Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Qimant, Kimanteney, Western Agaw, Falaša, Kemant, Falasha
CLASSIFICATION		Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, Central Cushitic
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		ahg
VARIANTS & DIALECTS		Dembiya Kwolasa Hwarasa Kayla Achpar Qimant Semyen
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

Compare Sources (13)

Information from: “ELF Grant Abstract: Recording the Last Fluent Speakers of Kemantney” . Zelealem Leyew (2005)

Severely endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
A few hundred
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"According to the 1994 census, there are around 1,625 speakers of Kemantney, but following the death of many of the older members of the community, the speaker population been reduced to only a few hundred. Most of the fluent speakers of Kemantney are in their 60's or above, and the well-known storytellers are older. "

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
TRANSMISSION

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,000-9,999
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
172,327
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
1,650 in Ethiopia. Data for the number of native speakers and the ethnic population are from the 1994 census.

DATE OF INFO: 1994

PLACES: Ethiopia; Eritrea

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Northwest Amhara region, north of Lake Tana. Qwara or Kayla are near Addis Ababa. Also in Eritrea.

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,500
Native speakers worldwide

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,650
Native speakers worldwide

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
SEMI SPEAKERS
0
CHILDREN
0
YOUNG ADULTS
0
OLDER ADULTS
0
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"Kemant certainly is one of the most 'endangered' languages in Ethiopia,
already considered 'dead' by some linguists... it has become very unlikely the Kemant people will preserve a distinct religion and culture.

Those who speak the language fluently are elderly people beyond the age of sixty... the extinction of Kemant is conceivable within the next 40–50 years."

DATE OF INFO: 2002

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

A typical speaker: "He prays and dreams in Kemant. He also speaks about secrets in Kemant" [only domains which Kemant is used]

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Amharic

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

"A strong process of Amharization seems to have made a strong impact on the size of the 'Kemant' population"

At risk

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
350,000
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
>1,000,000
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"According to Ato Nega there are more than one million Qemant people, of whom 350,000 still speak the language... Qemant is being replaced by Amharic, and there is a tendency for the language to die"

DATE OF INFO: 2002

MORE ON VITALITY

"We have gathered evidence that Qemant is not a 'dead' language, but it must be considered endangered. [...] We have met a number of elderly bilingual people who speak both Amharic and Qemant. However, even these people seem to be more proficient in Amharic than in Qemant, and they seem to use Amharic more than Qemant. [...] Linguistically speaking, one could say that Qemant is being replaced by Amharic, and there is a tendency for the language to die."

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Amharic

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Chilga, Armachoho, Gonder, Zuria, Wogera, Matebia, Qara, and others.

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,500
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
170000
ELDERS
1500

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,650
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
172,324

DATE OF INFO: 1994

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
~1,600
Native speakers worldwide

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
TRANSMISSION

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Gondar

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1000-17000
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
25000

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

PLACES: Ethiopia

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "North of Lake Tana, Central Begendir Province, northwest, also Sudan... the countryside extending to the north and south of the east-to-west Gonder-Aykel road as well as the east of Gonder and the west of Aykel"

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1625
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
172291
CHILDREN
0
YOUNG ADULTS
304
OLDER ADULTS
791
ELDERS
2588

DATE OF INFO: 1994

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"Kemantney has been reduced to a secret (in-group) code like Tenet (Surma) (Dimmendaal, 1983) and Elmolo (Heine, 1980). The Kemant people are never heard speaking their language in normal situations. The negative attitude people show and the consequential decline of its use have led to the decline of confidence and competence among TSs."

SPEAKER ATTITUDE

Negative

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Amharic

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

"Kemantney has been stigmatized by two groups: Amharic speakers of Amharic descent, and Amharic speakers of Kemant descent. It is not uncommon for Kemant speakers to be ashamed of using it for fear of being humiliated by these two groups. Everyone who wants to speak the language smiles and looks around before (s)he starts speaking. The smile is a sign of bewilderment and anxiety, not of courage and excitement."

PLACES: Gondar, Ethiopia

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: "Because of shortage of cultivable land, the people have always been moving to Amharic speaking places and work as farmers or shepherds. The movement to such Amharic-speaking areas has contributed to the obsolescence of their language."

