![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Senza-nome-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In 2007 Ethnor\u00eama-ODV, in cooperation with the department of Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean of the\u00a0University of Naples \u201cL\u2019Orientale\u201d and the department of Mediterranean Asian and African studies of\u00a0\u201cCa\u2019 Foscari\u201d University of Venice, started a project to document the traditional material culture of Eritrea\u2019s Saho and Ethiopia\u2019s Irob people (ATMCS), their respective terminology and dialect variations. \n Go to presentation video<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Approximate distribution of ethnic groups and their languages in Eritrea and neighbouring regions (adapted and modified from:\u00a0<\/span>European Asylum Support Office (2015)\u00a0Eritrea Country Focus,<\/i> p. 13. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n See map<\/li>\n 2007-ongoing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n The on-site field trips of 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 were partially co-financed by the Italian Institute of Africa and the Orient (IsIAO), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from COFIN funds of the Italian Minstry of Universities and Research. From 2013 to 2016, the ATMCS project was part of the FIRB\u2019s (Italian fund for investment in basic research)\u00a0 \u201cLinguistic and Cultural Transition Areas in Africa\u201d project (AtrA), financed by the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research (MIUR).<\/span><\/p>\n Moreno Vergari, Roberta Zago, Ahmedsaad Mohammed Omer (Ethnor\u00eama),\u00a0Giorgio Banti (University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Ethnor\u00eama), Gianni Dore (“Ca’ Foscari” University of Venice, Ethnor\u00eama)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Above:\u00a0<\/i>pictures of team members in Eritrea<\/span>.<\/p>\n Right:\u00a0<\/i>postcard of Saho village May Faaro (Eritrea), picture taken in 1903 by Alessandro Comini<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Research locations of on-site operations in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 (Eritrea), During field research over 50 Saho speakers were interviewed about the following seven cycles of activity:<\/span> The different locations in Eritrea and Ethiopia were chosen to best represent the different varieties of the Saho dialects and the aforementioned activity cycles. Designated questionnaires were submitted to locals in each research location with the aim of gathering data regarding:<\/span> Video: Mesqel celebration of the Irob (2018)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here listed are some publications by team members of the ATMCS project in relation to the Saho people and their language. AXMADSACAD MAXAMMAD CUMAR (ed.) (2008a) Xanlake <\/i>vol. 1. Caddi Qayyix: (mimeographed). AXMADSACAD MAXAMMAD CUMAR (2016) Figurative Language in Saho marriage customs<\/i>, M.A. Thesis, Redcliffe College, Center of Linguistics and Translation & Literacy.<\/p>\n BANTI, Giorgio \u00a0(1987) \u201cEvidence for a second type of suffix conjugation in Cushitic\u201d, in Jungraithmayr, H., W. M\u00fcller (eds.)\u00a0Proceedings of the 4th International Hamito-Semitic Congress<\/i>. 123-168. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co.\u00a0 BANTI, Giorgio, VERGARI Moreno (2005) \u201cA sketch of the Saho grammar\u201d, in Journal of Eritrean Studies\u00a0<\/i>4:100-31. BANTI, Giorgio, AXMASACAD MAXAMMAD CUMAR (2009) \u201cA Few Saho Texts about Bees and Honey\u201d, in Ethnor\u00eama<\/i><\/a> <\/i>5:89-108 (Special issue on the Atlas of the Traditional Material Culture of the Saho <\/i>[ATMCS]).<\/p>\n DORE, Gianni (2004) \u201cTassonomia pastorale dei Saho \u2018Asaorta\u2019: Materiali coloniali\u201d, in Etnolinguistica e Zoonomia. Le denominazioni popolari degli animali<\/i>, 193-221. DORE, Gianni, VERGARI, Moreno (2016) \u201cIdentit\u00e0, ibridazione ed evoluzione dell\u2019abitare tra i Saho di Eritrea e Etiopia\u201d, in MICHELI Ilaria (ed.) Materialit\u00e0 and Identity. Selected papers from the proceedings of the ATrA Conferences of Naples and Turin 2015, <\/i>1:93-123. Trieste: EUT. VERGARI, Moreno (2005) Dikshineeri amneefecituk Saaho labcad. Gerho cibra kin Kalimaat Caalamadde <\/i>[Practise Saho while using the dictionary. An amazing voyage in the World of Words]. Castelnuovo Scrivia and Asmara: Sabur Printing Services. VERGARI, Moreno, VERGARI, Roberta (2003) A basic Saho-English-Italian dictionary<\/i>. Asmara: : Sabur Printing Services. Several of these publications can be downloaded from the website SahoArchive<\/a>.