asiatic languages, the Oromo language, Afaan Oromoo (Oromic) is a language with grammatical gender: all nouns are either feminine or masculine. The gender category is one of the least studied items of the language, and consequently little attention is paid to its proper assignment and agreement when writing or speaking, especially among the current school generation in Oromia. On the other hand, gender assignment in this language is relatively transparent and easy to learn. It is mainly motivated by the phonology of the final syllable of nouns. The natural gender and semantics have little roles to play. In this paper the general rules of gender assignment in Oromic, based on the eastern dialect, will be discussed. The challenges and the common mistakes for language learners will also be addressed, and issues to follow up on will be put forward for researchers.