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Ongota (also known as Birale/Birayle) is a moribund language of southwest Ethiopia. In 2000, it was said to be in a state of decline with only 8 elderly native speakers, the rest of their small village on the west bank of the Weyt'o River having adopted the Ts'amakko language instead.* The grammar follows a Subject Object Verb word order. It is probably Afro-Asiatic, but has not been definitively classified. As of 2004, it is being studied by Aklilu Yilma of Addis Ababa University.
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Bibliography
Fleming, Harold 2002. "Ongota Lexicon: English-Ongota". Mother Tongue, VII, pp. 39-65.
Fleming, Harold: Ongota: A Decisive Language in African Prehistory. - Wiesbaden Harrassowitz, 2006. ISBN 3-447-05124-8
Mikesh, P. and Seelig, J.M. 1992. "Ongota or Birale: a moribund language of Gemu-Gofa (Ethiopia)". Journal of Afroasiatic Languages, 3,3:181-225.
Savà, Graziano and Mauro Tosco 2000. A sketch of Ongota, a dying language of southwest Ethiopia. Studies in African Linguistics 29.2.59-136.
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