Children whose mothers are from Goze or Fofara have Argobba as their first language; the children whose mothers are not from Goze or Fofara have Amharic as their first language. Among the Goze
interviewees’ mothers and spouses, only four out of twelve are from either Goze or Fofara. Three older interviewees in Goze are mother tongue Argobba speakers, while Amharic is the first
language for the three younger ones see Table 1. The younger interviewees understand Argobba. Two mothers, one father and one wife are monolingual in Amharic. One father, one mother and two wives
can speak Oromo. Parents or spouses who were born in Gidim, Kurangoge or Sanbate have Amharic as their first
language. They can speak Oromo, too. Parents or spouses who were born in Goze or Fofara have Argobba as their first language. They also speak Amharic as a second language.
Eight women three mothers and five wives are not from Goze or Fofara; that is, they are from non- Argobba-speaking villages. Hence, their children three respondents and the children of five respondents
have Amharic as their first language. Specifically, the mothers of the three respondents whose first language is Amharic were from Gidim 2 and Kurangoge 1, and the five wives whose children are
mother tongue Amharic speakers were from Gidim 2, Kurangoge 2 and Sanbate 1. One of the spouses was from Fofara, and her children are mother tongue Argobba speakers. Two mothers were from
Goze and one mother was from Fofara, therefore their children three of the respondents are mother tongue Argobba speakers.
2.4.4 Language use
In Afre and its surroundings, Metteh Bila and Mieso, Amharic is the dominant language for all aspects of life. In Afre, however, some older people may use Argobba when communicating among themselves.
In Tallaha, Argobba is the dominant language when they communicate among themselves. Amharic is used when communicating with administrators and at markets. Amharic is also used for religious
purposes. Argobba is used when they pray at home and during times of emotion both when they are angry and dreaming.
In Goze, Argobba or Amharic is used when residents are communicating among themselves. Amharic is used when communicating with administrators and at markets. Amharic or Argobba is used
for religious purposes, when they pray at home and when they are angry or dreaming. In Abbule Arada, residents use Argobba or Amharic when communicating with parents, siblings and
other villagers. Amharic is used when communicating with administrators and spouses, and at markets. Amharic use varies with gender and age. Men use Amharic more than women and young people more
than older people. According to respondents, however, Argobba is still strong in the following villages of their area: Madolo, Ketare, Abriyye, Medina, Gotera, Abbule, Aleykum and Kulle.
2.4.5 Language attitudes
Group interviewees in all locations have positive attitudes towards Amharic. They suggested that they would like their children to learn in Amharic. Eight individual interviewees one from Afre and seven
from Aliyyu Amba prefer Amharic to any other language. Three people one from Afre and two from Abbule Arada prefer Argobba, and one individual interviewee from Afre prefers Afar.
1
Unfortunately, two of the individual interviewees one from Metteh Bila and another from Awash Sebat were not asked
about their language attitudes. Individual interviewees would like their children to learn in Amharic at schools, and if possible, they would like them to learn Argobba too.
According to group interviewees in all locations, most wives come from surrounding ArgobbaShagura
2
villages. According to group interviewees in Goze, Abbule Arada and Met’teh Bila, outside marriages are not forbidden. Though not very common for an Argobba person, in Afre marrying
1
A preference for Amharic or Afar does not necessarily mean that the interviewee does not like Argobba.
2
Shagura people call the Ankober-Kawat variety see section 2.5 “Argobba” and their own variety “Shagura.”
an Afar person is not forbidden. However, in Tallaha outside marriage is not accepted by tradition, relatives can marry each other. Met’teh Bila group interviewees said that cousins marry each other in
their community. The individual interviews seemed to reveal more opposition to marriage outside the ethnic group.
Eight of the individual interviewees would not like outside marriage, three of them would be willing to marry an Afar person, and one would be willing to marry anybody.
3
Five individual interviewees two from Abbule Arada and three from AfreAliyyu Amba would not allow their children to marry outside
the ethnic group. One man would accept it if his children would marry Afar people, and another said that it would be all right if his children marry Arabs. A fifty-five-year-old man said that he would like to
marry his children to any Muslim.
2.4.6 Attitudes to dialects
