Assessing Lexical Variations: The Case of Afan Oromo and Literature's Department Research Course at the 3 Public Universities

The main objective of this study was to assess lexical variations in the context of Afan Oromo and Literature Department’s Research Methods course offered at the three public universities (Adama Science and Technology-ASTU, Addis Ababa-AAU and Ambo-AU) in Ethiopia. In these universities, particular course offering instructors were among the participants on the one hand. The research related books locally published ones, the relevant course outlines, including the modules prepared as supportive materials and students’ thesis’s at the three public universities, “Wiirtuu”-magazines for Afan Oromo Standardization Volumes 1-11 (1995-2014) were considered were used as secondary data sources , on the other hand. Instruments applied to gather data were the relevant document scrutiny, interviews and focus group discussions. After the assessment made, significant lexical variations were portrayed as the research findings. The course offering instructors and their respective students in the study sites were also lacked consistent use of these technical terms. And some of these varied terms create misunderstandings to the readers. Thus, it was suggested by the researcher that the instructors’ team work s pirit within and among the universities need to be enhanced in action so that standardized terms could be produced and accessed in coherence to respective users . And a responsible and working organ would also be in p lace to facilitate the creation of standard research methods course related technical terms.


Abstract
The main objective of this study was to assess lexical variations in the context of Afan Oro mo and Literature Depart ment's Research Methods course offered at the three public universities (Adama Science and Technology-ASTU, Addis Ababa-AAU and Ambo-AU) in Ethiopia. In these universities, particular course offering instructors were among the participants on the one hand. The research related books locally published ones, the relevant course outlines, including the modules prepared as supportive materials and students' thesis's at the three public universities, "Wiirtuu"-magazines for Afan Oro mo Standardization Vo lu mes 1-11 (1995-2014) were considered were used as secondary data sources , on the other hand. Instruments applied to gather data were the relevant document scrutiny, interviews and focus group discussions. After the assessment made, significant lexical variations were portrayed as the research findings. The course offering instructors and their respective students in the study sites were also lacked consistent use of these technical terms. And some of these varied terms create misunderstandings to the readers. Thus, it was suggested by the researcher that the instructors' team work s pirit within and among the universities need to be enhanced in action so that standardized terms could be produced and accessed in coherence to respective users. And a responsible and working organ would also be in p lace to facilitate the creation of standard research methods course related technical terms.

