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37-583: The Ethiopian Democratic Party ( Amharic : ከኢትዮጵያዊያን ዴሞክራሲያዊ ፓርቲ ) is a political party in Ethiopia . The result of no less than five mergers of liberal and conservative liberal opposition parties, it could trace its roots to the Ethiopian Democratic Union , which mounted armed monarchist resistance to the Derg in the immediate aftermath of the overthrow of Haile Selassie I . In

74-523: A holy language by the Rastafari religion and is widely used among its followers worldwide. Early Afro-Asiatic populations speaking proto- Semitic , proto- Cushitic and proto- Omotic languages would have diverged by the fourth or fifth millennium BC. Shortly afterwards, the proto-Cushitic and proto-Omotic groups would have settled in the Ethiopian highlands, with the proto-Semitic speakers crossing

111-524: A pidgin as early as the 4th century AD to enable communication between Aksumite soldiers speaking Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages, but this hypothesis has not garnered widespread acceptance. The preservation in Old Amharic of VSO word order and gutturals typical of Semitic languages, Cushitic influences shared with other Ethio-Semitic languages (especially those of the Southern branch), and

148-488: A separate administrative division from Shewa, and Aseb was split off from Eritrea in 1981, making 16 administrative divisions in total. With the exception of Arsi (whose name derives from the eponymous Oromo subgroup , and which initially included majority- Gurage area later transferred to Shewa province (becoming Southern Shewa), all of the provinces were deliberately drawn to include multiple "tribes" (or ethnicities) so as to better facilitate national cohesion. Under

185-751: Is a South Ethio-Semitic language, along with Gurage , Argobba , Harari , and others. Due to the social stratification of the time, the Cushitic Agaw adopted the South Ethio-Semitic language and eventually absorbed the Semitic population. Amharic thus developed with a Cushitic substratum and a Semitic superstratum . The northernmost South Ethio-Semitic speakers, or the proto-Amhara, remained in constant contact with their North Ethio-Semitic neighbors, evidenced by linguistic analysis and oral traditions. A 7th century southward shift of

222-720: Is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages . It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas , and also serves as a lingua franca for all other populations residing in major cities and towns in Ethiopia . The language serves as the official working language of the Ethiopian federal government, and is also the official or working language of several of Ethiopia's federal regions . As of 2020, it has over 33,700,000 mother-tongue speakers and more than 25,100,000 second language speakers in 2019, making

259-579: Is an abugida , and the graphemes of the Amharic writing system are called fidäl . It is derived from a modification of the Ge'ez script . Each character represents a consonant+vowel sequence, but the basic shape of each character is determined by the consonant, which is modified for the vowel. Some consonant phonemes are written by more than one series of characters: / ʔ / , / s / , / tsʼ / , and / h / (the last one has four distinct letter forms). This

296-663: Is because these fidäl originally represented distinct sounds, but phonological changes merged them. The citation form for each series is the consonant+ ä form, i.e. the first column of the fidäl . The Amharic script is included in Unicode , and glyphs are included in fonts available with major operating systems. As in most other Ethiopian Semitic languages , gemination is contrastive in Amharic. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another; for example, alä 'he said', allä 'there is'; yǝmätall 'he hits', yǝmmättall 'he will be hit'. Gemination

333-501: Is called an abugida ( አቡጊዳ ). The graphemes are called fidäl ( ፊደል ), which means "script", "alphabet", "letter", or "character". There is no universally agreed-upon Romanization of Amharic into Latin script . The Amharic examples in the sections below use one system that is common among linguists specializing in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Amharic has been the official working language of Ethiopia, language of

370-610: Is in Africa.' ልጁ Lǝǧ-u the boy ተኝቷል täññǝtʷall. asleep is ልጁ ተኝቷል Lǝǧ-u täññǝtʷall. {the boy} {asleep is} 'The boy is asleep.' ( -u is a definite article. Lǝǧ is 'boy'. Lǝǧu is 'the boy') አየሩ Ayyäru the weather ደስ däss pleasant Provinces of Ethiopia Older provinces (existing prior to the 1936–41 fascist Italian occupation), are still frequently used to indicate locations within Ethiopia. These include: Amhara Ethiopia

407-469: Is mostly heard as the affricate sound [ t͡sʼ ]. The rhotic consonant is realized as a trill when geminated and a tap otherwise. The closed central unrounded vowel ⟨ə⟩ /ɨ/ and mid-central vowel ⟨ä⟩ /ə/ are generally fronted to [ ɪ ] and [ ɛ ], respectively, following palatal consonants , and generally retracted and rounded to [ ʊ ] and [ ɔ ], respectively, following labialized velar consonants . The Amharic script

