Abdu Ahmed

Conditional Constructions in Amharic: a Description Abdu Ahmed

Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, is a relatively highly described language among the Ethiopian languages. However, its grammar is not fully described yet and its conditionals are one of the areas hard to find adequate description. This study attempts to describe Amharic conditionals with the specific aims of identifying their syntactic forms, examining the morpho-syntax of antececent and consequent clauses, and analyzing their typological classifications. It excels from its predecessors in its independent treatment of the topic, depth and comprehensiveness, and manner of analysis. It identifies canonical and non-canonical forms of Amharic conditionals. Moreover, it classifies Amharic conditionals into various types using Thompson et al.'s (2007) semantic-based typology as a frame. It also deals with concessive and exceptive conditional types. This study should serve as a good resource material mainly for linguists and philosophers of language who want to do further theoretical studies on conditionals in general.