Alternate Names: Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian
Status Notes: Statutory national language (1994, Constitution, Art 5(2)), also statutory provincial language.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 21,600,000 in Ethiopia (2007 census). Population total all countries: 21,811,600. 14,800,000 monolinguals. L2 users: 4,000,000 in Ethiopia.
Language Use: All domains. Also use Eastern Oromo [hae], English [eng], Standard Arabic [arb], Tigrigna [tir].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 28%. Literacy rate in L2: 28%. Taught in primary schools. Fully developed. Bible: 1840–1988.
Typology: SOV; prepositions, postpositions, genitives, articles, and relatives precede noun heads; question word initial; case affixes; verb suffixes show person, number, gender of subject and (optionally) object; passives including deponents, causatives, CV, CVC, V, CVCC.
Spoken In: Ethiopia
Writing System: Braille, Ethiopic
Nation of Origin: Ethiopia
Other Comments: People suffer from famines. Christian, Jewish.