Harari language

Grammar

Nouns

Number

Wolf Leslau discusses Harari–East Gurage phonology and grammar: The noun has two numbers, singular and plural. The affix -ač changes singulars into plurals:

abōč 'a man'; abōčač 'men'

wandaq 'a servant'; wandaqač 'servants'

gar 'a house'; garač 'houses'

Nouns ending in a or i become plural without reduplicating this letter:

gafa 'a slave'; gafač 'slaves'

gumna 'a harlot'; gumnač 'harlots'

liği 'a son'; liğiyač 'sons'

qabri 'a grave'; qabriyač 'graves'

/s/ alternates with /z/:

färäz 'a horse'; färäzač 'horses'

iraaz 'toga'; iraazač 'togas'

Gender

Masculine nouns may be converted into feminines by three processes. The first changes the terminal vowel into -it, or adds -it to the terminal consonant:

rágá 'an old man'; rágít 'an old woman'

buchí 'male dog'; buchít 'female dog'

wasíf 'a slave boy'; wasífít 'a slave girl'

Animals of different sexes have different names. and this forms the second process:

bárá 'an ox'; lám 'a cow'

The third and the most common way of expressing sex is by means of korma 'male or man' and inistí 'woman, female', corresponding to English "he-" and "she-":

korma faraz 'a stallion'; inistí faraz 'a mare'

korma baqal 'a he-mule'; inistí basal 'a she-mule'

Pronouns

The affixed pronouns or possessives attached to nouns are:

Singular.

1st Pers. – e, my or mine. : Gár-e, my house.

2nd Pers. – khá, thy or thine. Gár-khá, thy house.

3rd Pers. – zo, or – so, his. Gár-zo, his house.

Plural.

1st Pers. – zinya or sinya, our. : Gár-zinya, our house.

2nd Pers. – kho, your. Gár-kho, your house.

3rd Pers. – ziyu or siyu, their. Gár-ziyu, their house. (384)

In the same way attached pronouns are affixed to verbs:

Sit-ayn: give (thou to) me.

Sit-ana: give (thou to) us.

The demonstrative pronouns are:

Sing. Yí, this.

Yá', that.

Plur. Yíách, these.

Yá'ách, those.

The interrogative pronouns are the following:

Mántá: who?

Mintá: what?

Án atti'e hárkho: I myself went.

Akhákh attikha hárkhí: thou thyself wentest.

Azo attiizo hára: he himself went.

Verbs

The following are the two auxiliary verbs:

Past tense

Sing. 1. I became: Án ikaní náarkho.

2. Thou becamest: Akhákh tikání nárkhí.

3. He became: Azo ikáni nárá.

Plur. 1. We became: Innách nikání nárná.

2. Ye became: Akhákhách tikání nárkhú.

3. They became: Aziyách ikání nárú.

Present tense

Sing. 1. I become: Án ikánákh.

2. Thou becomest: Akhákh tikánákh.

3. He becomes: Azo ikánál.

Plur. 1. We become: Inyách nikánáná.

2. Ye become: Akhákhách tikánákhu.

3. They become: Aziyách yikánálú.

Imperative

Become thou, "Kanni". Become ye, "Kánnú".

Prohibitive

Sing. 2. Become not, ikánnumekh.

Plur. 2. Become not ye, tikánnumekhu.

Past tense

(Affirmative form)

Sing. 1. I went, Án letkho.

2. Thous wentest, Akhákh letkhí.

3. He went, Azo leta.

Plur. 1. We went, Inyách letna.

2. Ye went, Akhákhách letkhú.

3. They went, Aziyách letú.

(Negative form)

Sing. 1. I went not, Án alletkhúm.

2. Thou wentest not, Akbákh alletkhím.

3. He went not, Azo alletám.

Plur. 1. We went not, Inyách aletnám.

2. Ye went not, Akhákách alletkhúm.

3. They went not, Azziyách alletúm.

Present tense.

(Affirmative form)

1. I go, Án iletákh 1. Inyásh niletáná.

2. Thou goest, Akhákh tiletínakh 2. Akhákhách tiletákhú.

3. He goes, Azo yiletál 3. Azziyách yiletálú.

(Negative form)

Sing. 1. I go not, Án iletumekh.

2. Thou goest not, Akhákh tiletumekh.

3. He goes not, Azo yiletumel.

Plur. 1. We go not, Inyách niletumena.

2. Ye go not, Akhákhach tiletumekhú.

3. They go not, Azziyách iletuelú.

Sing. 1. I will go, Án iletle halkho.

