Bench is a member of the North Omotic branch of Afro-Asiatic language family. It is spoken by about 356,000 people in the Bench Maji Zone in the north of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region in southern Ethiopia, particularly around the towns of Mizan Teferi and Shewa Gimira (ሼይ ቤንች).
Bench is also known as Bencnon, Shenon, Mernon or Gimira. There are three main dialects: the Bench dialect, which has about 347,636 speakers; the Mer dialect with about 8,159 speakers; and the She dialect with about 492 speakers.
Bench is rarely written, but when it is, a version of the Ethiopic script is used. A way to write Bench with the Latin alphabet was created in 2008. It is used in schools. Other orthographies are available.
There is a whistled version of Bench, used mainly by men, that enables communication across long distances. There is also a form of the language that can be played on the krar, a five or six stringed lyre.
Corrections provided by Anne-Christie Hellenthal via Dave Roberts.
Download alphabet charts for Bench (Excel)
Bench atsi myat tosi itsn yiskend atsinda giso. Bench atsi yiskuy debub kililqana gisio. Addis abeban yisti bench majin ketmqan ati 581 km gisio. Bench atsi ba qeram qeramu mvaa qayxaa tossa irat porsha wor geqa codam pyats yisku qiz zara itsn yiskend atsnda giso. bench maji zoneshn 10 worada 1kipile ketema yisku yipetan uc gobqan 3 woraday bench atsi yisin tokangi yisku doda giso. Amtseshn she bench woradaa debub bench woradaa semen bench worada masti yiskende.
Source: https://www.bench-web.com/bcq/nu-dossas
Information about Bench | Numbers
Information about Bench
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bench_language
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimira
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бенч
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/bcq
http://www.language-archives.org/language/bcq
Bench audio New Testament
http://www.ethnicharvest.org/bibles/bench.htm
Aari, Bambassi, Bench, Dizin, Hamer(-Banna), Kafa, Sheko, Wolaytta
Aari, Amharic, Argobba, Awngi, Bench, Blin, Chaha, Dizin, Ge'ez, Gumuz, Hamer(-Banna), Harari, Inor, Sidama, Silt'e, Tigre, Tigrinya, Xamtanga
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 10.12.24
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