Initia Amharica
An Introduction to Spoken Amharic

This early twentieth-century book on Amharic grammar and vocabulary broke new ground by focusing on the modern, spoken language.

C. H. Armbruster (Author)

9781108013291, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2010

428 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.63 kg

C. H. Armbruster (1874–1957) was a civil servant in the Anglo-Sudan government and a linguist specialising in African languages. After visiting Ethiopia on diplomatic missions in 1906 and 1907 Armbruster published this three-volume reference work on colloquial, spoken Amharic between 1908 and 1920. Armbruster's study of Amharic was one of the first to be written in English, and exemplifies the shift among linguists away from the formal, classics-based style of earlier reference grammars towards a focus on colloquial speech and communication. His examples are drawn from direct knowledge of the contemporary language, unlike similar works of the period which were often based on centuries-old Ethiopian Orthodox biblical texts. Volume 1 is devoted to grammar. Armbruster provides an extensive discussion of the phonetics and phonology of the language and their relation to Amharic script together with explanations and examples of verb conjugations, syntax and sentence formation.

Preface
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Phonology
Accidence
Syntax
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]