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Somali Language



Countries

Countries
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

Total No. Of Countries
3 12

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
Somali-Alphabets.jpg#200

Alphabets
26 8

Phonology

How Many Vowels
5 2

How Many Consonants
21 11

Scripts
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels
5 4

Time Taken to Learn
52 weeks 18

Greetings

Hello
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 32

Dialect 2
Benaadir

Where They Speak
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu

How Many People Speak
16,000,000.00 30

Dialect 3
Af-Ashraaf

Where They Speak
Standard Somali

How Many People Speak
21.00 83

Total No. Of Dialects
3 3

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
13.00 million 49

Speaking Population
0.07 % 58

Native Speakers
8.00 million 53

Second Language Speakers
21.00 million 29

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
83 65

Signed Forms
Somali Sign Language

Scope
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1
so

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
-

Countries >>
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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.

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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.

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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.

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