Ongota

Ongota, also known as Birale or Nyangatom, is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. It belongs to the Kuliak branch of the Nilo-Saharan family, making it distantly related to languages like Karamojong and Teso. Ongota is an endangered language, with a very small number of speakers, estimated to be in the low hundreds. The majority of the Ongota people also speak the Amharic language, the official language of Ethiopia.

The Ongota language is characterized by its unique phonological features and grammatical structures, which distinguish it from neighboring Cushitic and Omotic languages. Due to its endangered status, there have been efforts by linguists and community members to document and revitalize the language. Research has focused on its lexicon, grammar, and sociolinguistic situation, highlighting the pressures faced by minority languages in multilingual regions. The decline in the number of Ongota speakers is attributed to assimilation and the dominance of larger regional languages.