Cushitic languages

Last updated
Cushitic
Geographic
distribution		 Egypt, Sudan, Horn of Africa, East Africa
Linguistic classification Afro-Asiatic
  • Cushitic
Proto-language Proto-Cushitic
Subdivisions
Language codes
ISO 639-2 / 5 cus
ISO 639-3 –
Glottolog cush1243
Cushitic languages in Africa.svg
Distribution of the Cushitic languages in Africa
Cushitic map.svg
Map of the Cushitic languages

The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of 2012, the Cushitic languages with over one million speakers were Oromo, Somali, Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidama. [1]

Contents

Official status

The Cushitic languages with the greatest number of total speakers are Oromo (37 million), [2] Somali (22 million), [3] Beja (3.2 million), [4] Sidamo (3 million), [5] and Afar (2 million). [6]

Oromo serves as one of the official working languages of Ethiopia [7] and is also the working language of several of the states within the Ethiopian federal system including Oromia, [8] Harari and Dire Dawa regional states and of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region. [9]

Somali is the first of two official languages of Somalia and three official languages of Somaliland. [10] [11] It also serves as a language of instruction in Djibouti, [12] and as the working language of the Somali Region in Ethiopia. [9]

Beja, Afar, Blin and Saho, the languages of the Cushitic branch of Afroasiatic that are spoken in Eritrea, are languages of instruction in the Eritrean elementary school curriculum. [13] The constitution of Eritrea also recognizes the equality of all natively spoken languages. [14] Additionally, Afar is a language of instruction in Djibouti, [12] as well as the working language of the Afar Region in Ethiopia. [9]

Origin and prehistory

Christopher Ehret argues for a unified Proto-Cushitic language in the Red Sea Hills as far back as the Early Holocene. [15] The expansion of Cushitic languages of the Southern Cushitic branch into the Rift Valley is associated with the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. [16]

Typological characteristics

Phonology

Most Cushitic languages have a simple five-vowel system with phonemic length (/aa:ee:ii:oo:uu:/); a notable exception are the Agaw languages, which do not contrast vowel length, but have one or two additional central vowels. [17] [18] The consonant inventory of many Cushitic languages includes glottalic consonants, e.g. in Oromo, which has the ejectives /pʼtʼtʃʼkʼ/ and the implosive /ᶑ/. [19] Less common are pharyngeal consonants /ħʕ/, which appear e.g. in Somali or the Saho–Afar languages. [17] [19]

Most Cushitic languages have a system of restrictive tone also known as ‘pitch accent’ in which tonal contours overlaid on the stressed syllable play a prominent role in morphology and syntax. [17] [20]

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns are inflected for case and number. All nouns are further grouped into two gender categories, masculine gender and feminine gender. In many languages, gender is overtly marked directly on the noun (e.g. in Awngi, where all female nouns carry the suffix -a). [21]

The case system of many Cushitic languages is characterized by marked nominative alignment, which is typologically quite rare and predominantly found in languages of Africa. [22] In marked nominative languages, the noun appears in unmarked "absolutive" case when cited in isolation, or when used as predicative noun and as object of a transitive verb; on the other hand, it is explicitly marked for nominative case when it functions as subject in a transitive or intransitive sentence. [23] [24]

Possession is usually expressed by genitive case marking of the possessor. South Cushitic—which has no case marking for subject and object—follows the opposite strategy: here, the possessed noun is marked for construct case, e.g. Iraqw afé-r mar'i "doors" (lit. "mouths of houses"), where afee "mouth" is marked for construct case. [25]

Most nouns are by default unmarked for number, but can be explicitly marked for singular ("singulative") and plural number. E.g. in Bilin, dəmmu "cat(s)" is number-neutral, from which singular dəmmura "a single cat" and plural dəmmut "several cats" can be formed. Plural formation is very diverse, and employs ablaut (i.e. changes of root vowels or consonants), suffixes and reduplication. [26] [27]

Verbs

Verbs are inflected for person/number and tense/aspect. Many languages also have a special form of the verb in negative clauses. [28]

