Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Argobba language

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Native to
  
Ethiopia

ISO 639-3
  
agj

Native speakers
  
44,000 (2007 census)

Glottolog
  
argo1244

Language family
  
Afro-Asiatic Semitic South Semitic Ethiopian South Transversal Amharic–Argobba Argobba

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