Editing Shabo language (section)

==Classification==
Once the many [[loanword]]s from its immediate neighbors, Majang and Shakicho, are removed, the wordlists collected show a significant number of [[Koman languages|Koman]] words side by side with a larger number of words with no obvious external relationships.  The tentative grammar so far collected offers few obviously convincing external similarities. On this basis, Fleming (1991) has classified Shabo as Nilo-Saharan and, within Nilo-Saharan, as nearest to [[Koman languages|Koman]]. Anbessa & Unseth consider it Nilo-Saharan, but present little by way of argument for their position, and no detail on its position within the family. Schnoebelen (2009) in his [[phylogenetics|phylogenetic]] analysis says that Shabo is best treated as an isolate, but does not exclude the possibility of contradicting evidence gained from applying the [[comparative method]] (which still needs to be done); Kibebe (2015) evaluates Schnoebelen as the most rigorous comparison to date. Blench (2010) maintains that Shabo does pattern with the Nilo-Saharan family, and that recent data on Gumuz helped tie the languages together. More recently, Blench (2019) classifies Shabo (Chabu) as a [[language isolate]], noting little evidence for it being part of Nilo-Saharan.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shabo and Kadu: two orphan branches of Nilo-Saharan|url=https://www.academia.edu/39266165|first=Roger|last=Blench|publisher=14th Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, Department of African Studies, University of Vienna|date=May 30, 2019}}</ref> 

Blench (2017) lists the following similarities among Shabo, Gumuz, and Koman lexical forms.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=African Language Isolates|first=Roger|last=Blench|editor-first1=Lyle |editor-last1=Campbell |url=https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315750026.ch7|title=Language Isolates|series=Routledge Language Family series|publisher=Routledge|date=2017|doi=10.4324/9781315750026 |isbn=9781138821057}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable
! Gloss !! Shabo !! Gumuz !! Koman
|-
| head || ''ƙoy'' || Proto-Common Gumuz *kʷa || Proto-Koman *kup
|-
| breast || ''kowan'' || Proto-Common Gumuz *kúá || Proto-Koman *koy
|-
| horn || ''kulbe'' || Guba dialect ''k’əla'' || Kwama ''kwaap''
|-
| sun || ''ukʰa'', ''oxa'' || Yaso dialect ''oka'' || Komo ''kʰaala''
|}

The comparison with reconstructed languages of the [[Surmic languages|Surmic]] and Koman branch as well as three languages from the [[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]] branch shows slight phonological similarity for the first person singular of Proto-Southwest Surmic and the probable ancestor of the Gumuz languages but additional information is lacking and, otherwise, so far it does not seem very approximate.
{| class=wikitable
! Meaning !! Shabo !! Proto-Southwest Surmic !! Proto-Southeast Surmic !! Proto-Koman !! Northern Gumuz !! Southern Gumuz !! Daats'in
|-
| I || tiŋŋ, ta, ti || *anɛɛtta || *aɲɲe || *akʰa || áɗa || ára || áɗa 
|-
| you, sg. || kukk, kuŋg || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || *iɲɲV || *ai; *aina? || áma || áam || ámam
|-
| he, she || ji, oŋŋa || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || áχó || áŋa || jáárʔám
|-
| we || jiŋŋ, jaŋfu || *aggetta || *agge || *aman, *ana, *min-? || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}}
|-
| you, pl. || sitalak, silak, subak || *aggitta || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || *uma || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}}
|-
| one || iŋki || *koɗoi || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || *ɗe || metáa || metáam || mité
|-
| two || bab || *ramma || *ramman || *suk- || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}} || {{data missing|?|date=April 2020}}
|}
The number "iŋki" ("one") has been compared to [[Lowland East Cushitic languages|Lowland East Cushitic]] "tneki" and [[Saho language|Saho]] "inik".