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Harari is an
Ethiopian Semitic language Ethiopian Semitic (also Ethio-Semitic, Ethiosemitic, Ethiopic or Abyssinian) is a family of languages spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. They form the western branch of the South Semitic languages, itself a sub-branch of Semitic, part of th ...
spoken by the
Harari people The Harari people ( Harari: Gēy Usuach, "People of the City") are Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. Members traditionally reside in the walled city of Harar, called simply ''Gēy'' "the City" in Harari, situated in t ...
of
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
. According to the 2007 Ethiopian census, it is spoken by 25,810 people. Most of its speakers are multilingual in
Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...
and/or Eastern Oromo. Harari is closely related to the Eastern Gurage languages, Zay, and Silt'e, all of whom are linked to the now extinct Semitic
Harla The Harla, also known as Harala, or Arla, are an extinct ethnic group that once inhabited Djibouti, Ethiopia and northern Somalia. They spoke the now-extinct Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic or Semitic branches of the Afroa ...
language. Locals or natives of Harar refer to it as ''Gēy Sinan'' or ''Gēy Ritma'' "language of the City" (''Gēy'' is the word for how Harari speakers refer to
Harar Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...
, whose name is an
exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group ...
). Harari was originally written with a version of the Arabic script, then the Ethiopic script was adopted to write the language. Some Harari speakers in diaspora write their language with the Latin alphabet.


Vowels

/æ, a, e, ai, ɪ, i/


Grammar


Nouns


Number

Wolf Leslau __NOTOC__ Wolf Leslau ( yi, וולף לסלאו; born November 14, 1906 in Krzepice, Vistula Land, Poland; died November 18, 2006 in Fullerton, California) was a scholar of Semitic languages and one of the foremost authorities on Semitic langua ...
discusses Harari–East Gurage phonology and grammar: The noun has two numbers, Singular and Plural. The affix -ač changes singulars into plurals: : abōč, a man; abōčač, men. : wandaq, a servant; wandaqač, servants. : gar, a house; garač, houses. Nouns ending in a or i become plural without reduplicating this letter: : gafa, a slave; gafač, slaves. : gubna, a harlot; gubnač, harlots. : liğği, a son; liğğač, sons. : mäqbärti, a grave; mäqbärtač, graves. /s/ alternates with /z/: : färäz, a horse; färäzač, horses. : iraaz, toga; iraazač, togas.


Gender

Masculine nouns may be converted into feminines by three processes. The first changes the terminal vowel into -it, or adds -it to the terminal consonant: : rágá, an old man; rágít, an old woman. : buchí, male dog; buchít, female dog : wasíf, a slave boy; wasífít, a slave girl. Animals of different sexes have different names. and this forms the second process: : bárá, an ox; lám, a cow. The third and the most common way of expressing sex is by means of aboch, "male or man," and inistí: woman, " female, corresponding to English " he-" and " she-": : aboch faraz, a stallion; inistí faraz, a mare. : aboch č̣abar a he mule; inistí č̣abar, a she mule.


Pronouns

The affixed pronouns or possessives attached to nouns are:-- Singular. : 1st Pers. - e, my or mine. : Gár-e, my house. : 2nd Pers. - khá, thy or thine. Gár-khá, thy house. : 3rd Pers. - zo, or - so, his. Gár-zo, his house. Plural. : 1st Pers. - zinya or sinya, our. : Gár-zinya, our house. : 2nd Pers. - kho, your. Gár-kho, your house. : 3rd Pers. - ziyu or siyu, their. Gár-ziyu, their house. (384) In the same way attached pronouns are affixed to verbs: : Sit-ayn: give (thou to) me. : Sit-ana: give (thou to) us. The demonstrative pronouns are: : Sing. Yí, this. : Yá', that. : Plur. Yíách, these. : Yá'ách, those. The interrogative pronouns are the following: : Mántá: who? : Mintá: what? : Án atti'e hárkho: I myself went. : Akhákh attikha hárkhí: thou thyself wentest. : Azo attiizo hára: he himself went.


