Tigrigna; Also derived from Ge'ez, Tigrigna is one of the most popular and widely used language especially in northern Ethiopia and the global diaspora. English, Arabic, Italian, and French are also widely spoken by many Ethiopians. The Ethiopian languages are divided into four major language groups. Languages of Ethiopia This article provides all the language information provided on this page and examines the different ethnic groups with their different linguistic abilities.
Nilo-Saharan Languages The Nilo-Saharan languages are largely spoken in the western part of the country along the border with Sudan mainly in Gambella and Benshangul regions.
Cushitic Languages The Cushitic languages are mostly spoken in central, southern and eastern Ethiopia mainly in Afar, Oromia and Somali regions. The present volume deals with hitherto unexplored issues on the interaction of morphology and syntax. These selected and invited papers mainly concern Cushitic and Chadic languages, the least-described members of the Afroasiatic family.
Three papers in the volume explore one or more typological characteristics across an entire language family or branch, while others focus on one or two languages within a family and the implications of their structures for the family, the phylum, or linguistic typology as a whole.
The diversity of topics addressed within the present volume reflects the great diversity of language structures and functions within the Afroasiatic phylum. This book puts together contributions of linguists and psycholinguists whose main interest here is the representation of Semitic words in the mental lexicon of Semitic language speakers. It is the only African country to successfully resist European colonization, and was one of the first in the world to adopt Christianity as the religion of the state.
Ethiopia is the one landlocked country in the world with the most inhabitants, and is also the home of archeological sites where some of the oldest human remains were found. As far as diversity goes, Ethiopia has over 80 different ethnolinguistic groups. Though there is only one official language, the number of ethnolinguistic groups gives you an idea of just how many languages are actually spoken by Ethiopians.
The four most spoken languages in Ethiopia are:. Oromo is an Afroasiatic language, specifically part of the Cushitic branch of the language family, that is spoken in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. It is a dialect continuum, or a spectrum of dialects that are spoken across a region. Dialects spoken in neighboring regions are similar, but those on one end of the spectrum are not mutually intelligible with those on the other end.
Of all the Cushitic languages, Oromo has the largest number of speakers. Amharic is a Semitic language, and comes in right behind Arabic as the most spoken Semitic language.
Today, though, due to being landlocked as well as other factors, it is one of the poorest countries in the world. While Western powers — notably France , Portugal , and the UK — were colonizing Africa, Ethiopia was one of only two countries the other being Libya to remain independent. As a result, it has retained its own indigenous languages rather than importing a European language, like Portuguese or French, as the official language. Today, about 88 languages are spoken in Ethiopia, with about 77 being local languages.
Some of the oldest human fossils in the world have been found in Ethiopia. Human civilizations developed by at least the Neolithic era, if not before, and at that same time, people there began speaking Afroasiatic languages.
Most of the languages that are expressed in Ethiopia today are of the Afroasiatic language family. Afroasiatic language groups in Ethiopia include Ethiopian Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic though its classification remains uncertain.
Additionally, there are dozens of Nilo-Saharan languages, as well as some languages that are unclassified. There are also some regional versions of sign language that are used by the deaf population.
0コメント