Amharic

Amharic, also known as Abyssinian, Amarinya, or Amharina, is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is related to Ge'ez, a liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Amharic has close to 20 million speakers worldwide, of which slightly over 17 million live in Ethiopia.

Amharic has been the language of the ruling class of Ethiopia since the end of the 13th century. In the early 17th century, it became the lingua franca of Ethiopia, a multilingual country with over 80 languages (Ethnologue). It was first used in official written documents in the 19th century. Amharic has one of the most extensive literatures of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Amharic, with 17 million first- and 4 million second-language speakers, is the official working language of Ethiopia, along with English and Tigrinya. It is used in government, public media, national commerce, and in education up to the seventh grade. It has been the working language of government, the military, and of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church throughout modern times. Many speakers of Amharic also use English, Arabic, Afaan Oromo, and Tigrinya (Ethnologue).

Dialects
Amharic has a variety of local dialects, all of which are mutually intelligible. There are three major dialects: Gondar, Gojjami, and Showa.There are especially marked differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar between the northern Gojjami and the southern Showa dialects. The standard spoken and written language is based on the speech of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

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