Tigre language

Not to be confused withTigrinya language.

Tigre(ትግሬ,Təgré), also known asTigrayit(ትግራይት),is anEthio-Semiticlanguage spoken in theHorn of Africa,primarily by theTigre peopleof Eritrea.It is believed to be the most closely related living language toGe'ez,which is still in use as the liturgical language of theEritrean Orthodox Tewahedo ChurchandEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.Tigre has alexical similarityof 71% with Ge’ez and of 64% with Tigrinya.As of 1997, Tigre was spoken by approximately 800,000 Tigre people in Eritrea.The Tigre mainly inhabit western Eritrea, though they also reside in the northern highlands of Eritrea and its extension into the adjacent parts of Sudan, as well as Eritrea's Red Sea coast north ofZula.There is a small number of Tigre speakers in Sudan, as well as communities of speakers found in the diaspora.

Tigre
ትግሬ(Təgré),ትግራይት(Tigrayit)
Native to	Eritrea,Sudan
Region	Anseba,Gash-Barka,Northern Red Sea,Red Sea State
Ethnicity	Tigre
Native speakers	890,000 (2022)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic South Semitic Ethiopic North Tigre
Dialects	Mansa (Mensa), Habab, Beni-Amir, Semhar, Algeden, Senhit (Ad-Tekleis, Ad-Temariam, Bet-Juk, Marya Kayah)
Writing system	Tigre alphabet (Geʽez script),Arabic script
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Eritrea Sudan
Language codes
ISO 639-2	tig
ISO 639-3	tig
Glottolog	tigr1270

The Tigre people are not to be confused with their neighbors to the south, theTigrinya peopleof Eritrea and theTigrayansof Ethiopia, both of whom speak Tigrinya. Tigrinya is also derived from the parent Geʽez tongue,but is quite distinct from Tigre despite the similarity in name.

Dialects

There are several dialects of Tigre, some of them are; Mansa’ (Mensa), Habab, Barka, Semhar, Algeden, Senhit (Ad-Tekleis, Ad-Temariam, Bet-Juk, Marya Kayah) andDahalik,which is spoken in theDahlak Archipelago.Intelligibility between the dialects is above 91% (except Dahalik), where intelligibility between Dahalik and the other dialects is between 24% and 51%.

Tigre speakers in Sudan also call the language "hāsā".

Vocabulary

Numerals

The cardinal and ordinal numbers in Tigre are as follows:

Number	Cardinal		Ordinal
	Masculine	Feminine	Neutral	Masculine	Feminine
1	አሮ,’aro	ሐቴ,ḥateorሐንቴ,ḥante	አወል,’awel	አወላይ,’awelay	አወላይት,’awelayit
			ቀዳም,q’edam	ቀዳማይ,q’edamay	ቀዳሚት,q’edamit
2	ክልኤ,kili’ē		ከልእ,kel’	ከለኣይ,kele’ay	ከለኣይት,kele’ayt
3	ሰለአስ,sel’ās		ሰልስ,sals
4	አርበዕ,’arbaʽe		ረብዕ,rabʽe
5	ሐምስ,ḥamsorሐሙስ,ḥamus		ሐምስ,ḥams
6	ስእስ,si’esorሱስ,sus		ሰድስ,sads
7	ሰቡዕ,sebuʽi		ሰብዕ,sabʽe
8	ሰመን,seman		ሰምን,samn
9	ሰዕ,siʽe		ተስዕ,tasʽe
10	ዐስር,ʽasr		ዐስር,ʽasr
11	ዐስር-ሐተ,ʽasr-hatte
20	ዕስረ,ʽisra
21	ዕስረ ወሐተ,ʽisra w ḥate
30	ሰለሰ,selasa
40	አርበዐ,arbaʽa
50	ሐምሰ,ḥamsa
100	ምእት,mi’et
200	ክልኤ ምእት,kil’e mi’et
300	ሰለአስ ምእት,seles mi’et
1000	አልፍ,’alf

Ordinal numbers have both feminine and masculine form. To describe the masculine form -ayis added and respective -aytto describe the feminine form.

