Somali Language | Origin of Somali Language

Countries

Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

Total No. Of Countries

Rank: 12 (Overall)

0 46

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National Language

Somalia

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Africa, Middle East

Minority Language

Yemen

Regulated By

National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy

Interesting Facts

Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.

Similar To

Afar and Oromo Language

Derived From

Arabic Language

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

Rank: 8 (Overall)

18 247

👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

Rank: 2 (Overall)

0 32

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How Many Consonants

Rank: 11 (Overall)

9 60

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Scripts

Arabic, Latin, Osmanya

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

Rank: 4 (Overall)

2 12

👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

52 weeks

Rank: 18 (Overall)

3 88

👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Thank You

Waad ku mahadsan tahay

How Are You?

Sidee tahay ?

Good Night

Habeenka Good

Good Evening

Evening Good

Good Afternoon

galab wanaagsan

Good Morning

Subax wanaagsan

Please

Fadlan

Sorry

sorry

Bye

caraysiiyo

I Love You

Waan ku jeclahay

Excuse Me

iga raali ahow

Dialects

Dialect 1

Northern Somali

Where They Speak

Gabon, Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.00

Rank: 32 (Overall)

1.5 960000000

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Dialect 2

Benaadir

Where They Speak

Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.00

Rank: 30 (Overall)

700 274000000

👆🏻

Dialect 3

Af-Ashraaf

Where They Speak

Standard Somali

How Many People Speak

21.00

Rank: 83 (Overall)

2 230000000

👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

Rank: 3 (Overall)

0 188

👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

13.00 million

Rank: 49 (Overall)

0 1200

👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.07 %

Rank: 58 (Overall)

0 89

👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.00 million

Rank: 53 (Overall)

0 873

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Second Language Speakers

21.00 million

Rank: 29 (Overall)

0.01 400

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Native Name

af Soomaali

Alternative Names

Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga

French Name

somali

German Name

Somali

Pronunciation

[afsoomaali]

Ethnicity

Somalis

History

Origin

19th century

Language Family

Afro-Asiatic Family

Subgroup

Cushitic

Branch

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms

Standard Forms

Somali

Language Position

Rank: 65 (Overall)

1 120

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Signed Forms

Somali Sign Language

Scope

Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

som

ISO 639 2/B

som

ISO 639 3

som

ISO 639 6

som

Glottocode

soma1255

Linguasphere

No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb

Language Morphological Typology

Origin of Somali language

In order to communicate with each other, the origin of language was the essential part. Various languages are spoken all over the world. Somali language is one of the Most Difficult Languages. The origin of Somali language states that it was put to use in 19th century. The history of Somali language reveals that the language is old and used since many years. Check out in brief about Somali Language History. Somali has no early forms. Somali is the standard form of Somali language and it is used in government centers. Know all About Somali Language.

Somali population

Somali population gives us the total count of number of people speaking Somali language. Somali language is spoken by 13.00 million people in the world. Most of the Somali population lies in the Somali Speaking Countries. Somali language is spoken as first language by 8.00 million people and as second language by about 21.00 million people. Get to know Somali speaking population in detail.

Somali writing system

There are numerous writing systems but most widely used scripts are Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic. Somali writing system decides the alphabets, vowels and consonants i.e. the written form of Somali language. Some languages share common writing systems. Arabic, Latin, Osmanya script is used by Somali language. Learn more about .

Information about Somali language

Check out all the information about Somali language here. You may find it interesting to learn Somali Alphabets or the vowels and consonants of this language. Also knowing about Somali Speaking Countries, Somali speaking continents and Somali Dialects will help in improving your knowledge about this language. Also while travelling to Somali countries knowing common Somali Greetings will help you in communicating with Somali people.