According to the constitution of 1994, amharic is the official language of the country, however, the constitution also directs that all ethiopian languages. Ethiopian languages semitic, cushitic, omotic and nilosaharan. The vast majority of languages belong to the semitic, cushitic, or omotic groups, all part of the afroasiatic language family. The most widely spoken language in ethiopia is oromo. Choosing a working language in multiethnic nations. The 1 official language of ethiopia is amharic, spoken by about 30% of the population. I put ethiopia in my choices to make up the 10 options and it was the only job offer that. The article as it was prepared for a special occasion where. According to the 1994 census result, the predominantly spoken languages include, sidamigna 18%, gruagigna 14. The report provides a critical evidence base for responding to the changing development context. Click download or read online button to get languages of ethiopia book now. The book layout is logical and comprehensive allowing readers to quickly acquire vocabulary and phrases for use in conversation with native speakers. Amharic is also spoken by 40,000 people in israel as well as people in egypt and sweden. Of the other 85 languages spoken in ethiopia the following are most prevalent.
Currently already 25 of the 84 languages spoken in ethiopia are told to be used as media of instruction in the primary education. The new ethiopia is known as a country of mosaic of cultures. The current constitution of ethiopia, which is the supreme law of the federal democratic republic of ethiopia, came into force on 21 august 1995. If so, we invite you to join our contributor program. Primary schools are taught in amharic and other local languages. The dahlak archipelago is seen off the red sea coast of eritrea.
Amharic also known as amarinya, amarigna is a semitic language spoken in ethiopia. Current language policy the path chosen by ethiopia s current government with regard to language policy was, and remains, progressive. The impact of language policy and practice on childrens learning. Pdf language policies and the role of english in ethiopia 1. Geez is the ancient language, and was introduced as an official written language during the first aksumite kingdom when the sabeans sought refuge in aksum. Although the blue nile is much shorter than the white nile, it contributes about 80% of the flow of the river. Ethiopia has 83 different languages with up to 200 different dialects spoken.
Profile of language status for ethiopia ethnologue. Culture of ethiopia history, people, traditions, women. Media in category languages of ethiopia the following 8 files are in this category, out of 8 total. Nilosaharan languages of ethiopia, opuuo research papers. These ethnic groups have their own way of clothing, hair styles, songs, dances and arts ethiopians have unique calendar, and unique alphabet. Olam is in southwest ethiopia and on the sudan border. So one of its indigenous languages, amharic, has maintained the. I recently lived in the oromo region for 2 years, and i wish i had this. And this paper mainly shows how and when foreign languages are introduced into ethiopia following the footsteps of the. Ethiopian semitic also ethiosemitic, ethiosemitic, ethiopic or abyssinian is a family of languages spoken in ethiopia, eritrea and sudan. They form the western branch of the south semitic languages, itself a subbranch of semitic, part of the afroasiatic language family. There is no one single national language of ethiopia. The article as it was prepared for a special occasion where detailed analysis was due time and other inconveniences. Project muse the nonsemitic languages of ethiopia ed.
Pdf languages in ethiopia and in the horn of africa ugo. Oromo is an afroasiatic language, specifically part of the cushitic branch of the language family, that is spoken in ethiopia, somalia, and kenya. Abstract ethiopia is a country which was never colonised in the era of colonisation when most were. Report submitted on 28 september, 2014 by mike kewer teaching english in addis ababa, ethiopia. To this day, english still ranks as the most popular and widely spoken language for most secondary schools and universities.
English is the most widely spoken foreign language. Ethnic group and mother tongue in the ethiopian censuses of 1994 and 2007 205 aethiopica 15 2012 be solved, but questions remain, including the persistent difficulty concerning differences between names of languages and their dialects, and between selfnames and names, often thought derogatory, given by others. Each individual language that has an entry for ethiopia is included in the profile. The impact of language policy and practice on childrens learning argues that improved evidence, networking, southtosouth learning and advocacy are going to be crucial to create a focus on mothertongue education environments. The official national language of ethiopia is amharic, but 87 other languages are spoken in the country.
About the constitution of the federal democratic republic of ethiopia. Join this global effort to conserve linguistic diversity. Other languages in ethiopia are spoken in rural areas throughout ethiopia. Ethiopian languages semitic, cushitic, omotic and nilo.
Among the four language phyla in africa, two of them are. Changes in ethiopias language and education policy. Geez was the official language of ethiopia before amharic. As part of the land of punt, the people here enjoyed trade with the ancient egyptians some 5,000 years ago and then, around 3,500 years ago, ethiopias first great civilisation arose. There are over 83 languages spoken in the country with 200 dialects. Omotic languages are also spoken, but their classification as afroasiatic remains disputed. The nonsemitic languages of ethiopia internet archive. Although geez is ceased to be spoken popularly sometime between 900 and 1200 ad, it continues as a language of ethiopian church. Ethiopian languages ethiopian heritage society in north. The largest ethnic and linguistic groups are the oromos, amharas and tigrayans. The oromo moved north through the southern highlands, bypasssing the sidama on the west, and into the central highlands, where they settled in the center and west on land, some. Ethiopia, languages, language policy, amharic, constitution.
