A Cushitic language and the official tongue of Somalia — distinguished by its complex tone-accent system and a uniquely Latin-based orthography adopted in 1972.
Where it’s spoken
Somali is the official language of Somalia and is also spoken across the Horn of Africa — in Djibouti, the Somali Region of Ethiopia, and northeastern Kenya. The Somali diaspora numbers in the millions and is particularly large in Minneapolis-St. Paul, London, Oslo, Stockholm, Toronto, and Nairobi.
What it sounds like
Somali has a tone-accent system that distinguishes grammatical functions — high tone on different syllables marks different cases and numbers. It has phonemic vowel length and harmony patterns. The consonant inventory includes a contrast between dental and retroflex stops and a voiceless pharyngeal fricative.
How it’s written
Somali adopted a Latin-based orthography (Af Soomaali) in 1972 after Siad Barre’s government settled a long debate among Arabic, Latin, and indigenous Osmanya scripts. The current alphabet is highly phonemic, with double letters indicating long vowels and consonants.
History
Somali was written sporadically in Arabic-script Wadaad scripts and in indigenous scripts (Osmanya, Borama, Kaddare) before 1972. The 1972 Latin orthography enabled mass literacy campaigns that significantly expanded reading and writing within a few years.
Find more languages by letter
Somali starts with S and ends with I. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Somali":