The similarity and Mutual Intelligibility between Amharic and Tigrigna Varieties

Abstract

The present study has examined the similarity and the mutual intelligibility between Amharic and Tigrigna using three tools namely Levenshtein distance, intelligibility test and questionnaires. The study has shown that both Tigrigna varieties have almost equal phonetic and lexical distances from Amharic. The study also indicated that Amharic speakers understand less than 50% of the two varieties. Furthermore, the study showed that Amharic speakers are more positive about the Ethiopian Tigrigna variety than the Eritrean Variety. However, their attitude towards the two varieties does not have an impact on their intelligibility. The Amharic speakers’ familiarity to the Tigrigna varieties is largely dependent on the genealogical relation between Amharic and the two Tigrigna varieties.