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The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of 2012, the Cushitic languages with over one million speakers were Oromo, Somali, Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidama.[1]
| Cushitic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Egypt, Sudan, Horn of Africa, East Africa |
| Linguistic classification | Afro-Asiatic
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Cushitic |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 / 5 | cus |
| Glottolog | cush1243 |
 Distribution of the Cushitic languages in Africa | |
 Map of the Cushitic languages | |
The Cushitic languages with the greatest number of total speakers are Oromo (37 million),[2] Somali (22 million),[3] Beja (3.2 million),[4] Sidamo (3 million),[5] and Afar (2 million).[6]
Oromo serves as one of the official working languages of Ethiopia[7] and is also the working language of several of the states within the Ethiopian federal system including Oromia,[8] Harari and Dire Dawa regional states and of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region.[9]
Somali is the first of two official languages of Somalia and three official languages of Somaliland.[10][11] It also serves as a language of instruction in Djibouti,[12] and as the working language of the Somali Region in Ethiopia.[9]
Beja, Afar, Blin and Saho, the languages of the Cushitic branch of Afroasiatic that are spoken in Eritrea, are languages of instruction in the Eritrean elementary school curriculum.[13] The constitution of Eritrea also recognizes the equality of all natively spoken languages.[14] Additionally, Afar is a language of instruction in Djibouti,[12] as well as the working language of the Afar Region in Ethiopia.[9]
Christopher Ehret argues for a unified Proto-Cushitic language in the Red Sea Hills as far back as the Early Holocene.[15] The explansion of Cushitic languages of the Southern Cushitic branch into the Rift Valley is associated with the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic.[16]
Phonology
Most Cushitic languages have a simple five-vowel system with phonemic length (/a a: e e: i i: o o: u u:/); a notable exception are the Agaw languages, which do not contrast vowel length, but have one or two additional central vowels.[17][18] The consonant inventory of many Cushitic languages includes glottalic consonants, e.g. in Oromo, which has the ejectives /pʼ tʼ tʃʼ kʼ/ and the implosive /ᶑ/.[19] Less common are pharyngeal consonants /ħ ʕ/, which appear e.g. in Somali or the Saho–Afar languages.[17][19]
Most Cushitic languages have a system of restrictive tone also known as ‘pitch accent’ in which tonal contours overlaid on the stressed syllable play a prominent role in morphology and syntax.[17][20]
Grammar
Nouns
Nouns are inflected for case and number. All nouns are further grouped into two gender categories, masculine gender and feminine gender. In many languages, gender is overtly marked directly on the noun (e.g. in Awngi, where all female nouns carry the suffix -a).[21]
The case system of many Cushitic languages is characterized by marked nominative alignment, which is typologically quite rare and predominantly found in languages of Africa.[22] In marked nominative languages, the noun appears in unmarked "absolutive" case when cited in isolation, or when used as predicative noun and as object of a transitive verb; on the other hand, it is explicitly marked for nominative case when it functions as subject in a transitive or intransitive sentence.[23][24]
Possession is usually expressed by genitive case marking of the possessor. South Cushitic—which has no case marking for subject and object—follows the opposite strategy: here, the possessed noun is marked for construct case, e.g. Iraqw afé-r mar'i "doors" (lit. "mouths of houses"), where afee "mouth" is marked for construct case.[25]
Most nouns are by default unmarked for number, but can be explicitly marked for singular ("singulative") and plural number. E.g. in Bilin, dəmmu "cat(s)" is number-neutral, from which singular dəmmura "a single cat" and plural dəmmut "several cats" can be formed. Plural formation is very diverse, and employs ablaut (i.e. changes of root vowels or consonants), suffixes and reduplication.[26][27]
Verbs
Verbs are inflected for person/number and tense/aspect. Many languages also have a special form of the verb in negative clauses.[28]
Most Cushitic languages distinguish seven person/number categories: first, second, third person, singular and plural number, with a masculine/feminine gender distinction in third person singular. The most common conjugation type employs suffixes. Some languages also have a prefix conjugation: in Beja and the Saho–Afar languages, the prefix conjugation is still a productive part of the verb paradigm, whereas in most other languages, e.g. Somali, it is restricted to only a few verbs. It is generally assumed that historically, the suffix conjugation developed from the older prefix conjugation, by combining the verb stem with a suffixed auxiliary verb.[29] The following table gives an example for the suffix and prefix conjugations in affirmative present tense in Somali.[30]
| suffix conjugation |
prefix conjugation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "bring" | "come" | |||
| 1st person |
singular | keen-aa | i-maadd-aa | |
| plural | keen-naa | ni-maad-naa | ||
| 2nd person |
singular | keen-taa | ti-maadd-aa | |
| plural | keen-taan | ti-maadd-aan | ||
| 3rd person |
singular | masc. | keen-aa | yi-maadd-aa |
| fem. | keen-taa | ti-maadd-aa | ||
| plural | keen-aan | yi-maadd-aan | ||
Syntax
Basic word order is verb final, the most common order being subject–object–verb (SOV). The subject or object can also follow the verb to indicate focus.[31][32]
Overview
The phylum was first designated as Cushitic in 1858.[33] Traditionally, Cushitic has been divided into North Cushitic (consisting solely of Beja), Central Cushitic (the Agaw languages), and the large East Cushitic group. Greenberg (1950) argued for the inclusion of the South Cushitic group. The Omotic languages, once classified as West Cushitic, have almost universally been reclassified as a separate branch of Afroasiatic.
