View source for Afar language

{{redirect|Qafar|the village in Iran|Qafar, Iran}}
{{Short description|Afro-Asiatic language native to the Horn of Africa}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Afar
| nativename       = {{lang|aa|Qafar af}}, {{lang|aa|عَفَر أَف}}
| ethnicity        = [[Afar people|Afar]]
| states           = [[Djibouti]], [[Eritrea]], [[Ethiopia]]
| region           = [[Horn of Africa]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|2.603000|2}} million
| date             = 2019–2022
| ref              = e27
| familycolor      = Afroasiatic
| fam2             = [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]]
| fam3             = [[East Cushitic languages|East]]
| fam4             = [[Lowland East Cushitic languages|Lowland]]
| fam5             = [[Saho–Afar languages|Saho–Afar]]
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]]
| dialects         = Aussa <br /> Ba'adu <br /> Central Afar <br /> Northern Afar
| minority         = {{DJI}}<br>{{ERI}}
| iso1             = aa
| iso2             = aar
| iso3             = aar
| notice           = IPA
| glotto           = afar1241
| glottorefname    = Afar
| nation           = {{ETH}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|aa|ʕʌfʌɾʌf|}}
}}

'''Afar''', also known as '''{{lang|aa|’Afar af}}''', '''{{lang|aa|Qafar af}}''',  '''{{lang|aa|عَفَر أَف}}''', and '''ዓፋር ኣፍ'''،, is an [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] language belonging to the [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] branch, primarily spoken by the [[Afar people]], native to parts of [[Djibouti]], [[Eritrea]] and [[Ethiopia]]. It is an [[official language]] in Ethiopia; and a [[national language]] in Djibouti and Eritrea. Afar is officially written in the [[Latin script]] and has over 2.6 million speakers.

==Classification==
Afar is classified within the [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] branch of the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] family. It is further categorized in the [[Lowland East Cushitic languages|Lowland East Cushitic]] sub-group, along with [[Saho language|Saho]] and [[Somali language|Somali]].<ref name="Lewis11">{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=I.|year=1998|title=Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho|publisher=Red Sea Press|page=11}}</ref> Its closest relative is the Saho language.<ref name=e27/>

==Geographic distribution==
The Afar language is spoken as a mother tongue by the [[Afar people]] in [[Djibouti]], [[Eritrea]], and the [[Afar Region]] of [[Ethiopia]].<ref name=e27/>

According to ''[[Ethnologue]]'', there are {{sigfig|2,563,800|2}} total Afar speakers. Of these, 1,280,000 were recorded in the 2007 Ethiopian census, with 906,000 monolinguals registered in the 1994 census.<ref name=e27/>[[File:Languages_of_Ethiopia_piechart.svg|thumb]]

==Official status==
In Djibouti, Afar is a recognized national language.<ref name="Cwfbdj">{{cite web|title=Djibouti|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/djibouti/|work=The World Factbook|publisher=CIA|access-date=31 August 2014|archive-date=25 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525091953/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/djibouti/|url-status=live}}</ref> It is also one of the broadcasting languages of the [[Radio Television of Djibouti]] public network.

In Eritrea, Afar is recognized as one of nine national languages which formally enjoy equal status although [[Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]] and [[Arabic]] are by far of greatest significance in official usage. There are daily broadcasts on the national radio and a translated version of the Eritrean constitution. In education, however, Afar speakers prefer Arabic – which many of them speak as a second language – as the language of instruction.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Marie-Claude |last=Simeone-Senelle |url=http://cy.revues.org/document39.html |title=Les langues en Erythrée |journal=Chroniques Yeménites 8, 2000 |date=2000 |volume=8 |issue=8 |publisher=Cy.revues.org |doi=10.4000/cy.39 |language=fr |access-date=6 April 2010 |archive-date=6 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106012237/http://cy.revues.org/document39.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the Afar Region of Ethiopia, Afar is also recognized as an official working language.<ref name="Llicuv">{{cite book|editor=Kizitus Mpoche|editor2=Tennu Mbuh|title=Language, literature, and identity|year=2006|publisher=Cuvillier|isbn=3-86537-839-0|pages=163–164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNEiAQAAMAAJ|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=22 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522132524/https://books.google.com/books?id=PNEiAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 2020, Afar is one of the five official working languages of Ethiopia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Getachew |first=Samuel |title=Ethiopia is adding four more official languages to Amharic as political instability mounts |url=https://qz.com/africa/1812085/ethiopia-adds-afan-oromo-somali-afar-tigrigna-languages-to-amharic/ |access-date=12 April 2022 |website=Quartz |date=3 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412014530/https://qz.com/africa/1812085/ethiopia-adds-afan-oromo-somali-afar-tigrigna-languages-to-amharic/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
The consonants of the Afar language in the standard orthography are listed below in angle brackets (preceded by the IPA notation):

