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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 Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; is a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five kililoch, called Regions 7 to 11, following the regional council elections on 21 June 1992. Its government is based in Hawassa.
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.
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.
The Hadiya Sultanate was a medieval kingdom located in southwestern Ethiopia, south of the Abbay River and west of Shewa. It was ruled by the Hadiya people, who spoke the Cushitic Hadiyya language. The historical Hadiya area was situated between Kambaata, Gamo and Wej, southwest of Shewa. By 1850, Hadiya is placed north-west of lakes Zway and Langano but still between these areas. Hadiya was historically a vassal state of the Adal federation.
The languages of Ethiopia include the official languages of Ethiopia, its national and regional languages, a large number of minority languages, as well as foreign languages.
Libido is an Afroasiatic language of Ethiopia, which is spoken in the Mareko district Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, directly south-east of Butajira. It has about 64,000 native speakers.
The Sidama Region is a regional state in southern Ethiopia. It was formed on 18 June 2020 from the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) and transformation of the Sidama Zone after a 98.52% vote in favour of increased autonomy in the 2019 Sidama referendum. Sidama is the name of both the Sidama people and Sidama territory. Sidama is bordered to the south by the Oromia Region, on the west by the Bilate River, which separates it from Wolayita zone, and on the north and east by the Oromia Region. Towns in Sidama include Hawassa, the capital of Sidama and SNNPR, Yirgalem, Wondogenet, Chuko, Hula, Bona, Bursa, Bensa, and Aleta Wendo. Sidama has a population of around 3.2 million in 2017 who speak the Cushitic language Sidama.
Hadiyya is the language of the Hadiya people of Ethiopia. It is a Highland East Cushitic language of the Afroasiatic family. Most speakers live in the Hadiya Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR).
Hadiya, also spelled as Hadiyya, is an ethnic group native to Ethiopia in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region who speak the Hadiyya language. According to a popular etymology, the name 'Hadiya," sometimes written in the versions Hadya, Hadea, Hadija, Hadiyo, Hadiyeh, Adea, Adia, means "gift of god" A historical definition of the Hadiya people based on the old Hadiya Sultanate included a number of Ethiopian ethnic groups currently known by other names. Currently, this historic entity is subdivided into a number of ethnonyms, partly with different languages and cultural affiliations. In his book "A History of the Hadiya in Southern Ethiopia," Ulrich Braukämper reported that Leemo, Weexo-giira, Sooro, Shaashoogo, Baadawwaachcho, and Libido (Maraqo) Hadiya subgroups remain a language entity and preserved identity of oneness, the Hadiya proper. In contrast, Qabeena, Halaaba, Welene and Gedebano, and Silt'e people developed separate ethnic identities. Clans of Hadiya origin in Oromia, Sidama, Wolayta, Gurage, Tigray, and Afar were completely absorbed by these nations. They were initially all inhabitants of a single political entity, a sultanate, which in the four centuries following its break-up in the mid-16th century fragmented into separate ethnic groups.
Marvin Lionel Bender was an American linguist.
Burji language is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Burji people who reside in Ethiopia south of Lake Chamo. There are over 46,000 speakers in Ethiopia, and a further 10,400 speakers in Kenya. Burji belongs to the Highland East Cushitic group of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family.
Gedeo is a Highland East Cushitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family spoken in south central Ethiopia. Alternate names for the language include Derasa, Deresa, Darassa, Geddeo, Derasanya, Darasa. It is spoken by the Gedeo people, who live in the highland area, southwest of Dila and east of Lake Abaya.
Alaba-Kʼabeena, also known as Wanbasana, is a Highland East Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia by the Alaba and Kebena peoples in the Great Rift Valley southwest of Lake Shala, specifically in Alaba special district, the Kebena district of Gurage Zone, and the Goro district of Oromia Region. The literacy rate of native speakers in their language is below 1%, while their literacy rate in second languages is 8.6%; Alaba-Kʼabeena is taught in primary schools. It has an 81% lexical similarity with Kambaata. However, Fleming (1976) classifies Kʼabeena as a dialect of Kambaata, and Blench (2006) classifies both as dialects of Kambaata. The 2007 census in Ethiopia lists Alaba and Qebena as separate languages.
Kambaata is a Highland East Cushitic language, part of the larger Afro-Asiatic family and spoken by the Kambaata people. Dialects are Tembaro, Alaba, and K'abeenaThe language has many verbal affixes. When these are affixed to verbal roots, there are a large amount of morphophonemic changes. The language has subject–object–verb order. The phonemes of Kambaata include five vowels, a set of ejectives, a retroflexed implosive, and glottal stop.
Jiiddu is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Jiiddu Tribe of the Digil, a Somali clan inhabiting southern Somalia. It is part of the family's Cushitic branch, and has an estimated 100,000 speakers mainly residing in the Lower Shabeelle, Bay and Middle Jubba regions.
The Ethiopian language area is a hypothesized linguistic area that was first proposed by Charles A. Ferguson, who posited a number of phonological and morphosyntactic features that were found widely across Ethiopia and Eritrea, including the Ethio-Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic languages but not the Nilo-Saharan languages.
The Halaba people (alternate spellings Halaba 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. 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.
Grover M. Hudson is an American linguist and Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages at Michigan State University. He is known for his works on the Amharic language.
Cushitic speaking peoples refer to the ethnic groups who speak Cushitic languages as a native language. Cushitic languages are today spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north and south in Egypt, the Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania.
References
- Hudson, Grover. 1981. The Highland East Cushitic family vine. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 3.97-124.
- Hudson, Grover. 1988. The Highland Cushitic hypothesis. Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa, 1984), Taddese Beyene, ed., 693-696. Birmingham, England: Elm Press.
- Hudson, Grover. 1989. Highland East Cushitic Dictionary (Kuschitische Sprachstudien 7). Hamburg: Buske.
- Hudson, Grover. 2005. Highland East Cushitic languages, Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd ed., Keith Brown, ed., 294-298. Elsevier: Oxford.
- Hudson, Grover. 2007a. Highland East Cushitic morphology, Morphologies of Asian and African Languages, vol. 1, Alan S. Kaye, ed., 529-545. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
- Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. 1979. The consonant phonemes of Proto-East-Cushitic (PEC): A first approximation. Malibu: Undena Publications.
- Wedekind, Klaus. 1980. Sidamo, Gedeo (Derasa), Burji: Phonological differences and likenesses. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 14: 131-76.
- Wedekind, Klaus. 1990. Generating narratives: interrelations of knowledge, text variants, and Cushitic focus strategies. Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs, 52. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
