
Contents
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2.1 Language classification 2.1 Language classification
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2.2 Many languages 2.2 Many languages
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2.3 Very different languages 2.3 Very different languages
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2.4 Afroasiatic and Indo-European 2.4 Afroasiatic and Indo-European
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2.5 Unclassified languages 2.5 Unclassified languages
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2.6 Comparisons within the four families 2.6 Comparisons within the four families
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2.6.1 Nilo-Saharan 2.6.1 Nilo-Saharan
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2.6.2 Omotic 2.6.2 Omotic
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2.6.3 Cushitic 2.6.3 Cushitic
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2.6.4 Semitic 2.6.4 Semitic
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2.7 Method of language classification 2.7 Method of language classification
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2 Classification of Ethiopian languages
Get accessGrover Hudson† (Michigan State University Program in Linguistics 1979–2008) taught General and Historical Linguistics, Phonology, and Amharic Language. He taught at Ras Desta High School in Yirgalem, Sidaama (1963–1965), Haile Sellassie I University (1969–1972), Alemaya Agricultural College (1973), and Ain Shams University, Cairo (1975–1977), and resided in Ethiopia for several years of linguistics research on Ethiosemitic and Highland East Cushitic. Publications include translation of the History of Peoples of Ethiopia by Aläqa Tayyä (1987, with Tekeste Negash), Highland East Cushitic Dictionary (1989), a textbook of linguistics Essential Introductory Linguistics (2000), Essentials of Amharic (2007, with Anbessa Teferra), Northeast African Semitic: Lexical Comparisons and Analysis (2013), edited volumes including Essays on Gurage Language and Culture in Honor of Wolf Leslau (1997) and Lionel Bender’s posthumous Cushitic Lexicon and Phonology (2020), and numerous articles including in Language, Linguistics, Journal of Linguistics, and in Proceedings of the International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. He is an associate member of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences.
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Published:22 May 2023
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Abstract
This chapter deals with the genetic classification of Ethiopian languages. It emphasizes that northeast Africa is a region of great genetic and linguistic diversity, which is a principal difficulty in the classification of Ethiopian languages. This chapter shows that Ethiopian linguistics has seen great progress in recent decades which resulted in a growing number of languages identified, recorded, and described. Nevertheless, two languages in southwest Ethiopia that remain unclassified, so-called isolates: Ongota (Birale), on the verge of extinction, and Shabo (Mikeyir), with at most a few hundred speakers. The chapter concludes with a concise discussion of the general method of language classification.
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