Background and Rationales
Among the many factors contributing to language change and development, general situations related to linguistic society in context could be among the major one. The expansion in mass communication in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for instance, encouraged the development of printing. In addition, industrialization processes in many arenas -social, political, economic, manufacturing, and legal issues played pivotal roles in the development of languages. Enhancements of the scientific findings and diverse academic studies also boosted language development parallel to the progress. Thus, new words have been designed to exp ress new ideas and events 1 including pertinent innovations. Now embracing and learning different languages have been considered as vital for further knowledge and economic develop ments. The COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION's resolution, in this connection for instance, states that "… linguistic diversity within Europe constitutes an added value for the development of economic and cultural relations between the European Union and the rest of the world; … mu ltilingualism contributes to developing creativity by allowing access to other ways of thinking, interpreting the world and expressing the imagination." 2 Intellectualizations of languages also contribute to language development. In this regard Garv in states the following: Language intellectualization is an important dimension of language development (cf. Ferguson, 1968;Garvin, 1973). It is a dynamic process, characteristic of most languages which are developing an expanded range of functions in their societies. In these developing languages intellectualization is a way of providing 'more accurate and detailed means of expression, especially in the domains of modern life, that is to say in the spheres of science and technology, of government and politics, of higher education, of contemporary culture, etc.' (Garvin, 1973: 43). 3 The above passage, related to the South African languages, reveals that the process of language intellectualization pro motes the use of language in an accurate and detail manner at higher education. In this regard: "A lthough language intellectualization may occur naturally, there is a growing consensus among language planning scholars that, in developing languages such as those of Africa, there is a need fo r a conscious and deliberate effo rt to accelerate the process and to make it more effect ive." 4 Here, the intended facilitation of language use and its development has been favored. However, "The main cited problem is the lack of appropriate terminology that will enable these languages to be used in modern do mains of language use such as science and technology." 5 Thus, "Term creation fo r the purpose of modernizing the indigenous languages … falls under a process called intellectualization. This is a process of accelerating the gro wth and develop ment of languages." 6 These efforts have been backed officially by the constitution of the South African Government.
In the above passages, some situations regarding how the European and the South African languages practiced development processes have been reflected in brief. And here in the Ethiopian context, very brief information about the processes and status of the Afan Oro mo development has been reflected.
The pioneering and succeeding writers in Afan Oro mo emp loying varied local scripts and/or the abroad ones were opposed by the former regimes of the country until 1991. The current script won official recognition since 1991. Onesimos Nasib's most significant contribution was the complete t ranslation of The Holy Bible known as "መጫፈ ቁልቁሉ" -HOLY BIBLE which was printed in 1899 at St. Chrischona in Swit zerland." (Mekuria , 1995:40). The then regimes did not allow the official uses of Afan Oro mo in both the local and foreign scripts, Ge'ez and Lat in respectively, including the new A fan Oro mo script created by Shek Bakri Saphalo in 1956. But the subsequent Military Derg regime (as of 1974-1991), allowed the use of Afan Oro mo in the national radio programs and printing news (known as 'BARIISAA') and, together with 14 other Ethiopian languages, for non-formal basic education purposes, employing Amharic (Ge'ez) scripts.
After the Derg regime has been changed in 1991 and numerous functional opportunities have been flourished to 3 Rosalie Finlayson & Mbulungeni Madiba (2002)  the uses of Afan Oro mo. Using Afan Oro mo as a mediu m of instruction, opportunities have been created to attend formal education at primary schools (Grades 1-8) and including the TTIs' (Teachers Training Institutes) and TTCs'(Teachers Train ing Colleges). Also Afan Oro mo as a subject continued to be offered at secondary schools both in the first and second cycles (Grades 9-10 and 11-12 respectively). A particular Afan Oro mo and Literature and/or Folklo re Depart ments at some Ethiopian public universities have been established and emp loyed Afan Oro mo as a mediu m of Instruction for first and Second degrees, (BA and MA). The current Constitution of Ethiopia, Article 39, No. 2 also states that "Every nation, nationality and people in Ethiopia has the right to speak, to write and to develop its language; to express and to promote its culture; and to preserve its history." 7 Based on this legal situation, the above and some related endeavors regarding the develop ment of Afan Oro mo functions have been made as sated below.
Attempts have been made to address lack of standardized terms in Afan Oro mo by Oro mia Education Bureau (OEB) and Oro mia Culture and Touris m Bureau (OCTB). In this regard, a co mmittee, co mprising language experts fro m these Oromia Regional State's bureaus and Addis Ababa University in 1995. And the committee's activities manifested through a biannual journal called Wiirtuu. This journal has a t itle known as Afan Oro mo Standardization Research Journal (as 'BA RRUULEE QORMAATA WAALTINA AFAAN OROMOO' in Afan Oro mo). Pro f. Wolff (2012) also produced a lecture on title "The Status, Prospects and Problems of Afan Oro mo in Present-Day Ethiopia" at ASTU. "There is no reason, why bi-or trilingual co mmunicat ion, for instance, involving English, Amharic, and Afa n Oromo, should not work in all subjects taught at university level." in context has been among his experimental and observational research results reflected.

