Key facts
- Native to
- Ethiopia
- Region
- Sidama region
- Ethnicity
- 5.1 million Sidama (2022)
- Native speakers
- 4.9 million (2022)
- Language family
- Afro-Asiatic Cushitic Highland East Sidama
- Writing system
- Latin
- Iso 639 2
- sid
- Iso 639 3
- sid
- Glottolog
- sida1246
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Show 4 more facts
- Wikimedia language code
- sid
- number of speakers, writers, or signers
- 1800000
- P10369
- silbo Gomero
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Article
Sidama or Sidaamu Afoo is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Highland East Cushitic branch of the Cushitic family. It is spoken in parts of southern Ethiopia by the Sidama people, particularly in the densely populated Sidama National Regional State (SNRS). Sidaamu Afoo is the ethnic autonym for the language, while Sidaminya is its name in Amharic. It is not known to have any specific dialects. The word order is typically SOV. Sidaama has over 100,000 L2 speakers. The literacy rate for L1 speakers is 1%-5%, while for L2 speakers it is 20%. In terms of its writing, Sidaama used an Ethiopic script up until 1993, from which point forward it has used a Latin script.
Terminology and classification