Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Melo, Mello
CLASSIFICATION		Afro-Asiatic, Omotic, Ometo
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		mfx
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

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Information from: “1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, Results at Country Level” . Central Statistical Office

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
20,151
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
20181

DATE OF INFO: 1994

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"The Melo population totals about 98,000 in the Laha Woreda (district) alone."

DOMAINS OF USE

MORE ON VITALITY

"Speakers of Melo expressed the following views about the vitality of their language. They said that at least the Melo people in Laha are in a process of change. It was stated that the people of Laha speak Melo less and less and that they prefer to speak Gofa and Amharic instead. Concerning language maintenance, it was said that Melo was still being spoken in many villages and that this would continue for generations."

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Amharic
Gofa
Basketto
English
Sidamo
Oromo

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

"Languages which are acquired by children before they start school include Gofa and Basketto. But, interestingly, none of the children have learned Melo as their first language! [...] Gofa is the language which is used by approximately forty-five percent of the interviewees when they speak with their family members; Melo by approximately twenty-five percent, Amharic by approximately twenty percent, and Basketto by approximately ten percent."

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
20,200
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
20,189
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
There are 13,264 monolinguals.

Data for the number of native speakers and the ethnic population come from the
1994 census.

DATE OF INFO: 1994

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS: Word List

Ethnic population
58,039

		2003	The Morphology of Malo									Addis Abeba University		Mahder Tesfu	Tesfu, Mahder. The Morphology of Malo. Master thesis, Addis Abeba University, 2003.	HHOLD
SIL electronic survey reports (SILESR), #2002-029		2002	Sociolinguistic survey report of the Chara, Dime, Melo and Nayi languages of Ethiopia		11	Earlier version appeared 1995 as “Survey of Chara, Dime, Melo and Nayi” in «SLLE (Survey of little-known languages of Ethiopia) linguistic reports», v. 25.		SIL International	pt. 1					Aklilu, Yilma and Siebert, Ralph	Aklilu, Yilma and Ralph Siebert. 2002. "Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Chara, Dime, Melo and Nayi Languages of Ethiopia." pt. 1: 11. SIL International.	EBALL	58,039
SIL electronic survey reports (SILESR), #2002-046		2002	Sociolinguistic survey report of the Melo (Malo) and Mursi languages of Ethiopia		23	Earlier version appeared 1995 as “On Melo (Malo) and Mursi” in «SLLE (Survey of little-known languages of Ethiopia) linguistic reports», v. 27.		SIL International						Siebert, Ralph and Caudwell, Simon	Siebert, Ralph and Simon Caudwell. 2002. "Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Melo (Malo) and Mursi Languages of Ethiopia." 23. SIL International.	EBALL					"The Melo population totals about 98,000 in the Laha Woreda (district) alone."	Gofa largely used in public life; Gofa or Amharic are used when speaking emotionally; Gofa is used more often in the family than Malo	Amharic, Gofa, Basketto, English, Sidamo, Oromo	"Languages which are acquired by children before they start school include Gofa and Basketto. But, interestingly, none of the children have learned Melo as their first language! [...] Gofa is the language which is used by approximately forty-five percent of the interviewees when they speak with their family members; Melo by approximately twenty-five percent, Amharic by approximately twenty percent, and Basketto by approximately ten percent."	Almost all	Severely Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	"Speakers of Melo expressed the following views about the vitality of their language. They said that at least the Melo people in Laha are in a process of change. It was stated that the people of Laha speak Melo less and less and that they prefer to speak Gofa and Amharic instead. Concerning language maintenance, it was said that Melo was still being spoken in many villages and that this would continue for generations."	14
		1994	Malo: An Unknown Ometo Language	New Trends in Ethiopian Studies: Papers of the 12th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Michigan State university, 5-10 September 1994	1065-1084		Harold G. Marcus	Lawrenceville, New Jersey: Red Sea Press						Alemayehu Abebe	Abebe, Alemayehu. 1994. "Malo: An Unknown Ometo Language." In New Trends in Ethiopian Studies: Papers of the 12th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Michigan State university, 5-10 September 1994, edited by Harold G. Marcus. 1065-1084. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: Red Sea Press.	HHOLD
	16	2009	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)				M. Paul Lewis	SIL International		Dallas, TX			http://www.ethnologue.com/		Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)	ll_pub	20,189	20,200	1994	10000-99999	There are 13,264 monolinguals. Data for the number of native speakers and the ethnic population come from the 1994 census.					Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
		2012	LL-MAP (Language and Location: A Map Accessibility Project)								Institute for Language Information and Technology	Eastern Michigan University	http://llmap.org	Anthony Aristar and Helen Aristar-Dry and Yichun Xie	Anthony Aristar, Helen Aristar-Dry and Yichun Xie. 2012. "LL-MAP (Language and Location: A Map Accessibility Project)." Online: http://llmap.org.														6.950294,37.025083
		1998	1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, Results at Country Level			Reproduced online by Hudson, 2006		Central Statistical Office	1	Addis Ababa	Office of Population and Housing Census Commission		https://www.msu.edu/~hudson/Ethlgslist.htm		1998. "1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, Results At Country Level." 1: Central Statistical Office. Online: https://www.msu.edu/~hudson/Ethlgslist.htm.		20181	20,151	1994	10000-99999						Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
SIL electronic survey reports (SILESR), #2002-012		2001	Sociolinguistic survey report of the Ometo dialect of Ethiopia		15	Earlier version appeared 1993 as “Ometo dialect survey: second phase survey report” in «SLLE (Survey of little-known languages of Ethiopia) linguistic reports», v. 6.		SIL International	pt. 2					Alemayehu, Abebe	Alemayehu, Abebe. 2001. "Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Ometo Dialect of Ethiopia." pt. 2: 15. SIL International.	EBALL								Word List

Malo

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

20,151

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

20,200

Discussion

Malo

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

20,151

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

20,200

Discussion

Suggest information or improvement

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Sources of information

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