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Afroasiatic (Afro-Asiatic), also known as Afrasian or Hamito-Semitic, Semito-Hamitic, or Erythraean, is a large language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and parts of the Sahel. With the exception of Semitic, which is also spoken in Western Asia and in Malta, all branches of the Afroаsiatic family are spoken exclusively on the African continent.
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of 2012, the Cushitic languages with over one million speakers were Oromo, Somali, Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, Saho, and Sidama.
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly also North Africa, Malta and in small pockets in the Caucasus as well as in often large immigrant and expatriate communities in North America, Europe, and Australasia. The terminology was first used in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen School of History, who derived the name from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis.
The Afar language is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken by the Afar people inhabiting Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Beja is an Afroasiatic language of the Cushitic branch spoken on the western coast of the Red Sea by the Beja people. Its speakers number around one to two million individuals, and inhabit parts of Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea.
Weyto is a speculative extinct language thought to have been spoken in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia by the Weyto, a small group of hippopotamus hunters who now speak Amharic.
Kayla, or Kayliñña is one of two Agaw dialects formerly spoken by a subgroup of the Beta Israel. It is a dialect of Qimant. The name Kayla is sometimes also used as a cover term for both Beta Israel dialects. It is known only from unpublished notes by Jacques Faitlovitch written in the Ge'ez alphabet, recently studied by David Appleyard. It is preserved by the Beta Israel today.
Lowland East Cushitic is a group of roughly two dozen diverse languages of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Its largest representatives are Somali and Oromo.
Ethiopian Semitic is a family of languages spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. They form the western branch of the South Semitic languages, itself a sub-branch of Semitic, part of the Afroasiatic language family.
The Agaw or Agew are a Cushitic ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea. Ethnically and culturally they are part of a wider population of Cushitic peoples, though they are most closely related to the Qemant people.
Qwara, or Qwareña, was one of two Agaw dialects, spoken by a subgroup of the Beta Israel of the Qwara area. It is a dialect of Qimant. It is nearly extinct. Several early Falashan manuscripts, using the Ge'ez alphabet, exist; in more recent times, the language has been recorded by several linguists and travellers, starting with Flad in 1866.
Xamtanga is a Central Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia by the Xamir people.
The Bilen are a Cushitic ethnic group in the Eritrea. They are primarily concentrated in central Eritrea, in and around the city of Keren and further south toward Asmara, the nation's capital.
Siltʼe is an Ethiopian Semitic language spoken in central Ethiopia. A member of the Afroasiatic family, its speakers are the Siltʼe, who mainly inhabit the Siltʼe Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. Speakers of the Wolane dialect mainly inhabit the Kokir Gedebano district of Gurage Zone, as well as the neighbouring Seden Sodo district of the Oromia Region. Some have also settled in urban areas in other parts of the country, especially Addis Ababa.
The languages of Ethiopia include the official languages of Ethiopia, its national and regional languages, a large number of minority languages, as well as foreign languages.
The main languages spoken in Eritrea are Tigrinya, Tigre, Kunama, Bilen, Nara, Saho, Afar, Beja. Tigrinya, Arabic and English language serves as working languages.
Inor, sometimes called Ennemor, is an Afroasiatic language spoken in central Ethiopia. One of the Gurage languages, it is mainly spoken within the Gurage Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, as well as by speakers of the language who have settled in Ethiopian cities, especially Addis Ababa. In addition to the morphological complexity that is common to all Semitic languages, Inor exhibits the very complex morphophonology characteristic of West Gurage languages.
The Bilen language is spoken by the Bilen people in and around the city of Keren in Eritrea and Kassala in eastern Sudan. It is the only Agaw language spoken in Eritrea. It is spoken by about 120,000 people.
The Awngi language, in older publications also called Awiya, is a Central Cushitic language spoken by the Awi people, living in Central Gojjam in northwestern Ethiopia.
The Qimant language is a highly endangered language spoken by a small and elderly fraction of the Qemant people in northern Ethiopia, mainly in the Chilga woreda in Semien Gondar Zone between Gondar and Metemma.
