Oromo (Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Oromoo)

Language of the Oromo people, spoken in Northeast Africa and primarily Ethiopia and Kenya, as well as parts of Somalia and Egypt. As a macro language, it is estimated that Oromo is spoken by as many as 30,000,000 people. Oromo is the fourth most widely spoken African language after Arabic, Hausa and Swahili. From the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, it is used as a lingua franca also by non-Oromo groups in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Other Cushitic languages are Somali, Sidamo (Ethiopia), Hadia, Kambata and Afar. The dialects of Oromo fall into 3 main groups: Western (including Wellegga), Eastern (especially Harer) and Southern (e.g. Borena). Dialectical differences do not impede comprehension between people from different communities. Since the early 1970s, the Latin alphabet has been the orthography used for Oromo.

In Ethiopia, Oromo is the most important national language alongside Amharic, and is used in trade, local government and the mass media. There the Oromo people are the largest ethnic group , representing roughly 40% of the population. In Kenya there are roughly 8 different Oromo groups. The original homeland of the Oromo people was in Ethiopia and Northern Kenya.


CLASSIFICATION = Afroasiatic family, SCRIPT = Roman

Courses
Afan Oromo : A guide to speaking the language of Oromo people in Ethiopia ORO CBEG 4
Handbook of the Oromo language ORO CBEG 1
Oromiffa the ez way ORO CBEG 2(PACK)
Oromo: Talk now! ORO CBEG 3(CD-ROM)
Dictionaries
A Galla-English, English-Galla dictionary ORO DICO 1
Grammar
A grammar of Boraana Oromo (Kenya) : phonology, morphology, vocabularies ORO GRAM 1
A grammatical sketch of written Oromo ORO GRAM 2
Modern Afan Oromo Grammar ORO GRAM 3
Vocabulary
Oromo für Äthiopien & Nordkenia : Wort für Wort ORO VOCAB 1