ISO 639-3 agj | Native speakers 44,000 (2007 census) Glottolog argo1244 | |
Language family Afro-AsiaticSemiticSouth SemiticEthiopianSouthTransversalAmharic–ArgobbaArgobba |
Argobba is an Ethiopian Semitic language spoken in an area north-east of Addis Ababa by the Argobba people. It belongs to the South Ethiopian Semitic subgroup together with Amharic and the Gurage languages. Writing in the mid-1960s, Edward Ullendorff noted that it "is disappearing rapidly in favour of Amharic, and only a few hundred elderly people are still able to speak it." Today, many Argobba in the Harari region are shifting to the Oromo language.
The language is spoken in a number of pockets and has at least four regional variations (dialects) in Harar (extinct), Aliyu Amba, Shewa Robit and Shonke.
References
Argobba language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA