Argobba language

Argobba is an Ethiopian Semitic language spoken in an area north-east of Addis Ababa by the Argobba people. It belongs to the South Ethiopic languages subgroup along with Amharic and the Gurage languages.

Argobba
Native to	Ethiopia
Ethnicity	Argobba
Native speakers	44,000 (2007 census)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic South Semitic Ethiopic South Ethiopic Transversal South Ethiopic Amharic–Argobba Argobba
Language codes
ISO 639-3	agj
Glottolog	argo1244
ELP	Argobba[2]

Writing in the mid-1960s, Edward Ullendorff noted that it "is disappearing rapidly in favour of Amharic, and only a few hundred elderly people are still able to speak it."[3] Today, many Argobba in the Harari Region are shifting to the Oromo language.[4]

The language is spoken in a number of pockets and has at least four regional variations (dialects) in Harar (extinct), Aliyu Amba, Shewa Robit and Shonke.

Notes

1. 2007 Census
2. Endangered Languages Project data for Argobba.
3. Ullendorff, Edward, (1965) The Ethiopians: An Introduction to Country and People, second edition (London: Oxford University Press), pp. 131f. ISBN 0-19-285061-X.
4. Kifleyesus, Abbebe. 2006. The Argobba of Ethiopia are not the Language They Speak. Aethiopica: International Journal of Ethiopian Studies 9:7-22.

References

• Cohen, Marcel (1931) Études d'éthiopien méridional (Collection d'ouvrages orientaux). Paris: Geuthner.
• Cohen, Marcel (1939) Nouvelles Études d'éthiopien méridional. Paris: Ancienne Honoré Champion.
• Leslau, Wolf (1997) Ethiopic Documents: Argobba. Grammar and dictionary. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-03955-8.
• Zelealem Leyew and Ralph Siebert (1994) Argobba. S.L.L.E. Linguistic Reports no. 22. Addis Ababa: SIL/Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.
• Zelealem Leyew, Ralph Siebert (2002), Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Argobba Language of Ethiopia SIL Electronic Survey Reports, SILESR 2002-026 (PDF)