Most Cushitic languages distinguish seven person/number categories: first, second, third person, singular and plural number, with a masculine/feminine gender distinction in third person singular. The most common conjugation type employs suffixes. Some languages also have a prefix conjugation: in Beja and the Saho–Afar languages, the prefix conjugation is still a productive part of the verb paradigm, whereas in most other languages, e.g. Somali, it is restricted to only a few verbs. It is generally assumed that historically, the suffix conjugation developed from the older prefix conjugation, by combining the verb stem with a suffixed auxiliary verb. [29] The following table gives an example for the suffix and prefix conjugations in affirmative present tense in Somali. [30]

suffix
conjugation		prefix
conjugation
"bring""come"
1st
person		singularkeen-aai-maadd-aa
pluralkeen-naani-maad-naa
2nd
person		singularkeen-taati-maadd-aa
pluralkeen-taanti-maadd-aan
3rd
person		singularmasc.keen-aayi-maadd-aa
fem.keen-taati-maadd-aa
pluralkeen-aanyi-maadd-aan

Syntax

Basic word order is verb final, the most common order being subject–object–verb (SOV). The subject or object can also follow the verb to indicate focus. [31] [32]

Classification

Overview

The phylum was first designated as Cushitic in 1858. [33] Traditionally, Cushitic has been divided into North Cushitic (consisting solely of Beja), Central Cushitic (the Agaw languages), and the large East Cushitic group. Greenberg (1950) argued for the inclusion of the South Cushitic group. The Omotic languages, once classified as West Cushitic, have almost universally been reclassified as a separate branch of Afroasiatic.

This classification has not been without contention. For example, it has been argued that Southern Cushitic belongs in the Eastern branch, with its divergence explained by contact with Hadza- and Sandawe-like languages. Hetzron (1980) and Fleming (post-1981) exclude Beja altogether, though this is rejected by other linguists. Some of the classifications that have been proposed over the years are summarized here:

Other subclassifications of Cushitic
Greenberg (1963) [34] Hetzron (1980) [35] Orel & Stolbova (1995)Ehret (2011) [36]
  • Cushitic
    • Northern Cushitic (Beja)
    • Central Cushitic
    • Eastern Cushitic
    • Western Cushitic (Omotic)
    • Southern Cushitic
  • Beja (not part of Cushitic)
  • Cushitic
    • Highland
      • Rift Valley (= Highland East Cushitic)
      • Agaw
    • Lowland
      • Saho–Afar
      • Southern
        • Omo-Tana
        • Oromoid
        • Dullay
        • Yaaku
        • Iraqw (i.e. Southern Cushitic)
  • Cushitic
    • Omotic
    • Beja
    • Agaw
    • Sidamic
      (i.e. Highland East Cushitic)
    • East Lowlands
    • Rift (Southern)
  • Cushitic
    • North Cushitic (Beja)
    • Agäw–East–South Cushitic
      • Agäw
      • East–South Cushitic
        • Eastern Cushitic
        • Southern Cushitic

For debate on the placement of the Cushitic branch within Afroasiatic, see Afroasiatic languages.

Beja

Beja constitutes the only member of the Northern Cushitic subgroup. As such, Beja contains a number of linguistic innovations that are unique to it, as is also the situation with the other subgroups of Cushitic (e.g. idiosyncratic features in Agaw or Central Cushitic). [37] [38] [39] Hetzron (1980) argues that Beja therefore may comprise an independent branch of the Afroasiatic family. [35] However, this suggestion has been rejected by most other scholars. [40] The characteristics of Beja that differ from those of other Cushitic languages are instead generally acknowledged as normal branch variation. [37]

Didier Morin (2001) assigned Beja to Lowland East Cushitic on the grounds that the language shared lexical and phonological features with the Afar and Saho idioms, and also because the languages were historically spoken in adjacent speech areas. However, among linguists specializing in the Cushitic languages, the standard classification of Beja as North Cushitic is accepted. [41]

Blemmyan, an early form of Beja – mostly attested through onomastic evidence, but also directly by a small text on an ostracon from Saqqara – was spoken by the Blemmyes, an ancient people of Lower Nubia that appears in the Egyptian historical records from the 6th century BCE onwards. It is also likely that the Medjay spoke a language that was ancestral to Beja. [42]

