A Preliminary Study of the Practices of Personal Naming in Konso

  • Ongaye Oda Orkaydo

Abstract

This article presents the personal naming practices in Konso, a Cushitic-speaking people in southwest Ethiopia. Personal naming in Konso can be formal or informal. Formal personal names are given during a ceremony called sookata, while informal names are given either before or after the sookata ceremony. This article argues that the Konso have family names in their naming practice. This article analyses the typology of personal names in Konso and shows an intrinsic interplay between poetry, songs and personal names. The unitary state policies of the previous regimes and the proliferation of religions have resulted in trends in which people give Amharic or religious names to their children or replace indigenous Konso personal names either by Amharic or religious names. The new trends of changing indigenous names into Amharic and/or religious (mainly biblical) names compromise the knowledge and role of the Konso language as an expression of culture and an identity marker.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Agyekum, Kofi. 2006. “The Sociolinguistic of Akan Personal Names”. Nordic Journal of African Studies 15/2: 206-235.

Amborn, Herman. 1988. “History of events and internal development: the example of the Burji-Konso cluster.’ In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, 1984, ed. by Taddese Beyene, vol. I, 751-767. Addis Ababa: Instutute of Ethiopian Studies, and Frankfurt am Main: Frobenius Institut, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universität.

Aregga Hailemichael. 2010. “Revisiting the Judicially Changed Personal Names in Ethiopia: A Study from a Sociolinguistic Perspective (1960-1995 E.C.)”. Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review 26/ 2: 109-126.

Hallpike C.R., 1972. The Konso of Ethiopia: A Study of Values of a Cushitic People, Oxford: The Clarendon Press.

Katamba, Francis. 1989. An Introduction to Phonology. London: Longman.

Korra Garra and Maarten Mous. Rhyme in Konso Poetry. Draft.

Madubuike, I. 1994. A Handbook of African Names. Colorado Springs: Three Continents Press.

Shako Otto. 2004. Traditional Konso Culture and the Missionary Impact. In: Annales d'Ethiopie 20: 149-180.

Tosco, Mauro. Gawwada-English Dictionary. Unpublished manuscript.

Watson, Elizabeth. 1998. Ground Truths: Land and Power in Konso. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge

Wondwosen Tesfaye. 2007. Aspects of Diraytata Morphology and Syntax: A Lexical-Functional Grammar Approach. PhD thesis. Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Yntiso Gebre. 2010. Cultural contact and change in naming practices among the Aari of southwest Ethiopia, Journal of African Cultural Studies 22/2: 183-194.

Zelealem Leyew. 2003. “Amharic Personal Nomenclature: A Grammar and Sociolinguistic Insight.” In Journal of African Cultural Studies 16/ 2: 181-211.

Published
2016-05-20
Section
Articles