Phonology

Tigre has preserved the twopharyngeal consonantsof Ge'ez. The Ge'ez vowel inventory has almost been preserved except that the two vowels which are phonetically close to[ɐ]and [a] seem to have evolved into a pair of phonemes which have the same quality (the same articulation) but differ in length; [a] vs.[aː].The original phonemic distinction according to quality survives in Tigrinya. The vowel[ɐ],traditionally named "first order vowel", is most commonly transcribedäin Semitic linguistics.

The phonemes of Tigre are displayed below in bothInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA) symbols (indicated by the IPA brackets) and the symbols common (though not universal) among linguists who work onEthiopian Semitic languages.For the long vowel/aː/,the symbol 'ā' is used per Raz (1983). Three consonants, /p, p', x/, occur only in a small number of loanwords, hence they are written in parentheses.

As in otherEthiopian Semitic languages,the phonemic status of/ə/is questionable; it may be possible to treat it as anepentheticvowel that is introduced to break up consonant clusters.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Stop	voiceless	(p)	t	tʃ⟨č⟩	k		ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ⟨ǧ⟩	ɡ
	ejective	(pʼ)	tʼ	tʃʼ⟨č'⟩	kʼ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ⟨š⟩	(x)	ħ	h
	voiced		z	ʒ⟨ž⟩		ʕ
	ejective		sʼ
Approximant			l	j⟨y⟩	w
Rhotic			r

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ⟨ə⟩	u
Mid	e		o
Open		a,aː⟨ā⟩

Consonant length

Consonant length is phonemic in Tigre (that is, a pair of words can be distinct by consonant length alone), although there are few such minimal pairs. Some consonants do not occur long; these include the pharyngeal consonants, the glottal consonants,/w/,and/j/.In this language, long consonants arise almost solely bygeminationas amorphologicalprocess; there are few, if any, long consonants in word roots. Gemination is especially prominent in verb morphology.

Grammar

These notes use the spelling adopted by Camperio (1936 – see bibliography) which seems to approximate to Italian rules.

Nouns are of two genders, masculine and feminine.

• Indefinite article: masculineuoro አሮe.g.uoro ennas አሮ እነስ– a man; femininehatte ሐተe.g.hatte sit ሐተ እሲት– a woman.
• The definite article, "the", when expressed, isla ለe.g.ለጸሐይ ወ ለወርሕ– the sun and the moon.

As we might expect from a Semitic language, specifically feminine forms, where they exist, are often formed of an element witht:

• masculine: አድግ ʼadəg- donkey, ass; feminine: እድግሀትʼədgəhat– she-ass;
• masculine: ከልብkalb– dog; feminine: ከልበትkalbat– bitch;
• masculine: ከድመይkadmay– serving man; ከድመይትkadmayt– serving-woman;
• masculine: መምበmamba– lord, master; መምበይትmambayt– lady, mistress.

In a similar way, sound-changes can also mark the difference between singular and plural:

• ነጉስnəgus– king;negüs– kings;
• በሐርbahar– sea; አብሑርʼabhur– seas;
• እሲትʼəsit– woman; አንስʼans– women;
• ወለትwalat– girl; አዋልድ ʼāwaləd– girls;
• መሆርmahor– foal, colt; አምሁር ʼamhur– foals, colts;
• ነቢnabi– prophet; ነቢያትnabiyat– prophets;
• በገዐትbaga‘āt– one sheep; አበግዕ ʼābagəʽ– sheep, plural;
• አርዌ ʼārwē– Snake; አረዊትārawit– snakes, plural;
• ሖግḥog– foot; ሐነግḥanag– feet; plural
• እገርʼəgər– foot; አእጋር ʼā’əgārfeet; plural
• አዘንʼəzən– ear; አእዛንʼaʼəzān– ears;
• ሰዐትsaʽat– hour; ሰዓታትsaʽātāt– hours;
• አንፍʼānəf– nose; አንፎታትʼanfotāt– noses;
• ህዳይhədāy– wedding; ህዳያትhədāyāt– weddings;
• አብʼāb– father; አበውʼābaw– fathers;
• እምʼəm– mother; እመወትʼəmawat– mothers;
• ኮኮብkokob– star;ከዋክብkawākəb– stars;
• ጓነgʷāna– foreigner;ጓኖታትgʷānotāt– foreigners;
• ረአስraʼas– head; አርእስ ʼarʼəs– heads;
• ጸፍርṣəfər– paw, hoof; አጸፍርʼāṣfār– claws, hooves;
• ከብድkabəd– belly; አክቡድʼākbud– bellies.
• ልበስləbas- ልበሰትləbasatclothes

