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Concept information

Preferred term

bcqBench  

Type

  • Language

Definition

  • Bench (also called Gimira, considered a derogatory term) is a Northern Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup, spoken by about 174,000 people (as of 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. It has three mutually intelligible dialects: Bench proper, She, and Mer. In unusual variance from most of the other languages in Africa, Bench has retroflex consonant phonemes. The language is also noteworthy in that it has six phonemic tones, one of only a handful of languages in the world that have this many.

Entry terms

  • Bench language

ISO 639-3 code

  • bcq

Notation

  • bcq

In other languages

URI

http://lexvo.org/id/iso639-3/bcq

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