Verbs

The following are the two auxiliary verbs: Past Tense. : Sing. 1. I became: Án ikaní náarkho. : 2. Thou becamest: Akhákh tikání nárkhí. : 3. He became: Azo ikáni nárá. : Plur. 1. We became: Innách nikání nárná. : 2. Ye became: Akhákhách tikání nárkhú. : 3. They became: Aziyách ikání nárú. Present Tense. : Sing. 1. I become: Án ikánákh. : 2. Thou becomest: Akhákh tikánákh. : 3. He becomes: Azo ikánál. : Plur. 1. We become: Inyách nikánáná. : 2. Ye become: Akhákhách tikánákhu. : 3. They become: Aziyách yikánálú. Imperative. : Become thou, "Kanni". Become ye, "Kánnú". Prohibitive. : Sing. 2. Become not, ikánnumekh. : Plur. 2. Become not ye, tikánnumekhu. Past Tense. (Affirmative Form.) : Sing. 1. I went, Án letkho. : 2. Thous wentest, Akhákh letkhí. : 3. He went, Azo leta. : Plur. 1. We went, Inyách letna. : 2. Ye went, Akhákhách letkhú. : 3. They went, Aziyách letú. (Negative Form.) : Sing. 1. I went not, Án alletkhúm. : 2. Thou wentest not, Akbákh alletkhím. : 3. He went not, Azo alletám. : Plur. 1. We went not, Inyách aletnám. : 2. Ye went not, Akhákách alletkhúm. : 3. They went not, Azziyách alletúm. Present Tense. (Affirmative Form.) : 1. I go, Án iletákh 1. Inyásh niletáná. : 2. Thou goest, Akhákh tiletínakh 2. Akhákhách tiletákhú. : 3. He goes, Azo yiletál 3. Azziyách yiletálú. (Negative Form.) : Sing. 1. I go not, Án iletumekh. : 2. Thou goest not, Akhákh tiletumekh. : 3. He goes not, Azo yiletumel. : Plur. 1. We go not, Inyách niletumena. : 2. Ye go not, Akhákhach tiletumekhú. : 3. They go not, Azziyách iletuelú. : Sing. 1. I will go, Án iletle halkho. : 2. Thou wilt go, Akháhk tiletle halkhí. : 3. He will go, Azo iletle hal. : Plur. 1. We will go, Inyách niletle halns. : 2. Ye will go, Akhákhách tiletle halkhú. : 3. They will go, Azziyách niletle halns.


Writing system

Harari was originally written in an unmodified and later modified
Arabic Script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and th ...
. The Ethiopic script was then adopted to write Harari. There is a Latin version of the script used by the Harari diaspora.


Modified Arabic script


Vowel Markings Table


Modified Ge'ez script

Harari can be written in the unmodified Ethiopic script as most vowel differences can be disambiguated from context. The Harari adaptation of the Ethiopic script adds a long vowel version of the Ethiopic/Amharic vowels by adding a dot on top of the letter. In addition certain consonants are pronounced differently when compared to the Amharic pronunciation. The table below shows the Harari alphasyllabary with the Romanized & IPA consonants along the rows and the Romanized vowel markings along the columns.


Modified Latin script


Numerals

* 1. ''Ahad'' * 2. ''Ko'ot'' * 3. ''Shi'ishti'' * 4. ''Haret'' * 5. ''Ham'misti'' * 6. ''Siddisti'' * 7. ''Sa'ati'' * 8. ''Su'ut'' * 9. ''Zahtegn'' * 10. ''Asir'' *11. ''Asra ahad'' *12. ''Asra ko'ot'' *13. ''Asra shi'ishti'' *14. ''Asra haret'' *15. ''Asra ham'misti'' *16. ''Asra siddisti'' *17. ''Asra sa'ati'' *18. ''Asra su'ut'' *19. ''Asra zahtegn'' *20. ''Kuya'' *30. ''Saasa'' *40. ''Arbîn'' *50. ''Hamsein'' *60. ''Sit'tin'' *70. ''Sa'ati asir'' *80. ''Su'ut asir'' *90. ''Zahtana'' *100. ''Baqla'' *1,000. ''Kum'' or ''Alfi''


References


Works cited

*Abdurahman Garad and Ewald Wagner. 1998. ''Harari-Studien : Texte mit Übersetzung, grammatischen Skizzen und Glossar''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

*Cerulli, Enrico. “La lingua e la storia di Harar” in ''Studi Etiopici,'' vol. I, 1936 (Roma). *Gardner, Simon and Ralph Siebert. 2001. "Sociolinguistic survey report of the Zay language area." ''SIL Electronic Survey Reports'', 2002-024
PDF
* Marcel Cohen, Cohen, Marcel. 1931. ''Etudes d'éthiopien méridional''. Paris. pp. 243–354. * *Leslau, Wolf. 1958. ''The verb in Harari : (South Ethiopic)''. Berkeley: University of California Press. * * *Mondon-Vidailhet, François Marie Casimir. 1902. ''La langue Harari et les dialectes Ethiopies du Gouraghe''. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. *Wagner, Ewald. 1983. ''Harari-Texte in arabischer Schrift : mit Übersetzung und Kommentar''. Wiesbaden: F. Steiner.


External links

*
World Atlas of Language Structures The World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) is a database of structural ( phonological, grammatical, lexical) properties of languages gathered from descriptive materials. It was first published by Oxford University Press as a book with CD-R ...
information o
Harari


{{DEFAULTSORT:Harari Language Languages of Ethiopia Transverse Ethiopian Semitic languages