Omotic

Cushitic was formerly seen as also including most or all of the Omotic languages. An early view by Enrico Cerulli proposed a "Sidama" subgroup comprising most of the Omotic languages and the Sidamic group of Highland East Cushitic. Mario Martino Moreno in 1940 divided Cerulli's Sidama, uniting the Sidamic proper and the Lowland Cushitic languages as East Cushitic, the remainder as West Cushitic or ta/ne Cushitic. The Aroid languages were not considered Cushitic by either scholar (thought by Cerulli to be instead Nilotic); they were added to West Cushitic by Joseph Greenberg in 1963. Further work in the 1960s soon led to the putative West Cushitic being seen as typologically divergent and renamed as "Omotic". [43]

Today the inclusion of Omotic as a part of Cushitic has been abandoned. Omotic is most often seen as an independent branch of Afroasiatic, primarily due to the work of Harold C. Fleming (1974) and Lionel Bender (1975); some linguists like Paul Newman (1980) challenge Omotic's classification within the Afroasiatic family itself.

Other divergent languages

There are also a few languages of uncertain classification, including Yaaku, Dahalo, Aasax, Kw'adza, Boon, Ongota and the Cushitic component of Mbugu (Ma'a). There is a wide range of opinions as to how the languages are interrelated. [44]

The positions of the Dullay languages and of Yaaku are uncertain. They have traditionally been assigned to an East Cushitic subbranch along with Highland (Sidamic) and Lowland East Cushitic. However, Hayward thinks that East Cushitic may not be a valid node and that its constituents should be considered separately when attempting to work out the internal relationships of Cushitic. [44] Bender (2020) suggests Yaaku to be a divergent member of the Arboroid group. [45]

The Afroasiatic identity of Ongota has also been broadly questioned, as is its position within Afroasiatic among those who accept it, because of the "mixed" appearance of the language and a paucity of research and data. Harold C. Fleming (2006) proposes that Ongota is a separate branch of Afroasiatic. [46] Bonny Sands (2009) thinks the most convincing proposal is by Savà and Tosco (2003), namely that Ongota is an East Cushitic language with a Nilo-Saharan substratum. In other words, it would appear that the Ongota people once spoke a Nilo-Saharan language but then shifted to speaking a Cushitic language while retaining some characteristics of their earlier Nilo-Saharan language. [47] [48]

Hetzron (1980) [49] and Ehret (1995) have suggested that the South Cushitic languages (Rift languages) are a part of Lowland East Cushitic, the only one of the six groups with much internal diversity.

Hypothesized Cushitic substrate languages

Some of the ancient peoples of Nubia are hypothesized to have spoken languages belonging to the Cushitic group, especially the people of the C-Group culture. It has been speculated that these people left a substratum of Cushitic words in the modern Nubian languages. Given the scarcity of data (all omomastic or toponymic), however, it remains unclear if the C-Group culture in fact spoke a Cushitic language. [50]

Christopher Ehret (1998) proposed on the basis of loanwords that South Cushitic languages (called "Tale" and "Bisha" by Ehret) were spoken in an area closer to Lake Victoria than are found today. [51] [52]

Also, historically, the Southern Nilotic languages have undergone extensive contact with a "missing" branch of East Cushitic that Heine (1979) refers to as Baz. [53] [54]

Reconstruction

Christopher Ehret proposed a reconstruction of Proto-Cushitic in 1987, but did not base this on individual branch reconstructions. [55] Grover Hudson (1989) has done some preliminary work on Highland East Cushitic, [56] David Appleyard (2006) has proposed a reconstruction of Proto-Agaw, [57] and Roland Kießling and Maarten Mous (2003) have jointly proposed a reconstruction of West Rift Southern Cushitic. [58] No reconstruction has been published for Lowland East Cushitic, though Paul D. Black wrote his (unpublished) dissertation on the topic in 1974. [59] Hans-Jürgen Sasse (1979) proposed a reconstruction of the consonants of Proto-East Cushitic. [60] No comparative work has yet brought these branch reconstructions together.

