Amharic language? |
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| Amharic (አማርኛ) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Ethiopia |
| Region: | East Africa |
| Total speakers: | 21 million (17.4 million native) |
| Ranking: | Not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Afro-Asiatic
Semitic |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Ethiopia |
| Regulated by: | – |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639 | am |
| ISO 639-2 | amh |
| SIL | AMH |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Amharic (አማርኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia. It is the "official working" language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and thus has official status nationwide. It is also the official or working language of several of the states within the federal system, including Amhara and the multi-ethnic Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region. It has been the working language of government, the military, and of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church throughout modern times. Outside Ethiopia, Amharic is the language of some 2.7 million emigrants (notably in Egypt, Israel and Sweden), and is spoken in Eritrea by Eritrean deportees from Ethiopia.
It is written using a writing system called fidel or abugida, adapted from the one used for the now-extinct Ge'ez language.
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Sounds and orthographies
| Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosives | voiceless | p | t | c | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | g | ||
| Ejective | pʼ | tʼ | cʼ | kʼ | ʔʼ | |
| Affricate | ʦʼ | |||||
| fricatives | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
| voiced | z | ʒ | ||||
| nasals | m | n | ɲ | |||
| Liquids | w | l | j | |||
| flap/trills | r | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ə | u |
| Mid | e | ä | o |
| Low | a |
Amharic Abugida Symbols ("Fidels" ፊደል)
| Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. |
Please note that this chart is incomplete. Some phonemes have more than one series of possible symbols; only illustrative examples for /k/ and /h/ are shown (the latter has four series!). While the consonants have been grouped by manner of articulation (refer to the phoneme chart above), the vowels are listed in citation order. The citation form for each series is the consonant+/E/ form, i.e. the first column of fidels. You will need a font that supports Ethiopic, such as GF Zemen Unicode, in order to view the fidels.
Non-speakers are often disconcerted or astonished by the remarkable similarity of many of the symbols. This is mitigated somewhat because like many Semitic languages, Amharic uses triconsonantal roots in its verb morphology. The upshot of this is that a fluent speaker of Amharic can decipher written text by observing which consonants are noted, with the vowel variants being supplemental detail.
| ä | u | i | a | e | ə | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| h | ሀ | ሁ | ሂ | ሃ | ሄ | ህ | ሆ |
| l | ለ | ሉ | ሊ | ላ | ሌ | ል | ሎ |
| h | ሐ | ሑ | ሒ | ሓ | ሔ | ሕ | ሖ |
| m | መ | ሙ | ሚ | ማ | ሜ | ም | ሞ |
| s | ሠ | ሡ | ሢ | ሣ | ሤ | ሥ | ሦ |
| r | ረ | ሩ | ሪ | ራ | ሬ | ር | ሮ |
| s | ሰ | ሱ | ሲ | ሳ | ሴ | ስ | ሶ |
| š | ሸ | ሹ | ሺ | ሻ | ሼ | ሽ | ሾ |
| k' | ቀ | ቁ | ቂ | ቃ | ቄ | ቅ | ቆ |
| b | በ | ቡ | ቢ | ባ | ቤ | ብ | ቦ |
| t | ተ | ቱ | ቲ | ታ | ቴ | ት | ቶ |
