ABSTRACT
The Agaw or Central Cushitic languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea have been classified internally into four distinct branches: Northern Agaw represented by Bilin (a single language with a twofold dialect division); Eastern Agaw (a cluster of dialects including Chamir (Reinisch 1884), Khamtanga (Appleyard 1986) and Khamta (Conti Rossini 1904)); Western Agaw (a cluster of closely related dialects including Kemant (Conti Rossini 1912 and Appleyard 1975), Quara (Reinisch 1885-7; see also Appleyard 1994) and the dialect sometimes called Falashan (Flad 1866)); Southern Agaw represented by Awngi (inter alia Hetzron 1969 and 1978) and the little known Kunfäl (Cowley 1971). An Agaw dialect or dialects reported from the Simen region (Tubiana 1957 and Simoons 1960) has been rightly speculated as an extension of the Eastern Agaw or Khamtanga cluster. I shall return to the question of ‘Simen Agaw’ later when examining the position of the ‘Kaïliña’ material which forms the principal subject of this paper.