Comparative vocabulary

Basic vocabulary

Sample basic vocabulary of Cushitic languages from Vossen & Dimmendaal (2020:318) (with PSC denoting Proto-Southern Cushitic): [61]

BranchNorthernSouthernEasternCentral
Gloss Beja [62] Iraqw [63] [64] Oromo [65] Somali [66] Awŋi [67] Kemantney [68]
'foot'ragad/lagadyaaeemiila/lukaluglɨkwlɨkw
'tooth'kwiresiħinooilkeeiligɨrkwíɨrkw
'hair'hami/d.ifiseʔeengwdabbasaatimoʧiʧifíʃibka
'heart'gin'amuunáonneewadneɨʃewlɨbäka
'house'gau/'andadoʔmanaguri/minŋɨnnɨŋ
'wood'hindiɬupimukhaqori/alwaaxkanikana
'meat'ʃa/doffuʔnaayfoonso'/hilibɨʃʃisɨya
'water'yammaʔaybiʃanbiyo/maayoaɣuaxw
'door'ɖefa/yafpiindobalbalairrid/albaablɨmʧi/sankbäla
'grass'siyam/ʃuʃgitsooʧ'itaacawssigwiʃanka
'black'hadal/hadodboogurraʧʧamadowʧárkíʃämäna
'red'adal/adardaaʕaatdiimaacas/guduuddɨmmísäraɣ
'road'darabloohikaraa/godaanajid/waddodadgorwa
'mountain'rebatɬoomatuullubuurkándɨba
'spear'fena/gwiʃ'a*laabala (PSC)waraanawaranwerémʃämärgina
'stick' (n)'amis/'adi*ħadaulee/dullaaulgɨmbkɨnbɨ
'fire'n'eʔaɬaibiddadablegwɨzɨŋ
'donkey'mekdaqwaayhaaredameerdɨɣwarídɨɣora
'cat'bissa/kaffamaytsíadurebisad/dummadanguʧʧadamiya
'dog'yas/maniseeaayseereeeygɨséŋgɨzɨŋ
'cow'ʃ'a/yiweɬeesa'asacɨllwakäma
'lion'hadadiraangwlenʧ'alibaaxwuʤigämäna
'hyena'galaba/karai*bahaa (PSC)waraabowaraabeɨɣwíwäya
'sister'kwaħoʔooobboleeytiiwalaalo/abbaayosénáʃän
'brother'sannanaobboleessawalaal/abboowesénzän
'mother'deaayihaaɗahooyoʧwágäna
'father'babataataaabbaaabbetablíaba
'sit's'a/ʈaʈamiwiittaa'uufadhiisoɨnʤikw-täkosɨm-
'sleep'diw/nariguuʔrafuuhurudɣur\y-gänʤ-
'eat'tam/'amaagɲaaʧʧucunɣw-xw-
'drink'gw'a/ʃifiwahɗugaaiticabzɨq-ʤax-
'kill'dirgaasaʤʤeesuudilkw-kw-
'speak'hadid/kwinhʔooʔdubbattuhadaldibs-gämär-
'thin''iyai/bilil*ʔiiraw (PSC)hap'iicaatoɨnʧuk'ät'än-
'fat'dah/l'a*du/*iya (PSC)furdaashilis/buuranmoríwäfär-
'small'dis/dabali*niinaw (PSC)t'innooyarʧɨlíʃigwey
'big'win/ragaga*dir (PSC)guddaa/dagaagaweyndɨngulífɨraq

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual Cushitic languages: [69]

