Somali

Story

Somali is a Lowland East Cushitic language of the Afroasiatic family and is the best-documented of all Cushitic languages, with academic study dating back to the 19th century. The language is remarkable for its rich oral tradition of poetry, a practice so central to Somali culture that poets historically held political authority, and memorised verse chains called 'gabay' could stretch for hundreds of stanzas. Somali spent most of its history without an official script: over the course of the 20th century more than eighteen rival writing systems were proposed, including the indigenous Osmanya and Borama scripts, before a specially designed Latin alphabet was officially adopted in 1972 under President Siad Barre, making Somali one of the very few African languages to have a script debate settled by a head of state. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and the Somali Region of Ethiopia, and a national language of Djibouti.

At a glance

• Also known as: Af Soomaali
• Family: Afroasiatic
• Region: Horn of Africa
• Speakers: 25M (total speakers (l1 plus l2) estimated; approximately 24 million l1 speakers (2019 to 2024), primarily in somalia, ethiopia, djibouti, and kenya)
• Writing system: Latin (Somali Latin alphabet, official since 1972; Arabic / Wadaad script and Osmanya script also used historically)
• Greeting: Salaan (hello / peace)

Spoken in

Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Yemen

Common questions