Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Argoba
CLASSIFICATION		Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Ethiopic
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		agj
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

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Information from: “1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, Results at Country Level” . Central Statistical Office

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
10,860
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
62912

DATE OF INFO: 1994

Severely endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
Ethnic population
~40,000
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"In general, we found that the majority of the Argobba citizens of this area do not actually speak Argobba. They speak Amharic instead, and this is their native language... it is a language whose present status neither is 'dead' nor healthily 'alive'—but a 'language' on the verge of extinction."

DATE OF INFO: 1994

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"Argobba people of Shewa-Robit and the surrounding areas speak Amharic as their L1, and some of the younger people acquire a 'broken' Argobba from the elderly people. The elderly people themselves are not very confident about their proficiency in Argobba. Some of them remarked that they very often 'mix' Argobba and Amharic. They also said that Amharic predominates over Argobba and that, as a result, they were not able to fully use and maintain Argobba."

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Amharic
Oromo

Scripts (Writing system)

None

More on Orthography

"[An Argobba consultant] told us that in the past he had made some attempts to write his own language (Shewa-Robit Argobba), using the Arabic script."

PLACES: Ethiopia

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "Fragmented areas along Rift Valley in settlements such as Yimlawo, Gusa, Shonke, Berket, Keramba, Mellajillo, Metehara. Villages in the Shonke area where Shewa-Robit Argobba is spoken are the following: Abdelager, Akiager, Goze, Hudad, Kilegirma, K'imbibit, Lench'u-ager, Meriye, T'eyo, T'ak'war, Ts'akolu, and Zehonka. There is only one more village in the Shonke area where Shonke Argobba is spoken: T'olaha."

MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"No figures are available besides the rather high number of 2,500 to 3,000 speakers"

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

PLACES: Ethiopia

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "...between Käsäm and Borkänna rivers on the Shoan escarpment."

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
10,900
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
62831

DATE OF INFO: 1994

PLACES: Ethiopia;

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
8,000
Native speakers worldwide

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
10,860
Native speakers worldwide

SIL electronic survey reports (SILESR)		2002-026	2001	Sociolinguistic survey report of the Argobba language of Ethiopia					SIL International				http://www-01.sil.org/silesr/2002/026/SILESR2002-026.pdf	Zelealem Leyew and Ralph Siebert	Zelealem Leyew and Ralph Siebert. 2001. "Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Argobba Language of Ethiopia." SIL International. Online: http://www-01.sil.org/silesr/2002/026/SILESR2002-026.pdf.	EBALL	~40,000		1994		"In general, we found that the majority of the Argobba citizens of this area do not actually speak Argobba. They speak Amharic instead, and this is their native language... it is a language whose present status neither is 'dead' nor healthily 'alive'—but a 'language' on the verge of extinction."	Amharic, Oromo	All	Severely Endangered (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	14	"Argobba people of Shewa-Robit and the surrounding areas speak Amharic as their L1, and some of the younger people acquire a 'broken' Argobba from the elderly people. The elderly people themselves are not very confident about their proficiency in Argobba. Some of them remarked that they very often 'mix' Argobba and Amharic. They also said that Amharic predominates over Argobba and that, as a result, they were not able to fully use and maintain Argobba."	14	Ethiopia	"Fragmented areas along Rift Valley in settlements such as Yimlawo, Gusa, Shonke, Berket, Keramba, Mellajillo, Metehara. Villages in the Shonke area where Shewa-Robit Argobba is spoken are the following: Abdelager, Akiager, Goze, Hudad, Kilegirma, K'imbibit, Lench'u-ager, Meriye, T'eyo, T'ak'war, Ts'akolu, and Zehonka. There is only one more village in the Shonke area where Shonke Argobba is spoken: T'olaha."
	16		2009	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)				M. Paul Lewis	SIL International		Dallas, TX		http://www.ethnologue.com/		Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)	ll_pub	62831	10,900	1994	10000-99999				Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)				Ethiopia;
	3rd		2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger					UNESCO Publishing		Paris		http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub		8,000		1000-9999				Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)						10.5958,39.9792
			1998	1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, Results at Country Level			Reproduced online by Hudson, 2006		Central Statistical Office	1	Addis Ababa	Office of Population and Housing Census Commission	https://www.msu.edu/~hudson/Ethlgslist.htm		1998. "1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, Results At Country Level." 1: Central Statistical Office. Online: https://www.msu.edu/~hudson/Ethlgslist.htm.		62912	10,860	1994	10000-99999				Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
				World Oral Literature Project									http://www.oralliterature.org		"World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.			10,860		10000-99999				Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
Contributions to the sociology of language, #64			1992	A survey on language death in Africa	Language death: factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa	402		Brenzinger, Matthias	Mouton de Gruyter		Berlin & New York			Sommer, Gabriele	Gabriele Sommer. 1992. "A Survey On Language Death in Africa." In Language death: factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa, edited by Matthias Brenzinger. 402. Mouton de Gruyter.	EBALL					"No figures are available besides the rather high number of 2,500 to 3,000 speakers"	Amharic; Oromo						Ethiopia	"...between Käsäm and Borkänna rivers on the Shoan escarpment."

Argobba

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10,860

Severely endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10,900

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

8,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10,860

Discussion

Argobba

Language metadata

Language information by source

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10,860

Severely endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10,900

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

8,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10,860

Discussion

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