Northern Somali

Last updated
Northern Somali
Af Waqooyi
Native to Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Ethiopia
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
Glottolog nort3051

Northern Somali (Somali : Af Waqooyi) [1] is a dialect of the Somali language and forms the basis for Standard Somali. [2] [3] It is spoken by more than 60% of the entire Somali population, with its speech area stretching from Djibouti, Somaliland and the Somali Region of Ethiopia [4] This widespread modern distribution is a result of a long series of southward population movements over the past ten centuries from the Gulf of Aden littoral. [5]

Contents

Overview

Speech sample in Standard Somali (an Islamic discourse containing many Arabic loanwords)
Northern Somali (Nsom) dialect subgroups Northern Somali Dialects.png
Northern Somali (Nsom) dialect subgroups

Northern Somali is spoken by more than 60% of the entire Somali population. [6] Its primary speech area stretches from Djibouti, Somaliland and to parts of the eastern and southwestern sections of Somalia. [7] This widespread modern distribution is a result of a long series of southward population movements over the past ten centuries from the Gulf of Aden littoral. [8]

Northern Somali is subdivided into three dialects: Northern Somali proper (spoken in the northwest), the Darod group (spoken in the northeast and along the eastern Ethiopia frontier), and the Lower Juba group (spoken by northern Somali settlers in the southern riverine areas). [6] Northern Somali has frequently been used by famous Somali poets as well as the political elite, and thus has the most prestige out of the Somali dialects. [9] Due to being wide spread, it forms the basis for Standard Somali. [10] Most of the classical Somali poetry is recited and composed in the Northern Somali dialect. [6] The dialect of the Isaaq clan-family has the highest prestige of any other Somali dialect. [11]

Northern Somali also contains many Harari loanwords. [12]

Varieties

Lamberti divides Northern Somali into three subgroups: [13]

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References

  1. ↑ Lamberti, Marcello (1986). Map of Somali dialects in the Somalia Democratic Republic (PDF). H. Buske. ISBN   9783871186905.
  2. ↑ Dalby, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of languages: the definitive reference to more than 400 languages. Columbia University Press. p. 571.
  3. ↑ "Somali Language - Structure, Writing & Alphabet - MustGo". MustGo.com. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  4. ↑ Mundus, Volumes 23-24. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft. 1987. p. 205.
  5. ↑ Andrzejewski & Lewis (1964 :6)
  6. 1 2 3 Lamberti, Marcello (1986). Map of Somali dialects in the Somali Democratic Republic (PDF). H. Buske. ISBN   9783871186905.
  7. ↑ Mundus, Volumes 23-24. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft. 1987. p. 205.
  8. ↑ Andrzejewski, B.; Lewis, I. (1964). Somali poetry: an introduction . Clarendon Press. p.  6.
  9. ↑ Saeed, John (1999). Somali. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. p. 5. ISBN   1-55619-224-X.
  10. ↑ Ammon, Ulrich (2006). Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society, Part 3. Walter de Gruyter. p. 194. ISBN   9783110184181.
  11. ↑ Pia, John Joseph (1968). Somali Sounds and Inflections. Indiana University. p. 6.
  12. ↑ Lafkioui, Mena (2013-04-30). African Arabic: Approaches to Dialectology. Walter de Gruyter. p. 5. ISBN   978-3110292343.
  13. ↑ Blench, Roger (2006). "The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List" (PDF). p. 3.
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