Languages of Ethiopia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

There are 90 individual languages of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

according to Ethnologue

Ethnologue

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...

(some 77 according to the 1994 census). Most belong to the Afro-Asiatic

Afro-Asiatic languages

The Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages...

language family (Semitic

Semitic

In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...

, Cushitic, and Omotic

Omotic languages

The Omotic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic family spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. The Ge'ez alphabet is used to write some Omotic languages, the Roman alphabet for some others. They are fairly agglutinative, and have complex tonal systems .-Language list:The North and South Omotic...

), with Nilo-Saharan languages

Nilo-Saharan languages

The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers , including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of Nile meet...

also spoken by the nation's Nilotic

Nilotic

Nilotic people or Nilotes, in its contemporary usage, refers to some ethnic groups mainly in South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania, who speak Nilotic languages, a large sub-group of the Nilo-Saharan languages...

ethnic minorities.

Charles A. Ferguson

Charles A. Ferguson

Charles Albert Ferguson was a U.S. linguist who taught at Stanford University. He was one the founders of sociolinguistics and is best known for his work on diglossia. The TOEFL test was created under his leadership at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC...

proposed the Ethiopian Language Area

Ethiopian Language Area

Charles Ferguson first proposed the Ethiopian Language Area . He posited a number of phonological and morpho-syntactic features that were found widely across Ethiopia , including the Ethio-Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages, Charles Ferguson first proposed the Ethiopian Language Area (1970,...

, characterized by shared grammatical and phonological features in 1976. This language area (sprachbund) includes the Afro-Asiatic languages of Ethiopia, not the Nilo-Saharan languages. In 2000, Mauro Tosco questioned the validity of Ferguson's original proposal. There is still no agreement among scholars on this point, but Tosco has at least weakened Ferguson's original claim.

English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

is the most widely spoken foreign language and is the medium of instruction

Medium of instruction

Medium of instruction is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. Where the first language of students is different from the official language, it may be used as the medium of instruction for part or all of schooling. Bilingual or...

in secondary schools and universities. Amharic

Amharic language

Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...

was the language of primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by local languages such as Oromifa

Oromo language

Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...

and Tigrinya.

After the fall of the Derg

Derg

The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...

regime in 1991, the new constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia granted all ethnic groups the right to develop their languages and to establish mother tongue primary education

Primary education

A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...

systems. This is a marked change to the language policies of previous governments in Ethiopia

Politics of Ethiopia

Politics of Ethiopia takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government.The prime minister is chosen by the parliament. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and...

Languages

According to the 2007 Ethiopian census, the largest first language

First language

A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...

s are: Oromigna

Oromo language

24,929,268 speakers or 33.8% of the total population; Amharic

Amharic language

21,631,370 or 29.33% (official language); Somali

Somali language

The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....

4,609,274 or 6.25%; Tigrinya

Tigrinya language

Tigrinya , also spelled Tigrigna, Tigrnia, Tigrina, Tigriña, less commonly Tigrinian, Tigrinyan, is a Semitic language spoken by the Tigrinya people in central Eritrea , where it is one of the two main languages of Eritrea, and in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia , where it...

4,324,476 or 5.86%; Sidamo

Sidamo language

Sidamo is an Afro-Asiatic language, belonging to the Cushitic branch, part of the Highland East Cushitic group. It is spoken in parts of southern Ethiopia....

2,981,471 or 4.84%; Wolaytta 1,627,784 or 2.21%, Gurage 1,481,783 or 2.01%; and Afar

Afar language

Afar is a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. It is believed to have 1.5 million speakers, the Afar. The basic word order in Afar, like in other East Cushitic languages, is subject–object–verb. Its speakers have a literacy rate of between one and three per cent...

1,281,278 or 1.74%. Widely-spoken foreign languages include Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

(official), English

English language

(official; major foreign language taught in schools), and Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

(spoken by European minority).

Afro-Asiatic languages

The Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages...

Ethiopian Semitic languages
Ethiopian Semitic languages
Ethiopian Semitic is a language group, which together with Old South Arabian forms the Western branch of the South Semitic languages. The languages are spoken in both Ethiopia and Eritrea...
- North
  - Tigrinya language
    Tigrinya language
    Tigrinya , also spelled Tigrigna, Tigrnia, Tigrina, Tigriña, less commonly Tigrinian, Tigrinyan, is a Semitic language spoken by the Tigrinya people in central Eritrea , where it is one of the two main languages of Eritrea, and in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia , where it...
    