2. Thou wilt go, Akháhk tiletle halkhí.

3. He will go, Azo iletle hal.

Plur. 1. We will go, Inyách niletle halns.

2. Ye will go, Akhákhách tiletle halkhú.

3. They will go, Azziyách niletle halns.

Writing system

Harari today is generally written in three scripts. It was originally written in an unmodified and now in a standardized modified Arabic Script. The Ethiopic script was then adopted to write Harari in the 1990s. There is a Latin version of the script used by the Harari diaspora.

Historically the language was also written in native Harari secret script until the late 70s. French trader Alfred Barday stated in the mid 19th century that the traditional Harari script had ceased to be utilized.

Harari Arabic script

Harari Arabic script consists of 36 letters, made up of the original 28 Arabic letters, plus 8 additional letters for sounds unique to Harari or to loanwords of European origin. 8 of the original 28 letters are only used for writing of loanwords of Arabic origin (shown in beige in the table below). 2 of the 8 new letters are only used for writing of loanwords of European origin (shown in green in the table below).

Harari Arabic script is also made up of 5 vowel diacritics. A unique and noteworthy feature of this script is that it indicates stressed syllables in an explicit manner, as explained in the following section.

Vowel markings table

In Harari Arabic script, there are 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u). These vowels are shown with the three Arabic diacritics (a, i, u), plus two additional diacritics (e, o). Furthermore, in Harari Arabic script, vowels are also distinguished by length, indicated by mater lectionis letters, and by stress, indicated by a combination of hamza and mater lectionis letters.

Modified Ge'ez script

Harari can be written in the unmodified Ethiopic script as most vowel differences can be disambiguated from context. The Harari adaptation of the Ethiopic script adds a long vowel version of the Ethiopic/Amharic vowels by adding a dot on top of the letter. In addition certain consonants are pronounced differently when compared to the Amharic pronunciation.

The table below shows the Harari alphasyllabary with the Romanized, Arabic equivalence, and IPA representation along the rows and the Romanized vowel markings along the columns.

Notes

• Gemination can be done by simply writing the "∅/ə" variation of a letter before the letter itself.
• Stressed vowels can be written by following a letter with እ (The "no-vowel" variation of the "a" letter)
  • For example, the Harari demonstrative pronoun yaʼ (يَأْ) is written as የእ
• Formerly, long-e (ê) and long-i (î) were represented by adding እ (y) after the character. Now, a dot diacritic is preferred instead.
• Formerly, Long-o (ô) and long-u (û) were represented by adding ው (w) after the character Now, a dot diacritic is preferred instead.

Modified Latin script

Teble below shows the Latin script, modified and adapted for Harari language.

Notes

• The Harari Latin Alphabet has eight digraphs: ch, dh, gh, gn, kh, sh, xh, and zh. It is possible to have a geminated (double) consonant. In the case of digraphs, only the initial letter is doubled, i.e. “dh” followed by “dh” is written as “ddh” ፅፅ / ذّ)
• The apostrophe character has multiple functions in Harari Latin orthography:
  1. It indicates that the preceding consonant is an isolated consonant and not part of a digraph, e.g. hêgʼna (ሔ́ግነ / حٛىݘْنَ - replace), i.e. gʼn is “g+n” rather than “gn”.
  2. It distinguishes between a geminated digraph and a consonant followed by digraph, magʼgna (መግኘ / مَݘْڹَ - throwing) i.e. gʼgn is “g+gn” rather than “ggn”.
  3. It separates a consonant and a following independent vowel, Gaz’i (ገዝኢ / چَزْإِ - God)
  4. If following a vowel, it indicates that the vowel is stressed, raʼyi (ረእዪ / رَأْيِ - idea) or usuʼ (ኡሱእ / أُسُؤْ - person).

Sample Text

Below is a sample text, in the three scripts for Harari.

Numerals

• 1. Ahad
• 2. Ko'ot
• 3. Shi'ishti
• 4. Haret
• 5. Ham'misti
• 6. Siddisti
• 7. Sa'ati
• 8. Su'ut
• 9. Zahtegn
• 10. Assir
• 11. Asra ahad
• 12. Asra ko'ot
• 13. Asra shi'ishti
• 14. Asra haret
• 15. Asra ham'misti
• 16. Asra siddisti
• 17. Asra sa'ati
• 18. Asra su'ut
• 19. Asra zahtegn
• 20. Kuya
• 30. Saasa
• 40. Arbîn
• 50. Hamsein
• 60. Sit'tin
• 70. Sa'ati asir
• 80. Su'ut asir
• 90. Zahtana
• 100. Baqla
• 1,000. Kum or Alfi