Languages of Ethiopia

The languages of Ethiopia include the official languages of Ethiopia, its national and regional languages, and a large number of minority languages, as well as foreign languages.

Overview

There are 92 individual languages indigenous to Ethiopia according to Ethnologue,''Ethnologue'' page on Ethiopian languages
/ref> with the 1994 Ethiopian census indicating that some 77 tongues were spoken locally. Most of these languages belong to the Afroasiatic family ( Semitic and Cushitic languages; Omotic languages are also spoken, but their classification as Afroasiatic remains disputed). Additionally, Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by what the government calls the "Nilotic" people, though scholars distinguish Nilotic from the Surmic languages, Gumuz languages, and Koman languages spoken in Ethiopia.

Of the languages spoken in Ethiopia, 91 are living and 1 is extinct. 41 of the living languages are institutional, 14 are developing, 18 are vigorous, 8 are in danger of extinction, and 5 are near extinction.

Charles A. Ferguson proposed the Ethiopian language area, characterized by shared grammatical and phonological features in 1976. This ''sprachbund'' includes the Afroasiatic languages of Ethiopia, not the Nilo-Saharan languages. In 2000, Mauro Tosco questioned the validity of Ferguson's original proposal. There is still no agreement among scholars on this point, but Tosco has at least weakened Ferguson's original claim.

English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is the medium of instruction in secondary schools and universities. Amharic was the language of primary school instruction but has been replaced in many areas by local languages such as Oromo and Tigrinya.

After the fall of the Derg in 1991, the 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia granted all ethnic groups the right to develop their languages and to establish first language primary education systems. This is a marked change to the language policies of previous governments in Ethiopia.

In terms of writing systems, Ethiopia's principal orthography is the Ge'ez script. Employed as an abugida for several of the country's languages. For instance, it was the primary writing system for Afan Oromo until 1991. The Ethiopic script first came into usage in the sixth and fifth centuries BC as an abjad to transcribe the Semitic Ge'ez language. Ge'ez now serves as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox and Catholic Churches. Other writing systems have also been used over the years by different Ethiopian communities. These include Arabic script for writing some Ethiopian languages spoken by Muslim populations and Sheikh Bakri Sapalo's script for Oromo.Hayward and Hassan
"The Oromo Orthography of Shaykh Bakri Saṗalō", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies''
44 (1981), p. 551 Today, many Cushitic, Omotic, and Nilo-Saharan languages are written in Roman/Latin script.

Languages

According to data from the 2021 Ethnologue, the largest first languages are:
* Oromo speakers numbering more than 36 million speakers;
*Amharic speakers numbering 31,800,000;
* Somali speakers numbering 6,720,000;
*Tigrinya speakers numbering 6,390,000;
*Sidama speakers numbering 4,340,000;
* Wolaytta speakers numbering 2,380,000;
*Sebat Bet Gurage speakers numbering 2,170,000;
* Afar speakers numbering 1,840,000.

Arabic, which also belongs to the Afroasiatic family, is spoken in some areas of Ethiopia. Many Muslim Ethiopians are also able to speak Arabic because of their religious background.

English is the most widely spoken foreign language which is also taught in many schools.Ethiopia
''The World Factbook''. Central Intelligence Agency.

Special status of Amharic

Amharic has been the official working language of Ethiopian courts and its armed forces, trade and everyday communications since the late 12th century. Although now it is only one of the five official languages of Ethiopia, together with Oromo, Somali, Afar, and Tigrinya - until 2020 Amharic was the only Ethiopian working language of the federal government. Amharic is the most widely spoken and written language in Ethiopia. As of 2018, Amharic was spoken by 31.8 million native speakers in Ethiopia with over 25 million secondary speakers in the nation.

Although additional languages are used, Amharic is still predominantly spoken by all ethnic groups in Addis Ababa. Additionally, three million emigrants outside of Ethiopia speak Amharic. Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak it too.

In Washington DC, Amharic became one of the six non-English languages in the Language Access Act of 2004, which allows government services and education in Amharic.

Furthermore, Amharic is considered a holy language by the Rastafari religion and is widely used among its followers worldwide.

Afroasiatic

Afroasiatic
* Ethiopian Semitic
** North Ethiopic
*** Tigrinya language (also in Eritrea)
*** Ge'ez language (also in Eritrea:extinct, liturgical)
** South Ethiopic
*** Transverse
**** Amharic language
**** Argobba language
**** Harari language
**** East Gurage languages
***** Silt'e language (Ulbareg, Inneqor, Wolane)
***** Zay language
*** Outer South Ethiopic
**** Gafat language (extinct)
**** North Gurage languages
***** Soddo language, incl. dialect Goggot (Dobi)
**** West Gurage languages
***** Chaha (Sebat Bet Gurage)
***** Ezha language
***** Gumer language
***** Gura language
***** Inor language
****** Gyeto language
****** Endegen language
****** Mesmes language (extinct)
***** Mesqan language
***** Muher language
* Cushitic
** Agaw languages
*** Awngi language, incl. dialect Kunfal
*** Qimant language
*** Xamtanga language
** East Cushitic
*** Highland East Cushitic languages
**** Burji language
**** Sidaama-Hadiyya-Kambaata
***** Alaba language
***** Gedeo language
***** Hadiyya language
***** Kambaata language
***** Libido language
***** Sidamo language
***Lowland East Cushitic languages
**** Somali language (also in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, and Kenya)
**** Saho-Afar
***** Afar language (also in Eritrea and in Djibouti)
***** Saho language (also in Eritrea and in Ethiopia spoken by the Irob people)
**** Southern Lowland East Cushitic
***** Mainstream Lowland East Cushitic
****** Omo-Tana
******* Arbore language
******* Baiso language
******* Daasanach language (also in Kenya)
****** Oromoid
******* Konso language
******* Dirasha language
******* Oromo language (also in Kenya)
***** Transversal Lowland East Cushitic
****** Bussa language
****** Gawwada language
****** Tsamai language
* Omotic* (AA classification uncertain)
** Aari language
** Anfillo language
** Bambassi language
** Basketo language
** Bench language
** Boro language, also called Shinasha
** Chara language
** Dawro language
** Dime language
** Dizi language
** Dorze language
** Gamo language
** Ganza language
** Gayil language
** Gofa language
** Hamer-Banna
** Hozo language
** Kachama-Ganjule language
** Kafa language
** Karo language
** Koorete language
** Male language
** Melo language
** Nayi language
** Oyda language
** Seze language
** Shekkacho language
** Sheko language
** Wolaytta language
** Yemsa language
** Zayse-Zergulla language