They form the western branch of the south semitic languages, itself a subbranch of semitic, part of the afroasiatic language family amharic, the official working language of federal government of ethiopia and amhara region, has about 21 million speakers. View nilosaharan languages of ethiopia, opuuo research papers on academia. Thanks to the discovery of the hominid fossil lucy, ethiopia is much touted as the cradle of humanity. The beginning of the modern education and the introduction of the foreign languages in ethiopia are the two faces of a single coin. Ethiopia was home to some of the earliest hominid populations and possibly the region where homo erectus evolved and expanded out of africa to populate eurasia 1. Most of these languages belong to the afroasiatic family semitic and cushitic languages. The current semitic languages of ethiopia, namely, amharic, tigrinya, guragigna, harari, and argoba are the descendants of the geez language. According to the ethiopian census of 2007, the first languages and the largest are the oromo with about 24,930,424 of the population speaking the language which is equivalent to 33. Youll receive credits toward complimentary access to ethnologue for every contribution that is vetted and accepted. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. Unlock this profile with an essentials plan see the details on every language spoken in ethiopia, plus. Aug 01, 2017 the most widely spoken languages of ethiopia. This video is about amharic a semitic language related to arabic, hebrew, and others.
In ethiopia and eritrea there are approximately eighty languages spoken by nearly 100 million people, the majority of which belong to three families of the afroasiatic phylum, namely, semitic in the center, north and west, cushitic in the east and south and omotic in the southwest. History and ethnic relations emergence of the nation. It is between murle and majang culturally and linguistically bender 1983. How can teachers find teaching jobs in addis ababa, ethiopia. Other languages spoken in the state are, gamoigna, malo, goffa, gedeo and many others. Current language policy the path chosen by ethiopias current government with regard to language policy was, and remains, progressive.
The languages of ethiopia refers to the various spoken forms of communication in ethiopia. All our expanded pdfs are included with a standard plan. Ugo zanetti languages in ethiopia a nd in t h e h or n o f africa it is often heard that the horn of africa is a paradise for linguists. Ethiosemitic languages, the semitic languages of ethiopia and eritrea, including ge. The influence of cushitic on the semitic languages of. Ethiopians are ethnically diverse, with the most important differences on the basis of linguistic categorization. Other foreign languages in ethiopia include arabic and. The most notable paleoanthropological find in the country was lucy, a female australopithicus afarensis discovered in 1974 and referred to as dinqnesh you. There are 86 individual languages indigenous to ethiopia according to ethnologue, with the 1994 ethiopian census indicating that some 77 tongues were spoken locally. Other major languages include oromigna, somali and tigrigna. The most widely spoken language in ethiopia is oromo, which around 33. Pdf on sep 1, 2006, getachew anteneh and others published language policy in ethiopia. Teaching english in ethiopia addis ababa teach english.
The languages of ethiopia constitute a linguistic area in the sense that they tend to share a number of features which, taken together, distinguish them from any other geographically defined group of. Palmer, university of reading to a large extent, the nonsemitic languages of ethiopia are coextensive with those that were formerly all called cushitic, but have more recently been divided into cushitic and omotic. Amharic is rooted from the ancient language geez geez. Pdf this study has explored the working language choice of prospective graduate students in some selected public universities of ethiopia.
Library of congress federal research division country profile. The horizontal axis represents the estimated level of development or endangerment as measured on the egids scale. Ethiopia history, language and culture history of ethiopia. Languages of ethiopia download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. The semitic languages are spoken in northern, central and eastern ethiopia mainly in tigray, amhara, harar and northern part of the southern peoples state regions. Sep 21, 2015 the four most spoken languages in ethiopia are. Languages of ethiopia project gutenberg selfpublishing. It is a dialect continuum, or a spectrum of dialects that are spoken across a region.
Whereas the socialist government 197491 had encouraged the use of some 15 ethnic languages in nonformal education, the imperial regime which ruled the country until 1974 preferred to use one official language amharic. This graph shows the profile of languages in ethiopia with respect to their status of language development versus language endangerment. Jul 27, 2017 this video is about amharic a semitic language related to arabic, hebrew, and others. More than 80 languages and 200 dialects are spoken throughout the country. Ethiopic writing system is syllabic and is one of the greatest cultural accomplishments of ethiopians. Ethiopia is a mosaic of about 100 languages that can be classified into four groups. Ethiopia, even though it survives as the main language of the ethiopian orthodox church.
The impact of language policy and practice on childrens. The ethiopian languages are divided into four major language groups. Besides, in the west and southwest, a number of languages belong to various families of the nilo. The constitution consists of 106 articles in 11 chapters.
606 1520 847 53 1015 685 982 1347 330 1372 912 20 366 1454 505 819 118 244 1029 5 1428 939 452 868 760 1101 1270 690 1343 1378 855 861 908 307 205 301