    (also in Eritrea)
  - Ge'ez language
    Ge'ez language
    Ge'ez is an ancient South Semitic language that developed in the northern region of Ethiopia and southern Eritrea in the Horn of Africa...
    
    (extinct, liturgical)
  - Tigre language
    Tigre language
    For other uses please see Tigre Tigre is a Semitic language, which, along with Tigrinya, is believed to be one of direct descendants of the extinct Ge'ez language...
    
    (also in Eritrea)
- South
  - Transverse
    - Amharic language
      Amharic language
      Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
    - Argobba language
      Argobba language
      Argobba is an Ethiopian Semitic spoken in an area north-east of Addis Ababa by the Argobba people. It belongs to the South Ethiopian Semitic subgroup together with Amharic and the Gurage languages...
    - Harari language
    - East Gurage languages
      - Silt'e language
        Silt'e language
        Silt'e is a Semitic language spoken in central Ethiopia, mainly within the Silte Zone, in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region and by speakers of the language , who have settled in Ethiopian cities, especially Addis Ababa.-Speakers and dialects:Dialects of the language include:...
        
        (Ulbareg, Inneqor)
      - Wolane language
      - Zay language
        Zay language
        The Zay language is one of the Ethiopic languages. It is spoken by about 4,880 members of the Zay people on the islands and shores of Lake Zway in southern Ethiopia. It is also known as Zway, or Lak'i/Laqi in the neighboring Oromo language....
  - Outersouth
    - Gafat language
      Gafat language
      The Gafat language is an extinct Semitic language that was once spoken along the Abbay River in Ethiopia. The records of this language are extremely sparse. There is a translation of the Song of Songs written in the 17th or 18th Century held at the Bodleian Library...
      
      (extinct)
    - Soddo language
      Soddo language
      Soddo is a Gurage language spoken by about 300,000 people in southeastern Ethiopia...
    - Muher language
      Muher language
      Muher is an Ethiopian Semitic language belonging to the Gurage group.- References :*Cohen, Marcel . Etudes d’éthiopien méridional. Paris: Guenther.*Hetzron, Robert . The Gunnan-Gurage languages. Napoli : Istituto Orientale di Napoli....
    - Goggot language
    - West Gurage languages
      - Inor language
        Inor language
        Inor , sometimes called Ennemor, is a Semitic language spoken in central Ethiopia, mainly within the Gurage Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, and by speakers of the language who have settled in Ethiopian cities, especially Addis Ababa...
      - Mesmes language
        Mesmes language
        The Mesmes language is an extinct language, one of the West Gurage languages, a cluster of Semitic languages in Ethiopia. There are still many people who claim the Mesmes ethnic identity, but none who speak the language. The last speaker of the language was interviewed by a language survey team...
        
        (extinct)
      - Mesqan language
        Mesqan language
        Mesqan is an Afro-Asiatic Ethiopian Semitic language spoken in the West Gurage region of Ethiopia....
      - Chaha (Sebat Bet Gurage)
      - Ezha language
      - Gumer language
      - Gura language
      - Gyeto language
      - Indegen language
      - Iner language

Cushitic
- Agaw languages
  - Awngi language
    Awngi language
    The Awngi language, in older publications also called Awiya , is a Central Cushitic language spoken by the Awi people, living in Central Gojjam in northwestern Ethiopia...
  - Kunfal language
  - Qimant language
    Qimant language
    The Qimant language is a highly endangered language spoken by a small and elderly fraction of the Qemant people in Northern Ethiopia mainly in Chilga Woreda in Semien Gondar Zone between Gondar and Metemma.-Classification:...
  - Xamtanga language
    Xamtanga language
    Xamtanga is a Central Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia by the Xamir people.-Vowels:The central vowels have fronted and backed allophones, depending on the adjacent consonant.-Consonants:...
- East Cushitic
  - Afar language
    Afar language
    Afar is a Lowland East Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. It is believed to have 1.5 million speakers, the Afar. The basic word order in Afar, like in other East Cushitic languages, is subject–object–verb. Its speakers have a literacy rate of between one and three per cent...
    
    (also in Djibouti)
  - Alaba language
  - Arbore language
    Arbore language
    Arbore is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in southern Ethiopia in a few settlements of Hamer Bena woreda near Lake Chew Bahir.-Further reading:...
  - Baiso language
    Baiso language
    Baiso is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Ethiopia in the region around Lake Abaya.-Further reading:* Greville G. Corbett & Richard J. Hayward. 1987. "Gender and number in Bayso," Lingua 72:195-222.-External links:...
  - Bussa language
    Bussa language
    Bussa is an East Cushitic language spoken in the Dirashe special woreda of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region located in southern Ethiopia...
  - Burji language
    Burji language
    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...
  - Daasanach language
    Daasanach language
    Daasanach is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Daasanach in Ethiopia and Kenya whose homeland is along the Lower Omo River and on the shores of Lake Turkana.-Further reading:*...
    