<\/p>\n See also the Academia page of \u00a0Giorgio Banti<\/a>, Gianni Dore<\/a> e\u00a0Moreno Vergari<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n From May 2013 to February 2016 the ATMCS project was part of FIRB\u2019s project \u201cLinguistic and Cultural Transition Areas in Africa\u201d (ATrA), financed by the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MUIR). Ethnor\u00eama has worked in conjunction with the University of Trieste, the leading force of the project which has also involved linguists, anthropologists and archaeologists of the Naples University \u201cL\u2019Orientale\u201d and the University of Turin. \n Go to EUT’s ATrA collection<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n The project aims to the construction of a Saho language corpus and to the development of IT resources for its analysis.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n WEBSITE: https:\/\/sahocorpus.com\/index.php?lang=en<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Project designed and directed by Jama Musse Jama<\/b> (Redsea Cultural Foundation<\/i>), author of the Somali Corpus Project (www.somalicorpus.com\/index.php<\/a>), with the collaboration of Ahmedsaad Mohammed Omer<\/b> (Saahot Makaado, Ethnor\u00eama<\/i>); Giorgio Banti<\/b> (University of Naples \u201cL\u2019Orientale\u201d, Ethnor\u00eama<\/i>), and Moreno Vergari<\/b> (Ethnor\u00eama<\/i>).<\/p>\n We would also like to thank the\u00a0Saahot Makaado<\/a>, the Eritrean Saho Community Association<\/a>, and the many contributors from the Saho community around the world.<\/p>\n JAMA MUSSE JAMA (2022) “Saho Corpus: Semi-automation of Verb Conjugation in Saho: Verbs Class I”, Ethnor\u00eama<\/em> 18 (1), pp 69-87 –\u00a0 DOI: 10.23814\/ethn.18.22.jam<\/a><\/p>\n JAMA MUSSE JAMA (2025) “Saho Corpus: Annotating gender polarity and other morphological features in Saaho nouns”,\u00a0Rassegna di Studi Etiopici<\/em>, 3a serie, 9, pp 181-200. See here<\/a>.<\/p>\n See the presentation of the SCP done by Jama Musse Jama at the Saho Cultural Association in London (22 May 2022):<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n First part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Second part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Third part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Fourth part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n See the official launch of the Saho Corpus project, Saho Cultural Association, London (30 October 2022):<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n First part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Second part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Third part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Fourth part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Fifth part presentation<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n https:\/\/huggingface.co\/spaces\/jamamusse\/samtramod<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAll members of the team have had long-standing experience in field research both in Eritrea and Ethiopia prior to the birth of the ATMCS project.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fig.-2-Distribution-of-ethnic-groups-and-languages-e1623054469105.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/legenda.jpg\")
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\nProject details<\/h2>\n
\n\n
Location of operation<\/div>\nYear<\/div>\nFinancing bodies<\/div>\nProject Team<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fig.-13-Work-session-in-Xaruba.jpg\")
\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1020086.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fig.-1-Documentary-locations-scaled-e1623054525938.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
