Chara people
Appearance
TheCharaalso known as the Tsara are a people group ofEthiopia.They form a part of theGimirapeoples of Ethiopia and live in theKaffa Highlands,[1]and theDebub Omo area.
Their three main villages areGeba a meša,Buna Anta,andKumba, Ethiopiaand they practise subsistencefarmingand hold to a syncretic religion ofOriental Orthodox Christianitywith tribal practices.[2] The Chara people speak their ownChara languagea member of theOmotic Languagegroup,[3][4]which islinguisticallysimilar toMela[5]and the numerically much largerWolaytta[6][7]both of which many Chara also speak.[8](SeeEthiopian language map).
The number of Chara have been decimated due toslaveryand war and are estimated to number between 16,500 and 6,984 (1994 census)[9]people.
References
[edit]- ^CharaArchived2016-03-04 at theWayback Machineat hornof Africa.org.
- ^Yilma, Aklilu 2002Sociolinguistic survey report on the Chara language of Ethiopia.
- ^Ethiopian languages.
- ^Switch-reference and Omotic-Cushitic language contact in Southwest Ethiopia,Journal of Language Contact 5 (2012) 80.
- ^Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Chara, Dime, Melo, and Nayi Languages of EthiopiaArchived2014-10-06 at theWayback Machine.
- ^ethnologue Africa.
- ^Yilma, Aklilu (1995), "Some notes on the Chara language: Sound system and noun morphology", S.L.L.E. linguistic reports 32: 2-12.
- ^Chara language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^Ethiopiaat Country Guides and Profiles.