Afar language
{{redirect|Qafar|the village in Iran|Qafar, Iran}}
{{Short description|Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Afar
| nativename = {{lang|aa|Qafar af}}
| ethnicity = Afar
| states = Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia
| region = Horn of Africa
| speakers = {{sigfig|2.603000|2}} million
| date = 2019–2022
| ref = e27
| familycolor = Afroasiatic
| fam2 = Cushitic
| fam3 = East
| fam4 = Lowland
| fam5 = Saho–Afar
| script = Latin
| dialects = Aussa
Ba'adu
Central Afar
Northern Afar
| minority = {{DJI}}
{{ERI}}
| iso1 = aa
| iso2 = aar
| iso3 = aar
| notice = IPA
| glotto = afar1241
| glottorefname = Afar
| nation = {{ETH}}
| pronunciation = {{IPA|aa|ʕʌfʌɾʌf|}}
}}
Afar ({{langx|aa|Qafaraf|links=no}}; also known as ’Afar af, Afaraf, Qafar af) is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken by the Afar people inhabiting Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Classification
Afar is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. It is further categorized in the Lowland East Cushitic sub-group, along with Saho and Somali.{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=I.|year=1998|title=Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho|publisher=Red Sea Press|page=11}} Its closest relative is the Saho language.
Geographic distribution
The Afar language is spoken as a mother tongue by the Afar people in Djibouti, Eritrea, and the Afar Region of Ethiopia.
According to Ethnologue, there are {{sigfig|2,563,800|2}} total Afar speakers. Of these, 1,280,000 were recorded in the 2007 Ethiopian census, with 906,000 monolinguals registered in the 1994 census.thumb
Official status
In Djibouti, Afar is a recognized national language.{{cite web|title=Djibouti|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/djibouti/|work=The World Factbook|publisher=CIA|access-date=31 August 2014|archive-date=25 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525091953/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/djibouti/|url-status=live}} It is also one of the broadcasting languages of the Radio Television of Djibouti public network.
In Eritrea, Afar is recognized as one of nine national languages which formally enjoy equal status although Tigrinya and Arabic are by far of greatest significance in official usage. There are daily broadcasts on the national radio and a translated version of the Eritrean constitution. In education, however, Afar speakers prefer Arabic – which many of them speak as a second language – as the language of instruction.{{cite journal |first=Marie-Claude |last=Simeone-Senelle |url=http://cy.revues.org/document39.html |title=Les langues en Erythrée |journal=Chroniques Yeménites 8, 2000 |date=2000 |volume=8 |issue=8 |publisher=Cy.revues.org |doi=10.4000/cy.39 |language=fr |access-date=6 April 2010 |archive-date=6 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106012237/http://cy.revues.org/document39.html |url-status=live }}
In the Afar Region of Ethiopia, Afar is also recognized as an official working language.{{cite book|editor=Kizitus Mpoche|editor2=Tennu Mbuh|title=Language, literature, and identity|year=2006|publisher=Cuvillier|isbn=3-86537-839-0|pages=163–164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNEiAQAAMAAJ|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=22 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522132524/https://books.google.com/books?id=PNEiAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} Since 2020, Afar is one of the five official working languages of Ethiopia.{{Cite web |last=Getachew |first=Samuel |title=Ethiopia is adding four more official languages to Amharic as political instability mounts |url=https://qz.com/africa/1812085/ethiopia-adds-afan-oromo-somali-afar-tigrigna-languages-to-amharic/ |access-date=12 April 2022 |website=Quartz |date=3 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412014530/https://qz.com/africa/1812085/ethiopia-adds-afan-oromo-somali-afar-tigrigna-languages-to-amharic/ |url-status=live }}
Phonology
=Consonants=
The consonants of the Afar language in the standard orthography are listed below in angle brackets (preceded by the IPA notation):
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | ! Labial ! Alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar ! Glottal |
| rowspan="2" | Plosive
! voiceless | | {{IPAlink|t}} {{angbr|t}} | | | {{IPAlink|k}} {{angbr|k}} | | |
|---|
| voiced
| {{IPAlink|b}} {{angbr|b}} | {{IPAlink|d}} {{angbr|d}} | | | {{IPAlink|ɡ}} {{angbr|g}} | | |
| rowspan="2" | Fricative
! voiceless | {{IPAlink|f}} {{angbr|f}} | {{IPAlink|s}} {{angbr|s}} | | | | {{IPAlink|ħ}} {{angbr|c}} | {{IPAlink|h}} {{angbr|h}} |
| voiced
| | | | | | {{IPAlink|ʕ}} {{angbr|q}} | |
| colspan="2" | Nasal
| {{IPAlink|m}} {{angbr|m}} | {{IPAlink|n}} {{angbr|n}} | | | | | |
| colspan="2" | Approximant
| {{IPAlink|w}} {{angbr|w}} | {{IPAlink|l}} {{angbr|l}} | | {{IPAlink|j}} {{angbr|y}} | | | |
| colspan="2" | Tap
| | {{IPAlink|ɾ}} {{angbr|r}} | | | | |
Voiceless stop consonants which close syllables are released, e.g., {{IPA|[ʌkʰˈme]}}.
=Vowels and stress=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Front ! colspan="2" | Back |
| {{small|short}} || {{small|long}}|| {{small|long}}
! {{small|short}} || {{small|long}} |
|---|
| Close
| {{IPAlink|i}} {{angbr|i}} || {{IPAlink|iː}} {{angbr|ii}}|| | {{IPAlink|u}} {{angbr|u}} || {{IPAlink|uː}} {{angbr|uu}} |
| Mid
| {{IPAlink|e}} {{angbr|e}} || {{IPAlink|eː}} {{angbr|ee}}|| | {{IPAlink|o}} {{angbr|o}} || {{IPAlink|oː}} {{angbr|oo}} |
| Open
| |||| {{IPAlink|aː}} {{angbr|aa}} | {{IPAlink|ʌ}} {{angbr|a}}|| |
Sentence final vowels of affirmative verbs are aspirated (and stressed), e.g.
- {{langx|aa|abeh}} = {{IPA|/aˈbeʰ/}} 'He did.'
Sentence final vowels of negative verbs are not aspirated (nor stressed), e.g.
- {{langx|aa|maabinna}} = {{IPA|/ˈmaːbinːaː/}} 'He did not do.'
Sentence final vowels of interrogative verbs are lengthened (and stressed), e.g.
- {{langx|aa|abee?}} = {{IPA|/aˈbeː/}} 'Did he do?'
Otherwise, stress in word-final.
=Phonotactics=
Possible syllable shapes are V, VV, VC, VVC, CV, CVV and CVVC.{{Cite thesis|title=Afar : grammatical description of a Cuchitic Language (Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia )|url=https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01368253|publisher=Université Sorbonne Paris Cité|date=2015|degree=Theses|first=Mohamed Hassan|last=Kamil|access-date=5 June 2019|archive-date=5 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605064336/https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01368253|url-status=live}}
Syntax
As in most other Cushitic languages, the basic word order in Afar is subject–object–verb.
Writing system
In Ethiopia, Afar used to be written with the Ge'ez script (Ethiopic script). Since around 1849, the Latin script has been used in other areas to transcribe the language. Additionally, Afar is also transcribed using the Arabic script.{{cite web|title=Development of the Afar Language |url=http://www.afarfriends.org/Dok%20t%20websida/aktivitet_i_Sv/STANDARDIZATION%20OF%20COMMON%20AFAR%20SCRIPT1.pdf |publisher=Afar Friends |access-date=23 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305143610/http://www.afarfriends.org/Dok%20t%20websida/aktivitet_i_Sv/STANDARDIZATION%20OF%20COMMON%20AFAR%20SCRIPT1.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}
In the early 1970s, two Afar intellectuals and nationalists, Dimis and Redo, formalized the Afar alphabet. Known as Qafar Feera, the orthography is based on the Latin script.{{cite web|title=Afar (ʿAfár af)|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm|publisher=Omniglot|access-date=23 August 2013|archive-date=11 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511045835/https://omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm|url-status=live}}
Officials from the Institut des Langues de Djibouti, the Eritrean Ministry of Education, and the Ethiopian Afar Language Studies and Enrichment Center have since worked with Afar linguists, authors and community representatives to select a standard orthography for Afar from among the various existing writing systems used to transcribe the language.