	SIL electronic survey reports (SILESR), #2002-031	Revised version	2002	Sociolinguistic survey report of the Kemant (Qimant) language of Ethiopia		33	An earlier version appeared 1995 as “Kemant (Qimant): a language on the brink of extinction”, «SLLE (Survey of little-known languages of Ethiopia) linguistic reports», v. 30			SIL International						Zelealem, [Mollaligne] Leyew	Zelealem, [Mollaligne] Leyew. 2002. "Sociolinguistic Survey Report of the Kemant (Qimant) Language of Ethiopia." 33. SIL International.	EBALL	0		0		2002		"Kemant certainly is one of the most 'endangered' languages in Ethiopia, already considered 'dead' by some linguists... it has become very unlikely the Kemant people will preserve a distinct religion and culture. Those who speak the language fluently are elderly people beyond the age of sixty... the extinction of Kemant is conceivable within the next 40–50 years."	0		0		Amharic			"A strong process of Amharization seems to have made a strong impact on the size of the 'Kemant' population"		The majority of this group know only Amharic	Critically Endangered (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15	A typical speaker: "He prays and dreams in Kemant. He also speaks about secrets in Kemant" [only domains which Kemant is used]	15	15
			1975	A Descriptive Outline of Kemant		316-350					Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies	38				D. L. Appleyard	Appleyard, D. L. 1975. "A Descriptive Outline of Kemant." In Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 38: 316-350.	HHOLD																		Critically Endangered (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	14			15			Gondar
0199255911			2005	The World Atlas of Language Structures				Bernard Comrie and David Gil and Martin Haspelmath and Matthew S. Dryer		Oxford University Press			New York				2005. "The World Atlas of Language Structures." edited by Bernard Comrie et al. Oxford University Press.																											12.6666666667,37.4166666667
		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		172,327			1994	1000-9999	1,650 in Ethiopia. Data for the number of native speakers and the ethnic population are from the 1994 census.											Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)						Ethiopia; Eritrea	Northwest Amhara region, north of Lake Tana. Qwara or Kayla are near Addis Ababa. Also in Eritrea.
			2005	ELF Grant Abstract: Recording the Last Fluent Speakers of Kemantney					Endangered Language Fund grant abstract						http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/ll_projects_2005.php	Zelealem Leyew	Leyew, Zelealem. 2005. "ELF Grant Abstract: Recording the Last Fluent Speakers of Kemantney." Online: http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/ll_projects_2005.php.					A few hundred		100-999	"According to the 1994 census, there are around 1,625 speakers of Kemantney, but following the death of many of the older members of the community, the speaker population been reduced to only a few hundred. Most of the fluent speakers of Kemantney are in their 60's or above, and the well-known storytellers are older. "											Severely Endangered (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	14			15
			2007	Africa	Atlas of the World's Endangered Languages	579-634		C. Moseley		London & New York: Routledge						Gerrit J. Dimmendaal and Erhard F. K. Voeltz	Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. and Erhard F. K. Voeltz. 2007. "Africa." In Atlas of the World's Endangered Languages, edited by C. Moseley. 579-634. London & New York: Routledge.	HHOLD				~1,600		1000-9999				~3400		Amharic						Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
9780520255609			2008	One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost						University of California						Peter Austin	Austin, Peter. 2008. "One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost." University of California.			170000		1,500		1000-9999			1500									Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
		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				1,500		1000-9999												Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)								12.9349,37.2326
			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.			172,324		1,650	1994	1000-9999												Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
	Kuschitische Sprachstudien		2003	The Kemantney Language: A Sociolinguistic and Grammatical Study of Language Replacement						Köln: Rüdiger Köppe		20				Zelealem Leyew	Zelealem Leyew. 2003. "The Kemantney Language: A Sociolinguistic and Grammatical Study of Language Replacement." 20: Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.	HHOLD	791	172291	304	1625	1994	1000-9999			2588	3450	Home, normal use	Amharic	No	Negative	"Kemantney has been stigmatized by two groups: Amharic speakers of Amharic descent, and Amharic speakers of Kemant descent. It is not uncommon for Kemant speakers to be ashamed of using it for fear of being humiliated by these two groups. Everyone who wants to speak the language smiles and looks around before (s)he starts speaking. The smile is a sign of bewilderment and anxiety, not of courage and excitement."	No	All	Severely Endangered (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	14	"Kemantney has been reduced to a secret (in-group) code like Tenet (Surma) (Dimmendaal, 1983) and Elmolo (Heine, 1980). The Kemant people are never heard speaking their language in normal situations. The negative attitude people show and the consequential decline of its use have led to the decline of confidence and competence among TSs."	15	13	"Because of shortage of cultivable land, the people have always been moving to Amharic speaking places and work as farmers or shepherds. The movement to such Amharic-speaking areas has contributed to the obsolescence of their language."	Gondar, Ethiopia		12.599967,37.466633
			1994	First report on a survey of the Shinasha and Agew dialects and languages		1-8	Revised version appeared 2002 as «First report on a survey of the Shinasha and Agew dialects and languages», SIL electronic survey reports (SILESR), #2002-062.				SLLE (Survey of little-known languages of Ethiopia) linguistic reports	18				Zelealem, [Mollaligne] Leyew	Zelealem, [Mollaligne] Leyew. 1994. "First Report On a Survey of the Shinasha and Agew Dialects and Languages." In SLLE (Survey of little-known languages of Ethiopia) linguistic reports, 18: 1-8.	EBALL		>1,000,000		350,000	2002	100000	"According to Ato Nega there are more than one million Qemant people, of whom 350,000 still speak the language... Qemant is being replaced by Amharic, and there is a tendency for the language to die"					Amharic						At risk (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)		"We have gathered evidence that Qemant is not a 'dead' language, but it must be considered endangered. [...] We have met a number of elderly bilingual people who speak both Amharic and Qemant. However, even these people seem to be more proficient in Amharic than in Qemant, and they seem to use Amharic more than Qemant. [...] Linguistically speaking, one could say that Qemant is being replaced by Amharic, and there is a tendency for the language to die."					Chilga, Armachoho, Gonder, Zuria, Wogera, Matebia, Qara, and others.
				World Oral Literature Project											http://www.oralliterature.org		"World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.					1,650		1000-9999												Threatened (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		25000		1000-17000		1000-9999						Amharic					All or most	Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)						Ethiopia	"North of Lake Tana, Central Begendir Province, northwest, also Sudan... the countryside extending to the north and south of the east-to-west Gonder-Aykel road as well as the east of Gonder and the west of Aykel"

K'emant

Language metadata

Language information by source

Severely endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

A few hundred

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,000-9,999

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,500

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,650

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

At risk

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

350,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,500

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,650

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~1,600

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1000-17000

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1625

Discussion

K'emant

Language metadata

Language information by source

Severely endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

A few hundred

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,000-9,999

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,500

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,650

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

At risk

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

350,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,500

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,650

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~1,600

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1000-17000

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1625

Discussion

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