Personal pronouns distinguish "you, masculine" and "you, feminine" in both singular and plural:

• አነ ʼana– I, me
• እንታʼənta– you, singular, masculine
• እንቲʼənti– you, singular, feminine
• ህቱhətu– he, him, it (masc.)
• ህታhəti– she, her, it (fem.)
• ሕነhənna– we, us
• እንቱምʼəntum– you, plural, masculine
• እንትንʼəntən– you, plural, feminine
• ህቶምhətom– they, them, masculine
• ህተንhəten– they, them, feminine

The possessive pronouns appear (a) suffixed to the noun, (b) as separate words:

• my – (a)-yaየ example:kətābyaክታብየ- my book; (b)nāyናየ with masculine nouns;nāya ናየwith feminine nouns;
• your (sing. mas. & fem.) – (a)-kaካ example:kətābkaክታብካ- your book; (b) with masc.nāyka ናይካ,with fem.nāyki ናይኪ;
• his – (a)-u -ኡexamplekətābu ክታቡ– his book; (b) with masc.nāyu ናዩ,with fem.nāya ናያ;
• our – (a)-na ናexamplekətābna ክታብና– our book; (b) with masc.nāyna ናይና,with fem.nāyna ናይና;
• your (pl. masc. & fem.) – (a)-kum ኩም(a)-kən ክንexamplekətabkumክታብኩም/ክታብክን- your book; (b) with masc.nāykum ናይኩም,with fem.nāykən ናይክን;
• their –-om -ኦምexamplekətābomክታቦም- their book; (b) with masc.nāyom,ናዮም with fem.nāyan ናየን.

The verb "to be":

• ana halleco (o) tu– አና ሀለኮ I am; negative:ihallecoኢሀለኮ- I'm not;
• enta halleco (o) tu– እንታ ህሌካ you (sing. masc.) are; neg.ihallecoኢሀለኮ- you're not;
• enti hallechi tu– እንቲ ሀሌኪ you (sing. fem.) are; neg.ihallecoኢሀለኮ;
• hötu halla tuህቱ ሀላ- he is; neg.ihallaኢሀላ;
• höta hallet tuህታ ሀሌት – she is; neg.ihalletኢሀሌት;
• henna hallena tuሕና ሀሌና – we are; neg.ihallenaኢሀሌና;
• entum hallecum tuእንቱም ሀሌኩም- you (pl. masc.) are; neg.ihallecumኢሀሌኩም;
• entim hallechen tuእንትን ሀሌክን- you (pl. fem.) are; neg.ihallecumኢሀሌክን;
• hötön hallaa tomህተን ሀሌያ- they (masc.) are; neg.ihallaoኢሀሌያ;
• hötön halleia ten ህተን ሀሌያ– they (fem.) are; neg.ihallaoኢሀሌያ.

The verb "to be", past tense:

• ...alcoዐልኮ- I was; negative:iálco ኢዐልኮ- I wasn't;
• ...alcaዐልካ- you (sing. masc.) were; neg.iálca ኢዐልካ;
• ...alchiዐልኪ- you (sing. fem.) were; neg.iálca ኢዐልኪ;
• ...alaዐላ- he was; neg.iála ኢዐላ;
• ...aletዐለት- she was; neg.iállet ኢዐለት;
• ...alnaዐልና- we were; neg.iálna ኢዐልና;
• ...alcumዐልኩም- you (pl. masc.) were; neg.iálcum ኢዐልኩም;
• ...alchenዐልክን- you (pl. fem.) were; neg.iálcum ኢዐልክን;
• ...alouዐለው- they (masc.) were; neg.iálou ኢዐለው;
• ...alaiaዐለያ- they (fem.) were; neg.iáleia ኢዐለያ.

