Ethio-Semitic languages explained

Ethio-Semitic
Also Known As:Ethiopian Semitic, Ethiopic, Abyssinian
Region:Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan[1]
Familycolor:Afro-Asiatic
Fam2:Semitic
Fam3:West Semitic
Fam4:South Semitic
Child1:North Ethiopic
Child2:South Ethiopic
Glotto:ethi1244
Glottorefname:Ethiosemitic

Ethio-Semitic (also Ethiopian Semitic, Ethiosemitic, Ethiopic or Abyssinian[2]) is a family of languages spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan.[3] They form the western branch of the South Semitic languages, itself a sub-branch of Semitic, part of the Afroasiatic language family.

With 57,500,000 total speakers as of 2019, including around 25,100,000 second language speakers, Amharic is the most widely spoken of the group, the most widely spoken language of Ethiopia and second-most widely spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic.[4] [5] Tigrinya has 7 million speakers and is the most widely spoken language in Eritrea.[6] [7] There is a small population of Tigre speakers in Sudan, and it is the second-most spoken language in Eritrea. The Ge'ez language has a literary history in its own Ge'ez script going back to the first century AD. It is no longer spoken but remains the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, as well as their respective Eastern Catholic counterparts.

The linguistic homeland of the South Semitic languages is widely debated, with some sources, such as A. Murtonen (1967) and Lionel Bender (1997),[8] suggesting an origin in Ethiopia, and others suggesting the southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula.[9] A recent 2009 study based on a Bayesian model suggested the latter, with Ethiosemitic being introduced from southern Arabia some 2,800 years ago.[10] This statistical analysis could not estimate when or where the ancestor of all Semitic languages diverged from Afroasiatic, but it suggested that the divergence of East, Central, and South Semitic branches most likely occurred in the Levant.[11] According to other scholars, Semitic originated from an offshoot of a still earlier language in North Africa, perhaps in the southeastern Sahara, and desertification forced its inhabitants to migrate in the fourth millennium BCE – some southeast into what is now Ethiopia, others northeast out of Africa into Canaan, Syria and the Mesopotamian valley.[12]

Classification

The division of Ethiopic into northern and southern branches was proposed by Cohen (1931) and Hetzron (1972) and garnered broad acceptance, but has been challenged by Rainer Voigt, who concludes that the northern and southern languages are closely related.[13]

Hudson (2013)

Hudson (2013) recognises five primary branches of Ethiosemitic. His classification is below.[17]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Languages of Sudan. Ethnologue. 24 February 2024.
  2. Book: Diakonov, Igor Mikhailovich . Semito-Hamitic Languages: An Essay in Classification . . Moscow . Nauka, Central Department of Oriental Literature . 1965 . 576634823 . 12.
  3. Web site: Languages of Sudan. Ethnologue. 24 February 2024.
  4. Web site: Amharic . Ethnologue.
  5. Web site: The world factbook . cia.gov. 18 September 2023 .
  6. Woldemikael . Tekle M. . Language, Education, and Public Policy in Eritrea . African Studies Review . April 2003 . 46 . 1 . 117–136 . 10.2307/1514983 . 1514983 . 143172927.
  7. Web site: Up todate Assessment of the results of the research on the Dahalik language (December 1996 - December 2005) . December 2005 . Marie-Claude . Simeone-Senelle . 2019-06-12 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023215/http://llacan.vjf.cnrs.fr/PDF/Publications/Senelle/DahlikBilan.pdf . dead .
  8. Bender . L. . 1997 . Upside Down Afrasian . Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere . 50 . 19–34.
  9. Book: Hetzron, Robert . Ethiopian Semitic: Studies in Classification . Manchester University Press . 1972 . 9780719011238 . 122 . EN.
  10. Kitchen . Andrew . Christopher . Ehret . Shiferaw . Assefa . Connie J. . Mulligan . 29 April 2009 . Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 276 . 1665 . 2703–2710 . 19403539 . 2839953 . 10.1098/rspb.2009.0408.
  11. Kitchen. A.. Ehret. C.. Assefa. S.. Mulligan. C. J.. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 29 April 2009. 276. 1668. 2703–10. 10.1098/rspb.2009.0408. 2839953. 19403539.
  12. Book: Weitzman . Steven . The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age . 2017 . Princeton University Press . Princeton . 978-0-691-19165-2 . 69 . 11 January 2023.
  13. Web site: North vs. South Ethiopian Semitic . Voigt . Rainer . portal.svt.ntnu.no . 2019-06-12 . 2014-01-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140110231342/http://portal.svt.ntnu.no/sites/ices16/Proceedings/Volume%204/Rainer%20Voigt%20-%20North%20vs.%20South%20Ethiopian%20Semitic.pdf . dead. Via Scribd
  14. For its membership in North Ethiopic, see Book: Leslau, Wolf . Ethiopic and South Arabian . Linguistics in South West Asia and North Africa . The Hague . 1970 . 467., and Book: Faber, Alice . Genetic Subgrouping of the Semitic Languages . The Semitic Languages . . 2005 . 6–7. .
  15. Web site: Ethiopia to Add 4 More Official Languages to Foster Unity . Ventures Africa . 4 March 2020 . Ventures . 2 February 2021.
  16. Web site: Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia – Article 5 . Federal Government of Ethiopia . 31 January 2018.
  17. Book: Hudson, Grover . 2013 . Northeast African Semitic: Lexical Comparisons and Analysis . Wiesbaden . Harrassowitz . 9783447069830 . 289.

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