- Cushitic
- North Cushitic (Beja)
- Central Cushitic (Agaw)
- East Cushitic
- South Cushitic
This classification has not been without contention. For example, it has been argued that Southern Cushitic belongs in the Eastern branch, with its divergence explained by contact with Hadza- and Sandawe-like languages. Hetzron (1980) and Fleming (post-1981) exclude Beja altogether, though this is rejected by other linguists. Some of the classifications that have been proposed over the years are summarized here:
| Greenberg (1963)[34] | Hetzron (1980)[35] | Orel & Stolbova (1995) | Ehret (2011)[36] |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
For debate on the placement of the Cushitic branch within Afroasiatic, see Afroasiatic languages.
Beja
Beja constitutes the only member of the Northern Cushitic subgroup. As such, Beja contains a number of linguistic innovations that are unique to it, as is also the situation with the other subgroups of Cushitic (e.g. idiosyncratic features in Agaw or Central Cushitic).[37][38][39] Hetzron (1980) argues that Beja therefore may comprise an independent branch of the Afroasiatic family.[35] However, this suggestion has been rejected by most other scholars.[40] The characteristics of Beja that differ from those of other Cushitic languages are instead generally acknowledged as normal branch variation.[37]
Didier Morin (2001) assigned Beja to Lowland East Cushitic on the grounds that the language shared lexical and phonological features with the Afar and Saho idioms, and also because the languages were historically spoken in adjacent speech areas. However, among linguists specializing in the Cushitic languages, the standard classification of Beja as North Cushitic is accepted.[41]
Blemmyan, an early form of Beja – mostly attested through onomastic evidence, but also directly by a small text on an ostracon from Saqqara – was spoken by the Blemmyes, an ancient people of Lower Nubia that appears in the Egyptian historical records from the 6th century BCE onwards. It is also likely that the Medjay spoke a language that was ancestral to Beja.[42]
Omotic
Cushitic was formerly seen as also including most or all of the Omotic languages. An early view by Enrico Cerulli proposed a "Sidama" subgroup comprising most of the Omotic languages and the Sidamic group of Highland East Cushitic. Mario Martino Moreno in 1940 divided Cerulli's Sidama, uniting the Sidamic proper and the Lowland Cushitic languages as East Cushitic, the remainder as West Cushitic or ta/ne Cushitic. The Aroid languages were not considered Cushitic by either scholar (thought by Cerulli to be instead Nilotic); they were added to West Cushitic by Joseph Greenberg in 1963. Further work in the 1960s soon led to the putative West Cushitic being seen as typologically divergent and renamed as "Omotic".[43]
Today the inclusion of Omotic as a part of Cushitic has been abandoned. Omotic is most often seen as an independent branch of Afroasiatic, primarily due to the work of Harold C. Fleming (1974) and Lionel Bender (1975); some linguists like Paul Newman (1980) challenge Omotic's classification within the Afroasiatic family itself.
Other divergent languages
There are also a few languages of uncertain classification, including Yaaku, Dahalo, Aasax, Kw'adza, Boon, Ongota and the Cushitic component of Mbugu (Ma'a). There is a wide range of opinions as to how the languages are interrelated.[44]
The positions of the Dullay languages and of Yaaku are uncertain. They have traditionally been assigned to an East Cushitic subbranch along with Highland (Sidamic) and Lowland East Cushitic. However, Hayward thinks that East Cushitic may not be a valid node and that its constituents should be considered separately when attempting to work out the internal relationships of Cushitic.[44] Bender (2020) suggests Yaaku to be a divergent member of the Arboroid group.[45]
The Afroasiatic identity of Ongota has also been broadly questioned, as is its position within Afroasiatic among those who accept it, because of the "mixed" appearance of the language and a paucity of research and data. Harold C. Fleming (2006) proposes that Ongota is a separate branch of Afroasiatic.[46] Bonny Sands (2009) thinks the most convincing proposal is by Savà and Tosco (2003), namely that Ongota is an East Cushitic language with a Nilo-Saharan substratum. In other words, it would appear that the Ongota people once spoke a Nilo-Saharan language but then shifted to speaking a Cushitic language while retaining some characteristics of their earlier Nilo-Saharan language.[47][48]
Hetzron (1980)[49] and Ehret (1995) have suggested that the South Cushitic languages (Rift languages) are a part of Lowland East Cushitic, the only one of the six groups with much internal diversity.
