Why does Tigrinya sound arabic? And why is Arabic a second language in Eritrea and not just for the Muslims...Do they have arab minorities like we do?
Tigrinya belongs to the South Semitic language family, while Arabic belongs to the West Semitic language family. Unlike Amharic (which is mostly a Cushitic language comprised of Agaw and Afaan Oromo), the Tigrinya and Tigre languages of Eritrea are mostly Semitic. Although Tigrinya sounds a lot like Arabic, it is the Tigre language of Eritrea that sounds closet to Arabic.
Tigre song from Eritrea
Tigrinya song from Eritrea
SEMITIC LANGUAGE FAMILY
---
West Semitic
-----Arabic
-----Hebrew
-----Aramaic
-----etc
---
South Semitic
-----Tigrinya
-----Ge'ez
-----Tigre
-----Dahlik
-----Sabaean (from Yemen and extinct)
-----etc
---
East Semitic
-----Akkadian (extinct)
-----Eblaite (extinct)
---etc (all extinct)
Btw: There are two Eritrean arab ethnic group called the Adeni (pop. 18,000) and the Rashaida (pop. 100,000). The reason why Arabic is one of Eritrea's working languages is because Eritrea has a large Muslim population and many of them speak different language, so Arabic is the best method for all of them to communicate. Btw, all Eritreans are mandated to learn Arabic, be it Christians or Muslims. The other working languages of Eritrea are Tigrinya and Arabic. Although Tigre, will be added as another working language in the next two years. Something like 50% of Eritrea's population understand and speak Tigre as either a first or a second language.
To read more about the Rashaida Eritreans visit here (and no they were not kicked out, they left after clan warfare had broken out in Saudi Arabia in 1846:
http://www.madote.com/2010/02/eritrea-r ... eople.html
