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Kayla Language
Kayliñña (Tigrinya and ) is one of two Agaw languages formerly spoken by a subgroup of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews). It is a transitional dialect between Qimant and Xamtanga. The name ''Kayla'' () is sometimes also used as a cover term for both Beta Israel dialects. It is known only from unpublished notes by Jacques Faitlovitch written in the Ge'ez script, recently studied by David Appleyard. It is preserved by the Beta Israel today. See also * Qwara dialect Bibliography * * David Appleyard David Appleyard (born 1950 in Leeds, England) is a British academic and an specialist in Ethiopian languages and linguistics. He is Professor Emeritus of the Languages of the Horn of Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in ..., "Preparing a Comparative Agaw Dictionary", in ed. Griefenow-Mewis & Voigt, ''Cushitic & Omotic Languages: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium Berlin, Mar. 17-19, 1994'', Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Köln 1996. . Referenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of . , it has around 128 million inhabitants, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, thirteenth-most populous country in the world, the List of African countries by population, second-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populous landlocked country on Earth. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African Plate, African and Somali Plate, Somali tectonic plates. Early modern human, Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out for the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, and Qemant people, Qemant people. Its capital is Bahir Dar which is the seat of the Government of Amhara Region, Regional Government of Amhara. Amhara is the site of the largest inland body of water in Ethiopia, Lake Tana (which is the source of the Blue Nile), and Semien Mountains National Park (which includes Ras Dashan, the highest point in Ethiopia). Amhara is bordered by Sudan to the west and northwest and by other the regions of Ethiopia: Tigray Region, Tigray to the north, Afar Region, Afar to the east, Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Benishangul-Gumuz to the west and southwest, and Oromia to the south. Towns and cities in Amhara include: Bahir Dar, Dessie, Gondar, Gonder, Debre Birhan, Debre Tabor, Kombolcha, Weldiya, Debre Markos, Soqota, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tigray Region
The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob people, Irob and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is the fifth-largest by area, the fourth-most populous, and the fifth-most densely populated of the 11 regional states. Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, the Amhara Region to the south, the Afar Region to the east, and Sudan to the west. Tigray's official language is Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, similar to that of southern Eritrea. The Tigray region had an estimated pre-war population of 7,070,260. The majority of the population (c. 80%) are farmers, contributing 46% to the regional gross domestic product (2009). The highlands have the highest population density, especially in Misraqawi Zone, eastern and Maekelay Zone, central Tigray. The much less densely populated lowlands comprise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 2012, the Cushitic languages with over one million speakers were Oromo, Somali, Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidama. Official status The Cushitic languages with the greatest number of total speakers are Oromo (37 million), Somali (22 million), Beja (3.2 million), Sidamo (3 million), and Afar (2 million). Oromo serves as one of the official working languages of Ethiopia and is also the working language of several of the states within the Ethiopian federal system including Oromia, Harari and Dire Dawa regional states and of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region. Somali is the first of two official languages of Somalia and three official languages of Somaliland. It also serves as a language of instruction in Djibouti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agaw Languages
The Agaw or Central Cushitic languages are Afro-Asiatic languages spoken by several groups in Ethiopia and, in one case, Eritrea. They form the main substratum influence on Amharic and other Ethiopian Semitic languages. Classification The Central Cushitic languages 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 around the town of Keren and eastern Sudan around the town of Kassala ::* Xamtanga (Central Agaw; also called Khamir, Khamta) 143,000 speakers in the North Amhara Region :* 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; Kayla – extinct, formerly spok ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tigrinya Language
