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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 the 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, Saho, and Sidama.
The Oromo are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya, who speak the Oromo language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are one of the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia.
The Afar language is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken by the Afar people inhabiting Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Somali is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in Greater Somalia and the Somali diaspora. Somali is an official language in Somalia and Ethiopia, and a national language in Djibouti as well as in northeastern Kenya. The Somali language is written officially with the Latin alphabet although the Arabic alphabet and several Somali scripts like Osmanya, Kaddare and the Borama script are informally used.
Oromia is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa.
Shabo is an endangered language and likely language isolate spoken by about 400 former hunter-gatherers in southwestern Ethiopia, in the westernmost part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region.
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 Somali and Oromo.
Konso is a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in southwest Ethiopia. Native speakers of Konso number about 200,000. Konso is closely related to Dirasha, and serves as a "trade language"—or lingua franca—beyond the area of the Konso people. Blench (2006) considers purported dialects Gato and Turo to be separate languages.
Argobba is an Ethiopian Semitic language spoken in an area north-east of Addis Ababa by the Argobba people. It belongs to the South Ethiopic languages subgroup along with Amharic and the Gurage languages.
Sidama or Sidaamu Afoo is an Afro-Asiatic language belonging to the Highland East Cushitic branch of the Cushitic family. It is spoken in parts of southern Ethiopia by the Sidama people, particularly in the densely populated Sidama National Regional State (SNRS). Sidaamu Afoo is the ethnic autonym for the language, while Sidaminya is its name in Amharic. Although it is not known to have any specific dialects, it shares over 64% lexical similarity with Alaba-K'abeena, 62% with Kambaata, and 53% with Hadiyya, all of which are other languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. The word order is typically SOV. Sidaama has over 100,000 L2 speakers. The literacy rate for L1 speakers is 1%-5%, while for L2 speakers it is 20%. In terms of its writing, Sidaama used an Ethiopic script up until 1993, from which point forward it has used a Latin script.
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Ethiopia is a landlocked sovereign country located in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, South Sudan to the south-west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the north-east. Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world and Africa's second-most populous nation. Ethiopia has yielded some of humanity's oldest traces, making the area important in the history of human evolution. Recent studies claim that the vicinity of present-day Addis Ababa was the point from which human beings migrated around the world. Ethiopian dynastic history traditionally began with the reign of Emperor Menelik I in 1000 BC. The roots of the Ethiopian state are similarly deep, dating with unbroken continuity to at least the Aksumite Empire and its predecessor state, D`mt. After a period of decentralized power in the 18th and early 19th centuries known as the Zemene Mesafint, the country was reunited in 1855 by Kassa Hailu, who became Emperor Tewodros II, beginning Ethiopia's modern history. Ethiopia's borders underwent significant territorial expansion to its modern borders for the rest of the century, especially by Emperor Menelik II and Ras Gobena, culminating in its victory over the Italians at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 with the military leadership of Ras Makonnen, and ensuring its sovereignty and freedom from colonization. It was occupied by Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italy from 1936 to 1941, ending with its liberation by British Empire and Ethiopian Patriot forces. Its eastern border also changed in 1950 from the former 1908 Convention Line to the subsequent provisional administrative line.
The Macro-Somali or Somaloid languages, or, Sam languages, are a branch of the Lowland East Cushitic languages in the classification of those who do not accept the unity of Omo–Tana. They are spoken in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, eastern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya. The most widely-spoken member is Somali.
The Halaba people (alternate spellings Alaba also called K’abeena are an ethnic group inhabiting the central Ethiopian highlands. The Halaba claim to originate from the Arab cleric, Abadir who settled in Harar. In the middle ages, Halaba were part of the Hadiya state. In the 1400s their Garad was in conflict with the Abyssnian monarch Zara Yaqob. They are mostly Muslims but there are also some Christians. A map of the region from 1628 shows a Kingdom of Halaba. They speak Halaba-Kʼabeena which is a member of the Highland East Cushitic language within the Afroasiatic family. Garad Side is stated to be a forefather for the Halaba people.
During World War I, Ethiopia briefly formed an alliance with the Allied Powers after Italy entered the war in 1915. There was a dynastic battle within Ethiopia after the uncrowned Emperor, Lij Iyasu, allegedly converted to Islam at the behest of the Ottoman Empire in June 1916 and the British and French legates in Addis Ababa concerned a venture. This led to a coup d'état by regent Ras Tafari Mekonnen, later Emperor Haile Selassie, in September, and installed Empress Zewditu, who maintained neutrality throughout the war.
References
- ↑ Girirra at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ SILESR2002 061
- ↑ Blench, Roger (2006). "The Afro-Asiatic Languages Classification and Reference List" (PDF).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ↑ Mekonnen, Hundie Kumbi. 2015. The Grammar of Girirra (A Lowland East Cushitic Language of Ethiopia). (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University; xxvii+367pp.)