2014, 2017, 2018, 2020 (Ethiopia).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\u2013\u00a0cultivation of various indigenous plants<\/span>; \u2028
\u2013 zootechnics; \u2028
\u2013\u00a0apiculture and harvesting honey<\/span>; \u2028
\u2013\u00a0traditional construction (houses, fences etc.) and construction techniques<\/span>; \u2028
\u2013\u00a0cooking; diet (acquisition, processing, cooking, consumption and social context<\/span>);\u2028
\u2013\u00a0food containers and other objects<\/span>;
\u2013 rugs and weaving<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
\u2013\u00a0tools used to perform said activities<\/span>; \u2028
\u2013\u00a0how these tools are used<\/span>; \u2028
\u2013\u00a0who builds these tools and how<\/span>; \u2028
\u2013 technical knowledge and transmission of knowledge<\/span>; \u2028
\u2013 popular belief, stories and proverbs connected to said tools<\/span>;\u2028
\u2013 dialect variation<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nTo this day, more than 100 hours of audio recordings, approximately 17 hours of video recordings and roughly 5000 pictures have been collected. Over the years many meetings and workshops in preparation for language documentation, techno-cultural anthropology and linguistic atlases have been held. The periods of time spent at the Department of Anthropology and Ethnology of the National History Museum of Florence were also important for the consultation of various Saho materials which were gathered during the \u201cEritrean Mission\u201d of 1905-1906. The ATMCS project has partially followed the same route of the aforementioned mission in order to add a diachronic dimension to the research.<\/span><\/div>\nThe results of the field research so far have been presented at various conferences in Italy and abroad and published in numerous publications<\/span>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fig.-00-COVER-Postcard-of-May-Faaro-picture-of-Alessandro-Comini-1903-scaled.jpg\")
\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bseid.jpg\")
\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dikshineeri-1.jpg\")
\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/video-mesqel.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/ATrA9-sovracopertina-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPublications of the ATMCS team<\/h2>\n
\n\n
\u2014 (2008b) Xanlake <\/i>vol. 2. Caddi Qayyix: (mimeographed).
\u2014 (2008c) Xanlake <\/i>vol. 3. Caddi Qayyix: (mimeographed).
\u2014 (2009) Xanlake <\/i>vol. 4. Caddi Qayyix: (mimeographed).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014 (1988) \u201c’Adjectives’ in East Cushitic\u201d, in Bechhaus-Gerst, M., F. Serzisko (eds.) Cushitic Omotic.\u00a0<\/i>205-259. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
\u2014 (2001) \u201cNew perspectives on the Cushitic verbal system\u201d. <\/span>In A. Simpson (ed.) Proceedings of the 27th Annual Meeting of the <\/i><\/span>Berkeley Linguistic Society – Special Session <\/span>on Afroasiatic Languages<\/span><\/i>, pp. 1-48. <\/i>Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society.
<\/span>\u2014 (2004) \u201cComparative notes on the Cushitic imperative\u201d. In Bogdan Burtea, Josef Tropper and Helen Younansardaroud (eds.), Studia semitica et semitohamitica – Festschrift f\u00fcr Rainer M. Voigt anl\u00e4\u00dflich seines 60. Geburtstages am 17. Januar 2004.<\/i> Pp. 55-91. M\u00fcnster: Ugarit-Verlag.
<\/span>\u2014 (2009) Introduction, in Ethnor\u00eama<\/i><\/a> <\/i>5:1-10 (Special issue on the Atlas of the Traditional Material Culture of the Saho [ATMCS]).
\u2014 (2010) “Remarks on the typology of converbs and their functional equivalents in East Cushitic”. <\/span>In: Voellmin, S., Azeb Amha, Rapold Ch., e S. Zaugg-Coretti S.\u00a0Converbs, medial verbs, clause chaining and related issues\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(Frankfurter Afrikanistische Blaetter<\/i> 19 [2007]): 31-80. Colonia: Ruediger Koeppe.
\u2014 (<\/span>2011) “Oral literature”. In Uhlig, S., ed.,\u00a0Encyclopaedia Aethiopica<\/i>, Vol. 4: 38b-42a.\u00a0Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u2014 (2008) \u201cItalianismi lessicali in saho\u201d, in Ethnor\u00eama<\/i><\/a> 4:67-93.
