Ethiopian languages and their demographic distribution

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the sociolinguistic status of Ethiopian languages according to the four major language families in Ethiopia: Cushitic, Omotic, Semitic, and Nilo-Saharan. The authors classify Ethiopia languages into three groups: (i) large languages; (ii) sizeable languages; and (iii) small languages. They argue that there is an ongoing language shift from small to large and sizeable languages, which implies that small languages are being steadily marginalized. This chapter then also discusses the vitality of Ethiopian languages by dividing them into the following types: living vernacular languages, extinct (or dormant) languages, sign languages, and foreign languages. The current state of languages in Ethiopia is a result of socio-historical developments. Ethiopia is a multilingual society, in which Amharic became the de facto Ethiopian lingua franca, and functions as the working language of central and local government.