Tigrinya - Tigrigna - ትግርኛ
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Categories: Languages, Ethiopia, Eritrea
On this page... (hide)
- 1. Classification / Classification
- 2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
- 3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
- 4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
- 5. Usage / Utilisation
- 6. Orthography / Orthographe
- 7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
- 8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
- 9. Comments / Remarques
- 10. References / Références
1. Classification / Classification
Tigrinya (also Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language of South Semitic.
Ethnologue? lists the classification as: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South, Ethiopian, North
2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
Eritrea and northern Ethiopia.
3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
According to Ethnologue:
- 3,224,875 in Ethiopia (1998 census)
- 1,200,000 in Eritrea (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk)
- Population total all countries: 4,449,875
- 146,933 second-language speakers
4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
No dialect survey has come to our attention. Ullendorff (1973, p. 121, and 1955) considers regional variation in Tigrinya to be insignificant, although Bender, Hailu, and Cowley (1976, p. 564) believe that Tigrinya has several dialects. (Webbook?)
5. Usage / Utilisation
The most spoken language in Eritrea. Broadcast on radio in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Literacy rate in Ethiopia (according to Ethnologue, accessed 2007):
- L1: 1% to 10%
- L2: 26.5%
Literacy rate in Eritrea (according to Ethnologue, accessed 2007):
- L1: 1% to 10%
- L2: 5% to 25%
6. Orthography / Orthographe
6.1 Status / Statut
Uses Ge'ez/Ethiopic
6.2 Sample Alphabet / Alphabet exemple
See:
- Geonames "Tigrinya syllabary - ትግርኛ ፊደል (təgrəñña fidäl)" http://www.geonames.de/alphtz.html#tir
- Mimer "UCA Ethiopic Collation Chart" http://developer.mimer.com/charts/UCA_ethiopic.htm
A sample text is shown on the "Language Museum" site: http://www.language-museum.com/t/tigrinya.htm
7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
7.1 Fonts / Polices
Beginning in the late 1990s there has been an effort to promote Unicode fonts. [more info?]
VG2_Main
Some Unicode font information:
- Abyssinica SIL http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=AbyssinicaSIL
- AlanWood.net, Ethiopic Fonts http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/fonts.html#ethiopic
- Gallery of Unicode Fonts: Ethiopic http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Ethiopic.html
Legacy 8-bit: (there are some non-Unicode fonts)
7.2 Keyboard layouts / Dispositions de clavier
GeezWord 2006 is a Tavultesoft Keyman layout usable for Tigrinya: http://www.geezsoft.com/
Ge'ez Keyboards has Tavultesoft Keyman layouts usable for Tigrinya (Eritrean Style & Ethiopian Style) at http://keyboards.ethiopic.org/
7.3 Content on computers & internet / Contenu en informatique et sur l'Internet
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/tgn.htm
Wikipedia in Tigrinya at http://ti.wikipedia.org/ (some language content, but many shell articles as of 5-2007)
7.4 Localized software / Logiciels localisés
There apparently is or was recently a project to localize Linux in Tigrinya called "Tinux"
There is an OpenOffice project under the "Native Language Confederation" program: http://ti.openoffice.org/
7.5 Language codes / Codes de langue
- ISO 639-1: ti
- ISO 639-2: tir
- ISO 639-3: tir
7.6 Other / Autre
Google has a version localized in Tigrinya: http://www.google.com/intl/ti/
8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
8.1 Individuals (experts) / Individuelles (experts)
Simon Mebrahtu, University of Asmara
8.2 Institutions / Institutions
- Tinux? at the University of Asmara, http://sourceforge.net/projects/tinux/ (this project was apparently set up around 2004-2005 and last update on this page was 2013; old page at http://tinux.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Tinux:About appears not to work)
- See also https://en.osdn.jp/projects/tinux/devel/tinux.sourceforge.jp(approve sites)
- EFOSSNet www.efossnet.org (offline)
8.3 On the internet / Sur la toile
9. Comments / Remarques
10. References / Références
Dwyer, David (1997), Webbook of African Languages, http://africa.isp.msu.edu/afrlang/hiermenu.htm (page on "Tigrinya," http://africa.isp.msu.edu/afrlang/Tigrinya_root.html )
SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Tigrigna," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/tir
SIL International, "ISO 639 Code Tables," http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp
U.S. Library of Congress, "ISO 639.2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages: Alpha-3 codes arranged alphabetically by the English name of language," http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php
Wikipedia, "Tigrinya language," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigrinya_language
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