Some of the ancient peoples of Nubia are hypothesized to have spoken languages belonging to the Cushitic group, especially the people of the C-Group culture. Given the scarcity of data (all omomastic or toponymic), however, these hypotheses remain speculative.[50]
Christopher Ehret (1998) proposed on the basis of loanwords that South Cushitic languages (called "Tale" and "Bisha" by Ehret) were spoken in an area closer to Lake Victoria than are found today.[51][52]
Also, historically, the Southern Nilotic languages have undergone extensive contact with a "missing" branch of East Cushitic that Heine (1979) refers to as Baz.[53][54]
Christopher Ehret proposed a reconstruction of Proto-Cushitic in 1987, but did not base this on individual branch reconstructions.[55] Grover Hudson (1989) has done some preliminary work on Highland East Cushitic,[56] David Appleyard (2006) has proposed a reconstruction of Proto-Agaw,[57] and Roland Kießling and Maarten Mous (2003) have jointly proposed a reconstruction of West Rift Southern Cushitic.[58] No reconstruction has been published for Lowland East Cushitic, though Paul D. Black wrote his (unpublished) dissertation on the topic in 1974.[59] Hans-Jürgen Sasse (1979) proposed a reconstruction of the consonants of Proto-East Cushitic.[60] No comparative work has yet brought these branch reconstructions together.
Basic vocabulary
Sample basic vocabulary of Cushitic languages from Vossen & Dimmendaal (2020:318) (with PSC denoting Proto-Southern Cushitic):[61]
| Branch | Northern | Southern | Eastern | Central | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gloss | Beja[62] | Iraqw[63][64] | Oromo[65] | Somali[66] | Awŋi[67] | Kemantney[68] |
| 'foot' | ragad/lagad | yaaee | miila/luka | lug | lɨkw | lɨkw |
| 'tooth' | kwire | siħinoo | ilkee | ilig | ɨrkwí | ɨrkw |
| 'hair' | hami/d.ifi | seʔeengw | dabbasaa | timo | ʧiʧifí | ʃibka |
| 'heart' | gin'a | muuná | onnee | wadne | ɨʃew | lɨbäka |
| 'house' | gau/'anda | doʔ | mana | guri/min | ŋɨn | nɨŋ |
| 'wood' | hindi | ɬupi | mukha | qori/alwaax | kani | kana |
| 'meat' | ʃa/dof | fuʔnaay | foon | so'/hilib | ɨʃʃi | sɨya |
| 'water' | yam | maʔay | biʃan | biyo/maayo | aɣu | axw |
| 'door' | ɖefa/yaf | piindo | balbala | irrid/albaab | lɨmʧi/sank | bäla |
| 'grass' | siyam/ʃuʃ | gitsoo | ʧ'itaa | caws | sigwi | ʃanka |
| 'black' | hadal/hadod | boo | gurraʧʧa | madow | ʧárkí | ʃämäna |
| 'red' | adal/adar | daaʕaat | diimaa | cas/guduud | dɨmmí | säraɣ |
| 'road' | darab | loohi | karaa/godaana | jid/waddo | dad | gorwa |
| 'mountain' | reba | tɬooma | tuullu | buur | kán | dɨba |
| 'spear' | fena/gwiʃ'a | *laabala (PSC) | waraana | waran | werém | ʃämärgina |
| 'stick' (n) | 'amis/'adi | *ħada | ulee/dullaa | ul | gɨmb | kɨnbɨ |
| 'fire' | n'e | ʔaɬa | ibidda | dab | leg | wɨzɨŋ |
| 'donkey' | mek | daqwaay | haare | dameer | dɨɣwarí | dɨɣora |
| 'cat' | bissa/kaffa | maytsí | adure | bisad/dummad | anguʧʧa | damiya |
