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| Tigre | |
|---|---|
| ትግሬ (Təgré),ትግራይት (Tigrayit) | |
| Native to | Eritrea,Sudan[1] |
| Region | Anseba,Gash-Barka,Northern Red Sea,Red Sea State |
| Ethnicity | Tigre |
Native speakers | 1 million (2022–2024)[1] |
| Dialects | Mansa (Mensa), Habab, Beni-Amir, Semhar, Algeden, Senhit (Ad-Tekleis, Ad-Temariam, Bet-Juk, Marya Kayah) |
| Geʽez script (Tigre abugida) Arabic script | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | tig |
| ISO 639-3 | tig |
| Glottolog | tigr1270 |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Tigre (ትግሬ,[4][5]Təgré[6]), also known asTigrayit (ትግራይት),[1] is anEthio-Semitic language spoken in theHorn of Africa, primarily by theTigre people of Eritrea.[7] 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 Church andEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Tigre has alexical similarity of 71% with Ge’ez and of 64% with Tigrinya.[1] As of 1997, Tigre was spoken by approximately 800,000 Tigre people in Eritrea.[8] 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 thediaspora.[1]
The Tigre people are not to be confused with their neighbors to the south, theTigrinya people of Eritrea and theTigrayans of Ethiopia, both of whom speak Tigrinya. Tigrinya is also derived from the parent Geʽez tongue[citation needed], but is quite distinct from Tigre despite the similarity in name.
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%.[9]
Tigre speakers in Sudan also call the language "hāsā".[6] However the term 'Hasa', and in other variations of names such as 'Xasa' or 'Khasa' is considered pejorative by the Tigre.[9]
The cardinal and ordinal numbers in Tigre are as follows:
| Number | Cardinal | Ordinal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neutral | Masculine | Feminine | |
| 1 | አሮ,’aro | ሐቴ,ḥate orሐንቴ,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,ḥams orሐሙስ,ḥamus | ሐምስ,ḥams | |||
| 6 | ስእስ,si’es orሱስ,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 -ay is added and respective -ayt to describe the feminine form.
Tigre has preserved the twopharyngeal consonants of 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 transcribedä in 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 anepenthetic vowel that is introduced to break up consonant clusters.
| 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 | ||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ⟨ə⟩ | u |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a,aː⟨ā⟩ |
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 bygemination as amorphological process; there are few, if any, long consonants in word roots. Gemination is especially prominent in verb morphology.
Nouns are of two genders, masculine and feminine.
As with other Semitic languages, specifically feminine forms, where they exist, are often formed of an element with anaffix:
In a similar way, sound-changes can also mark the difference between singular and plural:
Personal pronouns distinguish "you, masculine" and "you, feminine" in both singular and plural:
The possessive pronouns appear (a) suffixed to the noun, (b) as separate words:
The verb "to be":
The verb "to be", past tense:
The verb "to have":
and so on, with the last word in each case:
The verb "to have": past tense, using a feminine noun as an example:
and so on, with the last word in each case:
Since around 1889, theGeʽez script (Ethiopic script) has been used to write the Tigre language. Tigre speakers formerly usedArabic more widely as a lingua franca.[10] The Bible has been translated into the Tigre language.[11]
The Ge'ez script is anabugida, with each character representing a consonant and vowel combination. Ge'ez and its script are also called Ethiopic. The script has been modified slightly to write Tigre and is mainly employed by the Eritrean government and Christian speakers.
| 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 | ||
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The Arabic script is anabjad, meaning only consonants are represented by each character, and diacritics are used for vowels. This script is used more commonly by Muslim speakers.
| Isolated | IPA | Transcription |
|---|---|---|
| ا | none or/ʔ/ | |
| ب | /b/ | b |
| پ | /p/ | p |
| ت | /t/ | t |
| ث | /s/ | s |
| ج | /dʒ/ | j |
| ح | /ħ/ | ḥ |
| خ | /x/ | x |
| د | /d/ | d |
| ذ | /z/ | z |
| ر | /r/ | r |
| ز | /z/ | z |
| ژ | /ʒ/ | ž |
| س | /s/ | s |
| ش | /ʃ/ | š |
| ڛ | /tʃ/ | c |
| ص | /s’/ | s’ |
| ض | /d/ | d |
| ط | /t’/ | t’ |
| ظ | /z/ | z |
| ڟ | /tʃ’/ | c’ |
| ع | /ʕ/ | ʕ |
| غ | /g/ | g |
| ف | /f/ | f |
| ڥ | /p’/ | p’ |
| ق | /k’/ | q |
| ك | /k/ | k |
| ل | /l/ | l |
| م | /m/ | m |
| ن | /n/ | n |
| ه | /h/ | h |
| و | /w/ | w |
| ي | /j/ | y |
| Diacritic/Letter | IPA | Transcription |
|---|---|---|
| َ | /ɐ/ | a |
| ِ | /i/ | i |
| ُ | /u/ | u |
| ْ | none or/ɨ/ | none or ə |
| آ,اَ | /aː/ | a |
| ِـي | /e/ | e |
| ُـو | /o/ | o |
Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights:[12]
| 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 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