The verb "to have":

• Uoro chitab bi-e ዎሮ ኪታብ ብየ– I have a book
• Uoro chitab bö-caዎሮ ክታብ ብካ- You (sing. masc.) have a book,

and so on, with the last word in each case:

• ...be-chiብኪ – you (sing. fem.), etc.
• ...buቡ – he...
• ...ba በ– she...
• ...be-naብና- we...
• ...be-cumብኩም- you (pl. masc.)...
• ...be-chinብክን- you (pl.fem.)...
• ...bomቦም- they (masc.)...
• ...benበን- they (fem.)...

The verb "to have": past tense, using a feminine noun as an example:

• Hatte bēt álet-ilu ሐተ ቤት ዐልት እሉ– He had a house
• Hatte bēt álet-ilkaሐተ ቤት ዐልት እልካ- You (sing. masc.) you had a house,

and so on, with the last word in each case:

• ...el-ki እልኪ– you (sing. fem.) had a house,
• ...álet-olluዐለት እሉ- he had, etc.
• ...el-laዐለት እላ- she had...
• ...ilnaዐለት እልና- we had...
• ...elkumዐለት እልኩም- you pl. masc.) had...
• ...el-k-nዐለት እልክን- you (pl. fem.) had...
• ...el-om ዐለት እሎም- they (masc.) had...
• ...el-lenዐለት እለን- they (fem.) had...

Writing system

Since around 1889, theGe'ez script(Ethiopic script) has been used to write the Tigre language. Tigre speakers formerly usedArabicmore widely as a lingua franca.The Bible has been translated into the Tigre language.

Ge'ez script

See also:Ge'ez script § Adaptations to other languages

Ge'ez script is anabugida,with each character representing a consonant+vowel combination. Ge'ez and its script are also called Ethiopic. The script has been modified slightly to write Tigre.

Tigre Ge'ez Script

	ä	u	i	a	e	ə	o	wä	wi	wa	we	wə
h	ሀ	ሁ	ሂ	ሃ	ሄ	ህ	ሆ
l	ለ	ሉ	ሊ	ላ	ሌ	ል	ሎ
ḥ	ሐ	ሑ	ሒ	ሓ	ሔ	ሕ	ሖ
m	መ	ሙ	ሚ	ማ	ሜ	ም	ሞ
r	ረ	ሩ	ሪ	ራ	ሬ	ር	ሮ
s	ሰ	ሱ	ሲ	ሳ	ሴ	ስ	ሶ
š	ሸ	ሹ	ሺ	ሻ	ሼ	ሽ	ሾ
ḳ	ቀ	ቁ	ቂ	ቃ	ቄ	ቅ	ቆ	ቈ	ቊ	ቋ	ቌ	ቍ
b	በ	ቡ	ቢ	ባ	ቤ	ብ	ቦ
t	ተ	ቱ	ቲ	ታ	ቴ	ት	ቶ
č	ቸ	ቹ	ቺ	ቻ	ቼ	ች	ቾ
ḫ	ኀ	ኁ	ኂ	ኃ	ኄ	ኅ	ኆ	ኈ	ኊ	ኋ	ኌ	ኍ
n	ነ	ኑ	ኒ	ና	ኔ	ን	ኖ
ʾ	አ	ኡ	ኢ	ኣ	ኤ	እ	ኦ
k	ከ	ኩ	ኪ	ካ	ኬ	ክ	ኮ	ኰ	ኲ	ኳ	ኴ	ኵ
w	ወ	ዉ	ዊ	ዋ	ዌ	ው	ዎ
ʿ	ዐ	ዑ	ዒ	ዓ	ዔ	ዕ	ዖ
z	ዘ	ዙ	ዚ	ዛ	ዜ	ዝ	ዞ
ž	ዠ	ዡ	ዢ	ዣ	ዤ	ዥ	ዦ
y	የ	ዩ	ዪ	ያ	ዬ	ይ	ዮ
d	ደ	ዱ	ዲ	ዳ	ዴ	ድ	ዶ
ǧ	ጀ	ጁ	ጂ	ጃ	ጄ	ጅ	ጆ
g	ገ	ጉ	ጊ	ጋ	ጌ	ግ	ጎ	ጐ	ጒ	ጓ	ጔ	ጕ
ṭ	ጠ	ጡ	ጢ	ጣ	ጤ	ጥ	ጦ
č̣	ጨ	ጩ	ጪ	ጫ	ጬ	ጭ	ጮ
p̣	ጰ	ጱ	ጲ	ጳ	ጴ	ጵ	ጶ
ṣ	ጸ	ጹ	ጺ	ጻ	ጼ	ጽ	ጾ
f	ፈ	ፉ	ፊ	ፋ	ፌ	ፍ	ፎ
p	ፐ	ፑ	ፒ	ፓ	ፔ	ፕ	ፖ
	ä	u	i	a	e	ə	o	wä	wi	wa	we	wə

