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The official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic as specified in the constitution. [2] [3] Somali, the endoglossic language of Somalia, is the most widely spoken language in the country, [4] with Northern Standard Somali as the most widely spoken dialect of the language, at around 60% of the population, followed by Maay Somali at 20% and Benadiri Somali at 18%.
Other orthographies that have been used for centuries for writing Somali include the long-established Arabic script and Wadaad's writing. Indigenous writing systems developed in the 20th century include the Osmanya, Borama and Kaddare scripts. [298] In addition to Somali, Arabic is an official national language in Somalia. [15]
In addition to Somali, Arabic, which is also an Afro-Asiatic tongue, is an official national language in Somalia and Djibouti. Many Somalis speak it due to millennia-old ties with the Arab world, the far-reaching influence of the Arabic media, and religious education. [178] Somalia and Djibouti are also both members of the Arab League. [39] [179]
Arabic is a language cluster comprising 30 or so modern varieties. [1] Arabic is the lingua franca of people who live in countries of the Arab world as well as of Arabs who live in the diaspora, particularly in Latin America (especially Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Colombia) or Western Europe (like France, Spain, Germany or Italy).
Article 6 of the Constitution of 2001 designates the official language of Somaliland to be Somali, [37] though Arabic is a mandatory subject in school and is used in mosques around the region and English is spoken and taught in schools. [303] The Somali language is the mother tongue of the Somali people, the
The main Somali dialect that is the most widely used is Northern Somali, a term applied to several sub-dialects, the speakers of which can understand each other easily. Standard Somali is spoken in most of Somalia and in adjacent territories (Djibouti, Ogaden, northeast Kenya), and is used by broadcasting stations in Somaliland.
Finding and fighting the militants who have become the beating heart of the Islamic State (IS) group in Africa can be tough work as they hide deep in the mountains of north-eastern Somalia.
Somali has an old prefixal verbal inflection restricted to four common verbs, with all other verbs undergoing inflection by more obvious suffixation. This general pattern is similar to the stem alternation that typifies Cairene Arabic. [45] Somali has two sets of pronouns: independent (substantive, emphatic) pronouns and clitic (verbal ...