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Zay

A language of Ethiopia

ISO 639-3: zwa

Population	4,880 (1994 SIL), decreasing. Ethnic population: 4,880.
Region	Oromiya region, Lake Zway shores and east islands.
Language maps	Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia, reference number 87 Southwestern Ethiopia, reference number 87
Alternate names	Gelilla, Lak’i, Laqi, Zway
Dialects	No identified dialect variations. Lexical similarity: 61% with Harari [har], 70% with Silt’e [stv] (M. L. Bender 1971).
Classification	Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South, Ethiopian, South, Transversal, Harari-East Gurage
Language use	Island children learn Zay, but lakeshore children learn Oromo. Also used Oromo or Amharic [amh].
Comments	‘Zway’ refers to the lake and town, ‘Zay’ to the people and language. ‘Lak’i’ (‘Laqi’) is the Oromo name for the people. Agriculturalists; fishermen.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

Gardner, Simon and Ralph Siebert. 1994. "Second S. L. L. E. survey of the Zay language area."

Gardner, Simon and Ralph Siebert. 2001. "Sociolinguistic survey report of the Zay language area."  

Wedekind, Klaus and Charlotte Wedekind. 2002. "Initial SLLE survey of the Zway area."