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Yemsa

A language of Ethiopia

ISO 639-3: jnj

Population	81,600 (1994 census). Ethnic population: 165,184 (1994 census).
Region	Southwest, Oromo region, northeast of Jimma, Fofa (main village); mixed in Oromo villages; Sokoru, Saja, Deedoo, Sak’a, Jimma.
Language map	Southwestern Ethiopia, reference number 86
Alternate names	“Janjerinya” , “Janjero” , “Janjor” , “Yangaro” , Yem, Yemma, “Zinjero”
Dialects	Fuga of Jimma, Toba. The Fuga of Jimma dialect may be a separate language. Lexical similarity: 24% with Shekkacho [moy].
Classification	Afro-Asiatic, Omotic, North, Gonga-Gimojan, Gimojan, Janjero
Language use	Many use both Amharic [amh] and Oromo, but Amharic is preferred.
Language development	Literacy rate in L2: 24%.
Writing system	Ethiopic script. Latin script.
Comments	’Yem’ is the ethnic group name, ‘Yemsa’ the language. Yemma is the feminine form of Yem. SOV; tonal. Muslim, Christian.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

SIEBERT, Kati; SIEBERT, Ralph; YILMA, Aklilu, authors. 2002. "Sociolinguistic survey of the Omotic languages Sheko and Yem."  

WEDEKIND, Klaus, author. 1986. "Communication breakdown or lèse-majesté: How feudoid subgroups of the Yemma (Janjero) talk to each other."

WEDEKIND, Klaus, author. 1990. "Gimo-Jan or Ben-Yem-Om: Benč̡ - Yemsa phonemes, tones, and words."

YILMA, Aklilu, author. 2002. "Pilot survey of bilingualism in Yem."  

Vernacular Publications

Yèmsanì àrunì tìchù. 2003.