    (also in Kenya)
  - Dirasha language
    Dirasha language
    Dirasha is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. It is spoken in Ethiopia in the Omo Region, in the hills west of Lake Chamo, around Gidole town. A number of speakers also use Oromo or Komso...
  - Gawwada language
    Gawwada language
    Gawwada is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in southern Ethiopia. Dialects include Dihina, Gergere, Gobeze, Gollango, Gorose, Harso.-External links:* Ethnologue information on...
  - Gedeo language
    Gedeo language
    Gedeo is the name of 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...
  - Hadiyya language
  - Kambaata language
    Kambaata language
    Kambaata is a Highland East Cushitic language, part of the larger Afro-Asiatic family and spoken by the Kambaata. Dialects are Donga, Kambaata and Tambaro. It is one of the official languages of Ethiopia. The language has a large number of verbal affixes. When these are affixed to verbal roots,...
  - Konso language
    Konso language
    The Konso language is an East Cushitic language spoken in southwest Ethiopia. Native speakers of Konso number about 200,000...
  - Libido language
    Libido language
    Libido is an Afro-Asiatic language of Ethiopia, which is spoken in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, north-east of Hosaena....
  - Oromo language
    Oromo language
    Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...
    
    (also in Kenya)
  - Saho language
    Saho language
    The Saho language is a Cushitic language of Eritrea and Ethiopia.-Overview:It is spoken natively by the Saho people who traditionally inhabit territory in Eritrea bounded by the bay of Arafali in the east, the Laasi Ghedé valleys in the south, and the Eritrea highlands to the west .This speech area...
    
    (also in Eritrea)
  - Sidamo language
    Sidamo language
    Sidamo is an Afro-Asiatic language, belonging to the Cushitic branch, part of the Highland East Cushitic group. It is spoken in parts of southern Ethiopia....
  - Somali language
    Somali language
    The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....
    
    (also in Somalia)
  - Tsamai language
    Tsamai language
    Tsamai is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Ethiopia. Tsamai is a member of the Dullay dialect continuum.- References :* Ethnologue information on...

Omotic
Omotic languages
The Omotic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic family spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. The Ge'ez alphabet is used to write some Omotic languages, the Roman alphabet for some others. They are fairly agglutinative, and have complex tonal systems .-Language list:The North and South Omotic...
- Aari language
  Aari language
  Aari is an Omotic language of Ethiopia. The speakers of this language have been known as Shankilla , a name which is considered derogatory...
- Anfillo language
  Anfillo language
  Anfillo is a Northern Omotic language spoken in western Ethiopia by a few hundred people. The term Anfillo is used to refer both to the language and the people found in a small community in the Anfillo woreda, part of the Mirab Welega Zone. The language is on the verge of extinction as it is...
- Bambassi language
  Bambassi language
  Bambassi is an Omotic Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia around the town of Bambasi in the area east of Asosa in Benishangul-Gumuz Region. The parent language group is the East Mao group...
- Basketo language
  Basketo language
  Basketo is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Basketo special woreda of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, which is part of Ethiopia. The speakers refer to the language as "Masketo", while their neighbors refer to it as "Basketo." It has said to consist of two dialects,...
- Bench language
  Bench language
  Bench is a Northern Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup, spoken by about 174,000 people in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, in southern Ethiopia, around the towns of Mizan Teferi and Shewa Gimira...
- Boro language
  Boro language (Ethiopia)
  Shinasha, also known as Boro is a North Omotic language spoken in western Ethiopia by the Shinasha people. Its speakers live in scattered areas north of the Abay River: in the Dangur, Dibate and Wenbera districts, which are parts of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region.-References:* Lamberti, Marcello ...
  