\u2014 (2010a) \u201cS\u0101ho language\u201d, in Uhlig, S. (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica<\/i>, 4:468b-471a. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
\u2014 (2010b) \u201cThe Saho of Eritrea and the Documentation of their Language and Cultural Heritage\u201d, in Annali dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 degli studi di Napoli \u201cL\u2019Orientale\u201d<\/i>, 70\/1-4:83-108.
\u2014 (2017) \u201cAspects of Saho Dialectology\u201d, in Quaderni di Vicino Oriente<\/i>, XII:65-81.
\u2014 (2023) \u201cSaho Language\u201d, in Bedilu Wakjira, Meyer, R., Zelealem Leyew (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Ethiopian Languages.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2014 (2006) \u201cPer un repertorio degli stili alimentari nell\u2019altopiano etiopico. Note su commensalit\u00e0, divisione, spartizione e gerarchie sociali\u201d, in Etnor\u00eama<\/i><\/a> <\/i>2:1-25.
\u2014 (2007) \u201cHoney. Concept and Role of Honey in Ethiopian Culture\u201d, in Uhlig, S. (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica<\/i>, 3:65b-66ab. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
\u2014 (2009a) \u201c\u02bdC’\u00e8 l’Assaorta che ci aspetta…\u2019. Geografi ed etnografi italiani tra i Saho dell’Eritrea\u201d, in Ethnor\u00eama<\/i><\/a> 5:11-28 (Special issue on the Atlas of the Taditional Material Culture of the Saho <\/i>[ATMCS]).
\u2014 (2009b) \u201cEtnografia del miele nelle fonti coloniali italiane sull’Eritrea e Etiopia\u201d, in Ethnor\u00eama<\/i><\/a>\u00a05:51-60
\u2014 (2015) “Rapporti socio-produttivi tra agricoltori tigrini e pastori saho d’Eritrea. L’evoluzione dell’abitazione saho dalla daasa alla naxsa”, nel volume Cose da prendere sul serio. Le antropologie di Giulio Angioni, a cura di F. Bachis e A. M. Pusceddu, Cagliari, Ed. Il Maestrale.<\/p>\n
\u2014 (2018) \u201cGendered spaces, grindstones and baking among the Saho-speaking communities\u201d, in Rassegna di Studi Etiopici<\/i>, 3a<\/sup> Serie (XLIX), 2:41-82.<\/p>\n
\u2014 (2008) “How to express “Adjectives” in Saho”, in TAK\u00c1CS, Gabor (ed.)\u00a0Semito-Hamitic Festschrift for A.B. Dolgopolsky and H. Jungraithmayr.\u00a0<\/i>Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 337-346.
\u2014 (2021) \u201cIl contributo di Carlo Conti Rossini alla conoscenza dei Saho di Eritrea ed Etiopia. Note tra storia, etnografia e linguistica\u201d, in Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, <\/i>3a<\/sup> Serie (LII), 5: 93-112.
\u2013 (2022) (ed. \u2013 with the contributions of Ahmedsaad Mohammed Omer, Giorgio Banti, Gianni Dore, Moreno Vergari, and Roberta Vergari)\u00a0<\/span>Housing and dwelling among the Saho-speaking communities of Eritrea and Ethiopia. History, anthropology and lexicography. <\/i>ATrA 9<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i>Trieste: EUT.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u2014 (2009) \u201cAn encyclopedic lexicon of the Saho traditional knowledge on beekeeping\u201d, in Ethnor\u00eama<\/i><\/a> 5:61-88.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/AtrA_1_copertina.jpg\")
<\/p>\nATrA African Transitions – Linguistics and Cultural Transition Areas in Africa<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n\nThe publisher EUT (Edizioni Universit\u00e0 di Trieste) is publishing a collection dedicated to the results of the ATrA project<\/span>.\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Saho-Corpus-Project_EN-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSaho Corpus Project (SCP)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/SAMTRAMOD_sreen.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSAMTRAMOD \u2013 Saho Machine Translation Model<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n\nSaahot Maashiin Tarjamahi Misaal<\/h2>\n