Ongota (iifa ʕongota)
Spoken in:	Ethiopia
Region:	Southern Omo zone, Southern Region
Total speakers:	12
Ranking:	Not in top 100
Genetic classification:	Unclassified, probably Afro-Asiatic  Ongota
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mis
SIL	BXE
Linguasphere	07-AAA-aa

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 mother tongue speakers, most other speakers having adopted the Ts'amakko language instead. The grammar follows a Subject Object Verb word order. It is probably Afroasiatic, but has not been definitively classified. As of 2004, it is being studied by Aklilu Yilma of Addis Ababa University.

Bibliography

• Fleming, Harold 2002. "Ongota Lexicon: English-Ongota". Mother Tongue, VII, pp. 39-65.
• 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.

External links

• Ethnologue on Ongota
• A paper which includes a wordlist of Ongota