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyngeal]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]
! <small>voiceless</small>
|
| {{IPAlink|t}} {{angbr|t}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|k}} {{angbr|k}}
|
|
|-
! <small>voiced</small>
| {{IPAlink|b}} {{angbr|b}}
| {{IPAlink|d}} {{angbr|d}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|ɡ}} {{angbr|g}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
! <small>voiceless</small>
| {{IPAlink|f}} {{angbr|f}}
| {{IPAlink|s}} {{angbr|s}}
|
|
|
| {{IPAlink|ħ}} {{angbr|c}}
| {{IPAlink|h}} {{angbr|h}}
|-
! <small>voiced</small>
|
|
|
|
|
| {{IPAlink|ʕ}} {{angbr|q}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}} {{angbr|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}} {{angbr|n}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPAlink|w}} {{angbr|w}}
| {{IPAlink|l}} {{angbr|l}}
|
| {{IPAlink|j}} {{angbr|y}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Tap consonant|Tap]]
|
| {{IPAlink|ɾ}} {{angbr|r}}
| {{IPAlink|ɽ}} {{angbr|x}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hamann|first1=Silke|last2=Fuchs|first2=Susanne|date=June 2010|orig-year=2008|title=How do voiced retroflex stops evolve? Evidence from typology and an articulatory study.|journal=Language and Speech|volume=53|issue=2|pages=181–216|doi=10.1177/0023830909357159|pmid=20583729|s2cid=23502367}}</ref>
|
|
|
|
|}

Voiceless stop consonants which close syllables are released, e.g., {{IPA|[ʌkʰˈme]}}.

===Vowels and stress===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! {{small|short}} || {{small|long}}|| {{small|long}}
! {{small|short}} || {{small|long}}
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPAlink|i}} {{angbr|i}} || {{IPAlink|iː}} {{angbr|ii}}||
| {{IPAlink|u}} {{angbr|u}} || {{IPAlink|uː}} {{angbr|uu}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPAlink|e}} {{angbr|e}} || {{IPAlink|eː}} {{angbr|ee}}||
| {{IPAlink|o}} {{angbr|o}} || {{IPAlink|oː}} {{angbr|oo}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|  |||| {{IPAlink|aː}} {{angbr|aa}}
|  {{IPAlink|ʌ}} {{angbr|a}}||
|}

Sentence final vowels of affirmative verbs are aspirated (and stressed), e.g.
* '''{{langx|aa|abeh}}''' = {{IPA|/aˈbeʰ/}} 'He did.'
Sentence final vowels of negative verbs are not aspirated (nor stressed), e.g.
* '''{{langx|aa|maabinna}}''' = {{IPA|/ˈmaːbinːaː/}} 'He did not do.'
Sentence final vowels of interrogative verbs are lengthened (and stressed), e.g.
* '''{{langx|aa|abee?}}''' = {{IPA|/aˈbeː/}} 'Did he do?'
Otherwise, stress in word-final.

===Phonotactics===
Possible syllable shapes are V, VV, VC, VVC, CV, CVV and CVVC.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Afar : grammatical description of a Cuchitic Language (Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia )|url=https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01368253|publisher=Université Sorbonne Paris Cité|date=2015|degree=Theses|first=Mohamed Hassan|last=Kamil|access-date=5 June 2019|archive-date=5 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605064336/https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01368253|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Syntax==
As in most other Cushitic languages, the basic word order in Afar is [[subject–object–verb]].<ref name=e27/>

==Writing system==
In Ethiopia, Afar used to be written with the [[Ge'ez script]] (Ethiopic script). Since around 1849, the [[Latin script]] has been used in other areas to transcribe the language.<ref name=e27/> Additionally, Afar is also transcribed using the [[Arabic script]].<ref name="Afdal">{{cite web|title=Development of the Afar Language |url=http://www.afarfriends.org/Dok%20t%20websida/aktivitet_i_Sv/STANDARDIZATION%20OF%20COMMON%20AFAR%20SCRIPT1.pdf |publisher=Afar Friends |access-date=23 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305143610/http://www.afarfriends.org/Dok%20t%20websida/aktivitet_i_Sv/STANDARDIZATION%20OF%20COMMON%20AFAR%20SCRIPT1.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}</ref>

In the early 1970s, two Afar intellectuals and nationalists, Dimis and Redo, formalized the Afar alphabet. Known as ''Qafar Feera'', the orthography is based on the Latin script.<ref name="Omafr">{{cite web|title=Afar (ʿAfár af)|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm|publisher=Omniglot|access-date=23 August 2013|archive-date=11 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511045835/https://omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Officials from the Institut des Langues de Djibouti, the Eritrean Ministry of Education, and the Ethiopian Afar Language Studies and Enrichment Center have since worked with Afar linguists, authors and community representatives to select a standard orthography for Afar from among the various existing writing systems used to transcribe the language.<ref name="Afdal"/>

