Ithiopia Series-Amharic, the language of Ethiopia

Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), in 1991. A constitution was adopted in 1994 and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A two and a half year border war with Eritrea that ended with a peace treaty on 12 December 2000 has strengthened the ruling coalition, but has hurt the nation's economy. Ethiopia has 84 indigenous languages. Some of these are: Afar, Amharic, Anfillo, Berta, Bussa, Ge'ez, Konso, Ongota, Oromo, Rer Bare, Saho, Soddo, Somali, Tigrigna, Weyto, and Harari. This exerpt is from the text "Amharic Verb Morphology: A Generative Approach" by Lionel Bender and Hailu Fulass. (This information was taken from Lionel Bender & Hailu Fulass) All but a relative handful of Ethiopians are native speakers of languages of one genetic super-family: Afroasiatic. The estimated number of speakers of non-Afroasiatic languages to be about 400,000 out of an approximate 1976 total of 28,000,000.

Of the more than 98% who are first-speakers of Afroasiatic languages, about 13,000,000 speak Amharic or Tigrinya, two closely-related Semitic languages. Another 9,000,000 speak Oromo or Somali, two related Cushitic languages. These four account for nearly 4/5 of all Ethiopians. The remainder mostly speak demographically smaller Semitic or Cushitic languages, with about 1,500,000 others speaking languages of the Omotic Family. One Omotic language, Welaita (Welamo), with its many local varieties, approaches 1,000,000 speakers. Three Highland East Cushitic languages, Hadiyya, Kembata, and Sidamo, number more than 500,000 speakers each. The eight named languages might be considered the major Ethiopian languages: they account for about 5/6 of the total population, and no other language exceeds 500,000 speakers.

Not only are the languages spoken by most Ethiopians genetically related, but (as Ferguson 1970 and 1976 has shown) the phenomenon of diffusion of traits over a large area has resulted in even more sharing of common features than one would expect among languages of three coordinate branches of a super-family. In fact, the Afroasiatic languages of Ethiopia and adjoining countries constitute an impressive example of a language area, clearly set off from surrounding Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Kordofanian languages by the features identified by Ferguson. Simplified family-tree diagrams are presented here.

Afroasiatic Superfamily _______________________|________________________ | | | | | | Chadic Berber Ancient Egyptian Semitic Cushitic Omotic ------- -------- ------ Chadic Berber Ancient Egyptian Semitic Cushitic Omotic ------- -------- ------ Branching from the Semitic Family- East and West Semitic (East-Akkadian), and coming from the West-Central Semitic. Off of the West-Central Semitic branches The South Semitic which then evolve to the southern Arabic, and the Ethio-semitic.

From the Central is the Arabo-Canaanite and the Aramaic (Language of Yahshua) From the Ethio-semitic North came Ge'ez and the Tigre Tigrinya. Then we have the Amharic and Argobba coming from the Southern languages. (Adapted from Hetzron l975)

The History of Amharic and Related Languages

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In the first three centuries A.D., Semitic-speaking people were building a "South Arabian" (or "North Ethiopian") type of civilization in Eritrea, later centering about Aksum in Tigrai Province. As early as the middle of the fourth century, expeditions may have reached the area later known as Amhara. By the mid-ninth century, a distinctive Amhara region was recognized.

The conquering Semitic-speakers spoke a language which was perhaps only four to seven centuries removed from a common origin with Ge'ez, the classical language of the Aksum Empire and of Medieval Ethiopian religion and literature. But meanwhile an interesting process was taking place among the subjugated peoples. The military forces were drawn from a number of diverse ethnic groups: perhaps largely Agew, but with significant numbers of speakers of other Cushitic and Omotic languages -- they may have had Nilo-Saharan-speaking peoples (including slaves and artisans). Based on "Cushomotic" syntax (i.e., verb-final) a Semitic lexicon was being used for communication in the ranks and among many of the Agew commoners of Amhara. This situation may have persisted for centuries, as have similar situations in the Caribbean and elsewhere. In short, a complicated diglossic situation had been created, with the ruling elite speaking a slowly changing Semitic tongue out of old Aksum, the military ranks using a creole based on Semitic (plus use of their own native tongues) and the poorer using the creole and also Agew. As the Agew slowly began to fuse with their conquerors, and military and Orthodox Christian missionary campaigns extended ever further - west, south, and east, other linguistic groups were added to the creole mix and it was shifting, but ever based on Semitic lexicon and Cushomotic syntax. An Agew dynasty known as Zagwe came to power after upwards of seven centuries of this diglossic situation. This may have meant a resurgence of Agew speech, but it also meant an acceleration of the process of the creole impinging on the "standard" Semitic language.

By the four-teenth century, the standard itself would be as far removed in time from its common origin. It seems that the creole displaced both the "standard" and Agew as the dominant language of the nascent state. This language is now a post-creole and the national language of Ethiopia. It is first attested in some fourteenth-century songs praising the kings at that time. The creole nature of the language of these songs has caused great difficulties to supposed scholars, especially if one looks on the language as an orthodox linear ancestor of Amharic. Meanwhile, according to Hetzron 1972, a sister language to Ge'ez was diverging into two Northern languages, which unlike Ge'ez, are still spoken. Tigre was influenced by the Beja tribes whose onslaughts toppled Aksum. It is now spoken in northwest Eritrea by about 140,000 Muslim agricultural pastoralists. Tigrinya was influenced by the local Agew populations and is now the dominant language in Eritrea and Tigre Provinces, spoken by nearly 4,000,000 persons there and in urban settlements throughout Ethiopia.

Tigrinya-speakers are mostly Orthodox Christians, but there is also a sizable number of Muslims (known as Jabarti) who are Tigrinya-speakers. In other parts of Ethiopia, Tigrinya-speakers are often called Tigres, after the former name of the province. When Aksum was under pressure from the Beja and other invaders, the main retreat route was to the south. The southerners passed through Agew-gpeaking territory, and this meant Agew influence on the language also.

Another group moved southeast and split into two: one section went south and under Sidamo or Somali or other influence, gave rise to Harari and East Gurage languages. The other group remained in touch with the old northern civilization, and inherited it when the northern empire collapsed. These were the people who brought Semitic speech to the Amhara region. Amharic is spoken as a "mother-tongue" by about 9,000,000 persons. Amharic speakers are mainly Orthodox Christians, but the number of followers of other beliefs is significant, especially among non-native-speakers. As the national language, Amharic is spoken in every province, but the indigenous areas are those radiating out from the old province of Amhara in southwestern Wello to Wello, Begemidir,Gojjam, and into Shewa and Harerge. Regional variation in Amharic is relatively slight. (see Hailu et al. 1976). Amharic does have one quite divergent dialect: Argobba. This is probably best considered as a Muslim dialect, spoken by perhaps 1-2,000 people in some villages on and below the eastern edge of the great central Ethiopian escarpment north-east of Addis Ababa.