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Xamtanga

A language of Ethiopia

ISO 639-3: xan

Population	143,000 (1994 census). 93,889 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 158,231 (1994 census).
Region	North Amhara region, Avergele District, Lasta and Waag zones, 100 km north of Weldiya.
Language map	Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia, reference number 85
Alternate names	Agawinya, Khamtanga, Simt’anga, Xamir, Xamta
Dialects	Low inherent intelligibility wtih Qimant [ahg]. Lexical similarity: 45% with Qimant.
Classification	Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, Central, Eastern
Language use	A few Xamir do not speak Xamtanga, but most do. There is an association of Xamtanga speakers in Weldiya. 11,026 L2 speakers. Positive attitude. Also use Amharic [amh].
Language development	Literacy rate in L2: 7%.
Writing system	Ethiopic script.
Comments	Surrounded by Amharic and Tigrigna [tir] speakers. A different language from Awngi [awn], also sometimes called ‘Agaw’. The people are called ‘Xamir’. SOV. Agriculturalists: wheat, sorghum. Christian.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

DEREJE, Sisay; HAILU, Berhamu; WEDEKIND, Klaus, authors. 1995. "Khamir - the people [ʼximra] and their language [ximʼt’aŋa]."

DEREJE, Sisay; HAILU, Berhamu; WEDEKIND, Klaus, authors. 2002. "Sociolinguistic survey report of the Khamir language of Ethiopia."  

JOSWIG, Andreas, author. 2008. Review of Appleyard, David: A Comparative Dictionary of the Agaw Languages.

LEYEW, Zelealem, author. 1994. "First report on a survey of the Shinasha and Agew dialects and languages."

LEYEW, Zelealem, author. 2002. "First report on a survey of the Shinasha and Agew dialects and languages."