Oromo language

Oromo
Afaan Oromoo
Pronunciation/ˈɒrəmoʊ/ or /ɔːˈroʊmoʊ/, native: oromoː
Native toEthiopia, Kenya, Somalia[1]
RegionOromia
EthnicityOromo
Native speakers
45.5 million (all countries) (2019–2024)
Dialects
  • West Central
  • Southern
  • Eastern
  • Orma
  • Waata
Official status
Official language in
 Ethiopia[3]
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-1om
ISO 639-2orm
ISO 639-3orm – inclusive code
Individual codes:
gax – Borana–Arsi–Guji Oromo
hae – Eastern Oromo
orc – Orma
gaz – West Central Oromo
ssn – Waata
Glottolognucl1736
Areas in East Africa where Oromo is spoken

Oromo is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch, mainly spoken by the Oromo people that are native to the Ethiopian state of Oromia and northern Kenya. It is used as a lingua franca in Oromia and northeastern Kenya.[4][5][6] It is officially written in the Latin script, although traditional scripts are also informally used.

Oromo has the largest number of native speakers in Ethiopia and ranks as the second most widely spoken language in Ethiopia by total number of speakers (including second-language speakers), following Amharic.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2024). "Oromo". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Twenty Seventh ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  2. ↑ "Revised Proposal for Encoding the Shaaldaa Scriptin the UCS" (PDF). unicode.org.
  3. ↑ Shaban, Abdurahman (2020-03-04). "One to Five: Ethiopia Gets Four New Federal Working Languages". Africa News. Archived from the original on 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
  4. ↑ Bulcha, Merkuria (1997). "The Politics of Linguistic Homogenization in Ethiopia and the Conflict over the Status of Afaan Oromoo". African Affairs. 96 (384): 325–352. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a007852. JSTOR 723182.
  5. ↑ "Oromo (Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Oromoo)". Language Centre Resources. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "Oromo Language". MustGo. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  7. ↑ "Amharic". Ethnologue.