Lowland East Cushitic languages in the context of "Somalis"

⭐ In the context of Somalis, the Somali language is considered a key element of their identity, but to which broader linguistic grouping does it belong?

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⭐ Core Definition: Lowland East Cushitic languages

Lowland East Cushitic is a group of roughly two dozen diverse languages of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Its largest representatives are Oromo and Somali.

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👉 Lowland East Cushitic languages in the context of Somalis

Somalis (/sˈmɑːliz, səˈmɑːliz/, sə-MAH-leez) (Somali: Soomaalida, Wadaad: صومالِدَ‎, Arabic: الصوماليون) are a Cushitic ethnic group and nation who are native to the Somali Peninsula, and share a common ancestry, culture and history.

The East Cushitic Somali language is the shared mother tongue of ethnic Somalis, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are predominantly Sunni Muslim. Forming one of the largest ethnic groups on the continent, they cover one of the most expansive landmasses by a single ethnic group in Africa.

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Lowland East Cushitic languages in the context of East Cushitic languages

The East Cushitic languages are a branch of Cushitic within the Afroasiatic phylum. Prominent East Cushitic languages include Oromo, Somali, and Sidama. The unity of East Cushitic has been contested: Robert Hetzron suggested combining the Highland East Cushitic languages with the Agaw languages into a "Highland Cushitic" branch, while most other scholars follow Martino Mario Moreno (it) in seeing Highland and Lowland as two branches of East Cushitic.

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Lowland East Cushitic languages in the context of 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.

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