Ethnologue

Melo

ISO 639-3

Alternate Names

Malo

Population

24,860, all users. L1 users: 20,200 (1994 census). L2 users: 4,660. 13,700 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 20,200 (1994 census).

Location

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ region: north Omo zone, Malo-Koza area.

Language Maps

Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification

Dialects

None known. Lexical similarity: 70% with the majority of Ometo language varieties.

Language Use

Used by all. Also use Amharic [amh]. Used as L2 by Chara [cra].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: 10%.

Language Resources

Writing

Unwritten [Qaax].