CENTRAL CUSHITIC LANGUAGES

The 'Central Cushitic', or 'Agaw', languages are spoken by small groups in Ethiopia and, in one case, Eritrea. They form the main substratum influence on Amharic and other Ethiopian Semitic languages.

Contents

Classification

See also

Bibliography

External links

Classification

The Central Custhitic languages are classified as follows (after Appleyard):

★ Southern:
:
★ Awngi - spoken southwest of Lake Tana, much the largest, with over 350,000 speakers
:
★ Kunfal - (poorly recorded), spoken west of Lake Tana. Most likely a dialect of Awngi.

★ Northern Agaw:
:
★ North-Central:
::
★ Northern:
:::
★ Blin - spoken in Eritrea around the town of Keren (70,000 speakers)
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★ Central:
:::
★ Xamtanga (also called Khamir, Khamta) - 143,000 speakers in the North Amhara Region
:
★ Western:
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★ Qemant - nearly extinct, spoken by the Qemant in the Qwara region
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★ Qwara - nearly extinct, spoken by Beta Israel formerly of the Qwara region, now in Israel
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★ Transitional between Western and Central?:
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★ Kayla - extinct, formerly spoken by some Beta Israel
There is a rich literature in Agew but it is widely dispersed: from fascinating mediaeval texts in the western (Qemant) dialect, now mostly in Israeli museums, to the modern, flourishing and topical northern (Bilen) dialect, with its own newspaper, based in Keren, Eritrea. Much historical material is also available in the eastern (Xamtanga) dialect and there is a deep tradition of folklore in the southern (Awngi) dialect.

See also

★ Agaw people
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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

External links