ClassificationLanguage12345678910
North Beja (Bedawi) ɡaːlˈmalemheːjˈfaɖiɡeːj (lit: 'hand')aˈsaɡwir (5 + 1)asaːˈrama (5 + 2)asiˈmheːj (5 + 3)aʃˈʃaɖiɡ (5 + 4)ˈtamin
Central Bilin (Bilen) laxw / laləŋasəxwasədʒaʔankwawəltaləŋətasəxwətasəssaʃɨka
Central, Eastern Xamtanga lə́wlíŋaʃáqwasízaákwawáltaláŋta / lántasə́wtasʼájtʃʼasʼɨ́kʼa
Central, Southern Awngi ɨ́mpɨ́l / láɢúláŋaʃúɢasedzaáŋkwawɨ́ltaláŋétasóɢétaséstatsɨ́kka
Central, Western Kimant (Qimant) laɣa / laliŋasiɣwasədʒaankwawəltaləŋətasəɣwətasəssaʃɨka
East, Highland Alaaba matúlamúsasúʃɔːlúʔɔntúlehúlamaláhizzeːtúhɔnsútɔnnsú
East, Highland Burji mitʃːalamafadiafoolaumuttalialamalahidittawonfatanna
East, Highland Gedeo mittelamesaseʃooleondedʒaanetorbaanesaddeetasallanetomme
East, Highland Hadiyya matolamosasosooroontoloholamarasadeentohonsotommo
East, Highland Kambaata mátolámosásoʃóoloóntoléholamálahezzéetohónsotordúma
East, Highland Libido matolamosasosooroʔontoleholamarasadeentohonsotommo
East, Highland Sidamo (Sidaama) mitelamesaseʃooleonteleelamalasettehonsetonne
East, Dullay Gawwada tóʔonlákkeízzaħsálaħxúpintappitáʔanséttenkóllanħúɗɗan
East, Dullay Tsamai (Ts'amakko) doːkːolaːkːizeːħsalaħχobintabːentaħːansezːenɡolːankuŋko
East, Konsoid Bussa (Harso-Bobase) tóʔolakki, lam(m)e,
lamay		ezzaħ,
siséħ		salaħxúpincappicaħħansásse /séssekollanhúddʼan
East, Konsoid Dirasha (Gidole) ʃakka(ha) (fem.) /
ʃokko(ha) (masc.)		lakkihalpattaafurhenlehitappalakkuʃetitsinqootahunda
East, Konsoid Konso takkalakkisessaafurkenlehitappasettesaɡalkuɗan
East, Oromo Orma tokkōlamāsadiafurīʃanīdʒatorbāsaddeetīsaɡalīkuɗenī
East, Oromo West Central Oromo tokkolamasadiiafurʃanidʒahatorbasaddetsaɡalkuɗan
East, Saho-Afar Afar enèki / inìkinammàyasidòħu /
sidòħoòyu		ferèyi /
fereèyi		konòyu /
konoòyu		leħèyi /
leħeèyi		malħiinibaħaàrasaɡaàlatàbana
East, Saho-Afar Saho iniklam:aadoħafarko:nliħmalħinbaħarsaɡaltaman
East, Rendille-Boni Boni kóów, hál-ó (masc.) /
hás-só (fem)		lábasíddéháfarʃanlíhtoddóusiyyéèdsaaɡaltammán
East, Rendille-Boni Rendille kôːw /
ko:kalɖay (isolated form)		lámːasɛ́jːaħáfːart͡ʃánlíħtɛːbásijːɛ̂ːtsaːɡáːltomón
East, Somali Garre (Karre) kowlammasiddehafarʃanliʔtoddobesiyeedsaɡaaltommon
East, Somali Somali kówlabásáddeħáfarʃánliħtoddobásiddèedsaɡaaltoban
East, Somali Tunni (Af-Tunni) kówlámmasíddiʔáfarʃánlíʔtoddóbosiyéedsaɡáaltómon
East, Arboroid Arbore tokkó (masc.) /
takká (fem.), ˈtaˈka		laamá, ˈlaːmasezzé, ˈsɛːzeʔafúr, ʔaˈfurtʃénn, t͡ʃɛndʒih, ˈd͡ʒituzba, ˈtuːzbasuyé, suˈjɛsaaɡalɗ,
ˈsaɡal		tommoɲɗ,
ˈtɔmːɔn
East, Arboroid Bayso (Baiso) koo (masc.)
too (fem.)		lɑ́ɑmɑsédiɑ́fɑrkenletodobɑ́siddédsɑ́ɑɡɑɑltómon
East, Arboroid Daasanach tɪ̀ɡɪ̀ɗɪ̀ (adj.) /
tàqàt͡ʃ ̚ (ord.)/ ʔɛ̀ɾ (ord.)		nàːmə̀sɛ̀d̪ɛ̀ʔàfʊ̀ɾt͡ʃɛ̀nlɪ̀ht̪ɪ̀ːjə̀síɪ̀t̚sàːlt̪òmòn
East, Arboroid El Molo t'óko / t'ákal'áámaséépeáfurkên, cênyíitíípa, s'ápafúes'áákalt'ómon
South or East Dahalo vattúkwe (masc.) /
vattékwe (fem.)		líimakʼabasaʕáladáwàtte,
possibly ← 'hand'		sita < Swahilisaba < Swahilinanekenda / tis(i)akumi
South Alagwa (Wasi) wákndʒadtamtsʼiɡaħkooʔanlaħooʔfaanqʼwdakatɡwelenmibi
South Burunge leyiŋ / leẽt͡ʃʼadatamit͡ʃʼiɡaħakoːʔanilaħaʔufaɴqʼudaɡatiɡwelelimili
South Gorowa (Gorwaa) waktsʼartámtsʼiyáħkooʔánlaħóoʔfâanqʼwdakáatɡwaléel / ɡweléelmibaanɡw
South Iraqw wáktsártámtsíyáħkooánlaħoóʔfaaɴwdakaátɡwaleélmibaaɴw

