The texts, annotations, data, publications and other materials on this site would not be possible without the support of many. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge and thank my co-worker for the 2007-2009 and 2014 fieldtrips: Yasin Ibrahim. Yasin provided translations of Mao texts (into Amharic), many hours of data and recordings related to phonology and syntax, and he also organized some of our data gathering trips across the Mawes Aas'e areas. Yasin also organized our 2014 literacy workshop where five Mawes Aas'e writers and I worked together during the summer of 2014 to produce a collection of original stories and poetry in the language--the first-ever literacy attempt in the language. This work would not have been possible without Yasin's multi-faceted expertise and generosity. I know Yasin as both a colleague and friend. He is now working to support the use of Mawes Aas'e in local schools. Others in the Mawes Aas'e community who have played an important role in the research include Lelia Gichile, Mamo Shimagale, Tefera Ibrahim, Adam Birhanu, T’ont’oro Sheiko, Gimdija None, Tato Buna, Sambata Buna, Muletu Mesoba, Negussie Bodji, Melkamu Bodji, Jerenga Belena, Dageya Moosise, Hik'e Abune, Mamude Abde, and Almaade Tefare.
The original fieldwork would not have been possible without support from an NSF-DEL grant (Documenting Endangered Languages) (#0746665) and without sponsorship and logistical support from Addis Ababa University, especially Moges Yigezu, Hirut Woldemariam, Mulugeta Seyoum, Binyam Sisay, Girma Demeke, Abebayehu Messele and Derib Ado. The work is also indebted to Ibrahim Seraj and Melese Mihiretu of the BSG Culture Office in Asosa. I must also acknowledge those scholars who came before me, who first worked on Mawes Aas'e (under the names of Bambassi, Diddesa, and Northern Mao): Klaus Wedekind, Baye Yimam, Girma Mengistu, Linda Jordan, and Hussein Mohammed.
The work would not have been possible without support from SIL Ethiopia and specifically Andreas Joswig, Andreas and Suzanne Neudorf, Sherri Green, many others in SIL International who provided consultant help (Keith Snider, Mary Pearce, Connie Kutsch Lojenga, and Tom Payne), and my PhD advisor at Oregon, Doris Payne, who never failed to kindly answer my many emails from the field with deeply insightful and shockingly quick responses.
The entry of the texts into ELAN and the formatting of annotations were handled by Brigid Shanley (2021-2022) through support from the UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program) at CSULB. The website creation and maintenance is the work of Cem Demir. Cem's work includes design of the site and all the coding as well as the creation of the program to convert ELAN time-aligned audio and video files with grammatical annotation into the HTML format used here.
There are, of course, many others, who for the sake of space and time, won't be mentioned here. Suffice it to say that such projects which stretch across decades and continents are not the results of individuals. They are the production of many who have supported such pursuits in ways both known and unknown. As is always the case, however, any shortcomings in the work presented here should rest on my shoulders. The work is ongoing and will hopefully become more accurate over time. This work was originally inspired by M. Lionel Bender (who may accurately be called the father of Omotic Linguistics) through many conversations at NACAL conferences across North America as well as many emails. I am sorry that he passed away in 2008 (while I was in Ethiopia) and was not able to see what we have begun to learn about the Mao subgroup of Omotic. It is my sincere hope that this work is building on his ground-breaking, foundational research.
-Michael Ahland