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- Title
A BRIEF REFLECTION ON ETHIOPIAN LANGUAGES.
- Authors
Belay, Thomas
- Abstract
The article examines the phenomenon of bilingualism in Amarigna, the lingua franca of Ethiopia. The decisive issues that drive languages are proximity issues and a lingua franca like Amarigna emerges when the impersonal market forces mediate the production of rules governing human encounter. The history of slavery in Africa led to the rejection of the Ge'ez script and many educated Ethiopians still have the perception of this loss, thus public discourse on languages was polarized and this attitude has prevented the harmonious coexistence of languages.
- Subjects
ETHIOPIA; BILINGUALISM; AMHARIC language; LINGUA francas; SLAVERY
- Publication
Callaloo, 2010, Vol 33, Issue 1, p100
- ISSN
0161-2492
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/cal.0.0635