Introduction to the grammar of Amharic

Kursinhalt

Amharic is the so-called "Working Language" of Ethiopia. Spoken as a native language by more than 30 million people and as a second language by more than 20 million more, it is widely acknowledged as the lingua franca of Ethiopia. It was the official language of the Ethiopian kingdom (or: language of the king, ልሳነ ነጉሥ in Ge'ez) from the 12^th century until the 20^th century. It is one of many Semitic languages spoken in Ethiopia, notably closest to Argobba and sharing similarities on a descending scale with Gurage languages, Harari and non-South Ethio-Semitic (namely Tigrinya and Tigre).

In the course, we will make ourselves familiar with the script and learn the basic grammar of Amharic. The Amharic grammar and syntax are very different from many other Semitic languages, especially ones not spoken in Ethiopia or Eritrea. It is also distinguishably distant from Ge'ez, also called Classical Ethiopic. Though it has borrowed many words and even structures from Ge'ez, Amharic and South Ethio-Semitic in general is thought to be descended from a sister language of Proto-Ge'ez and certainly not from Ge'ez (or Proto-Ge'ez) itself. It also presents significant influence from Cushitic languages and the so-called Ethiopian Sprachbund. For example, in a sentence like:

"the small child saw the big dog"

The order of the words will be

ትንሹ ልጅ ትልቁን ውሻ አየ

tənnəš-u ləğ təlləq-u-n wəšša ʔayä

small-the child big-the-acc dog saw(3ms)

There are also very often relative clauses which one may not find intuitive with regard to other Semitic languages, such as (examples from Leslau):

Sentence with no relative clause:

እኅቴ ተላንትና መጣች

ʔəhəte tälantənna mäṭṭač

"my sister came yesterday"

my-sister yesterday came

first option with relative clause:

እኅቴ ናት ተላንትና የመጣችው

ʔəhəte nat tälantənna yämäṭṭačəw 

"it is my sister who came yesterday"

Sister-my is yesterday one-who-came(3fs)-the 

Second option with relative clause:

እኅቴ ተላንተና ነው የመጣችው

ʔəhəte tälantənna näw yämäṭṭačəw

"it is yesterday that my sister came"

Sister-my yesterday is one-who-came(3fs)-the

Like other Ethio-Semitic languages, Amharic utilizes the Ge'ez script with slight additions. This is a syllabary or, more accurately, an Abugida script, in which every character signifies a consonant and a vowel. The different vocalic adjustments of the onset consonant character are named "orders".

In the course, we will have a taste of Amharic grammar through learning the verbal conjugation and basic morphology, and reading and analyzing sentences for acquiring basic vocabulary.

Kursdetails

• Winter term 2024/25, Tuesdays, 2-4 pm 
• Hybrid-course