Language Use and Contact Phenomena in Afar Regional State: the Case of Ab' Ala Town
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2010-09
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa Universiy
Abstract
In the lingui stically heterogeneous Ab'ala town, the dwellers use di versified languages in
different domain s. In Ab'a la town. over four di stin ct Ethiopian languages are in use. These are
Afa r-a f. Tigrinya, Amharic, Af"an Oromo, and Saho. 01' these languages. Afar-a t" and Tigrinya are
the two indigenous local languages in the research area. On the other hand, Amharic, Afan
Oromo, and Saho are non-indi genous languages. Amharic which is used as the main official
language, both in the town and the region, functions in the powerful domains as language. of
public services ( in office, school, health center). and authorities (in poli ce station and
courtroom). However, Afar-af functions only in certain domains. It is used as the de-j ure regional
language and res tricted only to the domains under grass root level (less powerful). It fun ctions in
the family domain. among co uples of th e same ethnic group (intra-marriage), and in reli gious
donwin (along \\'ith Arab ic). In other word s. Afar-af developed in the less-affiuent domai ns. This
shows the language se izes so many important domains at the expense of Amharic. Besides,
Tigrinya to a greater degree and Afar-af to lesse r degree are the two most commonly used
languages in the domains of market. On the other hand, in the case of less powerful domains
language use does not seem to be consistent in all the domains. This is evident in the family
domain in wh ich three languages are predominan tly used hy respondents 1ยท1 hik intc'I"<lcting \I itll
various partic ipants in this domain. Respondents use Amharic extensively while communicating
with children. spouses/husbands and siblin gs. Tigrinya and Afar-af are also the two commonly
used languages between parents and respondents. Language use in neighborhood seems to have
two fea tu re s. These are while Tigri nya is predominantly used in Wuhdet kebele. Afa r-af is used
in Wakrigubi kebele. In addi tion, the friendship domain is one oi" the less pOI-ver i"ul domain in
which Amharic is predominantly used. In general, in the powerful domains, Amharic to a greater
degree and Afa r-af to a lesser degree are used as languages of wider communication.
Sim ilar t(\ ma nv oth er urban se ttings where ethno-lingui sti c groups li ve together. Ab'a la IS a
place where diffe rent languages are in co ntact. Therefore, in Ab'a la town ethni c-groups such as
Afar, Tega ru. Amhara, Oromo, and Irob are in co ntact in a sophisticated and unstable manner. In
turn. this gives ri se to the legacy of the di fferent language contact phenomena such as swi tching,
mixing. borrowing, and shift. The dwellers ex hibi ted code switching or mixing. and borrowing
ex tensivelv in their day-to-c1ay communication.
Description
Keywords
Afar Regional State: the Case of Ab' Ala Town