Is Amharic killing off most Ethiopian languages?

[Apollo]

I hear that most young urban Ethiopians speak Amharic more than their tribal/ethnic languages.

Is this true? Any Ethiopia expert here?

 

[Fang4]

It depends on which regions they live in, for those who live in the Amharic region or close to it might be possible for them to lose their language and adapt Amharic but, I think that would likely happen to ethnicities with small population.

I’m certain it doesn’t happen to Somalis in Somali Galbeed from what I’ve heard from my family back home. We don’t have border with them either, the afar, Oromo and Benishanguli have border with them.

 

[AfranQallo]

I hear that most young urban Ethiopians speak Amharic more than their tribal/ethnic languages.

Is this true? Any Ethiopia expert here?

In the past yes, now In days people are routing back to their native languages. Every region has its own language used in schools and public. A good example is shawa zone within Oromia, and Oromia zone within the Amhara region. These people used to speak more Amharic but the younger generations are learning to speak Oromo.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

I would think that this would be true in the SSNP where ethnic diversity in the cities would require proficient Amharic to conduct business. Amharic has lost much of its cultural cache and is not even the language of instruction in the SNNP. It has also been completely uprooted in Oromia. This has had the effect of greatly decreasing the demand for teachers from Amhara and Addis Ababa and has eaten into one of the professions educated Amhara were always sure they could fall back on. The Amhara are very upset about all of this and see it as a Tigray full frontal assault on their cultural hegemony.

 

[Factz]

@Apollo Here is the map explaining to you which regions/zones speak Amharic or not.

This is the number of people that speak it as a first language (not second):

 

[Apollo]

Some Eritrean guy told me Ethiopian Tigrayans speak better Amharic than Tigrinya (the Tigrayan language is called Tigrinya).

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

@Apollo Here is the map explaining to you which regions/zones speak Amharic or not.

This is the number of people that speak it as a first language (not second):

The Amhara basically colonized the Oromo and created Ethiopia in the process. This map makes it even more clear why they feel so threatened by the decreasing relevance of Amharic in Oromia. I never thought that there were many Shewan Oromo who speak no Amharic, let alone entire woredas in Shewa not speaking it.

 

[Apollo]

The Amhara basically colonized the Oromo and created Ethiopia in the process. This map makes it even more clear why they feel so threatened by the decreasing relevance of Amharic in Oromia. I never thought that there were many Shewan Oromo who speak no Amharic, let alone entire woredas in Shewa not speaking it.

I think that map is fake.

 

[Factz]

The Amhara basically colonized the Oromo and created Ethiopia in the process. This map makes it even more clear why they feel so threatened by the decreasing relevance of Amharic in Oromia. I never thought that there were many Shewan Oromo who speak no Amharic, let alone entire woredas in Shewa not speaking it.

Shewan Oromos were cannon folders for Abyssinia when they were colonizing Oromia while if you look into Bale Zone, Arsi Zone and Guji Zone, they speak Amharic more on average because they were forced on while Shewan Oromos weren't so they adopted the working language peacefully because the Shewan Oromos were soldiers for Abyssinia.

 

[Apollo]

Many Ethiopian languages only have like 500K-1 million speakers and are spoken in a tiny area. I can't believe those types would not know Amharic.

 

[Factz]

I think that map is fake.

Not really once you learn the history behind it. Tulama Oromo people only speak Amharic purely while rest of Shewan Oromos who live on the farms don't know Amharic. Only within urban areas use it as a working language.

Many Ethiopian languages only have like 500K-1 million speakers and are spoken in a tiny area. I can't believe those types would not know Amharic.

Because they don't put much resources on the SNNP region. They have puppet tribes like Omotic and Sidamo to keep the region under control from other minorities. They recently started a silk project in Hawassa.

 

[Grant]

I think that map is fake.

Not necessarily. He doesn't get emotionally involved in Ethiopian stuff the way he does Somali. If he had a link you could at least put that in context. Given some recent posts on Ethiopian languages that were spot on, I think he has found a language book.

 

[AfranQallo]

Not really once you learn the history behind it. Tulama Oromo people only speak Amharic purely while rest of Shewan Oromos who live on the farms don't know Amharic. Only within urban areas use it as a working language.



Because they don't put much resources on the SNNP region. They have puppet tribes like Omotic and Sidamo to keep the region under control from other minorities. They recently started a silk project in Hawassa.

What’s up @Factz ..

The Shawan Oromo are mostly from the Tulama clan. They all speak Afan Oromo as a first language. It’s those who live in Finfinne and surrounding salale area that speak more Amharic. The only Oromos who’ve completely been transformed into speaking Amharic as a first language are sub clans of Wallo up north. The warra Yejju, Warra himano etc live further north and only speak Amharic. The warra qallu, babbu etc in southern Wallo speak Oromo. And then you have the Rayya in Tigray. Half the population speak Amharic as a first language, the other half speak tigrayan and a small amount of elders still speak Oromo.

 

[Factz]

What’s up @Factz ..

The Shawan Oromo are mostly from the Tulama clan. They all speak Afan Oromo for as a first language. It’s those who live in Finfinne and surrounding salale area that speak more Amharic. The only Oromos who’ve completely been transformed into speaking Amharic as a first language are sub clans of Wallo up north. The warra Yejju, Warra himano etc live further north and only speak Amharic. The warra qallu, babbu etc in southern Wallo speak Oromo. And then you have the Rayya in Tigray. Half the population speak Amharic as a first language, the other half speak tigrayan and a small amount of elders still speak Oromo.

