Kemant language
| Qimant | |
|---|---|
| Kemantney | |
| Native to | Ethiopia |
| Region | Amhara Region |
| Ethnicity | 172,000 (1994 census) |
|
Native speakers
|
1,700 (1994 census) |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | qima1242 |
The Qimant language is a highly endangered language spoken by a small and elderly fraction of the Qemant people in northern Ethiopia, mainly in the Chilga woreda in Semien Gondar Zone between Gondar and Metemma.
The language belongs to the western branch of the Agaw or Central Cushitic languages. Other (extinct) members of this branch are Qwara and Kayla. Along with all other Cushitic languages, Qimant belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family.
Qimant is the original language of the Qemant people of Semien Gondar Zone and Ethiopia. Although the ethnic population of the Qemant was 172,327 at the 1994 census, only a very small fraction of these speak the language nowadays. All speakers live either in Chilga woreda or in Lay Armachiho woreda. The number of first-language speakers is 1625, the number of second language speakers 3450. All speakers of the language are older than 30 years, and more than 75% are older than 50 years. The language is no longer passed on to the next generation of speakers. Most ethnic Qemant people speak Amharic. Qimant is not spoken in public or even at house as a means of day communication any more, but is reduced to a secret code.
It is not clear to what extent Kayla, Qwara and Qimant have been dialects of the same Western Agaw language, or were languages distinct from each other.
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Wikipedia