| č | ቸ | ቹ | ቺ | ቻ | ቼ | ች | ቾ |
| h | ኀ | ኁ | ኂ | ኃ | ኄ | ኅ | ኆ |
| n | ነ | ኑ | ኒ | ና | ኔ | ን | ኖ |
| ñ | ኘ | ኙ | ኚ | ኛ | ኜ | ኝ | ኞ |
| (') | አ | ኡ | ኢ | ኣ | ኤ | እ | ኦ |
| k | ከ | ኩ | ኪ | ካ | ኬ | ክ | ኮ |
| h (x) | ኸ | ኹ | ኺ | ኻ | ኼ | ኽ | ኾ |
| w | ወ | ዉ | ዊ | ዋ | ዌ | ው | ዎ |
| (') | ዐ | ዑ | ዒ | ዓ | ዔ | ዕ | ዖ |
| z | ዘ | ዙ | ዚ | ዛ | ዜ | ዝ | ዞ |
| ž | ዠ | ዡ | ዢ | ዣ | ዤ | ዥ | ዦ |
| y | የ | ዩ | ዪ | ያ | ዬ | ይ | ዮ |
| d | ደ | ዱ | ዲ | ዳ | ዴ | ድ | ዶ |
| ǧ | ጀ | ጁ | ጂ | ጃ | ጄ | ጅ | ጆ |
| g | ገ | ጉ | ጊ | ጋ | ጌ | ግ | ጎ |
| t' | ጠ | ጡ | ጢ | ጣ | ጤ | ጥ | ጦ |
| č' | ጨ | ጩ | ጪ | ጫ | ጬ | ጭ | ጮ |
| p' | ጰ | ጱ | ጲ | ጳ | ጴ | ጵ | ጶ |
| s' | ጸ | ጹ | ጺ | ጻ | ጼ | ጽ | ጾ |
| s' | ፀ | ፁ | ፂ | ፃ | ፄ | ፅ | ፆ |
| f | ፈ | ፉ | ፊ | ፋ | ፌ | ፍ | ፎ |
| p | ፐ | ፑ | ፒ | ፓ | ፔ | ፕ | ፖ |
Grammar
Pronouns
Nouns
Amharic nouns can be primary or derived. A noun like əgər 'foot, leg' is primary, and a noun like əgr-aɲɲa 'pedestrian' is a derived noun.
Gender
Amharic nouns can have a masculine or feminine gender. There are several ways to express gender. An example is the old suffix -t for feminity. This suffix is no longer productive and is limited to certain patterns and some isolated nouns. Nouns and adjectives ending in -awi usually take the suffix -t to form the feminine form, e.g. ityop':eya-(a)wi 'Ethiopian (m.)' vs. ityop':eya-wi-t 'Ethiopian (f.)'; sämay-awi 'heavenly (m.) vs. sämay-awi-t 'heavenly (f.)'. This suffix also occurs in nouns and adjective based on the pattern k'et(t)ul, e.g. nəgus 'king' vs. nəgəs-t 'queen' and k'əddus 'holy (m.)' vs. k'əddus-t 'holy (f.)'.
Some nouns and adjectives take a feminine marker -it: lək' 'child, boy' vs. lək'-it 'girl'; bäg 'sheep, ram' vs. bäg-it 'ewe'; s'əmagəlle 'senior, elder (m.)' vs. s'əmagəll-it 'old woman'; t'ot'a 'monkey' vs. t'ot'-it 'monkey (f.)'. Some nouns have this feminine marker without having a masculine opposite, e.g. s'ärar-it 'spider', azur-it 'whirlpool, eddy'. There are, however, also nouns having this -it suffix that are treated as masculine: säraw-it 'army', nägar-it 'big drum'.
The feminine gender is not only used to indicate biological gender, but may also be used to express smallness, e.g. bet-it-u 'the little house' (lit. house-FEM-DEF). The feminine marker can also serve to express tenderness or sympathy.
Gender specifiers
Amharic has special words that can be used to indicate the gender of people and animals. For people, wänd is used for masculinity and set for feminity, e.g. wänd lək' 'boy', set lək' 'girl'; wänd hakim 'physician, doctor (m.)', set hakim 'physician, doctor (f.)'. For animals, the words täbat, awra, or wänd (less usual) can be used to indicate masculine gender, and anəst or set to indicate feminine gender. Examples: täbat tə'k'a 'calf (f.)'; awra doro 'cock (rooster)'; set doro 'hen'.
Plural
The plural suffix -oc': is used to express plurality of nouns. Some morphophonological alternations occur depending on the final consonant or vowel. For nouns ending in a consonant, plain -oc': is used: bet 'house' becomes bet-oc': 'houses'. For nouns ending in a back vowel (-a, -o, -u), the suffix takes the form -woc':, e.g. wəssa 'dog', wəssa-woc': 'dogs'; käbäro 'drum', käbäro-woc': 'drums'. Nouns that end in a front vowel pluralize using -woc': or -yoc':, e.g. s'ähafi 'scholar', s'ähafi-woc': or s'ähafi-yoc': 'scholars'. Another possibility for nouns ending in a vowel is to delete the vowel and use plain oc':, as in wəss-oc': 'dogs'.