Statement of the Problem
It is self-evident that currently Afan Oro mo has been playing an impo rtant role as a co mmun ication tool in the social, economic and polit ics spheres of the country Ethiopia at large and in Oro mia Regional State in part icular. Among these the following could be mentioned: administration, education and training institutions including some public and a few private universities in Ethiopia. In this regard, the Oro mia Regional State bureaus, education and training institutions conduct research activities, workshops and conference including related reports considering Afan Oromo as medium.
Among the revealed relevant centers and Institutions at public universities, the Oro mo Research Center (ORC), formerly established at Adama Un iversity, the current Adama Science and Technology University, the ORC moved to now has been functioning at Arsi Univerity on the one hand, and Institute of Oromo Study established at Jima University with its extended tasks there could be cited as official organs aspired in enhancing the quality cultural and academic and research tasks in Afan Oro mo and in English as well.
The Oro mia Reg ional State's Bureau of Cu lture and Tourism has also been produced so far the standardized terms nu mbered about 3506. The number of the research related lexis published in the journals (Vo lu mes 1-11 through 1995-2014) were limited since over 89% terms' content have been related to mixed fields of studies, i.e. not focusing on a specific field of study. Research related lexis have been only about 11% as per the researcher's count (Sileshi 2013:82;Silashii-PhD, 2014:194-195;Wiirtuu 2006:215-225) from these documents.
Albeit many encouraging works in the research related course have been underway, the researcher has been observing many lexical variat ions in context while offering the research methods course at one of the public universities he had been working. Thus, in this study only three public universities: Adama Science and Technology (ASTU), Addis Ababa University (AAU) and A mbo University (A U) were focused by the researcher. The English terms have been served as the source knowledge for the assessment in this study.

Objectives
This study has the following two specific objectives: a) to describe some major Afan Oro mo related lexical variations in the research methods' course offering context; b) to attempt to designate some reasons why these variations occurred and c) to propose some basic standardized research related lexis.

Methods
The study sites have been three public Universities: Adama Science and Technology (ASTU), Addis Ababa University(AAU) and A mbo university(AU). Pu rposive and available samp ling was considered for the study sites and informants and/or the intended participants of the data sources selections respectively. The above two public universities were considered for these are nearest and, easily accessed to the researcher working at ASTU. And these three universities have co mprised Afan Oro mo Depart ment in wh ich research methods course has been offered. Added to this, the Oro mia Cu lture and Tourism Bureau printed standardized journals (1-11 volu mes in total, published from 1995) and the three universities' respective related Materials (Modules, Course outlines and Thesis) and other published related materials the researcher found in the local bookshops were used as the secondary data sources. Relevant documents' scrutiny, Interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were mainly used as tools for data gathering while qualitative methods has been mainly employed for this study.

Results and Discussions
The collected data, using the above stated respective sources, have been assessed. Among the obtained research related terminologies, some major research methods related, at large, and a research report writing related Lexes, in particu lar have first been set in English language in t wo appendixes (Cf. Appendix A and Appendix B). Appendix A comprises 16 lexes and Appendix B contains 9 lexes, 25 lexes in total. And the data acquired from the three public universities, the Oro mia Cu lture and Touris m Bureau's Wiirtuu in the volu mes 1-11 published journals & the dictionary and other relevant sources of terminologies have been considered, organized and arranged as an init ial system so that the variations could be depicted easily. In the similar approach, Appendixes C has been arranged to portray the intended proposal as one of optional standardized lexes to the research methods course (Cf. Appendix C).
And the following brief results and discussions have also been produced in line with the aforementioned objectives of this study.

