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Afro-Asiatic

Definitions of Afro-Asiatic
  1. noun
    a large family of related languages spoken both in Asia and Africa
    synonyms: Afrasian, Afrasian language, Afroasiatic, Afroasiatic language, Hamito-Semitic
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    types:
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    Chad, Chadic, Chadic language
    a family of Afroasiatic tonal languages (mostly two tones) spoken in the regions west and south of Lake Chad in north central Africa
    Semitic
    a major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family
    Hamitic, Hamitic language
    a group of languages in northern Africa related to Semitic
    Egyptian
    the ancient and now extinct language of Egypt under the Pharaohs; written records date back to 3000 BC
    Berber
    a cluster of related dialects that were once the major language of northern Africa west of Egypt; now spoken mostly in Morocco
    Cushitic
    a group of languages spoken in Ethiopia and Somalia and northwestern Kenya and adjacent regions
    Omotic
    a group of related languages spoken in a valley of southern Ethiopia; closely related to Cushitic languages
    West Chadic
    a group of Chadic languages spoken in northern Nigeria; Hausa in the most important member
    Biu-Mandara
    a group of Chadic languages spoken in the border area between Cameroon and Nigeria south of Lake Chad
    East Chadic
    a group of Chadic languages spoken in Chad
    Masa
    an independent group of closely related Chadic languages spoken in the area between the Biu-Mandara and East Chadic languages
    Akkadian
    an ancient branch of the Semitic languages
    Amharic, Ethiopian language
    the dominant and official language of Ethiopia; a Semitic language much influenced by the Cushitic language with which Amhara have been in close contact
    Arabic, Arabic language
    the Semitic language of the Arabs; spoken in a variety of dialects
    Aramaic
    a Semitic language originally of the ancient Arameans but still spoken by other people in southwestern Asia
    Maltese, Maltese language, Malti
    the national language of the Republic of Malta; a Semitic language derived from Arabic but with many loan words from Italian, Spanish, and Norman-French
    Canaanitic, Canaanitic language
    a group of Semitic languages
    Coptic
    the liturgical language of the Coptic Church used in Egypt and Ethiopia; written in the Greek alphabet
    Tuareg
    the dialect of Berber spoken by the Tuareg
    Somali
    the Cushitic language spoken by the Somali
    type of:
    natural language, tongue
    a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language
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