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Mous (2012), pp. 343–345.
  2. ↑ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2021). "Oromo". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Twenty-fourth ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  3. ↑ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2021). "Somali" . Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Twenty-fourth ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "Bedawiyet". Ethnologue. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "Sidamo". Ethnologue. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "Afar". Ethnologue. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  7. ↑ Shaban, Abdurahman. "One to five: Ethiopia gets four new federal working languages". Africa News. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  8. ↑ "Ethiopia". The World Factbook (2025 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. 6 June 2022.  (Archived 2022 edition.)
  9. 1 2 3 "Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia" (PDF). Government of Ethiopia. pp. 2 & 16. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "Somaliland profile". BBC News. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  11. ↑ "The Constitution of the Somali Republic (as amended up to October 12, 1990)" (PDF). Government of Somalia. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017. "The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic" (PDF). Government of Somalia. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  12. 1 2 "Journal Officiel de la République de Djibouti – Loi n°96/AN/00/4èmeL portant Orientation du Système Educatif Djiboutien" (PDF). Government of Djibouti. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  13. ↑ Graziano Savà; Mauro Tosco (January 2008). ""Ex Uno Plura": the uneasy road of Ethiopian languages toward standardization". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2008 (191): 117. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2008.026. S2CID   145500609 . Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  14. ↑ "The Constitution of Eritrea" (PDF). Government of Eritrea. p. 524. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  15. ↑ Stevens, Chris J.; Nixon, Sam; Murray, Mary Anne; Fuller, Dorian Q. (July 2016). Archaeology of African Plant Use. Routledge. p. 239. ISBN   978-1-315-43400-1.
  16. ↑ Ambrose (1984), p. 234.
  17. 1 2 3 Appleyard (2012), p. 202.
  18. ↑ Mous (2012), p. 353.
  19. 1 2 Mous (2012), p. 355.
  20. ↑ Mous (2012), p. 350–351.
  21. ↑ Appleyard (2012), pp. 204–206.
  22. ↑ König (2008), p. 138.
  23. ↑ Appleyard (2012), pp. 205.
  24. ↑ Mous (2012), p. 369.
  25. ↑ Mous (2012), pp. 373–374.
  26. ↑ Appleyard (2012), p. 204.
  27. ↑ Mous (2012), pp. 361–363.
  28. ↑ Mous (2012), p. 389.
  29. ↑ Appleyard (2012), pp. 207–208.
  30. ↑ Appleyard (2012), pp. 254–255.
  31. ↑ Appleyard (2012), pp. 210–211.
  32. ↑ Mous (2012), pp. 411–412.
  33. ↑ Lipiński, Edward (2001). Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar Volume 80 of Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta. Peeters Publishers. p. 21. ISBN   90-429-0815-7 . Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  34. ↑ Greenberg, Joseph (1963). The Languages of Africa . Bloomington: Indiana University. pp.  48–49.
  35. 1 2 Hetzron (1980).
  36. ↑ Ehret, Christopher (2011). History and the Testimony of Language. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 138, 147. ISBN   978-0-520-26204-1.