  , also called Shinasha
- Chara language
  Chara language
  Chara is an Afro-Asiatic language of the North Omotic variety spoken in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia by more than 13,000 people.-Status:...
- Dime language
  Dime language
  Dime is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the northern part of the Selamago district in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region of Ethiopia, around Mount Smith. Dime divides into at least two dialects, which include Us'a and Gerfa. It has six case suffixes, in addition to an...
- Dizi language
- Dorze language
  Dorze language
  Dorze is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Gamo Gofa Zone of Ethiopia. Alemayehu Abebe reports that while performing preliminary fieldwork in 1992, he found 14 kebeles in Chencha woreda with Dorze speakers....
- Gamo-Gofa-Dawro
- Ganza language
  Ganza language
  Ganza is an Afro-Asiatic language , spoken in the western Oromo region of Ethiopia, near the border of Sudan. The Ganza people may originally have been from Sudan....
- Gayil language
- Hamer-Banna
- Hozo language
  Hozo language
  Hozo is an Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia near Begi in the area south of Asosa of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region. The language is also called Begi-Mao.- Further reading :...
- Kachama-Ganjule language
  Kachama-Ganjule language
  Kachama-Ganjule is an Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia on islands in Lake Chamo and Lake Abaya. Kachama is spoken on Gidicho island in Lake Abaya, whereas Ganjule was originally spoken on a small island in Lake Chamo. Now the Ganjule speakers have relocated to the west shore of the Lake....
- Kafa language
  Kafa language
  Kaffa is an Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia around Bonga in the Keficho Shekicho Zone. The language is also called Kafi nono.- Further reading :...
- Karo language
  Karo language
  Karo is an Omotic language spoken in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region in Ethiopia...
- Koorete language
  Koorete language
  Koorete is the language spoken by the Koore people of southern Ethiopia.-Bibliography:*Hayward, R. 1982. "Notes on the Koyra Language". Afrika und Übersee 65: pp. 211–268....
- Male language
  Male language (Ethiopia)
  Male , is an Omotic language spoken in the Omo Region of Ethiopia by the Male people. It is called in ISO 639-3 to distinguish it from .- References :* Van Aswegen, Jacobus. 2008...
- Melo language
  Melo language
  Melo is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Gamo Gofa Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region in Ethiopia....
- Nayi language
  Nayi language
  Nayi is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in western Ethiopia. The 2007 census listed 1998 census listed 7,188 speakers; the 1998 census 3,656 speakers, with 1,137 identified as monolinguals....
- Oyda language
  Oyda language
  Oyda is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Gamo Gofa Zone of Ethiopia.The 2007 Census of Ethiopia lists 45,120 individuals for the ethnic group.- External links :* , LL-Map website...
- Seze language
  Seze language
  Seze is an Afro-Asiatic Omotic language, spoken in the western part of Ethiopia, near the town of Begi and just north of the Hozo-speaking community....
- Shekkacho language
  Shekkacho language
  Shekkacho is an Afro-Asiatic Omotic language, spoken in the north Kafa region of southwest Ethiopia, in the Maasha area. It is closely related to Kafa.-Bibliography:...
- Sheko language
  Sheko language
  Sheko is an Omotic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in the area between Tepi and Mizan Teferi in western Ethiopia, in the Sheko district in the Bench Maji Zone...
- Wolaytta language
- Yemsa language
  Yemsa language
  Yemsa is the language of the Yem people of the former Kingdom of Yamma, known as Kingdom of Janjero to the Amhara. It is a member of the Omotic group of languages, most closely related to Kaffa. It is distinctive in having a several levels of lexicon contingent on social hierarchy, rather like...
- Zayse-Zergulla language
  Zayse-Zergulla language
  Zayse-Zergulla is the combined title for the two closely related dialects of Zayse and Zergulla . The division may be more along ethnic or geographic lines than linguistic. It is an Afro-Asiatic Omotic language, and is spoken in the southwestern part of Ethiopia, to the immediate west of Lake Chamo...

Nilo-Saharan

Anuak language
Anuak language
Anuak or Anywa is a Nilotic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family. It is spoken primarily in the Western part of Ethiopia by the Anuak. Other names for this language include: Anyuak, Anywa, Yambo, Jambo, Yembo, Bar, Burjin, Miroy, Moojanga, Nuro.Anywa does not have phonemic fricatives.-...

(also in Sudan)
Berta language
Berta language
Berta, Wetawit, is spoken by the Berta in Sudan and Ethiopia. It is a language isolate which has been also included as branch of the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. It has the typical word order subject–verb–object. It is a tonal language. It has significantly influenced some of the...
Gumuz language
Gumuz language
Gumuz is a dialect cluster spoken along the border of Ethiopia and Sudan. Most Ethiopian speakers live in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, although a group of 1,000 live outside the town of Welkite...
Kacipo-Balesi language
Kacipo-Balesi language
The Kacipo-Balesi language is an Eastern Sudanic language spoken by the Baale and Zilmamu people of Ethiopia and the Kacipo of South Sudan. It is a member of the Surmic cluster. There are three main dialects: Balesi , Kacipo, and Zilmamu.- Further reading :* Arensen, Jonathan E. 1989...