| 'dog' | yas/mani | seeaay | seere | eey | gɨséŋ | gɨzɨŋ |
| 'cow' | ʃ'a/yiwe | ɬee | sa'a | sac | ɨllwa | käma |
| 'lion' | hada | diraangw | lenʧ'a | libaax | wuʤi | gämäna |
| 'hyena' | galaba/karai | *bahaa (PSC) | waraabo | waraabe | ɨɣwí | wäya |
| 'sister' | kwa | ħoʔoo | obboleeytii | walaalo/abbaayo | séná | ʃän |
| 'brother' | san | nana | obboleessa | walaal/abboowe | sén | zän |
| 'mother' | de | aayi | haaɗa | hooyo | ʧwá | gäna |
| 'father' | baba | taata | aabba | aabbe | tablí | aba |
| 'sit' | s'a/ʈaʈam | iwiit | taa'uu | fadhiiso | ɨnʤikw- | täkosɨm- |
| 'sleep' | diw/nari | guuʔ | rafuu | hurud | ɣur\y- | gänʤ- |
| 'eat' | tam/'am | aag | ɲaaʧʧu | cun | ɣw- | xw- |
| 'drink' | gw'a/ʃifi | wah | ɗugaaiti | cab | zɨq- | ʤax- |
| 'kill' | dir | gaas | aʤʤeesuu | dil | kw- | kw- |
| 'speak' | hadid/kwinh | ʔooʔ | dubbattu | hadal | dibs- | gämär- |
| 'thin' | 'iyai/bilil | *ʔiiraw (PSC) | hap'ii | caato | ɨnʧu | k'ät'än- |
| 'fat' | dah/l'a | *du/*iya (PSC) | furdaa | shilis/buuran | morí | wäfär- |
| 'small' | dis/dabali | *niinaw (PSC) | t'innoo | yar | ʧɨlí | ʃigwey |
| 'big' | win/ragaga | *dir (PSC) | guddaa/dagaaga | weyn | dɨngulí | fɨraq |
Numerals
Comparison of numerals in individual Cushitic languages:[69]
| Classification | Language | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North | Beja (Bedawi) | ɡaːl | ˈmale | mheːj | ˈfaɖiɡ | eːj (lit: 'hand') | aˈsaɡwir (5 + 1) | asaːˈrama (5 + 2) | asiˈmheːj (5 + 3) | aʃˈʃaɖiɡ (5 + 4) | ˈtamin |
| Central | Bilin (Bilen) | laxw / la | ləŋa | səxwa | sədʒa | ʔankwa | wəlta | ləŋəta | səxwəta | səssa | ʃɨka |
| Central, Eastern | Xamtanga | lə́w | líŋa | ʃáqwa | síza | ákwa | wálta | láŋta / lánta | sə́wta | sʼájtʃʼa | sʼɨ́kʼa |
| Central, Southern | Awngi | ɨ́mpɨ́l / láɢú | láŋa | ʃúɢa | sedza | áŋkwa | wɨ́lta | láŋéta | sóɢéta | sésta | tsɨ́kka |
| Central, Western | Kimant (Qimant) | laɣa / la | liŋa | siɣwa | sədʒa | ankwa | wəlta | ləŋəta | səɣwəta | səssa | ʃɨka |
| East, Highland | Alaaba | matú | lamú | sasú | ʃɔːlú | ʔɔntú | lehú | lamalá | hizzeːtú | hɔnsú | tɔnnsú |
| East, Highland | Burji | mitʃːa | lama | fadia | foola | umutta | lia | lamala | hiditta | wonfa | tanna |
| East, Highland | Gedeo | mitte | lame | sase | ʃoole | onde | dʒaane | torbaane | saddeeta | sallane | tomme |
| East, Highland | Hadiyya | mato | lamo | saso | sooro | onto | loho | lamara | sadeento | honso | tommo |
| East, Highland | Kambaata | máto | lámo | sáso | ʃóolo | ónto | lého | lamála | hezzéeto | hónso | tordúma |
| East, Highland | Libido | mato | lamo | saso | sooro | ʔonto | leho | lamara | sadeento | honso | tommo |
| East, Highland | Sidamo (Sidaama) | mite | lame | sase | ʃoole | onte | lee | lamala | sette | honse | tonne |
| East, Dullay | Gawwada | tóʔon | lákke | ízzaħ | sálaħ | xúpin | tappi | táʔan | sétten | kóllan | ħúɗɗan |
