Highland East Cushitic languages

Highland East Cushitic or Burji-Sidamo is a branch of the Afroasiatic language family spoken in south-central Ethiopia. They are often grouped with Lowland East Cushitic, Dullay, and Yaaku as East Cushitic. The most popular language is Sidama, with close to two million speakers.

Highland East Cushitic
Sidamic
Geographic distribution	Ethiopia
Linguistic classification	Afro-Asiatic Cushitic East Cushitic Highland East Cushitic
Subdivisions	Burji Sidamic
Language codes
Glottolog	high1285

The languages are:

• • Burji (divergent)
  • Sidamoid (also Sidamic)
    • Sidama
    • Gedeo
    • Hadiyya–Libido
    • Kambaata–Alaba

The four to six Sidamoid languages are all closely related. Hadiyya and Libido are especially close, as are Kambaata and Alaba. Their relationship with Burji is more distant and was first proposed in 1940;^[1] it has been accepted widely but not universally.

Language contact

The Highland East Cushitic languages show parallels in their phonology to the historical development of the southern Ethio-Semitic languages, in particular those of the Gurage group, and may have influenced their development.^[2]