  37. 1 2 Zaborski, Andrzej (1988). Fucus – "Remarks on the Verb in Beja". John Benjamins Publishing. p. 491. ISBN   90-272-3552-X . Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  38. ↑ Treis, Yvonne; Vanhove, Martine (31 May 2017). Similative and Equative Constructions: A cross-linguistic perspective. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 189. ISBN   978-90-272-6597-5.
  39. ↑ Vanhove, Martine (2016). "North-Cushitic". Halshs.
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  41. ↑ Vanhove, Martine. "North-Cushitic". LLACAN, CNRS-INALCO, Université Sorbonne Paris-Cité. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  42. ↑ Rilly 2019, pp. 131–134.
  43. ↑ Lamberti, Marcello (1991). "Cushitic and its Classifications". Anthropos: 552–561.
  44. 1 2 Richard Hayward, "Afroasiatic", in Heine & Nurse, 2000, African Languages
  45. ↑ Bender, M. Lionel. (2020). Cushitic Lexicon and Phonology. ed. Grover Hudson. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik / Research in African Studies, 28). Berlin: Peter Lang. ISBN   978-3-631-60089-4
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  48. ↑ Sands, Bonny (2009). "Africa's Linguistic Diversity". Language and Linguistics Compass. 3 (2): 559–580. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818x.2008.00124.x.
  49. ↑ Robert Hetzron, "The Limits of Cushitic", Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 2. 1980, 7–126.
  50. ↑ Rilly (2019), pp. 134–137.
  51. ↑ Kießling, Roland; Mous, Maarten; Nurse, Derek (2007). "The Tanzanian Rift Valley area". In Bernd Heine; Derek Nurse (eds.). A Linguistic Geography of Africa. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  52. ↑ Schoenbrun, David L. (1993). "We Are What We Eat: Ancient Agriculture between the Great Lakes". The Journal of African History. 34 (1): 1–31. doi:10.1017/S0021853700032989. JSTOR   183030. S2CID   162660041.
  53. ↑ Güldemann (2018).
  54. ↑ Heine, Bernd, Franz Rottland & Rainer Voßen. 1979. Proto-Baz: Some aspects of early Nilotic-Cushitic contacts. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 1. 75‒92.
  55. ↑ Ehret, Christopher. 1987. Proto-Cushitic Reconstruction. In Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 8: 7–180. University of Cologne.
  56. ↑ Hudson, Grover (1989). Highland East Cushitic Dictionary. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. ISBN   3-87118-947-2.
  57. ↑ Appleyard, David (2006). A Comparative Dictionary of the Agaw Languages. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. ISBN   3-89645-481-1.
  58. ↑ Kießling, Roland; Mous, Maarten (2003). The Lexical Reconstruction of West-Rift Southern Cushitic. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN   3-89645-068-9.
  59. ↑ Black, Paul (1974). Lowland East Cushitic: Subgrouping and Reconstruction (PhD). Yale University.
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  61. ↑ Vossen, Rainer and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.). 2020. The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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  65. ↑ Mahdi Hamid Muudee (1995). Oromo Dictionary I. Atlanta: Sagalee Oromoo Publishing.
  66. ↑ Puglielli, A. & Mansuur, C. (2012). Qaamuuska Af-Soomaaliga. Roma: RomaTrE-Press.
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  68. ↑ Zelealem Leyew (2003). The Kemantney Language: A sociolinguistic and grammatical study of language replacement. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
  69. ↑ Chan, Eugene (2019). "The Niger-Congo Language Phylum". Numeral Systems of the World's Languages.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afroasiatic languages</span> Large language family of Africa and West Asia

