3.2.2 Bilingual proficiency self-evaluation
The bilingual proficiency self-evaluation questionnaire was administered to ten men in the village of Dushi. No women were tested, since in this traditional community they were not comfortable interacting
with strangers and did not consent to being interviewed. Six of the subjects were aged 15–24 years, two were 25–34 years old and two were 35 or older.
3.2.3 Wordlists
The Shabo and Majang wordlists were each gathered with the assistance of one or more mother tongue speakers of the speech variety and double-checked with different mother tongue speakers.
3.3 Data analysis
3.3.1 Group and individual interviews
The answers to sociolinguistic interview questions were compared and evaluated in relation to the research goals. They were also evaluated in light of the bilingual proficiency self-evaluations and other
observations.
3.3.2 Bilingual proficiency self-evaluation
The results for all ten subjects were tabulated, listing the age, proficiency level and level description for each. It was noted how many have an estimated second language proficiency higher than level 3 good,
general proficiency.
3.3.3 Wordlists
The wordlist transcriptions from this survey and a previous SIL-IES joint survey of Chara Aklilu 2002 were entered into WordSurv version 5.0 beta for lexicostatistical comparison. After lexical groupings
were assigned manually, the program calculated the percent of similar lexical items.
4 Results
4.1 Group and individual interviews
4.1.1 Multilingualism
All those who participated in the group interview conducted in Dushi are mother tongue Shabo speakers. They are bilingual in Majang or Shekkacho, and their ability in these languages varies with
age. The younger generation has more ability in Majang, while older people have more ability in Shekkacho. Four interviewees, who have had some formal schooling, are able to read and write in
Amharic.
Shabo was the first language for both parents of each interviewee, except for two who had Majang mothers. Shekkacho was the second language of the parents. The interviewees’ spouses are mother
tongue Shabo speakers. As a second language, they speak Majang and Shekkacho. Besides their mother tongue, the children learn Majang. The general trend toward Majang is shown in table 1.
Table 1. Languages of interviewees and their relatives Mother Tongue
Second Language Parents
Shabo Shekkacho
Respondents Shabo
Majang or Shekkacho Spouses
Shabo Majang or Shekkacho
Children Shabo
Majang
4.1.2 Language use
The group interviewees stated that only Shabo is used when communicating with elders see table 2. Shabo is also used within the family, when communicating with friends, at market, when praying at
home, when angry and in dreams. Majang is used for all of these in addition to religious purposes public worship, since church services are conducted in Majang. Shekkacho is only used when communicating
with Shekkacho friends or at market. The Shabo count in their own language, using a system in which “one person” represents the number 20.
Table 2. Language used in various domains Domain
Language With elders
Shabo For group religious purposes
Majang Within the family
Shabo or Majang When praying at home
Shabo or Majang When angry or dreaming
Shabo or Majang With friends or at market
Shabo, Majang or Shekkacho
4.1.3 Language attitudes
Investigating patterns of intermarriage is one way of getting at a community’s attitudes toward other speech varieties. Intermarriage with a neighboring ethnolinguistic group will often correspond with a
more positive attitude toward that group’s mother tongue. The research team asked about intermarriage patterns during this survey in order to indirectly investigate the Shabo’s attitudes toward Majang and
Shekkacho. According to the group interviewees, it is possible for a Shabo to marry a Majang. However, the
Shekkacho never marry their daughters to Shabo men. In Dushi, one of the individual interviewees a 55-year-old woman is against marrying outside the ethnic group, but the other nine all men said that
they would be willing to marry a non-Shabo. All, except the woman, would allow their children to marry outsiders. All the individual interviewees in Yeri said that they would be willing to marry a Majang. All
of them would also allow their children to marry an outsider, particularly a Majang. The group interviewees stated that they would like to learn Amharic. All the individual interviewees
in Dushi also said that they would like their children to learn Amharic more than any other language.
The individual interviewees in Yeri suggested that they would like their children to learn both Amharic and Majang.
The individual interviewees in Dushi expressed a positive attitude toward Majang and Amharic, while all the individual interviewees in Yeri indicated a positive attitude toward Majang and Shabo.
However, the status they ascribe to Shabo and Majang differs. Only two interviewees give higher status to Shabo. One woman gives the same weight to both Majang and Shabo, and seven of them give higher
status to Majang.
4.1.4 Attitudes to dialects
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