Afar

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A language of Ethiopia

ISO 639-3
aar
Alternate Names
Adal, Afaraf, Affar, Affarigna, Qafar, Qafaraf, ʿAfár af, “Danakil” (pej.), “Denkel” (pej.)
Autonym
Qafar af
User Population

1,862,800 in Ethiopia, all users. L1 users: 1,840,000 in Ethiopia (2018). L2 users: 22,800. 906,000 monolinguals (1994 census). Total users in all countries: 2,563,800 (as L1: 2,541,000; as L2: 22,800).

Location

Afar, Amhara, and Somali regions: eastern lowlands.

Language Maps
Language Status

2 (Provincial). De facto language of provincial identity in Afar Region.

Classification
Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Saho-Afar
Dialects

Northern Afar, Central Afar, Aussa, Baadu (Ba’adu). Related to Saho [ssy].

Typology

SOV; 17 consonants and 10 vowels (5 short and 5 long).

Language Use

Also use Ta’izzi-Adeni Spoken Arabic [acq] (Bender 1971). Used as L2 by Argobba [agj].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: 3%. Literature. Radio. Videos. Dictionary. Grammar. Texts. Bible: 2013.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Afar
Writing

Ethiopic script [Ethi], used in Ethiopia. Latin script [Latn], used since 1840, primary usage.

Other Comments

Called ‘Danakil’ in Arabic and by others, but that is considered offensive by the Afar. Called Adal in Amharic. Nomadic. Muslim.

Also spoken in:

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