Somali

E41110

Somali is a Cushitic language spoken primarily in Somalia and neighboring regions of the Horn of Africa, serving as a major lingua franca and national language for the Somali people.

All labels observed (6)

Label Occurrences
Somali canonical 95
Somali language 14
Af-Soomaali 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (52)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Afroasiatic language
Cushitic language
language
basicWordOrder SOV
glottocode soma1255
grammaticalFeature case marking on nouns
gender system with masculine and feminine
rich verbal morphology
hasDialect Ashraf
Benaadir
linked to: Banaadir

Benadiri Somali
Digil
Maay
Northern Somali
Rahanweyn
ISO639-1Code so
ISO639-2Code som
ISO639-3Code som
languageFamily Cushitic
lexicalInfluenceFrom Arabic
English
Italian
linguaFrancaOf North Eastern Province of Kenya
Somali Region of Ethiopia
Somalia
nativeName Af-Soomaali
linked to: Somali
nativeSpeakersApprox 15 million
officialStatus official language of Somalia
official language of Somaliland
phonologicalFeature consonant length contrast
tonal accents or pitch accent
vowel length contrast
previousWritingSystem Arabic script
Borama script
Kaddare script
Osmanya script
primaryCountry Somalia
primaryEthnicGroup Somali people
recognizedMinorityLanguageIn Djibouti
Ethiopia
Kenya
region Horn of Africa
regulatingBody Somali Academy of Science and Arts
scriptHistory Latin script officially adopted in 1972
standardBasedOn dialects of northern Somalia
standardVariety Northern Somali
subfamily Lowland East Cushitic
linked to: Cushitic
totalSpeakersApprox 20 million
usedIn Somali literature
Somali media
education in Somalia
writingSystem Latin alphabet

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (113)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Mogadishu officialLanguage Somali
Mogadishu dominantEthnicGroup Somali people
linked to: Somali
Islamic world hasLanguage Somali
Somalia officialLanguage Somali
Somalia demonym Somali
Somalia nationalLanguage Somali
Somali nativeName Af-Soomaali
linked to: Somali
Somali shilling hasLocalName shilin Soomaali
linked to: Somali
Afgooye language Somali
Jowhar languageSpoken Somali
Jubaland hasEthnicGroup Somali
Puntland officialLanguage Somali
Somali people ethnonym Somali
Berbera ethnicGroup Somali
Berbera officialLanguage Somali
Bossaso languageUsed Somali
al-Shabaab languageUsed Somali
Afar language closelyRelatedTo Somali language
linked to: Somali
Benadiri Somali partOf Somali language
linked to: Somali
Maay subdivisionOf Somali language
linked to: Somali
Digil subdivisionOf Somali language
linked to: Somali
Rahanweyn subBranch Somali languages
linked to: Somali
Osmanya script notOfficialScriptFor Somali language
linked to: Somali
Kaddare script writingSystemFor Somali language
linked to: Somali
Somali Academy of Science and Arts fieldOfWork Somali language
linked to: Somali
Borama script language Somali language
linked to: Somali
Somali Region officialLanguage Somali
subject linked to: Somali Region of Ethiopia
Somali Region workingLanguage Somali
subject linked to: Somali Region of Ethiopia