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444-416: Is not indicated in Amharic orthography, but Amharic readers typically do not find this to be a problem. This property of the writing system is analogous to the vowels of Arabic and Hebrew or the tones of many Bantu languages , which are not normally indicated in writing. Ethiopian novelist Haddis Alemayehu , who was an advocate of Amharic orthography reform , indicated gemination in his novel Love to

481-636: The 1987 Constitution of Ethiopia , the military rule of the Derg evolved into the civilian government of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia , and chapter 8 of the Constitution determined that the state would be subdivided into "autonomous regions" and "administrative regions". Chapter 9 gave to the National Shengo (the legislature) the power to establish the regions. The Shengo established

518-661: The 2005 parliamentary elections as part of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), winning 52 seats. It was one of the few to take their seats in parliament, splitting with the remainder of the coalition. There were soon inner power struggles within the CUD, however. Former Chairman Hailu Araya had backed the leadership of Berhanu Nega , but was defeated in the Party Congress in August. Lidetu and Mushe were suspended from

555-516: The IMF , World Bank , and pro-business Ethiopian organisations like the Chamber of commerce and Capital Ethiopia . Amharic language Amharic ( / æ m ˈ h ær ɪ k / am- HARR -ik or / ɑː m ˈ h ɑːr ɪ k / ahm- HAR -ik ; native name : አማርኛ , romanized :  Amarəñña , IPA: [amarɨɲːa] ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language , which

592-478: The Sinai Peninsula into Asia . A later return movement of peoples from South Arabia would have introduced the Semitic languages to Ethiopia. Based on archaeological evidence, the presence of Semitic speakers in the territory date to some time before 500 BC. Linguistic analysis suggests the presence of Semitic languages in Ethiopia as early as 2000 BC. Levine indicates that by the end of that millennium,

629-733: The legislative elections held on 15 May 2005, the United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin , as it was then known, was part of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces , that won 52 out of 527 seats in the Council of People's Representatives . It won no seats in the 2010 elections . In October 1999, the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) was registered following "40 weeks of political discussion". In mid-2000,

666-504: The total number of speakers over 58,800,000. Amharic is the largest, most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, and the second most spoken mother-tongue in Ethiopia (after Oromo ). Amharic is also the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world (after Arabic ). Amharic is written left-to-right using a system that grew out of the Geʽez script . The segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units

703-537: The CUD Central Council in October, and the party central committee voted to leave the coalition. Lidetu was a victim of character assassination and defamation following the 2005 elections by the former CUD leaders. However, the election campaign in 2010 revealed that Lidetu and his party were not behind the unsuccessful unity. Despite this vindication, the party did not win any seats in the election, with

740-469: The Ethiopianist tradition they are often transcribed with a dot below the letter. The notation of central vowels in the Ethiopianist tradition is shown in angled brackets. The voiced bilabial plosive /b/ is phonetically realized as a voiced labial approximant [β̞] medially between sonorants in non- geminated form. The fricative ejective / sʼ / is heard as a fricative ejective [ sʼ ], but

777-523: The Grave by placing a dot above the characters whose consonants were geminated, but this practice is rare. Punctuation includes the following: One may construct simple Amharic sentences by using a subject and a predicate . Here are a few simple sentences: ኢትዮጵያ ʾItyop̣p̣ya Ethiopia አፍሪካ ʾAfrika Africa ውስጥ wǝsṭ in ናት nat is ኢትዮጵያ አፍሪካ ውስጥ ናት ʾItyop̣p̣ya ʾAfrika wǝsṭ nat {Ethiopia} {Africa} {in} {is} 'Ethiopia

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814-562: The allegations that the EDP was insufficiently opposed to or in collaboration with the EPRDF in the run-up to the 2010 elections. Opposing the state interventionist policies of the government, the party contends that government policies have weakened the Ethiopian private sector and hampered prospects for long-term growth. It opposes continued state ownership of land and supports the reform to allow for private ownership of land, as well as increasing

851-449: The alphabet used for writing the Geʽez language. There are 34 basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is to be pronounced in the syllable. There are also 49 "wa" letters, which form compound sounds involving "w." All together, the alphabet has some 280 letters. Until 2020 Amharic was the sole official language of Ethiopia. The 2007 census reported that Amharic

888-537: The center of gravity of the Kingdom of Aksum and the ensuing integration and Christianization of the proto-Amhara also resulted in a high prevalence of Geʽez sourced lexicon in Amharic. Some time after the 9th century AD, Amharic diverged from its closest relative, Argobba , probably due to religious differences as the Argobba adopted Islam. In 1983, Lionel Bender proposed that Amharic may have been constructed as

