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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Africa > Ethiopia > Argobba

Argobba

A language of Ethiopia

ISO 639-3: agj

Population 10,860 (1998 census). 44,737 monolinguals. Population includes 47,285 in Amharic, 3,771 in Oromo, 541 in Tigrigna (1998 census). Ethnic population: 62,831 (1998 census).
Region Fragmented areas along the Rift Valley in settlements like Yimlawo, Gusa, Shonke, Berket, Keramba, Mellajillo, Metehara, Shewa Robit, and surrounding rural villages.
Dialects Ankober, Shonke. It is reported that the 'purest' Argobba is spoken in Shonke and T'olaha. Lexical similarity 75% to 85% with Amharic.
Classification Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South, Ethiopian, South, Transversal, Amharic-Argobba
Language use 3,236 second-language speakers. The ethnic group near Ankober mainly speaks Amharic; the group near Harar mainly speaks Oromo. The ethnic group is working to foster ethnic recognition. Speakers also use Amharic or Oromo.
Language development Literacy rate in second language: 16.4%.
Comments Traders; agriculturalists. Muslim.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

Leyew, Zalealem. 1994. "Argobba - the people and the language."

Leyew, Zelealem and Ralph Siebert. 2001. "Sociolinguistic survey report of the Argobba language of Ethiopia."

Siebert, Ralph. 1994. "Argobba: Sociolinguistic information and a 320 item wordlist."

Unseth, Peter. 2003. "Surveying bi-consonantal reduplication in Semitic."