| East, Dullay | Tsamai (Ts'amakko) | doːkːo | laːkːi | zeːħ | salaħ | χobin | tabːen | taħːan | sezːen | ɡolːan | kuŋko |
| East, Konsoid | Bussa (Harso-Bobase) | tóʔo | lakki, lam(m)e, lamay | ezzaħ, siséħ | salaħ | xúpin | cappi | caħħan | sásse /sésse | kollan | húddʼan |
| East, Konsoid | Dirasha (Gidole) | ʃakka(ha) (fem.) / ʃokko(ha) (masc.) | lakki | halpatta | afur | hen | lehi | tappa | lakkuʃeti | tsinqoota | hunda |
| East, Konsoid | Konso | takka | lakki | sessa | afur | ken | lehi | tappa | sette | saɡal | kuɗan |
| East, Oromo | Orma | tokkō | lamā | sadi | afurī | ʃanī | dʒa | torbā | saddeetī | saɡalī | kuɗenī |
| East, Oromo | West Central Oromo | tokko | lama | sadii | afur | ʃani | dʒaha | torba | saddet | saɡal | kuɗan |
| East, Saho-Afar | Afar | enèki / inìki | nammàya | sidòħu / sidòħoòyu | ferèyi / fereèyi | konòyu / konoòyu | leħèyi / leħeèyi | malħiini | baħaàra | saɡaàla | tàbana |
| East, Saho-Afar | Saho | inik | lam:a | adoħ | afar | ko:n | liħ | malħin | baħar | saɡal | taman |
| East, Rendille-Boni | Boni | kóów, hál-ó (masc.) / hás-só (fem) | lába | síddéh | áfar | ʃan | líh | toddóu | siyyéèd | saaɡal | tammán |
| East, Rendille-Boni | Rendille | kôːw / ko:kalɖay (isolated form) | lámːa | sɛ́jːaħ | áfːar | t͡ʃán | líħ | tɛːbá | sijːɛ̂ːt | saːɡáːl | tomón |
| East, Somali | Garre (Karre) | kow | lamma | siddeh | afar | ʃan | liʔ | toddobe | siyeed | saɡaal | tommon |
| East, Somali | Somali | ków | labá | sáddeħ | áfar | ʃán | liħ | toddobá | siddèed | saɡaal | toban |
| East, Somali | Tunni (Af-Tunni) | ków | lámma | síddiʔ | áfar | ʃán | líʔ | toddóbo | siyéed | saɡáal | tómon |
| East, Arboroid | Arbore | tokkó (masc.) / takká (fem.), ˈtaˈka | laamá, ˈlaːma | sezzé, ˈsɛːze | ʔafúr, ʔaˈfur | tʃénn, t͡ʃɛn | dʒih, ˈd͡ʒi | tuzba, ˈtuːzba | suyé, suˈjɛ | saaɡalɗ, ˈsaɡal | tommoɲɗ, ˈtɔmːɔn |
| East, Arboroid | Bayso (Baiso) | koo (masc.) too (fem.) | lɑ́ɑmɑ | sédi | ɑ́fɑr | ken | le | todobɑ́ | siddéd | sɑ́ɑɡɑɑl | tómon |
| East, Arboroid | Daasanach | tɪ̀ɡɪ̀ɗɪ̀ (adj.) / tàqàt͡ʃ ̚ (ord.)/ ʔɛ̀ɾ (ord.) | nàːmə̀ | sɛ̀d̪ɛ̀ | ʔàfʊ̀ɾ | t͡ʃɛ̀n | lɪ̀h | t̪ɪ̀ːjə̀ | síɪ̀t̚ | sàːl | t̪òmòn |
| East, Arboroid | El Molo | t'óko / t'áka | l'ááma | séépe | áfur | kên, cên | yíi | tíípa, s'ápa | fúe | s'áákal | t'ómon |
| South or East | Dahalo | vattúkwe (masc.) / vattékwe (fem.) | líima | kʼaba | saʕála | dáwàtte, possibly ← 'hand' | sita < Swahili | saba < Swahili | nane | kenda / tis(i)a | kumi |
| South | Alagwa (Wasi) | wák | ndʒad | tam | tsʼiɡaħ | kooʔan | laħooʔ | faanqʼw | dakat | ɡwelen | mibi |
| South | Burunge | leyiŋ / leẽ | t͡ʃʼada | tami | t͡ʃʼiɡaħa | koːʔani | laħaʔu | faɴqʼu | daɡati | ɡweleli | mili |
| South | Gorowa (Gorwaa) | wak | tsʼar | tám | tsʼiyáħ | kooʔán | laħóoʔ | fâanqʼw | dakáat | ɡwaléel / ɡweléel | mibaanɡw |
| South | Iraqw | wák | tsár | tám | tsíyáħ | kooán | laħoóʔ | faaɴw | dakaát | ɡwaleél | mibaaɴw |
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