I'm good and totally agree with you. Shewan Oromos speak Afan Oromo as their first language. An Oromo person from my university told me all of this. He only said Tulama clan that surround Addis Ababa speak Amharic and the Oromos that live in Wollo or further up north bordering Tigray speak Amharic.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

Many Ethiopian languages only have like 500K-1 million speakers and are spoken in a tiny area. I can't believe those types would not know Amharic.

The political elite of every ethnicity speak Amharic, a lot of people in SNNP are probably illiterate even in their own language and have only interacted with the Ethiopian gov through their own political elites. 80% of Ethiopians are farmers who have probably not gone beyond a 20 mile radius from their home.

It is still surprising to see how weakly bound together Ethiopia is.

 

[Marquis]

@Afran Qallo

Could you tell me which Oromo sub clans live in Harar? Is it the Ala and Nole Oromos? Are the only Oromos who live in Harar your Afran Qallo?

 

[AfranQallo]

@Afran Qallo

Could you tell me which Oromo sub clans live in Harar? Is it the Ala and Nole Oromos? Are the only Oromos who live in Harar your Afran Qallo?

Mostly Noole and Ala, some Mayya Babille, Qallu and Small amount of Aniya.

East hararge is Humbanna land, AQ and Aniya clans. Harar is populated with AQ but there are others.

 

[xabashi]

I hear that most young urban Ethiopians speak Amharic more than their tribal/ethnic languages.

Is this true? Any Ethiopia expert here?

Ethiopia in the last 27 has made huge progress when it comes to helping ethnic groups use their native language as working language in their respective states and also as primary school education medium. Many Ethiopians can now speak their native language and also Amharic.

You find those who can't speak their own native language mostly in bigger cities like Addis Ababa but especially in rural areas people use their native languages as their first language. In cities Amharic is mostly the lingua franca out of necessity because cities are usually the melting pot of different ethnic groups and the only language that all understand is mostly Amharic. Since we were not colonized, there is simply no other language that can function as communication medium in cities with different ethnic groups. Wherever Ethiopians from different ethnic groups meet they mostly and automatically use Amharic.

This is also the case for states that composed of different ethnic groups like SNNP. Amharic is the official working language out of necessity because there are 56 ethnic groups in this state and there is simply no other language they can all communicate with each other than Amharic. The same goes for Gambella and Beshangul states. They all have Amharic as their official working language.

This is the result of our history, first that we were not colonized and second with the exception of few states like may be Tigray, many of the cities in Oromia and South etc. were established by Amhara/Abyssinian rulers and their administrations. Cities like Addis Ababa for example were from the start Amharic speakers and the surrounding "natives" came later as "foreigners" in the cities who needed to learn both Amharic and the "city" life from scratch. So in a sense many cities and towns in Ethiopia were Amharic speaking from the start and until today Amharic is their natural street language.

Tigray cities were not established by Amhara rulers because Amhara rulers usually didn't go there for the luck of farm land. But in almost every city in Tigray you can use Amharic without any problems. In fact during the last 27 years the TPLF purposely promoted Amharic in Tigray so that Tigreans could hold federal positions without any problems and dominate business in Addis Ababa and in other cities. Currently, kids that were born and grown in Mekele for example speak perfect Amharic even without any accent. You wouldn't know from their accent whether they are from Addis or Mekele. Because of the domination of Amharic in Tigray, Tigreans tend to use many Amharic words in their Tigrigna language and hence Eritreans think Tigreans don't speak pure Tigrinya. Eritreans tend to use more of Arab and Italian loan words.

Because of the domination of Amharic in the cities, it has also unprecedented domination when it comes to medias and entertainment etc. like TV Stations, Radio, Movies, Theater, Books, Newspapers, magazines etc. The domination is second to none. From all private TV and Radio channels for example over 90% are Amharic based. That gives you the level of domination. I think this is because of the companies that sponsor and run ads through these channels. They want to reach the widest possible audience and there is currently no language you can achieve this other than Amharic. Kana TV is a case in point. Because all its movies are translated in Amharic, it has suddenly became #1 in the number of viewers.

I don't think it is fair to call Amharic, exclusive Amharan language anymore though. It is more of Ethiopian. Different ethnic groups like Oromos, Eritreans, Tigreans etc. contributed a lot to Amharic in literature, music, theater etc. One of the #1 top writer was for example was an Oromo by the name Tsegaye G/Medihn who has such huge impact in Amharic litrature. There were also Eritrean and Tigrean top Amharic book authors. So many of Ethiopians contributed to Amharic that in my view Amharas can't claim Amharic alone. I think it is because of its "Ethiopian" nature that it is almost unanimously accepted as the de facto Ethiopian language. No Ethiopian party or organization asks to abandon it as the federal working language but rather many ask for adding more languages to it like Afan Oromo. Everybody recognizes without Amharic there is simply no medium of communication for Ethiopians. You can't just replace it with English or so. That is not gonna work.

In my view at least Oromo and Somali should be added to the federal working language even-though the strength of Amharic doesn't mainly come from its official status but rather from its day to day function as being the lingua franca.