Somali

Introduction

Somali belongs to the Cushitic/Omotic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It is closely related to Oromo. Somalis claim descent from Arabian families who settled on the Somali coast 1,000 years ago. Although there undoubtedly is an infusion of Arab blood among Somalis, historians and linguists trace the origins of the Somali people to a much earlier time in the region.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought European expansion into the region. By the end of the 19th century, Somali people were living under the rule of four foreign powers: the British (in north-central Somalia and in northeast Kenya), the Italians (in southern Somalia), the French (in the northwest, in what is now Djibouti), and the Ethiopians (in the Ogaden region).

Somali is spoken in by 7.8 million people in Somalia and Somaliland where it is the official language. It is also spoken in Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya where it is one of the official languages. Before the civil war, the population of Somalia was estimated at 7.7 million people. It is believed that about 500,000 people died of famine or disease or were killed in the war, and nearly 45% of the population were displaced inside Somalia or fled to neighboring countries, to the Middle East, or to the West. The total number of Somali speakers all over the world is estimated at 12.6 million (Ethnologue). Intermittent civil war has been a fact of life in Somalia since 1977. In 1991, the northern portion of the country declared its independence as Somaliland (Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliland); although de facto independent and relatively stable compared to the south run by war lords, it has not yet been recognized by any foreign government.

Somali is now taught as a subject and used as a medium of instruction in the primary schools; it is taught as a subject in secondary schools. There are over 20 radio and TV stations around the world that broadcast some of their programs in Somali.

Samlia Ruinb

Structure

Sound System

Sound system
Like other Cushitic languages, Somali is a language of great phonological complexity.

Vowels
There are five vowels /ii, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/. They can be short or long. Vowel length makes a difference in word meaning. In writing, long vowels are represented by a double vowel, e.g., a "tart," aa "father."

Consonants
Somali has 24 consonants.The consonants b, d, dh, g, l, m, n, and r can be single or doubled (geminated). In writing, the latter are represented by a double consonant. Like its close relative, Oromo, native Somali words do not have the consonants /p/, /v/, and /z/. These sounds occur only in borrowed words.

Syllable shapes
Most syllables in Somali are open, i.e., they end in a vowel.

Tones
Somali is considered to be a tonal language. Its tonal system is different from languages such as Chinese, in which every word is associated with a particular tone. The Somali tone-accent system is mostly active at the grammar and discourse levels to indicate grammatical categories and information structure rather than to make a difference in word meaning. Some scholars suggest that Somali has two tiers of tones: one associated with word stress, and one associated with sentence intonation. The two tones interact to produce different tones. Tones are not usually marked in writing.

Click here to listen to BBC broadcasts in Somali.

Grammar

Noun phrase
Somali nouns are inflected for number, gender (masculine and feminine), and case (nominative, genitive, absolutive, and vocative). Differences in gender, number, and case are marked by tone-accent, e.g.,

gender	ínan "boy"	inán "girl"
number	díbi "ox"	dibí "oxen"

Prepositions
Somali has only four prepositions which can have a variety of meanings. Unlike English, Somali prepositions come before the verb rather than after it.

Verb phrase
Somali verbs are marked for tense and aspect.

Word order
Like other Cushitic language, the Somali word order is typically Subject-Object-Verb.

Topic-focus
Somali has a topic-focus grammatical category that marks the information structure of sentences, i.e. those elements that indicate where the focus is located in the sentence.

The words baa, ayaa, and waxaa put the focus on nouns and noun phrases, e.g., in the example below, the focus is on Who went out?

Jamal	baa	baxay
Jamal (focus)		went out

The word waa puts the focus on verbs and verb phrases, e.g., in the example below the focus is on What did John do?

Jamal	waa	baxay
Jamal		went out (focus).

Vocabulary

Somali has been heavily influenced by Arabic mainly through the medium of Islam. It has also borrowed words from Italian and English.

Writing

Somalia Woman

Somali was not written prior to 1920 when the Osmanya alphabet was developed by Cismaan Yuusuf Keenadiid in an attempt to forestall the implementation of an Arabic-based alphabet. Osmanya was written from left to right in horizontal rows. The names of the letters were taken from Arabic. Between 1961 and 1969, both Osmanya and a Roman-based script were used. The current Roman-based alphabet was adopted in 1972, and Osmanya fell into disuse. Below are the equivalents of the phrase "Somali writing" in both scripts:

Osmanya
Roman-based	far soomaali

Take a look at Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Somali.

Are there any words in it that you can recognize?
Can you find any words with long vowels?
Can you find any words with geminated consonants?
What is peculiar about Somali punctuation?

Qod I
Aadanaha dhammaantiis wuxuu dhashaa isagoo xor ah kana siman xagga sharafta iyo xuquuqada Waxaa Alle (Ilaah) siiyay aqoon iyo wacyi, waana in qof la arkaa qofka kale ula dhaqmaa si walaaltinimo ah.

Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Resources

Somali Language and Culture Resources
University of Minnesota Less Commonly Taught Languages Database
UCLA Language Materials Project (search under Somali)
Somali Online Newspapers
Hippocrene Somali: Somali/English/Somali Dictionary And Phrasebook (hardcopy)
Hippocrene Somali: Somali <>English Dictionary (hardcopy)
The Somali Culture and Beliefs
The Somalis: Their History and Culture
Self-instructional Somali on the Web