Talk:Somali language

Untitled

My edit a few days ago that I did not clarify--sorry, it was a conversion to Wikipedia:WikiProject Language Template and in the process deleted some irrelevant info. Sorry for scaring you people. Wikiacc 22:33, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Official status?

I just reverted a recent edit to this article. The edit was not so much incorrect as it was unclear. One assertion was that Somali is the most widely spoken language in East Africa. The numbers don't support this, and I wonder if the editor meant that it is the most widely spoken in a geographical sense (i.e. the most widespread language). If so, this is certainly notable, though a reference would be useful.

I'm also wondering about Somali as an official language. According to the Somalia article it is indeed the official language of Somalia (inasmuch as this may be "officiated"). But the Djibouti article says the official languages are Arabic and French, which is curious since the two main ethnic groups are Somali and Afar (the latter of which also has its own language). The Ethiopia article still says the official language is Amharic. I'm pretty certain that there are now multiple official languages. I assume Somali is one of these but don't know for certain. And according to the Kenya article, the official languages are English and Swahili. If we can sort all this out regarding Somali's official status, it would be helpful to update all of these articles at once. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 5 July 2005 19:23 (UTC)

I think the Ethiopia situation is that each region has its own set of official languages. - Mustafaa 5 July 2005 20:01 (UTC)

Somali has no official status in Kenya. The official languages of Somalia are Arabic and Somali. The situation in Ethiopia is not very clear to me. I though it was similar to Zambia: one official language (Amharic in the case of Ethiopia, English in Zambia) and a set of "national" languages in each region. But I'm not sure. Britannica 2005 says: Official language: none. Amharic is the "working" language. Concerning Djibouti, it is true that its official languages are Arabic and French (a relic of Arabization and colonization). — mark ✎ 6 July 2005 20:07 (UTC)

Deletion of essay on Waajid(+/-)

This addition had no relevance to the subject of the article.

Semi-protected edit request on 20 August 2023

In this entry, it says Radio Mogadaishu Broadcasted in Somali language in 1943, this is incorrect as Radio Mogashue was established in 1951. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/world/africa/30mogadishu.html

The first radio to broadcast in the Somali language was Radio Hargeisa which was established in 1941

http://bdxc.org.uk/hargeisa.pdf Ymohamed1960 (talk) 13:53, 20 August 2023 (UTC)

 Partly done: changed Radio Mogadishu broadcast from 1943 to 1951 per NYT article, and radio station's own website. Did not add Radio Hargeisa information as given citation is self-published.

References

Xan747 ✈️ 🧑‍✈️ 23:41, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

Typo in the consonant inventory (d vs ɖ)

There's a /d/ written in the post-alveolar column, but it's refered to as /ɖ/ later. It's written /ɖ/ in Somali phonology Whitelisted7 (talk) 12:39, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

Yes, that looks like a mistake. Thanks! Corrected. LandLing 16:29, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

@Landroving Linguist Now it's a voiced alveolar implosive, not a voiced retroflex plosive Whitelisted7 (talk) 22:59, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Ooops - how embarrassinɡ. I hope now it's betterǃ LandLing 11:07, 22 December 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 February 2024

It says that Somali is the official language in Ethiopia which is completely WRONG. The official language of Ethiopia is Amharic and I would like to have that changed. 2601:C4:CB00:4670:355D:5119:3982:A914 (talk) 17:26, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: seems sourced, note that it doesn't say that Somali is THE official language in Ethiopia, merely AN official language Cannolis (talk) 19:58, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

this information is false

Somali language speakers is more than 50 million i hope you rewrite the information you're sharing with world 102.38.127.252 (talk) 04:35, 29 June 2024 (UTC)

Speaker numbers need some kind of a source. --Trɔpʏliʊm • blah 11:31, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

"Somali languages" vs. "Somali language"

They are really different things?

Because I read the article "Somali languages" and the article "Somali language", and they seem to be about the same issue; specially, the "subdivisions" of the "Somali languages" and the "dialects" of "Somali language" are the same (Northern, Benadiri, Ashraf and Maay). MiguelMadeira (talk) 00:34, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

Glottologue, after reviewing the lit, has Maay, along with Girirra and Rendille, as not being Somali at all, while Benadiri, Ashraf etc. are dialects of a Somali language. But it's a dialect cluster, and different people may come to different conclusions as to what is a dialect and what a distinct language.

But yeah, I'm not sure we can justify 'Somali languages' as distinct from both 'Somali language' and Macro-Somali languages. Last time I went over these articles, everything was so intertwined with nationalist bullshit that it was easiest to leave in a redundant article so that we didn't accidentally delete something worth keeping. — kwami (talk) 05:20, 20 October 2024 (UTC)