The Saho language ( Tigrinya: ) is an

Afro-Asiatic 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 ...

language spoken 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 ...

and

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 ...

. It belongs to the family's Cushitic branch.

Overview

Saho is spoken natively by the

Saho people The Saho are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group who are one of the 9 official ethnic groups Eritrea. They speak Saho as a mother tongue. History The Saho were originally a northern extension of the Afar people, Afar who moved along the G ...

. Traditionally, they inhabit the territory in Eritrea bounded by the bay of Erafayle (ዓራፋሊ) in the east, the Laacasi Gade (ላዐሲ ጋደ) valleys in the south, and the

Eritrean highlands The Eritrean Highlands are a mountainous region in central Eritrea. Bordered to the south by the Mareb River, it is a northern continuation of the Ethiopian Highlands. The region has seen tremendous deforestation since the colonial period, wh ...

to the west (the Shimejana district on the eastern flank of the South- or Debub region in what was formerly known as Akele Guzai province). This speech area is bordered by other

-speaking communities, with Tigre speakers on the west and Afar speakers on the east. In Ethiopia, Saho is primarily spoken in the

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. I ...

. It has about 250,000 speakers in total and four main dialects: Northern dialect, mainly spoken by Casawurta (ዓሳኣዉርታ), Tharuuca (ጣሩዓ), Casabat Care (ዓሳባት ካረ), etc.; Central dialect is mainly spoken by Faqhat Xarak (ፋቃት ሓራክ) of Minifere (ሚኒ ፊረ); Southern dialect mainly spoken by Minifire (ሚኒ ፊረ), Xazo (ሓዞ/ዶ), Dabrti-meela ዳብሪ መላ), Irob (ኢሮብ), Sancafe (ሳንዓፈ). The Saho also use the Arabic (special now Latin letters) to document their history and render information. The Saho language in former

Italian Eritrea Italian Eritrea (, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Società di Navigazione Rubattino, Rubattino Shippin ...

has received a strong influence of italian loanwords. Also recently the language is being used on the cyberspace as a tool of communication. And there is one website completely designed with saho language. Saho is so closely related to the Cushitic

Afar language Afar is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Afar people, native to parts of Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is an official language in Ethiopia; and a national language in Djibouti and Eritre ...

, spoken as a mother tongue by the

Afar people The Afar (), also known as the Danakil, Adali and Odali, are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, as well as the entire southern co ...

, that some linguists regard the two tongues as dialects of a single "Saho–Afar language". Regardless, it has been shown that at least in their basic lexicon the two can be cleanly separated.

Phonology

Consonants

* Sounds /t̪ʼ, sʼ, z, kʼ, ʔ/ are heard from loanwords. * /b/ can be heard as �when in intervocalic positions or when preceding a fricative consonant. * /t̪, d̪/ can be heard as laminal ̻, d̻when before or after /a/. * /ɾ/ can be heard as a trill in free variation. * /ɖ/ can be heard as a flap �in intervocalic positions. * /l/ can be heard as apical ̺or alveolar when before vowels /i, u/, and as laminal ̻when before vowels /a, e, o/. * /n/ when preceding sounds /b, f, ɖ, k, ɡ/ can be heard as , ɱ, ɳ, ŋ * /ʡ/ can also be heard as a fricative �in free variation or in intervocalic position. * Stops /b, t̪, d̪, ɖ/ are heard as unreleased ̚, t̪̚, d̪̚, ɖ̚when in word-final position.

Vowels

* /ɛ/ can be heard as either �or and may occur as �when in unstressed positions. * /ɔ/ may be pronounced as either �or among speakers across dialects.

Writing systems

Saho has three written versions: a version in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

, official in Eritrea; a version in the Ge'ez script, official in Ethiopia; and a version in the

Ajami script Ajami (, ) or Ajamiyya (, ), which comes from the Arabic root for 'foreign' or 'stranger', is an Arabic script, Arabic-derived script used for writing Languages of Africa, African languages, particularly Songhai languages, Songhai, Mandé languages ...

with no official recognition.

Notes

External links

* World Atlas of Language Structures information o
Saho

(with map)