Somali language
From Freepedia
| Somali (af Soomaali) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya |
| Region: | East Africa |
| Total speakers: | 15-25 million |
| Ranking: | in top 100, 3rd position as a native language in Africa, after Arabic and Hausa |
| Genetic classification: | Afro-Asiatic |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Somalia |
| Regulated by: | -- |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | so |
| ISO 639-2 | som |
| SIL | SOM |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
The Somali language is a member of the Cushitic languages. It is spoken mostly in Somalia and adjacent parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya, but speakers are found all over the world because of the civil war. The exact number of speakers is unknown because of the war and migration but is estimated to have 15 to 25 million speakers.
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Classification
Somali is an Afro-Asiatic language, of the Cushitic branch. It is most closely related to the Afar language and Oromo language. It is distantly related to the Arabic language and other Semitic languages. Somali has been heavily influenced by Arabic, as a large number of words have been borrowed from Arabic since the arrival of Islam. It has also borrowed words from English and Italian from colonial times.
Geographic distribution
It is spoken mostly in Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, and Djibouti, but speakers are found all over the world because of the Somali civil war. It has between 15 to 25 million speakers.
Somali is also spoken by Somali communities all over the world, including, but not limited to, the Middle East, Europe, North America and Australia.
Official status
Somali is an official language in Somalia. While not official, Somali is also important in Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
Dialects
Of the Somali dialects, the most widely used is Common Somali, a term applied to several sub-dialects, the speakers of which can understand each other easily. Common Somali is spoken in most of Somalia, and in adjacent territories (Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti), and is used by broadcasting stations in Somalia and in Somali-language broadcasts originating outside the country.
Coastal Somali or Benaadir is spoken on the Banaadir Coast (from Cadale to south of Baraawe) and its immediate hinterland. The languages and dialects spoken by the Digil and Mirifle(sometimes called the Rahanwayn), although previously classified with Somali, are incomprehensible to Somali-speakers. The most important language of the Digil and Mirifle is Maay; other languages spoken by this category are the Jiido, the Dabare, the Garre, and Tunni Central. Of all these, the Jiido is the most incomprehensible to Somali-speakers. One important aspect in which the languages of the Digil and Mirifle differ from Somali is the lack of pharyngeal sounds.*
Sounds (Phonology)
Consonants
IPA phonetic symbols are used in this chart.
| Bilabial | Labio dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post alveolar | Palato alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyn geal | Glottal | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | b | t | d | ɖ | k | g | q | ʔ | ||||||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | χ | ħ | ʕ | h | |||||||||||||||
| Affricate | dʒ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | |||||||||||||||||||||
Grammar
The grammatical categories of Somali are:
- Noun
- Pronoun
- Verb
- Adjective
- Preposition
- Determiner
- Focus word
- Classifier
- Conjunction
Somali has several strategies to indicate where the intention or the interest or the focus is located in the phrase: a topic-comment or focus construction. The words baa, ayaa, and waxaa put the focus on nouns and noun phrases.
Example:
- John baa baxay - John Focus (baa) went out
- John ayaa baxay - John Focus (ayaa) went out
- Waxaa baxay John - Focus (waxaa) went out John
Thus, the words baa, ayaa, and waxaa unconsciously raise the question of who went out? Therefore the noun.
Somali also has the word waa which puts the focus on verbs and verb phrases.
Example:
John waa baxay - John Focus (waa) went out
Waa is different from other previous one we have just seen, because it raises the question of what did John do? Therefore the verb.
Writing system
Somali had no written alphabet as late as 1972 (apart from occasional proposals, such as Osmanya), but the government introduced the Latin alphabet as part of a larger literacy program. This sets it apart from the languages near it, which use either the Ge'ez (or Ethiopic) abugida or the Arabic alphabet.
Before the colonial period, educated Somalis and religious fraternities used the Arabic language (for example, Sayid Mohamed Addule Hassan's letter to a scholar, betraying him to the colonial powers, was in Arabic). The Qur'an was taught throughout Somalia, so children were exposed to the Arabic alphabet from a young age. Material discovered in 1940, mainly ancient letters and tomb inscriptions, demonstrates that the Somali language was written with the Arabic alphabet, just like the Urdu and Persian languages. But this was not certainly "codified," and questions remain about the extent of its use. Further investigation is required.
The Somali latin alphabet is:
B, T, J, X, KH, D, R, S, SH, DH, C, G, F, Q, K, L, M, N, W, H, Y. (To be noted the absence of consonants P, V, Z because these phonemes do not occur.)
Also, it has short vowels A, E, I, O, U, long vowels AA, EE, II, OO, UU, and an acute diacritic for tonic accent: árday "student", ardáy "students".
The consonants C [ʕ], DH, KH [x], Q, and X [ħ] have completely different sounds from their common usage, as Somali phonology is borrowed from the Arabic phonological system. Therefore it is not a direct interpretation of the Latin alphabet.
Reference
- Diriye Abdullahi, Mohamed. 2000. Le Somali, dialectes et histoire, PH.D. dissertation, Université de Montréal
- Saeed, John Ibrahim. Somali Reference Grammar. Springfield, VA: Dunwoody Press, 1993. (ISBN 0931745977)
- Saeed, John Ibrahim. Somali. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, B.V., 1999.
