Two Modal Categories in Omotic: the declarative and interrogative

The proposed project is an expansion and continuation of earlier research on endangered Omotic languages of Ethiopia (Dime and Zargulla). It will include both a thorough documentation of another Omotic language, Sheko, and a typological-comparative study of the distinction between declarative (statement-like) sentences and interrogatives (questions) within the Omotic language family. The research team sets out to investigate the inter-categorial dependence between declarative and interrogative sentence distinctions on the one hand and focus and agreement systems on the other in all branches of the Omotic language family and to explore their theoretical relevance to discussions in general linguistics, particularly on universals and variation in languages.