Sample text

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights:

Tigre text	English text
ክሎም ውላድ ሚንኣደም ምን አምዕል ተውሊደቶም እንዴ አንበተው ሑር ወአክልሕድቶም። አክልሕድ ላቱ ሕቁቅ ወሕሽመት ቦም። ደሚር ወእህትማም ለትሀየበው ኽሉቃም ሰበት ቶም ኖስ-ኖሶም አድሕድ እግል ለሐሽሞ ወልርሐሞ ወጅቦም።	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
kəlom wəlad minəʼadäm mən ʼäməʻəl täwəlidätom ʼənədē ʼänəbätäw ḥur waʼäkələḥədətom. ʼäkələḥəd latu ḥəquq waḥəšəmät bom. dämir waʼəhətəmam lätəhäyäbäw xəluqam säbät tom nosə-nosom ʼädəḥəd ʼəgəl läḥäšəmo walərəḥämo waǧəbom.

Basic sentences:

Tigre text	Translation
ሐየት እት ልርእው፣ እብ አሰሩ ሐዙው	When they see a lion, they seek it through its tracks.
ህኩይ ድራሩ ንኩይ	Lazy's dinner is less
ህግየ ፍ’ደት ምን ገብእ። አዚም ደሀብ ቱ	When speaking is an obligation, silence is golden
ምህሮ ኖርቱ ወቅዌት ጽልመት፣	Knowledge is brightness and ignorance darkness.

Other samples:

Tigre text
ሐል ክም እም ኢትገብእ ወጸሓይ ወርሕ ክም አምዕል
ለኢልትሐሜ ኢልትሐመድ፣
ለቤለ ለአሰምዕ ወለዘብጠ ለአደምዕ፣
ሐሊብ መ ውላዱ ሔሰዩ፣
ሐምቅ ሐምቁ ምን ረክብ ዜነት ለአፈግር፣
ምስል ብርድ አከይ ፍርድ

See also

• Beni-Amer people
• Tigre people

External links

• Online Tigre Language Tutorial By Omar M. Kekia
• Woldemikael, Tekle M. 2003. Language, Education, and Public Policy in Eritrea.African Studies Review,Apr 2003.
• Modaina: History and Language of the Tigre-Speaking Peoples
• Tigre in Mozilla Common Voice

Bibliography

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• Elias, David L. (2005).Tigre of Habab: Short Grammar and Texts from the Rigbat People.Ph.D dissertation. Harvard University.
• Elias, David L. (2014).The Tigre Language of Gindaˁ, Eritrea: Short Grammar and Texts.(Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 75.) Brill.
• Leslau, Wolf.(1945)Short Grammar of Tigré.Publications of the American Oriental Society, Offprint Series, No. 18. New Haven: American Oriental Society.
• Leslau, Wolf. (1945), "The Verb in Tigré", in:Journal of the American Oriental Society65/1, pp. 1–26.
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• Littmann, Enno. (1898), "Das Verbum der Tigre-Sprache", in:Zeitschrift für Assyrologie13, pp. 133–178; 14, pp. 1–102.
• Littmann, Enno. (1910–15).Publications of the Princeton expedition to Abyssinia,4 vols. in 4, Leyden.
• Littmann, Enno. and Höfner, Maria. (1962)Wörterbuch der Tigrē-Sprache: Tigrē-Deutsch-Englisch.Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag.
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• Palmer, F.R. (1962).The morphology of the Tigre noun.London: Oxford University Press.
• Raz, Shlomo. (1980). "Tigre syntax and Semitic Ethiopian", in:Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies43/2, pp. 235–250.
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• Voigt, Rainer and Saleh Mahmud Idris. Zu einer neuen Grammatik des Tigre.Aethiopica19 (2016, pub. 2017), 245–263.