(also in Sudan)
Komo language
Komo language
The Komo language is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Komo people of Ethiopia, Sudan and Southern Sudan. It is a member of the Koman languages. The language is also called Madiin, Koma, South Koma, Central Koma and Hayahaya.- Further reading :...
Kwama language
Kwama language
Kwama is a Nilo-Saharan Koman language, spoken in the South Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia, along the Sudan border between Asosa and Gidami....
Kwegu language
Kwegu language
Kwegu is a Nilo-Saharan Eastern Sudanic language, spoken in the Southwest of Ethiopia, on the west bank of the Omo River.-Bibliography:...
Majang language
Majang language
The Majang language is spoken by the Majangir of Ethiopia. Although it is a member of the Surmic cluster, this language is the most isolated one in that cluster . A language survey has shown that dialect variation from north to south is minor and does not seriously impede communication...
Me'en language
Murle language
Murle language
Murle is a Nilo-Saharan Eastern Sudanic language spoken by the Murle people, spoken in the southeast of South Sudan, near the Ethiopian border...

(also in Sudan)
Mursi language
Mursi language
Mursi is a Nilo-Saharan Eastern Sudanic language spoken by the Mursi people, in the Central Omo region of southwest Ethiopia. It is similar to Suri, spoken in most of the immediately surrounding area.-Bibliography:...
Nuer language
Nuer language
The Nuer language is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Western Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Nuer people of South Sudan and in western Ethiopia. Nuer is one of eastern and central Africa's most widely spoken languages. The Nuer nation is one of the largest in South Sudan.Nuer language has a...

(also in Sudan)
Nyangatom language
Nyangatom language
Nyangatom is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Ethiopia by the Nyangatom people. It is an oral language only, having no working orthography at present...
Opuuo language
Opuuo language
The Opuuo language is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Shita of Ethiopia and South Sudan. It is a member of the Koman languages, and has a lexical similarity of 24% with Komo. The language is also called Opo-Shita, Opo, Opuo, Cita, Ciita, Shita, Shiita, Ansita, Kina, and Kwina...
Shabo language
Shabo language
Shabo is an endangered language spoken by about 600 hunter-gatherers in southwestern Ethiopia, in the westernmost part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region. They live in three places in the Keficho Shekicho Zone: Anderaccha, Gecha, and Kaabo...
Suri language
Suri language
Suri is a Nilo-Saharan Eastern Sudanic language spoken in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region in Ethiopia, to the South Sudan border, and across the border in South Sudan by the Suri...
Uduk language
Uduk language
Uduk, also known as Tw'ampa, is a Koman language spoken in the Gambela region in western Ethiopia, and across the border in the Upper Nile state of South Sudan. It is spoken by approximately 20,000 people in Ethiopia; the number of speakers in South Sudan is unknown...

(also in Sudan)

Unclassified

Weyto language
Weyto language
The Weyto language is believed to be an extinct language formerly spoken in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia by the Weyto, a small group of hippopotamus hunters who now speak Amharic....

(extinct)
Ongota (moribund
Moribund
Moribund refers to a literal or figurative state of near-death.Moribund may also refer to:* "Le Moribond", a song by Jacques Brel which became better known for its rewritten English-language version, "Seasons in the Sun"...

; possibly Omotic or its own branch of Afro-Asiatic or not Afro-Asiatic at all)
Rer Bare language (extinct, maybe Bantu
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...

)

Endangered languages

A number of Ethiopian languages are endangered: they may not be spoken in one or two generations and may become extinct, victims of language death

Language death

In linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given language variety is decreased, eventually resulting in no native and/or fluent speakers of the variety...

, as Weyto has and Ongota soon will. The factors that contribute to language death are complex, so it is not easy to estimate which or how many languages are most vulnerable. Hudson wrote, "Assuming that a language with fewer than 10,000 speakers is endangered, or likely to become extinct within a generation", there are 22 endangered languages in Ethiopia (1999:96). However, a number of Ethiopian languages never have had populations even that high, so it is not clear that this is an appropriate way to calculate the number of endangered languages in Ethiopia. The real number may be lower or higher. The new language policies after the 1991 revolution have strengthened the use of a number of languages. Publications specifically about endangered languages in Ethiopia include: Appleyard (1998), Hayward (1988), Zelealem (1998a,b, 2004)

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Languages

Afro-Asiatic languages

Nilo-Saharan

Unclassified

Endangered languages

Further reading

External links