===Latin alphabet===
{{Clarify|reason=What are these two tables?  Why are they different?  Do they have names?|date=December 2024}}
<div class="center">
{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
| width=15|[[A]]|| width=15|[[B]]|| width=15|[[C]]|| width=15|[[D]]|| width=15|[[E]]|| width=15|[[F]]|| width=15|[[G]]|| width=15|[[H]]|| width=15|[[I]]|| width=15|[[J]]|| width=15|[[K]]|| width=15|[[L]]|| width=15|[[M]]|| width=15|[[N]]|| width=15|[[O]]|| width=15|[[P]]|| width=15|[[Q]]|| width=15|[[R]]|| width=15|[[S]]|| width=15|[[T]]|| width=15|[[U]]|| width=15|[[V]]|| width=15|[[W]]|| width=15|[[X]]|| width=15|[[Y]]|| width=15|[[Z]]
|-
|a||ba||ca||da||e||fa||ga||ha||i||ja||ka||la||ma||na||o||pa||qa||ra||sa||ta||u||va||wa||xa||ya||za
|}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berraka.com/index.php/qasirwa|title=Berraka|publisher=Qafaraf|access-date=23 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811051419/http://berraka.com/index.php/qasirwa|archive-date=11 August 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
| width=15|[[A]]|| width=15|[[B]]|| width=15|[[T]]|| width=15|[[S]]|| width=15|[[E]]|| width=15|[[C]]|| width=15|[[K]]|| width=15|[[X]]|| width=15|[[I]]|| width=15|[[D]]|| width=15|[[Q]]|| width=15|[[R]]|| width=15|[[F]]|| width=15|[[G]]|| width=15|[[O]]|| width=15|[[L]]|| width=15|[[M]]|| width=15|[[N]]|| width=15|[[U]]|| width=15|[[W]]|| width=15|[[H]]|| width=15|[[Y]]
|-
|a||ba||ta||sa||e||ca||ka||xa||i||da||qa||ra||fa||ga||o||la||ma||na||u||wa||ha||ya
|}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm|title=Afar language, alphabet and pronunciation|publisher=Omniglot|access-date=29 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709005126/https://www.omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm|archive-date=9 July 2021}}</ref>
</div>

==See also==
{{Wiktionarycat|type=in Afar|category=Afar language}}
<!--{{InterWiki|code=aa}}-->
* [[Afar Region]]
{{Clear}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |first=Loren F. |last=Bliese |year=1976 |chapter=Afar |title=The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia |editor-first=Lionel M. |editor-last=Bender |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=African Studies Center, Michigan State University. |pages=133–164}}
* {{cite book |first=Loren F. |last=Bliese |year=1981 |title=A generative grammar of Afar |series=Summer Institute of Linguistics publications in linguistics |volume=65 |location=Dallas |publisher=[[Summer Institute of Linguistics]] and [[The University of Texas at Arlington]] |isbn=0-88312-083-6}}
* {{cite journal |first=James G. |last=Colby |year=1970 |title=Notes on the northern dialect of the Afar language |journal=Journal of Ethiopian Studies |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |jstor=41965797}}
* {{cite book |first1=R. J. |last1=Hayward |first2=Enid M. |last2=Parker |year=1985 |title=Afar-English-French dictionary with Grammatical Notes in English |location=London |publisher=School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |isbn=978-0-7286-0124-6}}
* {{cite book |first=Richard J. |last=Hayward |year=1998 |chapter=Qafar (West Cushitic) |title=Handbook of Morphology |editor-first1=Andrew |editor-last1=Spencer |editor-first2=Arnold M. |editor-last2=Zwicky |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell |pages=624–647 |doi=10.1002/9781405166348.ch29 |isbn=978-0-631-22694-9}}
* {{cite book |first=Didier |last=Morin |year=1997 |title=Poésie traditionnelle des Afars |series=Langues et cultures africaines |volume=21 |location=Paris |publisher=Peeters |isbn=978-2-87723-363-7}}
* {{cite book |first=Enid M. |last=Parker |year=2006 |title=English–Afar Dictionary |location=Washington DC |publisher=Dunwoody Press |isbn=978-1-931546-23-2}}
* {{cite journal |first=Rainer M. |last=Voigt |year=1975 |title=Bibliographie des Saho–Afar |journal=Africana Marburgensia |volume=8 |pages=53–63}}

==External links==
{{Incubator|code=aa}}
{{Wiktionary category|category=Afar language}}
* [[World Atlas of Language Structures]] information on [http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_qaf Qafar]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150811051419/http://berraka.com/index.php/qasirwa Afar language learning web site ] (Much information about Afar, in English and French)
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm Omniglot – Afar (ʿAfár af)]

{{Languages of Djibouti}}
{{Languages of Eritrea}}
{{Languages of Ethiopia}}
{{Cushitic languages}}
{{Afroasiatic languages}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Afar people]]
[[Category:East Cushitic languages]]
[[Category:Subject–object–verb languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Djibouti]]
[[Category:Languages of Eritrea]]
[[Category:Languages of Ethiopia]]