Note: is the English spelling which is prefered by native speakers, but '''Bilin''' and '''Bilen''' are also commonly used.
The (ብሊና) has approximately 70,000 speakers in and around the city of
Keren in
Eritrea . It is the only
Central Cushitic Language which is spoken in
Eritrea , all the others being spoken in neighbouring
Ethiopia .
Note: is found in loans and the status of as a
Phoneme is uncertain.
/r/ is typically realised as a
Tap when it is medial and a
Trill when it is in final position.
''See also:''
Ge'ez Alphabet#Modifications For Other Languages
A writing system for Blin was first developed by missionaries who used the
Ge'ez Abugida and the first text was published in 1882. Although the Ge'ez script is usually used for
Semitic Languages , the phonemes of Blin are very similar. (7 vowels, labiovelar and ejective consonants.) The script therefore only requires a slight modification (the addition of consonants for and ) to make it suitable for Blin. Some of the additional symbols required to write Blin with this script are in the "Ethiopic Extended"
Unicode range rather than the "Ethiopic" range.
The basic signs, in order, are as follows. Note that there are some differences between the list order in Blin and the standard Ge'ez list order. (Note: the exact contents of these table are subject to verification.)
Blin also needs 5 labiovelar variants:
In 1985 the because of its
Liturgical Use , and with
Ethiopia because of its use for
Amharic . The Latin alphabet is seen as being more neutral. In 1993 the government set up a committee to standardize the Blin language and the Latin-based orthography.
