Dimensions of Linguistic Diversity in Amharic: Standard, Dialect, Register

International audience This presentation examines the internal linguistic diversity of Amharic, focusing on ist assumed status of a standard language, dialectal variation, and register differentiation. Although Amharic is commonly treated as a relatively homogeneous Ethiosemitic language, which also serves as one of the federal working languages of Ethiopia, it exhibits substantial variation across diachronic, regional, social, and communicative contexts. The presentation explores selected dimensions of this variation and discusses how they contribute to the linguistic complexity of contemporary Amharic. It argues that linguistic diversity within Amharic cannot be adequately described through a simple standard–dialect distinction alone, but instead requires an integrated perspective that accounts for the interaction of regional, social, and situational forms of variation.