Some Lexes Variations in the Research Methods Course including Their Sources
As per the data obtained through the document scrutiny, the following data show the variations right fro m the name "Research". In this regard the lexis in the Eng lish term "Research" has got at least about six terms in pract ice in Afan Oro mo and has been provided including their respective sources. University, Wiirtuu Vo l. 6 (1993:194); d ictionary by OCTB (205:508); (205:507) 6. QORANNAA, as per the dictionary by OCTB (205:511) and by OCTB (205:507), it means "Study"; As can be read fro m the above 1-6 listed lexes in Afan Oro mo, one could easily perceive the variations. For instance, in the lexes QO'A NNOO, QU'A NNOO and QO'ANNAA, the major variations have been on their respective vowels types used. These varied short vowels are "O" and "U" as used in the beginning of the lexes-"QO-…" and "QU-…," and also long vowels "…-OO" and " … -AA" as used in the last phonemes of the lexes "-NNOO" and "-NNAA." These variations have been created simp ly by respective writers' usage/dialects/idiolect of the language causing no major meaning differences.
Lexes on the third listed above in one University but emp loyed three varied termino logies: QU'ANNOO, QORANNAA and QORMAATA. It was at Addis Ababa University (AAU) that the three students used in their respective research reports. The three reporters were accomplished their wo rk the same year at the same university as indicated above.
The researcher, on the other hand, provided the term "Abstract" with its respective lexes variations in Afan Oromo including their respective sources. 1. Axareera (3 rd  The above listed varied lexes obtained fro m d ifferent written documents. The fifth and the eighth (Axeerara and Ariirrata) were fro m the same Govern ment Bureau's-the Oro mia Culture and Touris m Bureau. While the second and the third (A xereera and Axeereraa) were obtained fro m Addis Ababa University's MA thesis the same year-2007 and one person who privately published a research course/work related book in 2013 (Mr. Desta) accessed in some local bookshops .
These differences have been occurred by employing different vowels and d ifferent words as could be observed above. These variations appeared simply by the writers' use of their dialect on the one hand and by the writers' use of the standardized lexis as formerly published in Wiirtuu by OCTB. As observed above, the same bureau, after establishing the standardized term could apply varied lexis to the article prepared in the same journal. The researcher also observed that in a research conference this same lexis has been presented in big variations. Among the collected lexes variations appeared about 90% of them have been in the 3 rd International Oro mo Studies Conference Book of Abstracts (2018: . The situation in such institute entails technology assisted use of standardized lexis for future publications. One more lexis, in the English language known as "background of the study" has been presented with about twelve variations in the eight components variations stated below. The above listed varied lexes have been obtained mainly fro m the d ifferent written documents and through interviews and focus group discussions' participants at ASTU and AAU relevant instructors , MA thesis reports and research work reference book locally published in Afan Oro mo. The total variations obtained above are 12 (Ka'insa, Ka'iinsa, Bu'uura, Ka'u msa, Duubee, Duubbee, Seenduubee, Seenduuba, Seen duubee, Seen-duubee, Seen-duuba and Ariirrata).
It was observed that during the different groups discussions in which 30 persons participated at the three identified Universit ies; only 3 instructors used the term "Ka'insa".
On the other hand, the English terms "Background" and "Statement of the problem" were used in Afan Oro mo as a lexis known "Ka'u msa". But such term could create a communicat ion barrier in that the original concepts convey different meanings unless specified in details with context. Furthermore, for the English language research related tern such as "Appendix" still variations in Afan Oromo have been observed. Such variations include: Maxxantuu, Dabalee, Miiltoo …. The OCTB had been published as standard term as "Miiltoo" for it in Wiirtuu 1995:91; Wiirtuu Vol. 10, 2005:225. But, what the researcher personally encountered or experienced in this regard was that individual instructor forces his respective students to use his own term, Dabalee, disregarding the standardized term in their respective research report.

Some Reasons for the Emerging Lexes Variations
Based on the participants'/instructors' opinions reflected in the interviews and focus group discussions, the following points were identified as causes contributing to the current lexical variat ions. The results were summarized under ten major points: 1. The publications of research journals (Wiirtuu), published with standardized Afan Oro mo terms was not found in the Universities.

