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<p>This paper challenges the conventional classification of Gə’əz as a uniformly “dead” language by demonstrating that its vitality varies dramatically across religious communities.&#xa0;While Gə’əz ceased to function as a vernacular in the thirteenth century,&#xa0;its status ranges from robustly vital among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians to advanced attrition among the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) community now primarily residing in Israel.&#xa0;Among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, Gə’əz functions as a&#xa0;sacredly living&#xa0;language with tens of thousands of clergy and annual production of new liturgical poetry (<i>qene</i>).&#xa0;Among the Beta Israel, Gə’əz has undergone rapid attrition following mass migration to Israel, surviving as a postvernacular heritage language sustained by symbolic identity, limited ritual use among aging elders, and the holiday of&#xa0;<i>Sigd</i>, but lacking intergenerational transmission. Drawing on&#xa0;42 sources&#xa0;published between 1955 and 2025, the study critiques Eurocentric frameworks that equate vitality solely with conversational use. <i>The paper’s primary focus is Gə’əz within the Beta Israel context, using the Christian case as comparative contrast</i>.&#xa0;It advances a community-differentiated definition of vitality and introduces the term&#xa0;<i>sacredly living</i>&#xa0;for high-vitality cases while applying postvernacular and heritage language attrition frameworks to the Beta Israel case.&#xa0;The paper demonstrates that a single language can occupy different vitality statuses across different religious and national contexts.</p>

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The Undying Echoes of Gə’əz: Debunking Claims of Linguistic Death

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年8月4日

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  • Ayenew Guadu,
  • Dawit Dibekulu,
  • Tibebu Anteneh

摘要

This paper challenges the conventional classification of Gə’əz as a uniformly “dead” language by demonstrating that its vitality varies dramatically across religious communities. While Gə’əz ceased to function as a vernacular in the thirteenth century, its status ranges from robustly vital among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians to advanced attrition among the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) community now primarily residing in Israel. Among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, Gə’əz functions as a sacredly living language with tens of thousands of clergy and annual production of new liturgical poetry (qene). Among the Beta Israel, Gə’əz has undergone rapid attrition following mass migration to Israel, surviving as a postvernacular heritage language sustained by symbolic identity, limited ritual use among aging elders, and the holiday of Sigd, but lacking intergenerational transmission. Drawing on 42 sources published between 1955 and 2025, the study critiques Eurocentric frameworks that equate vitality solely with conversational use. The paper’s primary focus is Gə’əz within the Beta Israel context, using the Christian case as comparative contrast. It advances a community-differentiated definition of vitality and introduces the term sacredly living for high-vitality cases while applying postvernacular and heritage language attrition frameworks to the Beta Israel case. The paper demonstrates that a single language can occupy different vitality statuses across different religious and national contexts.