Tigrinya, sometimes romanized as Tigrigna, is an Ethio-Semitic languages, Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic languages, Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is primarily spoken by the Tigrinya people, Tigrinya and Tigrayans, Tigrayan peoples native to Eritrea and the Ethiopian state of the Tigray Region, respectively. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literature Although it differs markedly from the Geʽez (Classical Ethiopic) language, for instance in having phrasal verbs, and in using a word order that places the main verb last instead of first in the sentence, there is a strong influence of Geʽez on Tigrinya literature, especially with terms relating to Christian life, Biblical names, and so on. Ge'ez, because of its status in Eritrean and Ethiopian culture, and possibly also its simple structure, acted as a literary medium until relatively recent times. The earliest written example of Tigriny ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beta Israel
Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews, is a Jewish group originating from the territory of the Amhara Region, Amhara and Tigray Region, Tigray regions in northern Ethiopia, where they are spread out across more than 500 small villages over a wide territory, alongside predominantly Christianity in Ethiopia, Christian and Islam in Ethiopia, Muslim populations. Most of them were concentrated mainly in what is today North Gondar Zone, Shire Inda Selassie, Welkait, Wolqayit, Tselemti, Dembia, Segelt, Qwara Province, Quara, and Belesa. After the founding of the Israel, State of Israel, most of the Beta Israel Aliyah, immigrated there or were evacuated through several initiatives by the Israeli government starting from 1979. The ethnogenesis of the Beta Israel is disputed with Genetic studies of Jews, genetic studies showing them to cluster closely with non-Jewish Amhara people, Amharas and Tigrayans with no indications of gene flow with Yemenite Jews in spite of their geographic proximity. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 the Chilga woreda in Semien Gondar Zone between Gondar and Metemma. Classifications The language belongs to the western branch of the Agaw languages. Other (extinct) varieties of this branch are Qwara and Kayla. Along with all other Cushitic languages, Qimant belongs to the Afroasiatic language family. Geographic distribution and sociolinguistic situation Qimant is the original language of the Qemant people of North Gondar Zone, Ethiopia. Although the ethnic population of the Qemant was 172,327 at the 1994 census, only a very small fraction of these speak the language nowadays. All speakers live either in the Chilga or Lay Armachiho woredas.see map in The number of first-language speakers is 1,625, the number of second language speakers 3,450. All speakers of the language are older than 30 years, and more than 75% are older t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xamtanga Language
Xamtanga (also Agawinya, Khamtanga, Simt'anga, Xamir, Xamta) is a Central Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia by the Xamir people. Phonology Vowels The central vowels have fronted and backed allophones, depending on the adjacent consonant(s). Consonants * is found only word-initial in loanwords, and may be glottal or pharyngeal . * is alveolar before the vowel , dental otherwise. * can be ejective , and in some cases the ejectives appear to be in free variation with the voiceless plosives. Phonological processes Gemination In positions other than word-initial, Xamtanga contrasts geminate and non-geminate consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...s. With most consonants, the difference between a geminate and a non-geminate is simply one of length, but t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Faitlovitch
Jacques Faitlovitch (; born February 15, 1881, Łódź, Congress Poland – died October 15, 1955, Tel Aviv) was a Jewish orientalist and activist. Following his studies with Joseph Halévy in Paris, he dedicated himself to supporting the Beta Israel. Between 1904 and 1946, Faitlovitch embarked on eleven journeys to Ethiopia, founding schools and raising funds to foster Jewish identity among them. His efforts significantly contributed to the Beta Israel’s shift from their indigenous religious practices and their integration into the global Jewish community, paving the way for their eventual migration to Israel. Biography Origins and Academic Background Born Yaacov Noah Faitlovitch in Łódź, he was the son of Moshe Faitlovitch and Rosalie Nussel. At 18, he briefly joined the Polish military before turning to academia, initially studying in Berlin and later moving to Paris to study Oriental languages at the École des Hautes Études. There, he became known as Jacques and stud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Appleyard
David Appleyard (born 1950 in Leeds, England) is a British academic and an specialist in Ethiopian languages and linguistics. He is Professor Emeritus of the Languages of the Horn of Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in the University of London, where he specialized in Amharic and other Ethiopian Semitic languages, as well as various Cushitic languages of the region. He went first to SOAS as a student in 1968, studying Amharic and Linguistics, and completed his doctorate there on the Semitic basis of the Amharic lexicon in 1975, with Edward Ullendorff as supervisor. He then joined the staff at SOAS where he remained from 1975 until his retirement in September 2006. He taught Amharic language and literature, as well as courses on Ge’ez, Tigrinya, Somali, Oromo, African linguistics, and Ethiopian cultural history. His linguistic research focuses both on Ethiopian Semitic and Cushitic, especially on the Central Cushitic or Agaw languages on which he has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
