Why is Amharic the national language of Ethiopia?
Why is Amharic the national language of Ethiopia?
Teweodros II (1855-1868) was the first to make Amharic a literary language, elevating it into written form. Under him, Amharic became the language of Ethiopia’s rulers. It was Emperor Haile Selassie (1930-1974), however, who declared Amharic Ethiopia’s official language.
Is Amharic the same as Oromo?
Amharic has been strongly influenced by the Cushitic languages, especially Oromo and the Agaw languages. The dialects of Amharic are not strongly differentiated from one another. Some 18.7 million people spoke Amharic in the early 21st century.
When did Amharic become the official language of Ethiopia?
Amharic is the statutory national language of Ethiopia. While it has been recognized as the official language since the 14th century, it became statutory in 1994 when it was added to Ethiopia’s constitution.
What percentage of Ethiopia speaks Amharic?
29.3\%
Overview
| Distribution of languages of Ethiopia (2007) | |
|---|---|
| Amharic | 29.3\% |
| Somali | 6.2\% |
| Tigrinya | 5.9\% |
| Sidamo | 4\% |
Who made Amharic the official language?
Right from the 20th century when Ethiopia’s Amharic was made the official language by Emperor Haile Selassie, it has been seen as one of a kind in Africa, considering most countries have their official languages being that of their former colonizer.
Where does the Amharic language come from?
| Amharic | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Ethnicity | Amhara |
| Native speakers | 32,000,000 (2018) L2 speakers: 25,000,000 |
| Language family | Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic South Semitic Ethiopic South Ethiopic Transversal South Ethiopic Amharic–Argobba Amharic |
Who made Amharic official language?
Is Amharic written left to right?
Amharic is written left-to-right using a system that grew out of the Geʽez script. The writing system is called fidäl (ፊደል) in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Fidäl means “script”, “alphabet”, “letter”, or “character”.