The Afroasiatic languages are a language family of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahara and Sahel. Over 500 million people are native speakers of an Afroasiatic language, constituting the fourth-largest language family after Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Niger–Congo. Most linguists divide the family into six branches: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic, and Semitic. The vast majority of Afroasiatic languages are considered indigenous to the African continent, including all those not belonging to the Semitic branch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chadic languages</span> Branch of the Afroasiatic languages

The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 196 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, and northern Cameroon. By far the most widely spoken Chadic language is Hausa, a lingua franca of much of inland Eastern West Africa, particularly Niger and the northern half of Nigeria. Hausa, along with Mafa and Karai Karai, are the only three Chadic languages with more than 1 million speakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omotic languages</span> Language family of Ethiopia and Sudan

The Omotic languages are a group of languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia, in the Omo River region and southeastern Sudan in Blue Nile State. The Geʽez script is used to write some of the Omotic languages, the Latin script for some others. They are fairly agglutinative and have complex tonal systems. The languages have around 7.9 million speakers. The group is generally classified as belonging to the Afroasiatic language family, but this is disputed by some linguists.

Amharic is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other populations residing in major cities and towns in Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somali language</span> Cushitic language of the Horn of Africa

Somali is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken primarily in Greater Somalia, and by the Somali diaspora as a mother tongue. Somali is an official language in both Somalia and Ethiopia, and serves as a national language in Djibouti, it is also a recognised minority language in Kenya. The Somali language is officially written with the Latin alphabet although the Arabic script and several Somali scripts like Osmanya, Kaddare and the Borama script are informally used.

Beja is an Afroasiatic language of the Cushitic branch spoken on the western coast of the Red Sea by the Beja people. Its speakers inhabit parts of Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea. In 2022 there were 2,550,000 Beja speakers in Sudan, and 121,000 Beja speakers in Eritrea according to Ethnologue. As of 2023 there are an estimated 88,000 Beja speakers in Egypt. The total number of speakers in all three countries is 2,759,000.

The Agaw or Central Cushitic languages are Afro-Asiatic languages spoken by several groups in Ethiopia and, in one case, Eritrea. They form the main substratum influence on Amharic and other Ethiopian Semitic languages.

Lowland East Cushitic is a group of roughly two dozen diverse languages of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Its largest representatives are Oromo and Somali.

The South Cushitic or Rift languages of Tanzania are a branch of the Cushitic languages. The most numerous is Iraqw, with one million speakers. Scholars believe that these languages were spoken by Southern Cushitic agro-pastoralists from Ethiopia, who began migrating southward into the Great Rift Valley in the third millennium BC.

Proto-Afroasiatic (PAA), also known as Proto-Hamito-Semitic, Proto-Semito-Hamitic, and Proto-Afrasian, is the reconstructed proto-language from which all modern Afroasiatic languages are descended. Though estimations vary widely, it is believed by scholars to have been spoken as a single language around 12,000 to 18,000 years ago, that is, between 16,000 and 10,000 BC. Although no consensus exists as to the location of the Afroasiatic homeland, the putative homeland of Proto-Afroasiatic speakers, the majority of scholars agree that it was located within a region of West Asia or Northeast Africa.

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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.

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The Somali languages form a group that are part of the Afro-Asiatic language family. They are spoken as a mother tongue by ethnic Somalis in Horn of Africa and the Somali diaspora. Even with linguistic differences, Somalis collectively view themselves as speaking dialects of a common language.

Proto-Berber or Proto-Libyan is the reconstructed proto-language from which the modern Berber languages descend. Proto-Berber was an Afroasiatic language, and thus its descendant Berber languages are cousins to the Egyptian language, Cushitic languages, Semitic languages, Chadic languages, and the Omotic languages.

David Appleyard is a British academic and an specialist in Ethiopian languages and linguistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proto-Afroasiatic homeland</span> Hypothetical linguistic homeland of the Proto-Afroasiatic language

The Proto-Afroasiatic homeland is the hypothetical place where speakers of the Proto-Afroasiatic language lived in a single linguistic community, or complex of communities, before this original language dispersed geographically and divided into separate distinct languages. Afroasiatic languages are today mostly distributed in parts of Western Asia and North Africa.

The East Cushitic languages are a branch of Cushitic within the Afroasiatic phylum. Prominent East Cushitic languages include Oromo, Somali, and Sidama. The unity of East Cushitic has been contested: Robert Hetzron suggested combining the Highland East Cushitic languages with the Agaw languages into a "Highland Cushitic" branch, while most other scholars follow Martino Mario Moreno in seeing Highland and Lowland as two branches of East Cushitic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cushitic-speaking peoples</span> Collection of ethnic groups residing in East Africa

Cushitic-speaking peoples are the ethnolinguistic groups who speak Cushitic languages natively. Today, the Cushitic languages are spoken as a mother tongue primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north and south in Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania.

Proto-Cushitic is the reconstructed proto-language common ancestor of the Cushitic language family. Its words and roots are not directly attested in any written works, but have been reconstructed through the comparative method, which finds regular similarities between languages not explained by coincidence or word-borrowing, and extrapolates ancient forms from these similarities.

Proto-East-Cushitic is the reconstructed proto-language common ancestor of the Eastern branch of the Cushitic language family. Its words and roots are not directly attested in any written works, but have been reconstructed through the comparative method, which finds systematic regularities between languages not explained by coincidence or word-borrowing, and extrapolates ancient forms from these similarities.

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