ABSTRACT
It is usually assumed that simple comparison of lexically stored morphosyntactic features and lexical idiosyncrasies can be relied upon as a guide to the direction of development taken by the various descendants of an earlier common language. Thus, comparison of varieties will reveal where straightforward retention, innovative change, or simplificatory change has occurred. It is certainly on this basis that we are able to say that of the three main dialects of Oromo1 that spoken in the West of Ethiopia by the Maccaa has drifted furthest in the direction of simplification of its nominal system.
