Somali language

Somali is a language of the Cushitic family within Afroasiatic (a language group comprising many languages spoken in Africa and the Middle East). It is spoken primarily by Somali people living in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, the Somali region of Ethiopia, and northwestern Kenya, as well as by diaspora communities in Europe, North America, and the Gulf.

Alternative names in use include 'Af-Maxaa' (referring to the standard dialects that form the basis of formal written language) and 'Somali'. Somali is an official language of Somalia and one of the working languages of Djibouti and the Somali region of Ethiopia.

Language family and dialects

Somali is related to other Cushitic languages such as Afar, Saho, and Oromo. Scholars generally divide the dialects into three groups: Af-Maxaa (widespread and based on formal writing conventions), Af-Maay (spoken in southern Somalia, particularly in the Bay and Bakool regions), and coastal dialects such as Banaadiri and others. Af-Maay and Af-Maxaa have significant mutual intelligibility limitations.

Writing

For a long period Somali was an oral language, with Arabic script used for religious and literary texts. In the twentieth century various writing systems were proposed, including the Somali script devised by Osman Yusuf Kenadid. In 1972 the Somali government officially adopted the Latin alphabet, after which widespread literacy campaigns began. The Somali Latin alphabet lacks the letters p, v, and z, and instead uses letters such as x, c, and q to represent pharyngeal sounds.

Grammar

Somali has a case system, gender (masculine and feminine), and articles marked at the end of the word, for example '-ka/-ga' and '-ta/-da'. Sentence word order is relatively free, though verbs typically appear at the end. Tone and pitch accent play a grammatical role, distinguishing gender and number in otherwise identical words.

Literature

Somali has a deep poetic tradition based on metre and alliteration, with a single consonant repeated throughout an entire verse. Types of poetry include gabay, geeraar, jiifto, and buraanbur. Folk narratives, proverbs, and work songs also form part of the oral heritage.