Tigre language

Tigre (Tigre: ትግረ tigre or ትግሬ tigrē), better known in Eritrea by its autonym Tigrayit (ትግራይት), is an Afroasiatic language spoken in the Horn of Africa. It belongs to the North Ethiopic subdivision of the South Semitic languages and is primarily spoken by the Tigre people in Eritrea.[3] Along with Tigrinya, it is believed to be the most closely related living language to Ge'ez, which is still in use as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Tigre has lexical similarity, 71% with Ge’ez and 64% with Tigrinya.[4] As of 1997, Tigre was spoken by approximately 800,000 Tigre people in Eritrea.[5] The Tigre mainly inhabit western Eritrea, though they also reside in the northern highlands of Eritrea and its extension into the adjacent part of Sudan, as well as Eritrea's Red Sea coast north of Zula.

Tigre
ትግረ (Tigre) / ትግሬ (Tigrē) / ትግራይት(Tigrayit)/ ኻሳ (Xasa)[1]
Native to	Eritrea
Ethnicity	Tigre
Native speakers	250,000 – 1.05 million (2014)[2]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic South Semitic Ethiopic Northern Ethiopic Geʽez Tigre
Writing system	Tigre alphabet (Geʽez script), Arabic script
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Eritrea  Sudan
Language codes
ISO 639-2	tig
ISO 639-3	tig
Glottolog	tigr1270

The Tigre people are not to be confused with their neighbors to the south, the Tigrayans of Eritrea and Ethiopia, who speak Tigrinya. Tigrinya is also derived from the parent Geʽez tongue, but is quite distinct from Tigre despite the similarity in name.

Dialects

There are several dialects of Tigre, some of them are; Mansa’ (Mensa), Habab, Barka (Beni-Amir), Semhar, Algeden, Senhit (Ad-Tekleis, Ad-Temariam, Bet-Juk, Marya Kayah, Maria Tselam) and Dahalik, which is spoken in Dahlak archipelago. Intelligibility between the dialects is above 91% (except Dahalik), where intelligibility between Dahalik and the other dialects is between 24% to 51%.[6]

Numeral

Cardinal Numbers

• 1. ḥate ሐተ or ḥante ሐንተ (f); አሮ 'aro (m)
• 2. kili’ē ክልኤ
• 3. sel'ās ሰለአስ
• 4. 'arbaʽe አርበዕ
• 5. ḥams ሐምስ or ḥamus ሐሙስ
• 6. si'es ስእስ or sus ሱስ
• 7. sebuʽi ሰቡዕ
• 8. seman ሰመን
• 9. siʽe ሰዕ
• 10.ʽasir ዐስር
• 11.ʽasir-hatte ዐስር-ሐተ
• 12.ʽasir-kil'e ዐስር-ክልኤ
• ...
• 20. ʽisra ዕስረ
• 20. ʽisra w ḥate ዕስረ ወሐተ
• 21. ʽisra w kili’ē ዕስረ ወክልኤ
• ...
• 30. selasa ሰለሰ
• 31. selasa w ḥate ሰለሰ ወሐተ
• ...
• 40. arbaʽa አርበዐ
• 41. arbaʽa w ḥate አርበዐ ወሐተ
• ...
• 50. ḥamsa ሐምሰ
• 51. ḥamsa w ḥate ሐምሰ ወሐተ
• ...
• 100. mi'et ምእት
• 200. kil'e miʽet ክልኤ ምእት
• 300. seles miʽet ሰለአስ ምእት
• ...
• 1000. 'alf አልፍ

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers have both feminine and masculine form. The gender-neutral ordinal numbers are described in the section below. To describe the masculine form –“ay” is added and respective -ayt to describe the feminine form.

• 1st አወል awel: አወላይ/አወላይት awelay/awelayit (m/f) or ቀዳም q’edam : ቀዳማይ/ቀዳሚት qedamay/ qedamit (m/f)
• 2nd ከልእ kaal'e : ከለኣይ/ከለኣይት kale'ay/kale'ayt (m/f)
• 3rd ሰልስ saals ...
• 4rd ረብዕ raab'e ...
• 5th ሐምስ ḥaams ...
• 6th ሰድስ saads ...
• 7th ሰብዕ saab'e ...
• 8th ሰምን saamn ...
• 9th ተስዕ taas'e ...
• 10th ዐስር 'asr ...

Phonology

Tigre has preserved the two pharyngeal consonants of Ge'ez. The Ge'ez vowel inventory has almost been preserved except that the two vowels which are phonetically close to [ɐ] and [a] seem to have evolved into a pair of phonemes which have the same quality (the same articulation) but differ in length; [a] vs. [aː]. The original phonemic distinction according to quality survives in Tigrinya. The vowel [ɐ], traditionally named "first order vowel", is most commonly transcribed ä in Semitic linguistics.

The phonemes of Tigre are displayed below in both International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols (indicated by the IPA brackets) and the symbols common (though not universal) among linguists who work on Ethiopian Semitic languages. For the long vowel /aː/, the symbol 'ā' is used per Raz (1983). Three consonants, /p, p', x/, occur only in a small number of loanwords, hence they are written in parentheses.

As in other Ethiopian Semitic languages, the phonemic status of /ə/ is questionable; it may be possible to treat it as an epenthetic vowel that is introduced to break up consonant clusters.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Stop	voiceless	(p)	t	č [tʃ]	k		ʔ
	voiced	b	d	ǧ [dʒ]	ɡ
	ejective	(pʼ)	tʼ	č' [tʃʼ]	kʼ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	š [ʃ]	(x)	ħ	h
	voiced		z	ž [ʒ]		ʕ
	ejective		sʼ
Approximant			l	y [j]	w
Rhotic			r

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ə [ɨ]	u
Mid	e		o
Open		a, ā [aː]

Consonant length

Consonant length is phonemic in Tigre (that is, a pair of words can be distinct by consonant length alone), although there are few such minimal pairs. Some consonants do not occur long; these include the pharyngeal consonants, the glottal consonants, /w/, and /j/. In this language, long consonants arise almost solely by gemination as a morphological process; there are few, if any, long consonants in word roots. Gemination is especially prominent in verb morphology.

Grammar

These notes use the spelling adopted by Camperio (1936 - see bibliography) which seems to approximate to Italian rules.

Nouns are of two genders, masculine and feminine.

• Indefinite article: masculine uoro አሮ e.g. uoro ennas አሮ እነስ - a man; feminine hatte ሐተ e.g. hatte sit ሐተ እሲት - a woman.
• The definite article, "the", when expressed, is la ለ e.g. ለጸሐይ ወ ለወርሕ - the sun and the moon.

As we might expect from a Semitic language, specifically feminine forms, where they exist, are often formed of an element with t:

• masculine: አድግ ādig - donkey, ass; feminine: እድግሀት edghet - she-ass;
• masculine: ከልብ kelb - dog; feminine: ከልበትkelbet - bitch;
• masculine: ከድመይ kedmay - serving man; ከድመይት kadmaiet - serving-woman;
• masculine: መምበ mamba - lord, master; መምበይት mambait - lady, mistress.

In a similar way, sound-changes can also mark the difference between singular and plural:

• ነጉስ negus - king; negüs - kings;
• በሐር'bahar - sea; አብሑር abhur - seas;
• እሲት' esit - woman; አንስ ans - women;
• ወለት welet - girl; አዋልድ āwalid - girls;
• መሆር mehor - foal, colt; አምሁር amhur - foals, colts;
• ነቢ nebi - prophet; ነቢያት nabiat - prophets;
• በገዐት bege‘āt - one sheep; አበግዕ ābagi - sheep, plural;
• አርዌ arwē - Snake; አረዊት ārewīt - snakes, plural;
• ሖግ hog - foot; ሐነግ hanag - feet; plural
• እገር eger - foot; አእጋር ā’igar feet; plural
• አዘን ezen - ear; አእዛን ésenz - ears;
• ሰዐት saat - hour; ሰዓታትsaatat - hours;
• አንፍ ānif - nose; አንፎታት ānfotat - noses;
• ህዳይ hdai - wedding; ህዳያት hdayat - weddings;
• አብ ab - father; አበውabew - fathers;
• እም em - mother; እመወት emewat - mothers;
• ኮኮብ kokob - star;ከዋክብ kewakeb - stars;
• ጓነ gāne - foreigner;ጓኖታት ganötat - foreigners;
• ረአስ rass - head; አርእስ ares - heads;
• ጸፍርts’efir - paw, hoof; አጸፍርatsfar - claws, hooves;
• ከብድ kaböd - belly; አክቡድacbud - bellies.
• ልበስ läbas- ልበሰት läbasatclothes

Personal pronouns distinguish "you, masculine" and "you, feminine" in both singular and plural:

• አነ ʼana - I, me
• እንታ ʼanta - you, singular, masculine
• እንቲ ʼanti - you, singular, feminine
• ህቱ hətu - he, him, it (masc.)
• ህታ həti - she, her, it (fem.)
• ሕነ hənna - we, us
• እንቱም ʼəntu - you, plural, masculine
• እንትን ʼəntən - you, plural, feminine
• ህቶም hətom - they, them, masculine
• ህተን həten - they, them, feminine

The possessive pronouns appear (a) suffixed to the noun, (b) as separate words:

• my - (a) -ié የ example: chitabié ክታብየ- my book; (b) nai ናየ with masculine nouns; naie ናየ with feminine nouns;
• your (sing. mas. & fem.) - (a) -cá ካ example: chitabcá ክታብካ- your book; (b) with masc. naica ናይካ, with fem. naichi ናይኪ;
• his - (a) -ù ቡ example chitabù ክታቡ - his book; (b) with masc. naiu ናዩ, with fem. naiua ናያ;
• our - (a) -na ና example chitabna ክታብና - her book; (b) with masc. naina ናይና , with fem. naina ናይና;
• your (pl. masc. & fem.) - (a) -cum ኩም (a) -cın ክን example chitabcum ክታብኩም/ክታብክን- your book; (b) with masc. naicum ናይኩም , with fem. naicün ናይክን;
• their - -om ቦም example chitabom ክታቦም- their book; (b) with masc. naium,ናዮም with fem. naiön ናየን.

The verb "to be":

• ana halleco (o) tu - አና ሀለኮ I am; negative: ihalleco ኢሀለኮ- I'm not;
• enta halleco (o) tu - እንታ ህሌካ you (sing. masc.) are; neg. ihalleco ኢሀለኮ- you're not;
• enti hallechi tu - እንቲ ሀሌኪ you (sing. fem.) are; neg. ihalleco ኢሀለኮ;
• hötu halla tu ህቱ ሀላ- he is; neg. ihalla ኢሀላ;
• höta hallet tu ህታ ሀሌት - she is; neg. ihallet ኢሀሌት;
• henna hallena tu ሕና ሀሌና - we are; neg. ihallena ኢሀሌና;
• entum hallecum tu እንቱም ሀሌኩም- you (pl. masc.) are; neg. ihallecum ኢሀሌኩም;
• entim hallechen tu እንትን ሀሌክን- you (pl. fem.) are; neg. ihallecum ኢሀሌክን;
• hötön hallaa tom ህተን ሀሌያ- they (masc.) are; neg. ihallao ኢሀሌያ;
• hötön halleia ten ህተን ሀሌያ - they (fem.) are; neg. ihallao ኢሀሌያ.