Besides using the normal external plural (-oc':), nouns and adjectives can be pluralized by way of reduplicating one of the radicals. For example, wäyzäro 'lady' can take the normal plural, yielding wäyzär-oc':, but wäyzazər 'ladies' is also found.
Some kinshiperms have two plural forms with a slightly different meaning. For example, wändəmm 'brother' can be pluralized as wändəmm-oc': 'brothers' but also as wändəmamm-ac': 'brothers of each other'. Likewise, əhət 'sister' can be pluralized as əhət-oc': ('sisters'), but also as ətəmm-am-ac': 'sisters of each other'.
In compound words, the plural marker is suffixed to the second noun: betä krəstiyan 'church' (lit. house christians) becomes betä krəstiyan-oc': 'churches'.
Archaic plural forms
Some nouns have preserved old plural forms from Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez). There are two archaic pluralizing strategies, called external and internal plural. The external plural consists of adding the suffix -an (usually masculine) or -at (usually feminine) to the singular form. The internal plural employs vowel quality or apophony to pluralize words, similar to English man vs. men and goose vs. geese. Sometimes combinations of the two systems are found. The archaic plural forms are not productive anymore, which means that they can not be used to form new plurals.
- Examples of the external plural: mämhər 'teacher', mämher-an; t'äbib 'wise person', t'äbib-an; kahən 'priest', kahən-at.
- Examples of the internal plural: dəngəl 'virgin', dänagəl; hagär 'land', hagur.
- Examples of combined systems: nəgus 'king', nägäs-t; kokäb 'star', käwakəb-t.
Definiteness
If a noun is definite or specified, this is expressed by a suffix, the article. In singular forms, this article distinguishes between the male and female gender; in plural forms this distinction is absent. As in the plural, morphophonological alternations occur depending on the final consonant or vowel.
Nominalization
Amharic has various ways to derive nouns from other words or other nouns. One way of nominalizing consists of a form of vowel agreement (similar vowels on similar places) inside the three-radical structures typical of Semitic languages. For example:
- CəCäC: — t'əbäb 'wisdom'; həmäm 'sickness'
- CəCCəC-e: — wəffar-e 'obesity'; c'əkkan-e 'cruelty'
- CəCC-ät: — rət'bät 'moistness'; əwt-ät 'knowledge'
There are also several nominalizing suffixes.
- -ənna: — 'relation'; krəst-ənna 'Christianity'; sənf-ənna 'lazyness'; k'əs-ənna 'priesthood'.
- -e, suffixed to place name X, yields 'a person born in X': gok':am-e 'someone born in Gok'am'.
- -äɲ:a and -täɲ:a serve to express profession, or some relationship with the base noun: əgr-äɲ:a 'pedestrian' (from əgr 'foot'); bärr--äɲ:a 'gate-keeper' (from bärr 'horse').
Verbs
Gerund
Along with the infinitive and the present participle, the gerund is one of three non-finite verb forms. The infinitive is a nominalized verb, the present participle expresses incomplete action, and the gerund expresses completed action, e.g. ali mısa bälto wädä gäbäya hedä 'Ali, having eaten lunch, went to the market'. There are several usages of the gerund depending on its morpho-syntactic features.
Verbal use
The gerund functions as the head of a subordinate clause (see the example above). There may occure more than one gerund in one sentence. The gerund is used to form the following tense forms:
- present perfect nägro -all/näbbär 'He has said'.
- past perfect nägro näbbär 'He had said'.
- possible perfect nägro yıhonall 'He (probably) has said'.
Adverbial use
The gerund can be used as an adverb: alfo alfo yısıqall 'Sometimes he smiles'. ıne dägmo mämţat ıfällıgallıhu 'I also want to come'.
Adjectives
Adjectives are words or constructions used to qualify nouns. Adjectives in Amharic can be formed in several ways: they can be based on nominal patterns, or derived from nouns, verbs and other parts of speech. Adjectives can be nominalised by way of suffixing the nominal article (see Nouns above). Amharic has few primary adjectives. Some examples are dägg 'kind, generous', dəda 'mute, dumb, silent', bəc'a 'yellow'.
