Revisiting the status of labialised consonants in contemporary Amharic

Abstract

Though a lot of studies have been conducted on Amharic, studies on its phonology are very few and even those studies do not agree on the number and inventory of Amharic consonant phonemes. This study argues that there are 19 labialised Amharic phonemes. The study argues that overgeneralization of labialisation and loss of /w/ cannot account for all the occurrences of labialised consonants in Amharic. Minimal pair test and derivation of agentive and adjutative forms are presented as evidences to show the phonemic status of labialised consonants in Amharic.