Hadiya language
Encyclopedia
Hadiyya is the Afro-Asiatic
language of the Hadiya people of Ethiopia
. Most speakers live in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region
in the Hadiya Zone
around the town Hosaena
.
The language is a Highland East Cushitic language. The Libido language
, located just to the north, is very similar lexically, but has significant morphological differences. Hadiyya is interesting in that it has a set of complex consonant phonemes consisting of a glottal stop and a sonorant: /ʔr/, /ʔj/, /ʔw/, /ʔl/.
The New Testament has been translated in Hadiyya, published by the Bible Society
of Ethiopia in 1993. It was originally done using the traditional Ethiopic syllabary. A later printing used the Latin alphabet.
The Ethnologue quotes the 1998 census saying the number of speakers is 923,958, with 595,107 monolinguals. The 2007 census gives the number of speakers as a drastically reduced 253,894.
Afro-Asiatic languages
The Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages...
language of the Hadiya people of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. Most speakers live in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of the former Regions 7-11 following the 1994 elections...
in the Hadiya Zone
Hadiya Zone
Hadiya is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . This zone is named after the Hadiya of the Hadiya kingdom, whose homeland covers part of the administrative division...
around the town Hosaena
Hosaena
Hosaena is a town in southern Ethiopia, and the administrative center of the Hadiya Zone...
.
The language is a Highland East Cushitic language. The Libido language
Libido language
Libido is an Afro-Asiatic language of Ethiopia, which is spoken in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, north-east of Hosaena....
, located just to the north, is very similar lexically, but has significant morphological differences. Hadiyya is interesting in that it has a set of complex consonant phonemes consisting of a glottal stop and a sonorant: /ʔr/, /ʔj/, /ʔw/, /ʔl/.
The New Testament has been translated in Hadiyya, published by the Bible Society
Bible society
A Bible society is a non-profit organization devoted to translating, publishing, distributing the Bible at affordable costs and advocating its credibility and trustworthiness in contemporary cultural life...
of Ethiopia in 1993. It was originally done using the traditional Ethiopic syllabary. A later printing used the Latin alphabet.
The Ethnologue quotes the 1998 census saying the number of speakers is 923,958, with 595,107 monolinguals. The 2007 census gives the number of speakers as a drastically reduced 253,894.