Amharic
Introduction
Amharic (አማርኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Northern Central Ethiopia, where it is the official language. Outside Ethiopia, Amharic is the language of some 2.7 million emigrants (notably in Egypt, Israel and Sweden).
It is written using a writing system called fidel or abugida, adapted from the one used for the now-extinct Ge'ez language.
Amharic Phonology
The chart below uses SAMPA symbols where feasible, with the exception that ejectives are marked by '’' (apostrophe/right-single-quote).
Consonants
| |
bilabial |
dental |
palatal |
velar |
glottal |
| stops |
voiceless |
p |
t |
c |
k |
ʔ |
| voiced |
b |
d |
J |
g |
|
| ejective |
p’ |
t’ |
c’ |
k’ |
|
| affricate |
|
ts’ |
|
|
|
| fricatives |
voiceless |
f |
s |
š |
|
h |
| voiced |
|
z |
ž |
|
|
| nasals |
m |
n |
ñ |
|
|
| liquids |
w |
l |
j |
|
|
| flap/trill |
|
r |
|
|
|
|
Vowels
| |
front |
central |
back |
| high |
i |
|
u |
| mid |
e |
ə |
o |
| low |
ä |
a |
|
|
|
Amharic Abugida Symbols ("Fidels" ፊደል)
Please note that this chart is incomplete. Some phonemes have more than one series of possible symbols; only illustrative examples for /k/ and /h/ are shown (the latter has four series!). While the consonants have been grouped by manner of articulation (refer to the phoneme chart above), the vowels are listed in citation order. The citation form for each series is the consonant+/E/ form, i.e. the first column of fidels. You will need a font that supports Ethiopic, such as GF Zemen Unicode (available at ftp://ftp.ethiopic.org/pub/fonts/TrueType/gfzemenu.ttf ), in order to view the fidels.
Non-speakers are often disconcerted or astonished by the remarkable similarity of many of the symbols. This is mitigated somewhat because like many Semitic languages, Amharic uses triconsonantal roots in its verb morphology. The upshot of this is that a fluent speaker of Amharic can decipher written text by observing which consonants are noted, with the vowel variants being supplemental detail. (T dmnstrt, "nglsh spkrs cn rd vwllss txt, t!)
Chart of Amharic Fidels
| |
ä |
u |
i |
a |
e |
ə |
o |
p | ፐ | ፑ | ፒ | ፓ | ፔ | ፕ | ፖ |
| t | ተ | ቱ | ቲ | ታ | ቴ | ት | ቶ |
| c | ቸ | ቹ | ቺ | ቻ | ቼ | ች | ቾ |
| k | ከ | ኩ | ኪ | ካ | ኬ | ክ |
ኮ |
| ኸ | ኹ | ኺ | ኻ | ኼ | ኽ | ኾ |
| b | በ | ቡ | ቢ | ባ | ቤ | ብ | ቦ |
| d | ደ | ዱ | ዲ | ዳ | ዴ | ድ | ዶ |
| J | ጀ | ጁ | ጂ | ጃ | ጄ | ጅ | ጆ |
| g | ገ | ጉ | ጊ | ጋ | ጌ | ግ | ጎ |
| p’ | ጰ | ጱ | ጲ | ጳ | ጴ | ጵ |
ጶ |
| t’ | ጠ | ጡ | ጢ | ጣ | ጤ | ጥ |
ጦ |
| c’ | ጨ | ጩ | ጪ | ጫ | ጬ | ጭ |
ጮ |
| k’ | ቀ | ቁ | ቂ | ቃ | ቄ | ቅ |
ቆ |
| 7 | አ | ኡ | ኢ | ኣ | ኤ | እ | ኦ |
| ts’ | ጸ | ጹ | ጺ | ጻ | ጼ | ጽ | ጾ |
| f | ፈ | ፉ | ፊ | ፋ | ፌ | ፍ | ፎ |
| s | ሰ | ሱ | ሲ | ሳ | ሴ | ስ | ሶ |
| S | ሸ | ሹ | ሺ | ሻ | ሼ | ሽ | ሾ |
| h | ሀ | ሁ | ሂ | ሃ | ሄ | ህ |
ሆ |
| ሐ | ሑ | ሒ | ሓ | ሔ | ሕ | ሖ |
| z | ዘ | ዙ | ዚ | ዛ | ዜ | ዝ | ዞ |
| Z | ዠ | ዡ | ዢ | ዣ | ዤ | ዥ | ዦ |
| m | መ | ሙ | ሚ | ማ | ሜ | ም | ሞ |
| n | ነ | ኑ | ኒ | ና | ኔ | ን | ኖ |
| ñ | ኘ | ኙ | ኚ | ኛ | ኜ | ኝ |
ኞ |
| w | ወ | ዉ | ዊ | ዋ | ዌ | ው | ዎ |
| l | ለ | ሉ | ሊ | ላ | ሌ | ል | ሎ |
| j | የ | ዩ | ዪ | ያ | ዬ | ይ | ዮ |
| r | ረ | ሩ | ሪ | ራ | ሬ | ር | ሮ |
References
- Abraham, Roy Clive. 1968. The Principles of Amharic. Occasional Publication / Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. [rewritten version of ?A modern grammar of spoken Amharic? van 1941]
- Leslau, Wolf. 1995. Reference Grammar of Amharic. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.