925-498: The core inhabitants of Greater Ethiopia would have consisted of dark-skinned agropastoralists speaking Afro-Asiatic languages of the Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic branches. Other scholars such as Messay Kebede and Daniel E. Alemu argue that migration across the Red Sea was defined by reciprocal exchange, if it even occurred at all, and that Ethio-Semitic-speaking ethnic groups should not be characterized as foreign invaders. Amharic

962-574: The courts, the language of trade and everyday communications and of the military since the late 12th century. The Amhara nobles supported the Zagwe prince Lalibela in his power struggle against his brothers which led him to make Amharic Lessana Negus as well as fill the Amhara nobles in the top positions of his Kingdom. The appellation of "language of the king" ( Ge'ez : ልሳነ ነጋሢ ; "Lǝssanä nägaśi," Amharic : የነጋሢ ቋንቋ "Yä-nägaśi qʷanqʷa") and its use in

999-413: The general left-wing discourse of Ethiopian government. However, it is supportive of peaceful opposition and opposes armed struggle against the present government, condemning the endorsement of Berhanu Nega for the establishment of an armed resistance (later actualised as the " Ginbot 7 Popular Force") against the EPRDF government. It was this refusal to support armed struggle that was behind much of

1036-482: The number of geographically distinct Cushitic languages that have influenced Amharic at different points in time (e.g. Oromo influence beginning in the 16th century) support a natural evolution of Amharic from a Proto-Ethio-Semitic language with considerable Cushitic influences (similar to Gurage, Tigrinya, etc.). The Amharic ejective consonants correspond to the Proto-Semitic " emphatic consonants ." In

1073-445: The opposition overall winning only one seat. UEDP-Medhin at present uses its original name EDP – Ethiopian Democratic Party. In March 2011, Mushe Semu became party president, succeeding Lidetu. The EDP is one of the few Ethiopian parties with non-leftist origins, and had ties with the pre-revolutionary establishment. Correspondingly, it takes strong exception to the " ethnic federalist " and "democratic developmentalist " ideology of

1110-416: The party held its first congress, electing Admassu Gebeyehu , Hailu Araya and Lidetu Ayalew as Chairman, Vice Chairman, and General Secretary, respectively. In September 2003, the EDP merged with the Ethiopian Democratic Union , becoming the United Ethiopian Democratic Party . Mengesha Seyoum became the party's honorary chairman, but played little role in the party administration, living in exile, and

1147-483: The post was quietly abolished. In September 2004, it merged with the Ethiopian Medhin (Salvation) Democratic Party founded by former Foreign Minister Goshu Wolde and became the United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin . In early 2005, it absorbed the short-lived Ethiopian Democratic Action Group of Sophia Yilma , daughter of former Minister of Finance Yilma Deressa . In August 2005, Lidetu Ayalew

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1184-410: The property rights of smallholders. It is opposed to the price controls imposed to counter the high rate of inflation, saying that expansionary fiscal policies were to blame, and that punishing lending requirements on the private sector- private banks are required to set aside 27% of their lending for treasury bonds to fund large infrastructure projects- were hampering the economy, a position supported by

1221-639: The royal court are otherwise traced to the Amhara Emperor Yekuno Amlak . It is one of the official languages of Ethiopia , together with other regions like Oromo , Somali , Afar , and Tigrinya . Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Southwest Semitic group and is related to Geʽez , or Ethiopic, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; Amharic is written in a slightly modified form of

1258-458: The ruling EPRDF . The EDP is strongly opposed to the policy of Ethnic federalism and the division of Ethiopia on ethnic lines , supporting the restoration of the traditional provinces of Ethiopia within a federalist structure. It also supports the establishment of an independent judiciary, the observance of rule of law and human rights, as well as the strengthening of the rights of the federal regions. It rejects ethnic politics and as well as

1295-456: Was divided into 12 provinces or governates-general ( taklai ghizat ) by Imperial Ethiopian Government Decree No. 1 of 1942 and later amendments. The 12 provinces were: Bale was created as a 13th province when it was split off from Harrarghe in 1960. Eritrea was united with Ethiopia and made a 14th province in 1962. When the Derg took power in 1974 they relabelled the provinces as regions ( kifle hager ). By 1981 Addis Ababa had become

1332-481: Was elected Party President, Sophia Yilma Vice President, and Mushe Semu Secretary General. The following is an illustration of the party's mergers and name changes. Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU) (1974–2003) Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) (1999–2003) Ethiopian Medhin Democratic Party (EMDP) (1993–2004) Ethiopian Democratic Action Group (EDAG) (2005) It agreed to contest

1369-475: Was spoken by 21.6 million native speakers in Ethiopia. More recent sources state the number of first-language speakers in 2018 as nearly 32 million, with another 25 million second-language speakers in Ethiopia. Additionally, 3 million emigrants outside of Ethiopia speak the language. Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic. Furthermore, Amharic is considered

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