Argobba language

Argobba is an Ethiopian Semitic language spoken in several districts of Afar, Amhara, and Oromia regions of Ethiopia by the Argobba people. It belongs to the South Ethiopic languages subgroup, and is closely related to Amharic.

Writing in the mid-1960s, Edward Ullendorff noted that it "is disappearing rapidly in favour of Amharic, and only a few hundred elderly people are still able to speak it." Today, many Argobba in the Harari Region are shifting to the Oromo language. Those in the Ankober district speak the Amharic language.

Depending on the Argobba variation, the number of consonants varies. In the Shonke and T‘ollaha variation there are 26 consonant phonemes, in the other variations there are 25. The additional consonants are the pharyngeal fricatives /ħ/ and /ʕ/ as well as the velar fricative /x/.

Argobba consists of 11 plosive consonant phonemes. All of them (except the voiceless postalveolar plosive can be placed in the initial, middle and final position of the word.

There are six vowel phonemes in Argobba and they are not differentiated in vowel length.

The /ɜ/ functions as a default vowel for the creation of nominal and verbal formations and is used in many words.

The phoneme /a/ can stand in any position of the word and is related to the vowels /e/ and /o/.

The vowel /e/ can be placed in any position of the word, while it is rarely in the initial position.