The Agaw or Central Cushitic languages are
Afro-Asiatic languages
The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of th ...
spoken by several groups in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
and, in one case,
Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
. They form the main
substratum influence on
Amharic
Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...
and other
Ethiopian Semitic languages.
Classification
The Central
Cushitic languages
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 Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of ...
are classified as follows (after Appleyard):
*
Awngi (South Agaw) spoken southwest of
Lake Tana, much the largest, with over 350,000 speakers
:(
Kunfäl, spoken west of Lake Tana, is poorly recorded but most likely a dialect of Awngi)
* Northern Agaw:
:*Bilen–Xamtanga:
::*
Bilen (North) spoken (70,000 speakers) in
Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
around the town of
Keren and eastern
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
around the town of
Kassala
::*
Xamtanga (Central Agaw; also called Khamir, Khamta) 143,000 speakers in the North
Amhara Region
The Amhara Region (), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people, Amhara, Awi people, Awi, Xamir people, Xamir, Argobba people, Argobba, a ...
:*
Qimant (Western Agaw) nearly extinct, spoken by the
Qemant in
Semien Gondar Zone
::(dialects
Qwara – nearly extinct, spoken by
Beta Israel formerly living in Qwara, now in
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
;
Kayla – extinct, formerly spoken by some
Beta Israel, transitional between Qimant and Xamtanga)
There is a literature in Agaw but it is widely dispersed: from medieval texts containing passages in the
Qimant language, now mostly in
Israeli museums, to the modern
Bilen language with its own newspaper, based in
Keren,
Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
. Historical material is also available in the
Xamtanga language, and there is a deep tradition of folklore in the
Awngi language.
Phonology
Central Cushitic languages are characterised by the presence of , , , and
central vowel
A central vowel, formerly also known as a mixed vowel, is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned approximately halfway between a front vowel ...
s, while they lack ejectives, implosives, pharyngeals, consonant gemination, vowel length, and the consonant .
[Zelealem, ollaligneLeyew. 2020. Central Cushitic. In: Rainer Vossen and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.), ''The Oxford Handbook of African Languages''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.]
See also
*
Agaw people
*
List of Proto-Agaw reconstructions (Wiktionary)
Bibliography
*Appleyard, David L. (2006) ''A Comparative Dictionary of the Agaw Languages'' (Kuschitische Sprachstudien – Cushitic Language Studies Band 24). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
*Hetzron, Robert (1976) The Agaw Languages. ''Afroasiatic Linguistics'' 3,3. p. 31–37
* Joswig, Andreas and Hussein Mohammed (2011)
A Sociolinguistic Survey Report; Revisiting the Southern Agaw Language areas of Ethiopia SIL International. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2011-047.
References
*
{{AfroAsiatic-lang-stub