Nilo-Saharan

In Ethiopia, the term "Nilotic" is often used to refer to Nilo-Saharan languages and their communities. However, in academic linguistics, "Nilotic" is only part of "Nilo-Saharan", a segment of the larger Nilo-Saharan family.

Nilo-Saharan
* Anuak language (also in South Sudan)
* Berta language
* Gumuz language
* Kacipo-Balesi language (also in South Sudan)
* Komo language
* Kunama language (also in Eritrea)
* Kwama language
* Kwegu language
* Majang language
* Me'en language
* Murle language (also in South Sudan)
* Mursi language
* Nuer language (also in South Sudan)
* Nyangatom language
* Opuuo language
* Shabo language
* Suri language
* Uduk language (also in Sudan)

Unclassified

* Weyto language (extinct — could have been Cushitic or Semitic)
* Ongota (moribund — possibly Omotic or an independent branch of Afroasiatic or not Afroasiatic at all)
* Rer Bare language (extinct — maybe Bantu)

Endangered languages

A number of Ethiopian languages are endangered: they may not be spoken in one or two generations and may become extinct, victims of language death, as Weyto, Gafat, and Mesmes have and Ongota very soon will. The factors that contribute to language death are complex, so it is not easy to estimate which or how many languages are most vulnerable. Hudson wrote, "Assuming that a language with fewer than 10,000 speakers is endangered, or likely to become extinct within a generation", there are 22 endangered languages in Ethiopia (1999:96). However, a number of Ethiopian languages never have had populations even that high, so it is not clear that this is an appropriate way to calculate the number of endangered languages in Ethiopia. The real number may be lower or higher. The new language policies after the 1991 revolution have strengthened the use of a number of languages. Publications specifically about endangered languages in Ethiopia include: Appleyard (1998), Hayward (1988), and Zelealem (1998a,b, 2004)

References

Further reading

*Appleyard, David. 1998. Language Death: The Case of Qwarenya (Ethiopia). In ''Endangered Languages in Africa'', edited by Matthias Brenzinger. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
*Ferguson, Charles. 1976. The Ethiopian Language Area. ''Language In Ethiopia'', ed. by M. Lionel Bender, J. Donald Bowen, R.L. Cooper, Charles A. Ferguson, pp. 63–76. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Hayward, Richard J. 1998. The Endangered Languages of Ethiopia: What's at Stake for the Linguist? In ''Endangered Languages in Africa'', edited by Matthias Brenzinger, 17–38. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
*Hudson, Grover. 1999. Linguistic Analysis of the 1994 Ethiopian Census. ''Northeast African Studies'' Vol. 6, No. 3 (New Series), pp. 89–108.
*Hudson, Grover. 2004. Languages of Ethiopia and Languages of the 1994 Ethiopian Census. ''Aethiopica: International Journal of Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies'' 7: 160–172.
* Leslau, Wolf. 1965. ''An annotated bibliography of the Semitic languages of Ethiopia''. The Hague: Mouton.
* Tosco, Mauro. 2000. Is There an ‘Ethiopian Language Area’? ''Anthropological Linguistics'' 42,3: 329–365.
*Unseth, Peter. 1990. ''Linguistic bibliography of the Non-Semitic languages of Ethiopia''. East Lansing: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. (Classification charts, pp. 21 ff.)
*Zelealem Leyew. 1998a. An Ethiopian Language on the Verge of Extinction. ''International Journal of the Sociology of Language'' 134: 69–84.
*Zelealem Leyew. 1998b. Some Structural Signs of Obsolescence in K’emant. In ''Endangered Languages in Africa''. Edited by Matthias Brenzinger. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
*Zelealem Leyew. 2004. The fate of endangered languages in Ethiopia. ''On the margins of nations: endangered languages and linguistic rights. proceedings of the eighth FEL Conference'', Eds. Joan A. Argenter & Robert McKenna Brown, 35–45. Bath: Foundation for Endangered Languages.

External links

''Ethnologue'' page on Ethiopian languages''PanAfriL10n'' page on EthiopiaBibliographic database of Ethiopian languages by SIL EthiopiaEndangered languages of Ethiopia at Endangered Languages Project

{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages Of Ethiopia