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Its closest relative is the Saho language. Geographic distribution. The Afar language is spoken as a mother tongue by the Afar people in Djibouti, Eritrea, and the Afar Region of Ethiopia. According to Ethnologue, there are 2,600,000 total Afar speakers. Of these, 1,280,000 were recorded in the 2007 Ethiopian census, with 906,000 monolinguals ...
The Saho–Afar languages (also known as Afar–Saho) are a dialect-cluster belonging to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. They include the Afar and Saho languages, which are spoken in Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Characteristic features of Saho-Afar include the following: Preservation of the pharyngeal fricatives / ħ / and / ʕ /
Saho is so closely related to the Cushitic Afar language, spoken as a mother tongue by the Afar people, that some linguists regard the two tongues as dialects of a single "Saho–Afar language". Regardless, it has been shown that at least in their basic lexicon the two can be cleanly separated.
Afar is also known as 'Afar Af, Afaraf or Qafar af. It is closely related to the Saho language, and is also related to Somali. Afar is recognised as a national language in Djibouti and in Eritrea. There are radio broadcasts in Afar in both countries.
Saho and Afar are generally classified as Eastern Cushitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. The Saho peoples are bordered to the north by the Tigre, to the west by the Tigray, and to the south and east by the Afar. This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Saaho and Afar form a dialect continuum, regarded as a subgroup of Lowland East Cushitic. A large number of Saaho are now living in the diaspora where their language is still widely spoken and is also commonly used on the internet and social networks.
The Afar of Ethiopia, numbering 2,100,000, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are part of the Afar-Saho people cluster within the Horn of Africa affinity bloc. Globally, this group totals 2,782,800 in 5 countries. Their primary language is Afar. The primary religion practiced by the Afar is Sunni Islam, the largest branch of Islam.