Formed from nominal patterns
- CäCCaC — käbbad 'heavy'; läggas 'generous'
- CäC(C)iC — räk'iq 'fine, subtle'; märir 'bitter'; addis 'new'
- CäC(C)aCa — säbara 'broken'; tämama 'bent, wrinkled'
- CəC(C)əC — bələh 'intelligent, smart'; dəbbək' 'hidden'
- CəC(C)uC — kəbur 'worthy, dignified'; t'ək'ur 'black'; k'əddus 'holy'
Formed by denominalizing suffixes
- -äɲɲa — hayl-äɲɲa 'powerful' (from hayl 'power'); əwnät-äɲɲa 'true' (from əwnät 'truth')
- -täɲɲa — aläm-täɲɲa 'secular' (from aläm 'world'
- -awi — ləb-awi 'intelligent' (from ləb 'heart'); mədr-awi 'earthly' (from mədr 'earth'); haymanot-awi 'religious' (from haymanot 'religion')
With prefix yä 'from'
- yä-kätäma 'urban' (lit. 'from the city'); yä-krəstənna 'christian' (lit. 'of christianity'); yä-wəcät 'wrong' (lit. 'of falsehood')
In the same way, a relative perfectum or imperfectum can be used as an adjective by prefixing yä:
- yä-bässälä 'ripe, done' (lit. 'what has been cooked/prepared'); yä-k'oyyä 'old' (lit. 'what remained'); yä-mmikkättäl 'following' ('that what is following', from tä-kättälä 'to follow'); yä-mmittay 'visible' (let. 'what is seen')
Adjective+Noun complex
The adjective and the noun together are called the 'adjective+noun complex'. In Amharic, the adjective precedes the noun, e.g. kəfu geta (lit. bad master) 'a bad master'; təllək' bet särra (lit. big house he-built) 'he built a big house'. If the adjective+noun complex is definite, the definite article is affixed to the adjective and not to the noun, e.g. təllək'-u bet (lit. big-def house) 'the big house'. In a possessive construction, the adjective takes the definite article and the noun takes the pronominal possessive suffix, e.g. təllək'-u bet-e (lit. big-def house-mine) 'my big house'.
When enumerating adjectives using -nna 'and', both adjectives take the definite article: k'ongo-wa-nna astäway-wa ləg mät':ac:' (lit. pleasant-def-and intelligent-def girl came) 'the pleasant and intelligent girl came'. In the case of an indefinite plural adjective+noun complex, the noun is plural and the adjective may be used in singular or in plural from. Thus, 'diligent students' can be rendered təgu tämariwoc: (lit. diligent student-PLUR) or təguwoc': tämariwoc: (lit. diligent-PLUR student-PLUR).
Amharic Translation Companies
Because of the rapid growth of Ethiopian communities in Europe and America as well as in Canada several public service organizations started to offer Amharic language translation and interpretation services. Cities like Washington, DC, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Seattle, Washington are some of the cities who are offering Amharic educational materials to Ethiopians.
Rastafarians
Many Rastafarians learn Amharic as a second language because their religion believes it is the original and a sacred language. Various roots reggae musicians including Lincoln Thompson and Misty-in-Roots have written songs in Amharic, thus bringing the sound of this relatively unknown language to a wider audience.
References
- Abraham, Roy Clive (1968) The Principles of Amharic. Occasional Publication / Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. rewritten version of 'A modern grammar of spoken Amharic', 1941
- Bennet, M.E. (1978) Stratificational Approaches to Amharic Phonology. PhD thesis, Ann Arbor: Michigan State University.
- Cohen, Marcel (1936) Traité de langue amharique. Paris.
- Leslau, Wolf (1995) Reference Grammar of Amharic. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.
- Praetorius, Franz (1879) Die amharische Sprache. Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, Halle
External links
- Amharic Translation and Localization service by Ethiotrans.com
- List of free online resources for learners
- Amharic language on Ethnologue
- Amharic Bible at St-Takla.org
- Amharic Language Sample
- Unicode Ethiopic charts (Also Supplemental and Extended)