Very limited number of publication of the pertinent
Wiirtuu was available in the book shops. 3. There was no advancement and/or imp roved and republications of the Wiirtuu pertinent to the research methods' lexes. 4. Presence of some reject ions of the standardized terms produced and published by the OCTB-Wiirtuu. These rejections were ascribed with the academic staffs' the universities that the producers of the standardized terms were not qualified enough. 5. Concerned university staff did not have access to participate on relevant workshops, seminars and any other team works organized for standardization committee by OCTB. 6. The instructors of the research methods course have been used different terms to refer to those identified lexes based on their o wn personal knowledges or linguistic backgrounds. 7. Among the three public un iversities under this study, Ambo Un iversity had established a working team to produce standardized lexes for use in various courses offered within the department. Instructors in the remain ing two universities did not practice the same nor had no other better way observed to minimize these lexes variations. Thus, lack of established academic staffs' wo rking team for standardized lexes production at the remain ing two public universities were considered among the factors to the creations and sustaining of lexes variations. 8. As has been observed in the aforementioned results and discussions, the OCTB itself did not either consistently apply the standardized lexes ones established nor explain reasons for the inconsistent uses of these lexes. For instance, for the English term: Wiirtuu, (The first Wiirtuu, Afan Oro mo Research Journal 1995:85;Wiirtuu, Vol. 6;1993E.C./ 2001Vol. 9, 2001:222;Vo l. 10. 2005:209;) and Wiirtuu, Vol. 10 (2005:1) emp loyed "Axeerara" and "Ariirrata" respectively used in such vivid variation of lexis. 9. Individual p roducers and publishers of research methods related book also did not consider the former standardized lexes and simp ly use their local dialects in their respective works, thus, encourage lexes variations. 10. Absence of Oromo language academy with qualified human and required resources that could lead the task and develop an increasing standardized lexes were among the contributing factors to sustain the variations.

Some Basic Standardized Research Methods Related Lexes Proposed Optionally
As part of the results of this study, the researcher has provided a research methods lexes proposal on the Appendi xes C and D o f this study optionally. The researcher sees and has been considered mainly the OCTB's publications of the standardized terminologies. Over 80% of the proposed alternative lexes (Cf. Appendix C and Appendix D) have been fro m the published documents of the OCTB. The main reason for his consideration is that he knows about the members of the respective committee in action. Thus, the committee members were educated in their respective fields also relevant to the production of these terminolog ies. They are also equipped in the indigenous knowledge of the Oro mo people. Their respective experiences have also need to be valued too, as to the researchers' knowledge and perspective.
Added to this the researcher considered economical lexes as one of the important factors as well. In this regard, a lexis containing less number of phonemes had been selected than those more phonemes containing lexes since conveying the same meaning in context. For instance, among the Afan Oromo alternative lexes for the English term "Background," we have: "Seen duubee," or "Seen duubbee" or "Seen-duubee." Here the researcher preferred the lexis known as "Ka'insa" standardized by the OCTB in that it requires less space and lesser time to use that hold the same meaning in any way.
Thus, the detailed proposed alternative standardized lexes pertinent to the research methods have been provided on the Appendix C of this study.

Conclusions and Recommendations
The lexical variations found mainly in written documents on the one hand and the data obtained fro m the interviews and the focus group discussions on the other hand were co llected and assessed. In this regard, the English language terminologies , including respective concepts, in context were used as the major guide and sources of knowledge.
Accordingly, significant lexes variations were detected among and within the public universities at large. More lexes variations observed in ASTU and AAU than in A mbo University in particu lar.. The main reason for fewer lexes of variations found at A mbo Un iversity was that the respective Afan Oromo depart ment academic staff members established a working team to create standardized terms in their respective fields of studies. And agreed up lexes had been used consistently and practices observed at Ambo Un iversity portray min imized lexical variat ions. Also, the course outlines, module prepared and the candidate thesis work all revealed standardized use of lexes in the research methods course at AU at large. Therefore, the fo llo wing reco mmendations of the researcher are thought in some way to enhance the use and establishment and development of standardized lexes for the research methods course: 1. Respective Depart ment of Afan Oro mo and Literature/Folklo re at the three public Universities need to share experiences, identify their respective gaps and work together to address the problems.

Respective organizations such as the Institutes of
Oro mo Studies (IOS), the Oro mo Research Center and Oro mia Culture and Touris m Bureau including the Oromia Education Bureau and others need to come together with their respective resources to understand the problems and plan to act and to produce better standardized lexes optionally. 3. All public Universit ies located in Oro mia Regional State and pertinent higher education institutes need to work to understand pertinent problems and call international research conferences and sustain facilitating production and a more developed use of standardized lexes.