Native to Eritrea Native speakers 2,500 (2012) Glottolog daha1247 | Region Dahlak Archipelago ISO 639-3 dlk | |
Language family Afro-Asiatic
Semitic
South Semitic
Ethiopic
North Ethiopic
Dahalik (ዳሃሊክ) | ||
Dahalik (ዳሃሊክ [haka (na)] dahālík, "[language (of)] the people of Dahlak"; also Dahaalik, Dahlik, Dahlak) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken exclusively in Eritrea. Its speech area is off the coast of Massawa, on three islands in the Dahlak Archipelago: Dahlak Kebir, Nora and Dehil. It has around 2,500 to 3,000 speakers.
Dahalik belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family's Semitic branch, and is closely related to Tigre and Tigrinya. It is said to be not mutually intelligible with Tigre (see Shaebia below), and, according to Simeone-Senelle, is sufficiently different to be considered a separate language. However, there are those who disagree.
References
Dahalik language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA