Papers by Getachew Anteneh
Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences, 2008
Ethiopia, as one of the multilingual and multicultural countries, has faced the critical problem ... more Ethiopia, as one of the multilingual and multicultural countries, has faced the critical problem of development and implementation of language use policy that could satisfy the needs of various societies in question and contribute to their socioeconomic and sociocultural development. The various governments that ruled Ethiopia since the reign of Emperor Tewodros II followed various language use policies that suit their political orientation. The major objective of this paper was to seek answers to the following questions: a. What type of language policy did Ethiopia have in the past? b. What is the language policy of the country today? c. How is Ethiopia implementing its language policy today? The historical survey of language use policy was made based on the secondary data (i.e. written documents) from different sources. The study on the implementation of the current language policy of the country focuses mainly on four regional states, namely Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP regional states and the Addis Ababa City Administration. Interviews were conducted with various bodies that are concerned with developing, implementing and monitoring language use policies, such as the Ethiopian Language Research Center, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the information and education bureaus of three regional states, namely the Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP regional states to get the necessary data. The analysis of the data shows that though there had been a change from having no written policy to a policy that encourages the development and use of all the languages in the country, the implementation showed a little change in the time from the reign of Tewodros II up to the end of the Derg. The language policies of Tewodros II, Minilek II, Hailesellasie I and the Derg regime had been similar on the ground level: they all implemented a one-language language use policy .The language use policy of the current government, however, is quite different in its approach and implementation. The implementation of a multilingual language use policy has served the country both its blessings and consequences.
Grammatical Description and Documentation of Majang
Exploring Traditional Wedding Ceremony of Majangir
This study attempts to explore the traditional wedding ceremonies of Majangir. It tries to give a... more This study attempts to explore the traditional wedding ceremonies of Majangir. It tries to give a description and analysis of the traditional wedding ceremony of the Majangir people, called “wawan” by the people themselves. The study attempted to explore and identify the most important cultural elements of the traditional wedding ceremony of the Majangir community and show how it is performed. Moreover, it intends to show the value system of the people in relation to marriage practices. The data was collected through direct observation including photographing and video recording. Key man informant interview and focused grouped discussion also employed for detailed information. All of the data was analyzed qualitatively based on their types. The collected data by observation, questioner and focused group discussion was analyzed and tried to triangulate for validity. In the Majangir wedding tradition, the consent between the would-be husband and wife (i.e. the girl and the boy) is the...
Case morphology in Majang
Majang is a Nilo-Saharan language under East Sudanic Sub-branch in the Surmic group.It is spoken ... more Majang is a Nilo-Saharan language under East Sudanic Sub-branch in the Surmic group.It is spoken in the boarder of the south western part of Ethiopia. The aim of this researchis to describe the case morphology of Majang. It is a descriptive analysis of Majang casemarking inflectional morphemes. The study is based on qualitative data gathered fromnative speakers of Majang. The data were collected from the native speakers of Majang,based on their day to day communicative acts and from various texts. By participatingfive male speakers of Majang, he collected, recorded, arranged, described and analyzeddata. To check the authenticity of the data, the researcher used other consultants who arenative speakers of Majang and have very good command of Amharic and fair commandof English. As the result reveals, in Majang there are about seven types of case markingmorphemes: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, locative, instrumental, and ablative.These cases seem shared characteristics in o...
Early Grade Reading Assessment in the East Wollega Zone of Oromiya: A Study on Mother Tongue Reading Competence of Grade 4 Pupils
The results indicated that the majority of the students had serious problems in identifying lette... more The results indicated that the majority of the students had serious problems in identifying letters, understanding phonological patterns, dealing with new words encountered in texts and comprehending longer texts. It is thus recommended that educational bureau officials, school administers and Afan Oromo teachers take necessary measures to enable students to master the basic literacy skills before they join Grade 4. This study investigated Grade 4 students’ reading ability in Afan Oromo with particular focus on selected schools in East Wellega Zone of the Oromiya Regional State, Ethiopia. The study specifically assessed the reading proficiency of Grade 4 students and identified the factors that influence reading outcomes. A total of randomly selected 389 Grade 4 students participated in the study. All the teachers who were teaching Afan Oromo language in the selected schools were also purposively selected. Quantitative data were collected from students through standardized test and ...
International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, Oct 31, 2011
This study analyses dictionary-making practice in Ethiopia through an examination of three dictio... more This study analyses dictionary-making practice in Ethiopia through an examination of three dictionaries compiled in Ethiopia since 1995. The year 1995 was taken as a reference point because the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic Constitutional ratifications dated (1995) granted the nations, nationalities, and peoples in Ethiopia the right to use their mother tongues as a medium of instructions and for official purpose in their respective regions and zones in article five of the endorsed constitution since then. Due to this contextual background, the study delineates the dictionary making or lexicographic implementation in Ethiopia and investigates if the dictionary makers' use and implement the principles of dictionary making in producing dictionaries such as Amharic, Afaan Oromo and Silte languages. The researchers selected three dictionaries compiled on Ethiopian languages since 1995 using simple random sampling to describe and analyze the data from these dictionaries as they were constructed in line with the principles of lexicography or dictionary making.The researchers interviewed some of the dictionary compilers and discussed with officials from dictionary compiling institutes. Then the researchers analyzed and described the gathered data to show the implementation of dictionary making in Ethiopian languages vis-a-visa the principles of dictionary making or lexicographic implementation. The researchers collected and listed most of the dictionaries published in Ethiopia since 1638 to provide background information about dictionary making experience in Ethiopia. The compilers of the dictionaries have tried to construct these dictionaries in accordance with the key principles of dictionary making. The research found that there were many shortcomings in their practical implementation of lexicographic principles of dictionary making. The compiler of Silte-Amharic-English dictionary has constructed the dictionary in line with the principles of lexicographic implementation in comparison to the other two dictionaries compiled in Ethiopia since 1995. Furthermore, the research findings suggest that linguists should participate in dictionary making, at least by giving information (ideas) about the main principles of dictionary making by organizing different training workshop and producing manuals that dictionary compliers can refer to when they plan to make dictionaries on various Ethiopian languages.
Ethiopia, as one of the multilingual and multicultural countries, has faced the critical problem ... more Ethiopia, as one of the multilingual and multicultural countries, has faced the critical problem of development and implementation of language use policy that could satisfy the needs of various societies in question and contribute to their socioeconomic and socio-cultural development. The various governments that ruled Ethiopia since the reign of Emperor Tewodros II followed various language use policies that suit their political orientation.
The major objective of this paper was to seek answers to the following questions:
a. What type of language policy did Ethiopia have in the past?
b. What is the language policy of the country today?
c. How is Ethiopia implementing its language policy today?
The historical survey of language use policy was made based on the secondary data (i.e. written documents) from different sources. The study on the implementation of the current language policy of the country focuses mainly on four regional states, namely Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP regional states and the Addis Ababa City Administration. Interviews were conducted with various bodies that are concerned with developing, implementing and monitoring language use policies, such as the Ethiopian Language Research Center, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the information and education bureaus of three regional states, namely the Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP regional states to get the necessary data.
The analysis of the data shows that though there had been a change from having no written policy to a policy that encourages the development and use of all the languages in the country, the implementation showed a little change in the time from the reign of Tewodros II up to the end of the Derg. The language policies of Tewodros II, Minilek II, Hailesellasie I and the Derg regime had been similar on the ground level: they all implemented a one-language language use policy .The language use policy of the current government, however, is quite different in its approach and implementation. The implementation of a multilingual language use policy has served the country both its blessings and consequences.
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Papers by Getachew Anteneh
The major objective of this paper was to seek answers to the following questions:
a. What type of language policy did Ethiopia have in the past?
b. What is the language policy of the country today?
c. How is Ethiopia implementing its language policy today?
The historical survey of language use policy was made based on the secondary data (i.e. written documents) from different sources. The study on the implementation of the current language policy of the country focuses mainly on four regional states, namely Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP regional states and the Addis Ababa City Administration. Interviews were conducted with various bodies that are concerned with developing, implementing and monitoring language use policies, such as the Ethiopian Language Research Center, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the information and education bureaus of three regional states, namely the Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP regional states to get the necessary data.
The analysis of the data shows that though there had been a change from having no written policy to a policy that encourages the development and use of all the languages in the country, the implementation showed a little change in the time from the reign of Tewodros II up to the end of the Derg. The language policies of Tewodros II, Minilek II, Hailesellasie I and the Derg regime had been similar on the ground level: they all implemented a one-language language use policy .The language use policy of the current government, however, is quite different in its approach and implementation. The implementation of a multilingual language use policy has served the country both its blessings and consequences.
The major objective of this paper was to seek answers to the following questions:
a. What type of language policy did Ethiopia have in the past?
b. What is the language policy of the country today?
c. How is Ethiopia implementing its language policy today?
The historical survey of language use policy was made based on the secondary data (i.e. written documents) from different sources. The study on the implementation of the current language policy of the country focuses mainly on four regional states, namely Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP regional states and the Addis Ababa City Administration. Interviews were conducted with various bodies that are concerned with developing, implementing and monitoring language use policies, such as the Ethiopian Language Research Center, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the information and education bureaus of three regional states, namely the Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP regional states to get the necessary data.
The analysis of the data shows that though there had been a change from having no written policy to a policy that encourages the development and use of all the languages in the country, the implementation showed a little change in the time from the reign of Tewodros II up to the end of the Derg. The language policies of Tewodros II, Minilek II, Hailesellasie I and the Derg regime had been similar on the ground level: they all implemented a one-language language use policy .The language use policy of the current government, however, is quite different in its approach and implementation. The implementation of a multilingual language use policy has served the country both its blessings and consequences.