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Unit
Amharic
Introduction to the Amharic Writing System
Amharic is written with the Geez syllabary, augmented by a few symbols for syllables which occur in Amharic, but not in Geez (characters for /š/, /o/, /ñ/, /ž/, /v/, etc.)
Two of the characters represent vowel sounds; otherwise all characters represent a syllable—a consonant plus a specific vowel.
The order is left to right.
Each character has seven forms (traditionally called 'orders'). to accord with the number of vowels. The Amharic names of the seven orders are:
| I | /gı'ız/ | consonant | + /ə/ |
| II | /ka'ıb/ | " | + /u/ |
| III | /salıs/ | " | + /i/ |
| IV | /rabı/ | " | + /a/ |
| V | /hamıs/ | " | + /e/ |
| VI | /sadıs/ | " | + /ı/ |
| VII | /sabı/ | " | + /o/ |
In addition, there are a few characters which represent consonant plus /w/ plus vowel: /gwə/, /hwa/, /kwı/, etc., and a character for the consonant /v/ plus vowel which may occur in some loanwords.
Amharic Syllabary
| I /gı'ız/ |
II /ka'ıb/ |
III /salıs/ |
IV /rabı/ |
V /hamıs/ |
VI /sadıs/ |
VII /sabı/ | |
| 1. | ሀ ha | ሁ hu | ሂ hi | ሃ ha | ሄ he | ህ hı | ሆ ho |
| 2. | ለ lə | ሉ lu | ሊ li | ላ la | ሌ le | ል ı | ሎ lo |
| 3. | ሐ ha | ሑ hu | ሒ hi | ሓ ha | ሔ he | ሕ hı | ሖ ho |
| 4. | መ mə | ሙ mu | ሞ mi | ማ ma | ሜ me | ም mı | ሞ mo |
| 5. | ሠ sə | ሡ su | ሢ si | ሣ sa | ሤ se | ሥ sı | ሦ so |
| 6. | ረ rə | ሩ ru | ሪ ri | ራ ra | ሬ re | ር rı | ሮ ro |
| 7. | ሰ sə | ሱ su | ሲ si | ሳ sa | ሴ se | ስ sı | ሶ so |
| 8. | ሸ šə | ሹ šu | ሺ ši | ሻ ša | ሼ še | ሽ šı | ሾ šo |
| 9. | ቀ Kə | ቁ Ku | ቂ Ki | ቃ Ka | ቄ Ke | ቅ Kı | ቆ Ko |
| 10. | በ bə | ቡ bu | ቢ bi | ባ ba | ቤ be | ብ bı | ቦ bo |
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