Cushitic peoples
| Cushitic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution |
Northeast Africa |
| Linguistic classification |
Afro-Asiatic
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Cushitic |
| Subdivisions |
|
| ISO 639-2 / 5 | |
| Glottolog | cush1243 |
 |
|
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Ethiopia), as well as the Nile Valley (Sudan and Nubia), and parts of the African Great Lakes region (Tanzania and Kenya).
The most widely spoken Cushitic language is Oromo (including all its variations) with about 35 million speakers, followed by Somali with about 18 million speakers, and Sidamo with about three million speakers. Other Cushitic languages with more than one million speakers are Afar (1.5 million) and Beja (1.2 million). Somali, one of the official languages of Somalia, is the only Cushitic language accorded official status in any country. Along with Afar, it is also one of the recognized national languages of Djibouti.
The phylum was first designated as Cushitic around 1858. The languages spoken in the ancient Kerma Culture (present-day southern Egypt and northern Sudan) also belonged to the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. The languages spoken in the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic in the Great Lakes region are thought to have belonged to the Cushitic branch of Afroasiatic.
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