| Saho | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in | Eritrea, Ethiopia |
| Region | southern Eritrea, Tigray Province in Ethiopia |
| Native speakers |
191,000 in Eritrea[1] 32,832 in Ethiopia[2] (date missing) |
| Language family | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ssy |
The Saho language is a Cushitic language of Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Contents |
It is spoken natively by the Saho people who traditionally inhabit territory in Eritrea bounded by the bay of Arafali in the east, the Laasi Ghedé valleys in the south, and the Eritrea highlands to the west (Akele-Guzai, Shimezana).
This speech area is bordered by other Afro-Asiatic-speaking communities, with Tigre speakers on the west and Afar speakers on the east. In Ethiopia, Saho is primarily spoken in the Tigray Region. It has about 200,000 speakers in total and four main dialects: Toroa, Assaorta, Minifero and Irob.[3]
Saho is so closely related to the Cushitic Afar language spoken as a mother tongue by the Afar people. Some linguists regard the two tongues as dialects of a single "Saho–Afar language".