The verb "to be", past tense:

• ...alco ዐልኮ- I was; negative: iálco ኢዐልኮ- I wasn't;
• ...alca ዐልካ- you (sing. masc.) were; neg. iálca ኢዐልካ;
• ...alchi ዐልኪ- you (sing. fem.) were; neg. iálca ኢዐልኪ;
• ...ala ዐላ- he was; neg. iála ኢዐላ;
• ...alet ዐለት- she was; neg. iállet ኢዐለት;
• ...alna ዐልና- we were; neg. iálna ኢዐልና;
• ...alcum ዐልኩም- you (pl. masc.) were; neg. iálcum ኢዐልኩም;
• ...alchen ዐልክን- you (pl. fem.) were; neg. iálcum ኢዐልክን;
• ...alou ዐለው- they (masc.) were; neg. iálou ኢዐለው;
• ...alaia ዐለያ- they (fem.) were; neg. iáleia ኢዐለያ.

The verb "to have":

• Uoro chitab bi-e ዎሮ ኪታብ ብየ - I have a book
• Uoro chitab bö-ca ዎሮ ክታብ ብካ- You (sing. masc.) have a book,

and so on, with the last word in each case:

• ...be-chi ብኪ - you (sing. fem.), etc.
• ...bu ቡ - he...
• ...ba በ - she...
• ...be-na ብና- we...
• ...be-cum ብኩም- you (pl. masc.)...
• ...be-chin ብክን- you (pl.fem.) ...
• ...bom ቦም- they (masc.)...
• ...ben በን- they (fem.)...

The verb "to have": past tense, using a feminine noun as an example:

• Hatte bēt álet-ilu ሐተ ቤት ዐልት እሉ - He had a house
• Hatte bēt álet-ilka ሐተ ቤት ዐልት እልካ- You (sing. masc.) you had a house,

and so on, with the last word in each case:

• ...el-ki እልኪ - you (sing. fem.) had a house,
• ...álet-ollu ዐለት እሉ- he had, etc.
• ...el-la ዐለት እላ- she had...
• ...ilna ዐለት እልና- we had...
• ...elkum ዐለት እልኩም- you pl. masc.) had ...
• ...el-k-n ዐለት እልክን- you (pl. fem.) had ...
• ...el-om ዐለት እሎም- they (masc.) had ...
• ...el-len ዐለት እለን- they (fem.) had ...

Sample

• ሐየት እት ልርእው፣ እብ አሰሩ ሐዙው When they see a lion, they seek it through its tracks.
• ህኩይ ድራሩ ንኩይ Lazy's dinner is less
• ህግየ ፍ’ደት ምን ገብእ። አዚም ደሀብ ቱ When speaking is an obligation, silence is golden
• ምህሮ ኖርቱ ወቅዌት ጽልመት፣ Knowledge is brightness and ignorance darkness.

Other samples

• ሐል ክም እም ኢትገብእ ወጸሓይ ወርሕ ክም አምዕል
• ለኢልትሐሜ ኢልትሐመድ፣
• ለቤለ ለአሰምዕ ወለዘብጠ ለአደምዕ፣
• ሐሊብ መ ውላዱ ሔሰዩ፣
• ሐምቅ ሐምቁ ምን ረክብ ዜነት ለአፈግር፣
• ምስል ብርድ አከይ ፍርድ

Writing system

Since around 1889, the Ge'ez script (Ethiopic script) has been used to write the Tigre language. Tigre speakers formerly used Arabic more widely as a lingua franca.[7] The Bible has been translated into the Tigre language.[8]

Ge'ez script

Ge'ez script is an abugida, with each character representing a consonant+vowel combination. Ge'ez and its script are also called Ethiopic. The script has been modified slightly to write Tigre.

