Tigrinya

Tigrinya is an Afroasiatic language of the Semitic branch. Tigrinya, along with Modern Standard Arabic, is one of Eritrea's two official languages. It is mainly spoken in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa, with around 6,915,000 total speakers. Tigrinya speakers in Ethiopia number around 4,320,000 individuals, and are centered in the northern Tigray Region. The Tigrinya speakers in Eritrea (Tigrinyas) total roughly 2,540,000, and are concentrated in the southern and central areas. Tigrinya is also spoken by emigrants from these regions. It is written in Tigrinya alphabet (Ge'ez script). Tigrinya differs markedly from the classical Ethiopian Semitic language Ge'ez by having phrasal verbs and using a word-order that places the main verb last instead of first in the sentence. There is a strong Ge'ez influence on Tigrinya literature, especially with terms that relate to Christian life, Biblical names, and so on. Ge'ez, because of its status within Ethiopian culture, acted as a literary medium until relatively recent times. Aside from Ge’ez, Tigrinya itself has had development into the press as the language was incorporated in a ministry newspaper published by the British administration of Eritrea, selling 5000 copies weekly at the affordable price of five cents. It was reported to be the first of its kind in the region.

The earliest written example of Tigrinya The earliest written example of Tigrinya is a text of local laws found in Logosarda district, Southern Region, Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia, which dates from the 13th century during the reign of the Zagwe dynasty. However, the phonology of the Tigrinya language along with the morphology still strongly shows the connection to the predecessor language of Ge'ez while the connection also displays Tigrinya's Semitic character.