Language Sidama people speak Sidaamu-afoo. Sidaamu-afoo is an Afro-Asiatic language, belonging to the Cushitic branch, part of the Highland East Cushitic group. It is spoken in parts of southern Ethiopia. Sidaamu-afoo can alternatively be referred to as Sidaama, Sidaamu, Sidaminya, or Sidámo ’Afó. Sidaamu Afoo is the ethnic autonym for the language, while Sidaminya is its name in Amharic. Although it is not known to have any specific dialects, it shares over 50% lexical similarity with Alaba-K'abeena, Kambaata, and Hadiyya, all of which are other languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. The word order is typically SOV. Sidamo has over 100,000 L2 speakers. The literacy rate for L1 speakers is 1%-5%, while for L2 speakers it is 20%. In terms of its writing, Sidamo used an Ethiopic script up until 1993, from which point forward it has used a Latin script. The term Sidamo has also been used by some authors to refer to larger groupings of East Cushitic and even Omotic languages. The languages within this Sidamo grouping contain similar, alternating phonological features. The results from a research study conducted in 1968-1969 concerning mutual intelligibility between different Sidamo languages suggests that Sidamo is more closely related to Derasa (also called Gedeo) than other Sidamo languages. Sidamo vocabulary has been influenced by Ge'ez and Amharic, and has in turn influenced Oromo vocabulary.