=Latin alphabet=
{{Clarify|reason=What are these two tables? Why are they different? Do they have names?|date=December 2024}}
| class=wikitable style=text-align:center | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| width=15|A | width=15|B | width=15|C | width=15|D | width=15|E | width=15|F | width=15|G | width=15|H | width=15|I | width=15|J | width=15|K | width=15|L | width=15|M | width=15|N | width=15|O | width=15|P | width=15|Q | width=15|R | width=15|S | width=15|T | width=15|U | width=15|V | width=15|W | width=15|X | width=15|Y | width=15|Z |
| a | ba | ca | da | e | fa | ga | ha | i | ja | ka | la | ma | na | o | pa | qa | ra | sa | ta | u | va | wa | xa | ya | za |
| class=wikitable style=text-align:center | |||||||||||||||||||||
| width=15|A | width=15|B | width=15|T | width=15|S | width=15|E | width=15|C | width=15|K | width=15|X | width=15|I | width=15|D | width=15|Q | width=15|R | width=15|F | width=15|G | width=15|O | width=15|L | width=15|M | width=15|N | width=15|U | width=15|W | width=15|H | width=15|Y |
| a | ba | ta | sa | e | ca | ka | xa | i | da | qa | ra | fa | ga | o | la | ma | na | u | wa | ha | ya |
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |first=Loren F. |last=Bliese |year=1976 |chapter=Afar |title=The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia |editor-first=Lionel M. |editor-last=Bender |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=African Studies Center, Michigan State University. |pages=133–164}}
- {{cite book |first=Loren F. |last=Bliese |year=1981 |title=A generative grammar of Afar |series=Summer Institute of Linguistics publications in linguistics |volume=65 |location=Dallas |publisher=Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington |isbn=0-88312-083-6}}
- {{cite journal |first=James G. |last=Colby |year=1970 |title=Notes on the northern dialect of the Afar language |journal=Journal of Ethiopian Studies |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |jstor=41965797}}
- {{cite book |first1=R. J. |last1=Hayward |first2=Enid M. |last2=Parker |year=1985 |title=Afar-English-French dictionary with Grammatical Notes in English |location=London |publisher=School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |isbn=978-0-7286-0124-6}}
- {{cite book |first=Richard J. |last=Hayward |year=1998 |chapter=Qafar (West Cushitic) |title=Handbook of Morphology |editor-first1=Andrew |editor-last1=Spencer |editor-first2=Arnold M. |editor-last2=Zwicky |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell |pages=624–647 |doi=10.1002/9781405166348.ch29 |isbn=978-0-631-22694-9}}
- {{cite book |first=Didier |last=Morin |year=1997 |title=Poésie traditionnelle des Afars |series=Langues et cultures africaines |volume=21 |location=Paris |publisher=Peeters |isbn=978-2-87723-363-7}}
- {{cite book |first=Enid M. |last=Parker |year=2006 |title=English–Afar Dictionary |location=Washington DC |publisher=Dunwoody Press |isbn=978-1-931546-23-2}}
- {{cite journal |first=Rainer M. |last=Voigt |year=1975 |title=Bibliographie des Saho–Afar |journal=Africana Marburgensia |volume=8 |pages=53–63}}
External links
{{Incubator|code=aa}}
{{Wiktionary category|category=Afar language}}
- World Atlas of Language Structures information on [http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_qaf Qafar]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150811051419/http://berraka.com/index.php/qasirwa Afar language learning web site ] (Much information about Afar, in English and French)
- [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm Omniglot – Afar (ʿAfár af)]
{{Languages of Djibouti}}
{{Languages of Eritrea}}
{{Languages of Ethiopia}}
{{Cushitic languages}}
{{Afroasiatic languages}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:East Cushitic languages
Category:Subject–object–verb languages