is depalatalized to z in the imperative zäpǝr 'return! (m.)'. Allophones The relationship among n, r, and l is complex. At least within verb stems, and may be treated as allophones of a single phoneme. The consonant is realized as at the beginning of the word, when this is a "gemination" environment, and when it ends the penultimate syllable of the word. appears otherwise. nämädä-m 'he liked', tä-rämädä-m 'he was liked' yǝ-βära 'he eats', bäna-m 'he ate' ("geminated") sǝräpätä-m 'he spent some time', wä-sämbǝt 'to spend some time' (the n becomes m because of the following b) Banksira also argues that k is an allophone of x and b an allophone of β. Orthography Chaha is transcribed using the Ge'ez (Ethiopic) writing system. It was originally developed for the now-extinct Ge'ez language, and now serves as the orthography for Amharic and Tigrinya. Although there are still relatively few texts in the language, three novels have appeared in the Chaha dialect (by Sahlä and Gäbräyäsus Haylämaryam). To represent the palatalized consonants not found in Ge'ez, Amharic, or Tigrinya, modified characters were introduced to the script, such as using wedges on the tops. The original use of this was done in the New Testament published by the Ethiopian Bible Society, then for the entire Bible; it has now become generally adopted. See also Inor – Another Western Gurage language. Soddo – A Northern Gurage language. Zay and Silt'e – Eastern Gurage languages. Gurage References Banksira, Degif Petros. (2000). Sound Mutations: the Morphophonology of Chaha. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. . Bustorf, Dirk and Carolyn M. Ford. (2003). "Chaha Ethnography”, in: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 1: A-C, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p. 664. Cohen, Marcel (1931). Études d'éthiopien méridional. Société Asiatique, Collection d'ouvrages orientaux. Paris: Geuthner. Ford, Carolyn M. (2003). "Chaha language", in: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 1: A-C, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p. 663f. Goldenberg, Gideon. (1974). "L'étude du gouragué et la comparaison chamito-sémitique", in: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma – Problemi attuali di Scienza e di Cultura, Quaderno N. 191 II, pp. 235–249 [=Studies in Semitic Linguistics: Selected Writings by Gideon Goldenberg, Jerusalem: The Magnes Press 1998, pp. 463–477]. Goldenberg, Gideon. (1977). "The Semitic Languages of Ethiopia and Their Classification", in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 40, pp. 461–507 [=Selected Writings, pp. 286–332]. Goldenberg, Gideon. (1987). "Linguistic Interest in Gurage and the Gurage Etymological Dictionary". Review article