Tigre Ge'ez Script

	ä	u	i	a	e	ə	o	wä	wi	wa	we	wə
h	ሀ	ሁ	ሂ	ሃ	ሄ	ህ	ሆ
l	ለ	ሉ	ሊ	ላ	ሌ	ል	ሎ
ḥ	ሐ	ሑ	ሒ	ሓ	ሔ	ሕ	ሖ
m	መ	ሙ	ሚ	ማ	ሜ	ም	ሞ
r	ረ	ሩ	ሪ	ራ	ሬ	ር	ሮ
s	ሰ	ሱ	ሲ	ሳ	ሴ	ስ	ሶ
š	ሸ	ሹ	ሺ	ሻ	ሼ	ሽ	ሾ
ḳ	ቀ	ቁ	ቂ	ቃ	ቄ	ቅ	ቆ	ቈ	ቊ	ቋ	ቌ	ቍ
b	በ	ቡ	ቢ	ባ	ቤ	ብ	ቦ
t	ተ	ቱ	ቲ	ታ	ቴ	ት	ቶ
č	ቸ	ቹ	ቺ	ቻ	ቼ	ች	ቾ
ḫ	ኀ	ኁ	ኂ	ኃ	ኄ	ኅ	ኆ	ኈ	ኊ	ኋ	ኌ	ኍ
n	ነ	ኑ	ኒ	ና	ኔ	ን	ኖ
ʾ	አ	ኡ	ኢ	ኣ	ኤ	እ	ኦ
k	ከ	ኩ	ኪ	ካ	ኬ	ክ	ኮ	ኰ	ኲ	ኳ	ኴ	ኵ
w	ወ	ዉ	ዊ	ዋ	ዌ	ው	ዎ
ʿ	ዐ	ዑ	ዒ	ዓ	ዔ	ዕ	ዖ
z	ዘ	ዙ	ዚ	ዛ	ዜ	ዝ	ዞ
ž	ዠ	ዡ	ዢ	ዣ	ዤ	ዥ	ዦ
y	የ	ዩ	ዪ	ያ	ዬ	ይ	ዮ
d	ደ	ዱ	ዲ	ዳ	ዴ	ድ	ዶ
ǧ	ጀ	ጁ	ጂ	ጃ	ጄ	ጅ	ጆ
g	ገ	ጉ	ጊ	ጋ	ጌ	ግ	ጎ	ጐ	ጒ	ጓ	ጔ	ጕ
ṭ	ጠ	ጡ	ጢ	ጣ	ጤ	ጥ	ጦ
č̣	ጨ	ጩ	ጪ	ጫ	ጬ	ጭ	ጮ
p̣	ጰ	ጱ	ጲ	ጳ	ጴ	ጵ	ጶ
ṣ	ጸ	ጹ	ጺ	ጻ	ጼ	ጽ	ጾ
f	ፈ	ፉ	ፊ	ፋ	ፌ	ፍ	ፎ
p	ፐ	ፑ	ፒ	ፓ	ፔ	ፕ	ፖ
	ä	u	i	a	e	ə	o	wä	wi	wa	we	wə

See also

• Tigre people
• Beni-Amer people

Notes

1. "Tigre alphabet and pronunciation". Omniglot. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
2. Elias, David (23 May 2014). "1". The Tigre Language of Gindaˁ, Eritrea. BRILL. p. 1. ISBN 9789004271203. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
3. "Tigre language". Bratannica Encyclopaedia.
4. https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tig
5. Eritrean census figure cited by Ethnologue.
6. Eritrean census figure cited by Ethnologue.
7. "Tigré". Ethnologue. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
8. Senai W. Andemariam. 2012. The Story of the Translation of the Bible into Tǝgre. Ityopis 2:62-88. Web access

External links

• Online Tigre Language Tutorial By Omar M. Kekia
• Woldemikael, Tekle M. 2003. Language, Education, and Public Policy in Eritrea. African Studies Review, Apr 2003.
• Modaina: History and Language of the Tigre-Speaking Peoples

Bibliography

• Camperio, Manfredo. Manuale Pratico della Lingua Tigrè, Hoepli, Milano, 1936.
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